How to build big muscles?

Introduction

For most people, building large muscles will require many hours at the gym, a strict diet, and training specifically designed for muscle growth (hypertrophy training). Some lucky individuals are able to build muscle quickly and easily, but these individuals have won the genetic lottery and can only be used as guidance to a limited extent. In this article, we will focus on those who need to put in the hard work and whose muscles do not come easily. The good news is that anyone can gain a significant amount of muscle with enough discipline and a smart approach. Continue reading if you are one of those who are hunting for big muscles.

Planning

Regardless of the sport, there is a basic principle that is common in achieving goals and performance: ensuring that you are moving in the right direction. If a football team trains on the wrong things, or an Olympic weightlifter does not ensure that they are training the best technique, it's a lost cause. In fact, moving in the wrong direction can lead to injuries and the opposite result of what you want. Therefore, it is essential to have a plan when starting to build large muscles. What should you eat? How often should you train? What exercises should you do? How many reps and sets should you do? And once the plan is set, you must be able to follow through on it. Over the years, we have seen 90% of people without a plan at the gym, and only 10% with a plan. Unless you are one of those who won the genetic lottery, don't expect to build big muscles without a solid and well-thought-out plan. Unfortunately, too many people create such a plan without sufficient knowledge of training, or create a plan but never follow through on it. Our best tip is to find a mentor who can help you both with the creation and implementation of such a plan. A personal trainer with expertise in strength training is ideal here.

Self discipline

Building muscle is not something that happens overnight. If you've seen a documentary about a bodybuilder, you'll understand that it takes a lot of hard work. A typical bodybuilder lives a very routine-based life, with strict rules, for example: they wake up at 7am, train at 8am and eat 400 grams of chicken, 6 eggs and a serving of rice at 10am. Nothing is left to chance. While bodybuilders may have taken muscle building to the extreme, they are the best to learn from when it comes to building muscle. If you really want big muscles, you need to get some routine in your life and be disciplined enough to stick to it.

Set longterm goals

Setting long-term goals is also important. In the beginning, you may see great progress in the gym, simply because your body has a lot of potential to grow if you are starting from scratch. Additionally, you are often motivated and eager when you first start a project. But after several weeks or months, the difficult battles come, and so do the results. If your goal is to build big muscles, it's not about working out as hard as possible in week 2. It's a long-term project, where you gradually increase the load from light to heavy. Realise and accept that it may take you 3 years of strict training before your muscles start to become visibly bigger. Building muscle is not a sprint, but a marathon.

How to train for big muscles

There are extremely many different training philosophies and programs for how to build the biggest possible muscles. In our opinion, it is best to listen to the experts, namely bodybuilders. Kai Greene, former Mr. Olympia, has on several occasions stated that the weight on the weights should be lowered, while muscle contact should be increased. With muscle contact, we mean the mental focus on the specific muscle or muscle group that is to be loaded during a particular exercise. If you lift a bicep curl, you should really focus on the load in the biceps, not on the supporting muscles in the back or wrists. Another good source of knowledge about hypertrophy training is research from leading universities. In a research article from the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, it states that when training for hypertrophy, you should lift weights with 75-80% of your maximum weight, more reps, and shorter pauses. In literature, you often read about 12 reps and 3-4 sets, this is something we support.

Diet

Diet is something that is consistently underestimated when it comes to muscle building. Diet has extremely much to say for the body's ability to build muscle. Our philosophy is to avoid complicating things: Chicken, rice, eggs and broccoli are a basic component in almost any bodybuilder's diet, so just adopt it. In addition, it is important to ensure omega 3, 6 and 9, for example through seeds, oils and fish, and also to ensure frequent meals and high enough calorie intake. If you are wondering what calorie needs you have, you can use our calorie calculator. Ideally, the body should be in an anabolic state (the building phase) at all times, while the catabolic state should be avoided at all costs.

Conclusion

With a good plan, self-discipline, and a well-thought-out training and diet regime, anyone can build big muscles. Our best advice is to be patient, think that you are "in it for the long run", and accept that the heavy weights will come eventually.