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Home Ā /Ā  OSL Blog Ā /Ā  How to Gain Muscle Mass: Tips for Building Muscle

How to Gain Muscle Mass: Tips for Building Muscle


Key Takeaways

  1. Hypertrophy depends on several factors, not just your diet and training routine.
  2. Your lifestyle habits, such as drinking and smoking, as well as your age, sex, body type, and hormone levels, affect your ability to build mass.
  3. Testosterone and human growth hormone play a crucial role in muscle growth. There are ways to boost these hormones naturally without the need for anabolic steroids or hormone replacement therapy.
  4. Change your workout routine constantly to prevent plateaus and shock your muscles into growth. Consider switching to a specialized training program, such as StrongLifts 5x5, German volume training or double-split training.
  5. A clean bulk combined with heavy lifting and adequate rest can maximize hypertrophy and ensure optimal recovery.

Bodybuilding is both art and science. You canā€™t simply go to the gym and lift weights until failure, hoping that your back or biceps will grow bigger and stronger. Whether your goal is better health, performance, or aesthetics, there are no shortcuts to help you get there. 

If youā€™re wondering how to gain muscle mass, be prepared to give your diet and training plan a complete makeover. 

Building Muscle

Regardless of your fitness level, you must constantly challenge your muscles into growth. Even the best workout routine will stop working sooner or later as your body adapts. 

Hypertrophy, or muscle growth, isnā€™t just about what happens in the gym. What you eat and how you tackle the rest of your day matters too. 

Even a few nights of poor sleep can diminish your performance and mess up your hormones. In the long run, it may affect your gains and lead to muscle loss

Your ability to build mass also depends on your somatotype and the way your hormones respond to training. Your lifestyle habits play a role too. Alcohol use, for example, can interfere with testosterone production and affect your ability to recover from training, lose fat, and gain muscle. 

Today weā€™ll discuss these aspects and share the best ways to build mass and strength. Find out how to jump-start your anabolism and pack on serious muscle! 

Factors Influencing Muscle Growth 

Muscle hypertrophy depends on several factors other than your diet and training routine. Your age, sex, body type, DNA, and hormone levels all come into play, according to a research paper published in Cellular and Molecular Regulation of Muscle Regeneration

Letā€™s start with your training routine. 

Dumbbell Curls

Weight lifting and other forms of exercise cause trauma to the muscle fibers, leading to micro-tears. This process activates satellite cells that fuse together and to the muscle fibers to heal the damaged tissues, leading to an increase in muscle fiber cross-sectional area. 

Your hormones influence hypertrophy too. Testosterone, human growth hormone (HGH), insulin-like growth factor-I and ā€“II (IGFs) and testosterone all affect muscle growth. 

Weight training, for example, stimulates HGH release, increasing the uptake of amino acids into protein in your muscles. This hormone also accelerates fat burning and may improve body composition.Ā 

Men vs. Women

Men and women respond similarly to exercise, according to the above review. However, they do get different results because of the differences in body size, hormone levels, and muscle-to-fat ratio.

The specific difference in the amount of testosterone each biological sex produces was reported by the University of Rochester as the following:

The male body releases about 280 to 1,100 nanograms of testosterone per deciliter. Women, on the other hand, produce only 15 to 70 nanograms per deciliter. This difference alone explains why female athletes are not as muscular as their male counterparts. 

Aging plays a role too. Testosterone levels in men begin to decrease by about 1% per year after age 30 or so. In women, they decline after age 45 to 55, depending on the onset of menopause. 

However, a 2012 study published by the Endocrine Society suggests that aging is just one part of the equation when it comes to testosterone levels. 

A manā€™s overall health, lifestyle habits, and behavioral changes influence his hormone levels as well. Depression, for instance, may interfere with your bodyā€™s ability to release testosterone. 

Optimize Your Testosterone Levels 

Speaking of testosterone ā€” just because youā€™re in your 40s or 50s, it doesnā€™t mean you canā€™t bring your T levels back to normal. 

Simple lifestyle changes, such as quitting alcohol and losing fat, can make all the difference. Plus, you can always use a natural testosterone booster to optimize your hormone levels. 

Testosterone Chemical Symbols

Weā€™ve covered the best ways to increase testosterone naturally in a previous post, so we wonā€™t go into details. Check out our guide to see what it takes to maximize your T-levels through diet and training!

In the meantime, try these strategies: 

  • Lose the extra weight
  • Increase your protein and fat intakeĀ 
  • Lift heavier and cut back on steady-state cardio
  • Use HIIT (high-intensity interval training) to burn fat
  • Focus on compound movementsĀ 
  • Get more sleep
  • Quit or limit alcohol
  • Fill up on whole foods
  • Take a natural testosterone boosterĀ 

Weight & T Levels

Wondering what does your weight have to do with your T levels? According to a 2014 review in the Asian Journal of Andrology, obesity and low testosterone are strongly connected. The more body fat you carry, the lower your total and free testosterone levels. 

In a cohort study, obesity was linked to an 8.7-fold increased risk of secondary hypogonadism (total testosterone lower than 10.5 nanograms per deciliter). Being overweight, on the other hand, was associated with a 3.3-fold increased risk of developing this condition. 

These negative effects might be due to the presence of diabetes and other disorders that tend to affect obese and overweight men. As the researchers note, aging itself is unlikely to cause a sharp decline in testosterone. 

If youā€™re obese or overweight, take the steps needed to lose those pesky pounds. Consider switching to a ketogenic diet and use a natural fat burner to get faster results. 

A good starting point is to determine your macronutrient ratios. From here, you can plan your meals and snacks based on your goals.

Choose the Right Training Plan 

The same training program wonā€™t work for everyone. Even if you find one that works for you, expect to hit a plateau at some point. As your muscles adapt, exercises that were once challenging become easier. 

Thatā€™s why itā€™s necessary to constantly change your workout routine and keep your body guessing. This concept, which is known as progressive overload, is the key to muscle and strength gains. 

Personal Trainer

First, you must choose a workout plan that supports your goals. As you get used to it, you need to increase the load, take shorter breaks, or add new exercises to the mix. 

For inspiration, check out these crazy workouts of the 70s. Consider one of the following bodybuilding programs to pack on mass: 

  • 5 X 5 Program
  • Upper/lower split training
  • German volume training
  • Full-body workouts
  • Double-split routines

Now letā€™s take a quick look at each of these training plans. 

StrongLifts 5Ɨ5 

The 5Ɨ5 program is designed to increase strength. As your muscles get stronger, their size increases. 

Man squatting a huge weight

This lifting plan encompasses 5 sets of 5 reps per exercise. Several variations exist, with StrongLifts being the most popular. 

StrongLifts 5Ɨ5 includes two workouts consisting of multi-joint movements:

Workout A:

  • Squats: 5 sets of 5 reps
  • Bench press: 5 sets of 5 reps
  • Barbell rows: 5 sets of 5 reps

Workout B:

  • Squats: 5 sets of 5 reps
  • Deadlifts: 5 sets of 5 reps
  • Overhead press: 5 sets of 5 reps

For best results, hit the gym three times a week on non-consecutive days. You can do Workout A on Tuesdays, Workout B on Thursdays, and Workout A on Saturdays. 

Basically, itā€™s necessary to alternate between these workouts and take one or days off after each training session. 

Increase the load gradually from one workout to the next. This will prevent your muscles from adapting to the demands of training and stimulate hypertrophy. 

Beware, though ā€” this training plan isnā€™t for beginners. Itā€™s important that you already have a strong foundation before getting started. 

Upper/Lower Split Training

Upper/lower split training is a beginner-friendly option and offers greater flexibility in terms of exercise selection. It can include both compound and isolation movements, from squats and deadlifts to reverse flyes. 

Split Training

As its name suggests, this program requires splitting your training routine into upper and lower body workouts. Ideally, hit the gym for two days in a row, take a day off, and start again. 

For your upper body workout, focus on chest, shoulder, triceps, biceps, and back exercises. 

Your lower body workouts will target the quads, calves, hamstrings, glutes, and abs. Some folks, however, prefer to train the abs and lower back muscles on upper body days. 

According to a 2016 review in Sports Medicine, training the major muscle groups at least twice a week helps maximize hypertrophy. These findings demonstrate why upper/lower split training is so effective. 

German Volume Training

German volume training, which is ideal for building mass, involves doing 10 sets of 10 reps with the same weight for each exercise.

Rest periods between sets should not exceed 60 to 90 minutes. Itā€™s brutally hard, but the results are worth it. 

German Volume Training

Like with regular training, youā€™ll follow a split routine. Train two muscle groups during each session.

Letā€™s look at an example:

  • Monday: Chest and back 
  • Tuesday: Rest
  • Wednesday: Abs and legs
  • Tuesday: Rest
  • Friday: Shoulders and arms
  • Saturday and Sunday: Rest

Increase the weight by about 5% once youā€™re able to complete 10 sets of 10 reps with perfect form. The workouts are taxing on your body and central nervous system, so stick to five weekly sessions. Cut out or limit cardio to avoid overtraining. 

Full-Body Workouts 

Another option is to perform full-body workouts, which engage all the major muscle groups during each session. This training protocol can be adapted to your fitness level and has dozens of versions you can try. 

Man using rope workouts

Pick at least one exercise for each muscle group. A typical full-body program could look like this:

  • Bulgarian split squats
  • Barbell bench press
  • Dumbbell military press
  • T-bar rows
  • Biceps curls 
  • Triceps extensions
  • Standing calf raises
  • Decline crunches 

A 2016 study published in the journal Biology of Sport compared the effects of full-body and split body training protocols on rugby players. Both groups reported similar strength gains but got different results in terms of hormonal changes and body composition. 

Subjects who followed a full-body training program had higher testosterone-to-cortisol ratios and experienced greater fat loss than those using split-body training. However, both programs have improved body composition.

Double-Split Routines 

Arnold and other old school bodybuilders did double-split routines before competitions to increase mass while shredding fat. This workout program isnā€™t for the frail of heart as it involves training twice a day. 

Weā€™re not talking about lifting weights in the morning and doing cardio later in the day. 

Double Split Routine

With this program, youā€™ll engage in two daily strength training sessions to maximize anabolism and stimulate as many motor units as possible within the muscles youā€™re targeting. 

To keep it simple, double-split routines involve training the same muscle groups twice a day. The trick is to use a variety of rep ranges so that you can target fast-, intermediate-, and slow-twitch muscle fibers. 

For example, you may use a lower rep range in the morning and higher reps in the evening, or vice-versa. Keep the volume moderate and try not to exceed 20 sets per workout. Otherwise, your cortisol levels will skyrocket. 

Regardless of what training plan you choose, proper nutrition is paramount. If you eat junk, you wonā€™t be able to perform at your peak. On top of that, you might end up gaining fat, not lean mass. 

And this brings us to the next point. 

How to Gain Muscle Mass on a Clean Bulk

Whether you want to gain one or 10 pounds of muscle, you must maintain a caloric surplus. Thatā€™s why athletes go through bulking and cutting phases. Bulking allows them to pack on mass, whether cutting makes it easier to torch fat. 

A clean bulk involves eating extra calories from whole and minimally processed foods. The increase in calories should be gradual in order to minimize fat gain. 

Well balance and healthy meal

Like it or not, youā€™ll gain fat while bulking ā€” and thatā€™s perfectly normal. 

However, the amount of fat youā€™ll put on depends on your training level. Beginners are more likely to gain lean mass than those whoā€™ve been lifting weights for a while.Ā 

High Protein Foods

As a rule of thumb, fill up on high-protein foods

As reported in the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, once individual protein requirements are met, the remaining calories have the greatest impact on body composition. You need protein to build and preserve mass, recover from training, and stay full longer. 

Get enough calories to grow but donā€™t go overboard. Aim for a slow but steady gain of up to 1% of your current body weight per week. Thatā€™s about 1.8 pounds per week for a 180-pound person.

Best Protein Powder

Supplement your diet with protein shakes to fuel anabolism. Choose a premium formula, like Old School Labsā€™ Vintage Brawnā„¢, which contains both fast- and slow-digesting protein.

Bad Sleep, Bad Gains

Not even the best diet and training plan can compensate for a lack of sleep. Your body needs time to recover from training and daily stress. 

But thatā€™s not all. 

According to a review in Medical Hypotheses, sleep deprivation can negatively affect cognitive processes, hormone production, appetite, and glycemic control. Furthermore, it reduces protein synthesis and triggers catabolism aka muscle loss. 

Sleep and Muscle Gain

When you skimp on sleep, the stress hormone cortisol levels go up. Elevated cortisol not only affects muscle growth and performance, but it may also put you at risk for diabetes, weight gain, digestive disorders, heart disease, and erectile dysfunction. 

Cortisol also promotes fat storage, especially in the abdominal area, when produced in excess. This type of adipose tissue is known as visceral fat and has four times more cortisol receptors than subcutaneous fat. 

Additionally, high cortisol levels may cause changes in food preferences and feeding behavior. Thatā€™s why you may feel hungrier than usual or experience strong sugar cravings after skimping on sleep. 

If your goal is to build mass, limit stress and get at least eight hours of shut-eye per night. Itā€™s not uncommon for athletes to sleep for 10 or more hours a night to ensure optimal recovery.

Eat, Train, and Sleep for Maximum Muscle Growth 

Hardgainers arenā€™t the only ones who struggle to build mass. Any athlete can hit a plateau and stop growing. Thatā€™s why you must constantly adjust your diet and training program, experiment with new workouts, and step outside your comfort zone. 

Now you know how to gain muscle mass. However, you still have a lot to learn. For many folks, it takes years of practice to figure out what works best for them when it comes to training and meal prepping. 

Start with this muscle-building plan and take it from there. Or let yourself be inspired by Arnoldā€™s workout routine

In the meantime, feel free to ask us any questions you may have about building mass and strength. Remember, we are here to guide you on your journey to a perfect physique! 

Disclaimer: None of the individuals and/or companies mentioned necessarily endorse Old School Labs products or the contents of this article. Any programs provided for illustration purposes only. Always consult with your personal trainer, nutritionist and physician before changing or starting any new exercise, nutrition, or supplementation program.
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