6 Steps To Improve Muscle Gain

Muscle gain is a common goal for most workouts. People tend to want to be fit, strong, and healthy (of course losing weight is also right up there). However, many people find themselves struggling to gain muscle despite their consistency and devotion to their workouts.

Here are six steps to help improve your muscle gain:

1. Proper Form – Lifting weights is crucial to gaining muscle. However, you also need to be sure you are performing the exercises properly. While you can still get some benefits, you receive the most when completing the exercises well. It can also prevent injuries.
2. Right Exercises – Any exercise is ‘good’ exercise, but you need the right exercises for your goal. If your goal is to gain muscle, then you should be doing exercises that focus on the parts of the body you want to improve upon. Also, you should be using weights to help build the muscle.
3. Rest – A body needs rest. Do not mistake consistency with proper strength training. As you work out you are shredding your muscle. Muscle needs to repair in order to maximize on your gains. Do not work out the same muscle group two days in a row. If you are following a program such as P90X it is heavily emphasized. Give your muscle groups rests between intense workouts. It will prevent injury and allow your muscles to heal.
4. Tracking your progress – In order to gain muscle, you not only need to be working out well, you also need to keep moving forward. This means challenging yourself with higher weights and more reps. More weight typically means more large muscle, while more reps means more toning. It is important to keep track of the weights you are using and your reps. You must continually challenge yourself in order to grow.
5. Eating – Our society has bombarded us with information about eating. We eat too much. We eat the wrong foods. We need to cut back. However, in order to successful gain muscle there are a few important considerations. You need to eat enough food to support the muscle gain. Many experts estimate around 10-15% more calories than needed for weight maintenance. Keep in mind that these calories should come from healthy, protein rich foods in order to maximize muscle gain. Consider keeping a food log to help you.
6. Consistency – Gaining muscle is a lifestyle change, much like losing weight. In order to gain muscle and maintain this gain, you need to stay motivated with your workout. Cutting back or stopping your workout will risk you losing what you’ve gained.

Gaining muscle can be a rewarding yet tricky experience. Follow the above steps to help you on this journey.