Men’s fitness and muscle building training methods

As long as the four core conditions are met: "regular training with progressive overload, a reasonable caloric surplus of 300-500 calories, a daily protein intake of 2-2.5g per kilogram of body weight, and 7-9 hours of high-quality sleep every day", natural fitness novices can gain 8-12kg of pure muscle per year, and enthusiasts with more than 1 year of training experience can also steadily gain 2-4kg of muscle per year, without any fancy home remedies.

When many people first get into fitness, they always think that they need to find the most professional plan and eat the most demanding diet to gain muscle. This is the case with a young man born in 1998 who I met two years ago. He just graduated and rented a house next to the gym. He spent two hours every day and only practiced chest exercises until he could no longer lift his arms. In three months, he only gained 2 pounds in weight, and his chest shape was still not visible in a T-shirt. Later I found out that he didn't even keep track of how many kilograms he benched each time or how many reps he did. All his training was in vain.

In fact, the core of training is progressive overload. To put it bluntly, each training session should stimulate the muscles a little more than the last time - either do one more exercise, add 2.5kg of weight, or shorten the rest between sets from 3 minutes to 2 and a half minutes, as long as there is a little progress. Many people have been practicing for several years because they use the same weight and do the same reps every time they go to the gym. Their muscles have long since adapted, and of course they won’t grow.

Nowadays, the most quarrels about training plans on the Internet are bodybuilding-style differentiation and strength-style linear plans. Fans on both sides are almost getting angry with each other. In fact, it is really unnecessary. Newbies who have just entered the gym have poor nerve recruitment ability. A linear strength-building plan like 5x5, which focuses on three major events, is most suitable. Add weight every time you practice. Your strength will increase quickly, and your muscles will increase accordingly. It is much more efficient than trying to attack a single muscle group every day. Once you can bench press 1.5 times your body weight and deadlift you can pull 2 ​​times your body weight, it’s completely time to switch to differentiated training to carve out small details such as the mid-chest seam and brachialis muscles. I just practiced 5x5 the year before. My bench press increased from an empty bar to 100kg, my weight increased from 65kg to 78kg, and my clothes finally no longer looked like bamboo poles. Later, I switched to pushing and pulling legs to separate the details of training. Now my arm circumference is stable at 38cm, and my body fat is about 15%. I can look slim when I take off my clothes and wear clothes.

As for diet, it is the hardest hit area. I have seen people eating boiled chicken breasts and broccoli in order to gain muscle. After eating it for half a month, they felt like vomiting when they saw the green color. There are also people who follow the "visceral muscle building" diet and eat burgers and milk tea, and gain ten pounds, eight of which are fat. Both ideas actually make sense. If you are born skinny and don’t gain weight no matter what you eat, you can eat a little more liberally during the novice welfare period. If you have a surplus of 500-800 calories, your muscles will increase quickly. Even if you gain some fat, you can just brush it off later. ； But if your body fat exceeds 20%, it is more cost-effective to control the surplus to around 300 calories, otherwise it will be too painful to gain too much fat. I now calculate roughly every day, weighing 175cm75kg, and eat enough 160g of protein every day, which is about 4 eggs + a 200g chicken breast + a box of milk + a spoon of protein powder. Occasionally, I will eat fried chicken and drink a glass of iced Coke when I am greedy. I have gained 6 pounds in half a year, and my body fat has only increased by 2%. There is no need to make myself look like an ascetic.

To be honest, most people's slow muscle growth is not because they don't practice enough, but because they don't keep up with their recovery. I stayed up all night for a week working on a project, sleeping only 5 hours a day. I went to the gym and lost 10kg on the bench press, almost hitting my chest. Later I checked the literature and found out that the amount of growth hormone secreted during deep sleep is three times that of the day. No matter how hard you train and tear the muscle fibers into pieces, if you don't get enough sleep, your body will have no chance to repair and grow. There is also the matter of supplements. Don’t let the merchants cut you off. I have been working out for five years and only have protein powder and creatine in my drawer. Protein powder is just for convenience. Sometimes I work overtime and can’t catch up with meals and make a cup. It’s more cost-effective than ordering healthy takeout. ； Creatine has been proven by hundreds of scientific research papers to increase strength and muscle water content, and is extremely cost-effective. Other things like testosterone boosting and nitrogen pumping. Occasionally when I am in poor condition before training, I will take a sip of nitrogen pumping to refresh myself, but there is really no need to take it every day. It costs money and can easily lead to dependence.

Another controversial point is whether to train to failure. Some people say that each set must be done to failure to maximize muscle stimulation, while others say that leaving 1-2 reps to avoid injury is more suitable for long-term progress. My own experience is that novices should not push to failure casually, as deformed movements can easily cause injuries. Those with more than a year of training foundation can push to failure in the last 1-2 sets of each movement, and the stimulation effect is indeed better. In fact, there really isn’t that much mystery involved in building muscle, and you don’t need to watch short videos every day and collect a bunch of plans to “build unicorn arms in 7 days.” You can just honestly carry on a little more every time you train, do one more thing, eat enough protein, sleep enough, and stick to it for three months. The changes will definitely be more useful than just guessing. After all, we ordinary fitness enthusiasts just want to look good in clothes, have better physical fitness, find a rhythm that suits us, and being able to stick to it is more important than anything else.