What are the training methods for men’s fitness and muscle gain?

For ordinary men, there are not so many fancy ways to gain muscle efficiently. The core logic cannot be as simple as "give the muscles enough progressive stimulation + caloric surplus + sufficient protein + sufficient recovery". This is what a fitness veteran who I have known for five years and steadily gained from 120 pounds to 160 pounds told me during the bench press group last week. I have taught seven or eight novices myself, and after going through the pits I have walked through, this is indeed the principle.

Don't just focus on the abdominal muscles and forearms as soon as you enter the gym. Last week, I met a junior who came to check in. After practicing for three months, the circumference of his arms did not increase by half a millimeter. When I asked him, he learned that every time he entered the gym, he would first do 40 minutes of abdominal muscle training, and then just take a photo and leave by pushing two sets of chest for the remaining 20 minutes. It would be weird if he could gain muscle. During the muscle-building period, it is not nonsense to focus on compound movements such as squats, deadlifts, bench presses, presses, pull-ups, and rowing. In the novice stage, the nerve recruitment ability is poor. Those isolation movements that "accurately stimulate the outer side of the upper chest" taught by Internet celebrities will probably end up borrowing arm strength to feel strong for a long time. Compound movements can mobilize multiple muscle groups to work together at one time. If the weight is high and the stimulation is deep enough, it will increase faster.

Speaking of this, some people may ask, are the push-pull legs and five-point training that are popular on the Internet useless? It’s really not a one-size-fits-all approach. I know a friend who competes in amateur bodybuilding competitions. During the preparation period, he did a three-point push-pull leg training. He practiced six days a week and focused on one part at a time. His muscle size increased rapidly. However, he has six years of training foundation. His resting testosterone level is much higher than that of ordinary people, and his recovery ability can keep up. If a novice who has only been practicing for half a month follows this plan, there is a high probability that he will either When joints are injured, or the recovery is unable to keep up and the muscles are lost, my general advice to novices is to start with whole-body training, three times a week, and go through the main muscle groups of the body each time. Each training, even if you push 2.5 kilograms more than the last time or do one more pull-up, it is a real progressive overload. This is the core underlying logic of muscle gain, and it is more effective than changing hundreds of movements.

When it comes to food, don’t stick to the formulas on the Internet. You must eat 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. My veteran friend initially ate 14 egg whites a day to make up for it until he vomited. Later, he found that he was lactose intolerant, so he switched to two boxes of whole milk + two spoons of whey protein + three normal meals of lean meat every day. Not only was it easy to implement, but he also had enough protein intake. As for the hotly debated topics on the Internet, such as "Can you eat fat to gain muscle?" and "Will protein powder hurt your kidneys?", they all depend on the situation: as long as the calories are controlled within the range of 300-500 calories more than daily consumption, eating some pork belly and nuts appropriately will not increase fat at all, but can help you maintain hormone levels. ； Protein powder is purified whey protein. As long as you don’t have underlying kidney disease, drinking it according to the instructions will not cause any additional burden on the kidneys. I have been drinking it for three years, and my annual physical examinations have shown that my kidney function is within the normal range.

There is also a recovery link that many people tend to overlook. Some people on the Internet said that they still gain muscle after sleeping for 6 hours a day. I have actually met such a person: the man who drives a night shift online car-hailing service. He picks up the car at 2 o'clock in the middle of the night and reports to the gym at 9 o'clock in the morning. He sleeps 5 hours a day, and the dimensions of his arms are still growing. However, he is born with high testosterone levels. He is a unique talent. Ordinary people should not blindly imitate it. , if you stay up late playing games until two or three o'clock every day, it will be in vain no matter how hard you train and how much protein you eat. After all, muscle tearing is done in the gym, and repairing and growing depends entirely on the growth hormone secreted by the body when you are asleep. There was a time when I stayed up all night for a week to work on a project, and my bench press weight dropped by 10 kilograms, and the muscles that had finally grown hard also shrank back. Only after stepping on the pit did I know how important recovery is.

Oh, by the way, don’t always think about shooting videos with heavy weights to show off. Last month, a young man next to me deadlifted 180 pounds. His movements were deformed and he still had to deadlift. As a result, his waist flashed and he had to rest for three months. He lost half of the muscles he had accumulated for half a year. It was not worth the loss. The standard of movement is always more important than the weight. When you bench press, your shoulder blades are not closed and your core is not tense. The weight you push up by shaking your torso will not only get you two likes in the circle of friends, but it will have no effect on building muscle.

Last week, the junior guy who used to train his abdominal muscles blindly changed his plan and started training three times a week. He practiced compound movements thoroughly every time. He also consciously ate two more steaks at the dinner table. After only one month, he came to me and told me that his arm circumference had increased by 1 centimeter. You see, there are so many mysterious secrets to increase muscle. If you follow the rules, it will work better than any fancy methods.