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

For the vast majority of ordinary men, the essence of the effective muscle-building method is to focus on the three cores of "sufficient mechanical tension stimulation + progressive load increase + diet and rest matching". Those fancy Internet celebrity movements and the devil plan of seven exercises a week are basically gimmicks to earn traffic. For those who truly maintain low body fat and high muscle mass all year round, the training plan is very simple.

I met a kid born in the 2000s at the gym. He came to train just after the college entrance examination. He is 180cm tall and only weighs 104 pounds. He followed a fitness blogger to learn five-point training. Monday is chest, Tuesday is back, Wednesday is shoulders, Thursday is arms, and Friday is legs. I also run five kilometers on weekends to "brush fat." After two months of training, I weighed myself and lost 2 pounds. I went to the coach in our gym with a sad face to adjust the plan. Later, he was changed to training three times a week, each time doing three major exercises: squats, deadlifts, and bench presses, plus two auxiliary movements corresponding to small muscle groups. Each training session was controlled within 1 hour and 10 minutes, and he ate the amount calculated for him based on 2g of protein per kilogram of body weight and a 30-kcal calorie surplus. He gained 14 pounds in two and a half months, and his previous T-shirts were so tight.

Of course, this does not mean that modes such as five-point splitting and push-pull legs are not good. The most controversial thing in the fitness circle now is the advantages and disadvantages of training splitting modes. In fact, there is no standard answer at all. It all depends on your own foundation and the training time you can devote to it. If you have been practicing for two or three years and have reached the entry threshold for all three major weights (bench press 1.5 times your body weight, deadlift 2 times your body weight, and squat 1.8 times your body weight), and you can squeeze out 4-5 days of training time per week, then use push-pull legs or five-point splits to give enough capacity to individual muscle groups. On the contrary, the progress is much faster than the full-body training three times a week. The fitness guy in our gym who competes in the provincial competition even arranges separate training for small muscle groups such as the triceps and serratus anterior during the preparation period. When he goes on stage, the state of muscle drawing is indeed much better than that of players who use rough differentiation.

Another topic that has been quarreling for several years is whether aerobics can be done during the muscle-building period. One group says that aerobics will consume muscles and should not be touched during the muscle-building period. The other group says that aerobics can improve cardiopulmonary capacity, and can instead handle a greater training capacity. My own experience after trying it is that it all depends on the individual basis. If you are a skinny "pork rib man" and struggle to make up enough calories for daily meals, then during the muscle-building period, do not do more than 20 minutes of aerobic exercise. At most, you can walk briskly for 10 minutes to stretch and relax. ； If you have high sebum and can control your daily caloric surplus, then jogging or cycling for less than 30 minutes twice a week can prevent you from gaining too much fat during the muscle-building period, and you won't have to suffer too much when you apply fat later.

To put it bluntly, building muscle is actually similar to building more meat. You need to give enough light (training stimulation) first, and every time you train until the target muscle group has obvious soreness, you must slowly increase the weight and increase the number of sets. This week, you can push 60 kilograms for 8 reps. Next week, you have to try to push 8 and a half, or add 2.5 kilograms for 6 reps. The muscles will only grow if they receive stronger stimulation than before. Otherwise, it will think that your current strength is enough, so why would you want to grow new ones? Then give it enough water and fertilizer (dietary surplus), and finally give it enough time to let it grow slowly (rest and recovery). If any of them are missing, it won't work. I have seen too many people paddling while practicing, checking their mobile phones three times for a set of exercises, eating protein powder before thinking about it after practicing, staying up late playing games until two or three o'clock at night, and saying that they have "easy to lose weight" and "no talent" after practicing for half a year and without any results. In fact, they have not touched the threshold of muscle gain at all.