Tag Archives: how to gain muscle mass

Simple steps to bulk (how I gained 9kg in 2 months)

Before and after muscle mass gain. How to gain muscle mass

Before and after of my rather clean bulk. Next step, a cut to take out all the extra flab I gained

Aesthetics and fitness go hand in hand. We might kid ourselves into thinking that we’re only looking for strength and endurance, but, unless you’re competing (and I’m willing to bet you’re not), the “look” is something that we’re all interested in. Be it to draw gazes or having the mirror tell us we’re doing ok, it’s what got most of us into the gym in the first place, and something that is at least always in the back of our heads.

On the other hand, while men want to be (at least) a little bit bigger and ripped, women would do well with a small bulk every once in a while (don’t worry, if most men cannot look like Arnold without strong chemical help, and neither do you). So, here’s my step by step into how I managed to gain, pretty cleanly, 9kg in 2 months.

Define your basal caloric needs for the week

I thought a daily count was necessary, but, having been at 81kg for a long while, eating under my calories during the week and compensating on the weekend, I believe that taking longer periods is better. Some day your social life will get in the way (and that’s ok), and you’ll be either drinking or eating more that you thought. Don’t beat yourself up, but take it into account on the rest of the week (ie: compensate in more than one day, not the next day. That doesn’t work either).

How to know your TWEE (total weekly energy expenditure, or how many calories you consume in a week)? Join myfitnesspal.com and have it run the numbers. Multiply by 7 afterwards. Use it as a guideline.

Eat your proteins

I don’t care where they come from. Eat them. Love them. Sleep with them. And, when in doubt, consume more. I’ve been eating some protein during the day and a killer at dinner (usually around 0.5kg of meat + 2 eggs + veggies + cream cheese + 1 avocado). You’ll need the protein, wherever it may come from.

You can always go with the Renegade Diet. I haven’t tried it myself but have heard good things from friends that have.

Supplement yourself

However you see fit. I’ve been consuming one can of tuna fish every weekday for the last 2 months and have been loving it. It also makes sure I hit my protein goal for the day, or stay close enough.

Focus on strength

I’m not a fan of hypertrophy work. So, I focused on strength. And you know what? It probably wouldn’t have changed a bit in the net result

Strength train to maximize hypertrophy

Strength training. Works for lego, works for you – Photo by Pascal

(even more so, it was a bodyweight program). Just focus on doing the work, regardless of what it is. I’m pretty sure a more endurance focus will provide bulking results as well (you’ll just have to eat more). This is what I’m going to see what happens in September. Bigger volumes, less intensity.

Be clean 80% of the time

You don’t need to eat clean 100% of the time. God knows I wouldn’t take it. I was personally looking for a clean-ish bulk. The ish was the magic. I could drink and eat whatever I wanted, as long as I kept it to my weekends (1,5/7 days, around 70% really), and Sunday nights I’d usually eat less, since I was too stuffed from the rest of my weekend binge.

That’s it. There’s really nothing magical about it. It’s more about your diet than your workouts really. Create a healthy surplus and keep working out as you have and you’ll be gold.

If you don’t believe me, here’s the routine I followed:

Day 1

Front lever progression 5 x 10-15 seconds

Handstand progression 5 x 25-40 seconds

Weigthed pull-ups (@ 15kg) up to 25 reps

Headstand push-ups up to 25 reps

Pistols 5×5

Hanging leg raises 5×8

Day 2

Back lever progressions 5 x 10-15 seconds

Lsit 5 x 8 seconds

Weighted dips (very wide, don’t recommend) @10kgs up to 25 reps

Weighted tuck rows @5kg up to 25 reps

TGU 3×3

This 4 times a week in an ABAB fashion. That’s it. No extremes, little to no failures, and I’m happy as hell with the results.

Here’s the pic again.

Motus virtute

How to workout for busy people – Muscle mass focus

On this 4th part of the how to workout for busy people (part 1, part 2, part 3) I’ll focus on building muscle mass. It’s not easy, and don’t expect to Arnold-out in a couple of months.

What makes gaining mass hard

Barring pharmaceutical help, gaining mass is a complex science/art. There’s several types of hypertrophy which take in

Photo by Brian Auer

Photo by Brian Auer

account different volumes, rep ranges and intensities. More over, building lean muscle mass takes a lot more than just training. The simple formula would be

Eating at a surplus + plenty of rest + working out = more lean muscle mass

And that’s without factoring in hormonal profiles, etc. Of course, this is as simple as I can make it. Focusing on the working out part, the main variable here will be volume (meaning, how much you put up in total). Of course, given that we’re busy people, we’ll focus on density. Density will be taken in acount as volume/time. (BTW, I was introduced to density as a variable through Pavel’s Enter the Kettlebell, so I’m going to pretty much use that definition).

Building muscle for busy people

This whole idea was introduced by Charles Staley (although it’s probably much much older, as most things in the physical training department… Even bro culture), so, full props to him for being a genius.

For this type of workouts you’ll need, at least, a stopwatch, a piece of paper and something to write.

  1. You’ll pair two antagonist exercises (like Deadlifts and Bench Presses or Squats and Pull-ups).
  2. You’ll set the timer for 15-20 minutes for compound exercises.
  3. Set a weight with which you can do 7-10 solid, correct reps and start doing sets of 5.
  4. Go back and forth between both exercises resting as little as needed. As you fatigue start reducing the reps per set and resting more.
  5. Take note of how many reps in total you’ve done for each exercise. Strive for at least +1 rep every workout.
  6. Once you’ve done 30% more reps than the first session with a given weight, add more weight (2,5-5kg/5-10lbs. no more).
  7. If you still have time after your first 20 minutes (and energy), and insist on adding more exercises. For isolation moves do no more than 10 minutes (pairing curls with tricep extensions, calf raises with wrist exercises… take your pick).
  8. Curse at me. But curse at Charles Staley more, he made EDT (Escalating Density Training… as it’s called) famous. It really is his fault, not mine.

Unfortunately, this type of training works best with a barbell. There’s no way around it. You can use other implements, but truth be told, they won’t be as effective as.

Squat, a complete exercise busy people should never ignore

Any variety of this beautiful exercise should always be in your program. No matter what your goal is.
Photo by US Naval Force Central Command

Share this with busy people you know! With many changes in their lives, their fitness may go to the back burner!

Motus Virtute