Increasing muscle mass is more than becoming aesthetically strong or physically stronger. It's one of the best ways to enhance your quality of life because you actively minimise the probability of aches and pains. With strong and lean muscles, your bones and joints are better supported for mobility, and you boost your metabolism for better weight management. Moreover, making muscle development a priority allows you to acquire new abilities that can delay age-related physical and cognitive decline. Having muscle definition in all the right places is an undeniable bonus in this fitness journey.

Here at Alchemy Personal Training, we offer the BUILD Programme to instil the importance of personalised training and proper nutrition to, as the name suggests, build strong muscles. Below is a simple guide to the basics of increasing muscle mass safely and strategically.

4 Tips to Build Strong Muscles with Exercise

Determine Rep Count

Alchemy's BUILD Programme is based on the principle of progressive overload where you do a series of compound and targeted exercises to stimulate muscle growth. The rep count will depend on your current fitness level and the complexity of the workout. Also, note that higher rep counts don't always translate to muscle growth.

If you refer to the rep-range continuum, 1 to 5 reps build strength, 6 to 12 reps develop muscle growth, and more than 12 promote muscle endurance. Working with a personal trainer will help you decipher the right number of reps per exercise to train specific muscle groups at a time.

Pick a Safe but Challenging Weight

We cannot emphasise enough the importance of the quality of form for safety. You must first understand how to do the exercise correctly before adding any weight. Start with a weight that allows you to move with proper form but is challenging enough for the number of reps you're doing.

You need to strike the balance between using lighter weights with higher rep counts and heavy weights with lower rep counts. Changing the number of reps and increasing weights as you progress through training usually yields the most promising muscle growth.

Match Exercises with Muscle Groups

When you're working out to increase muscle mass, you have to be more strategic about how you move. You need personalised training with the right set of exercises to activate the right muscle group. Including a good mix of targeted and compound exercises will help maximise muscle gains and make your workout sessions more efficient.

For example, to tone your triceps, you need to perform exercises that activate your triceps. It could be a targeted tricep exercise like a tricep kickback, or a compound exercise that uses the triceps like a pushup. Switching through both exercises develops upper body strength alongside defined triceps.

Don't Overtrain

Workouts need to be structured to avoid overtraining and fatigue. Structured routines allow you to get the most out of compound and targeted exercises while giving your body adequate time to rest for muscles to heal and grow.

Ideally, structured workout routines include 3 to 5 compound exercises for 3 sets and 1 to 2 targeted movements for another 3 sets. Each exercise varies in difficulty depending on the assigned weight and intensity, and each workout session would alternate through different muscle groups. Plan for 1 to 2 rest days per week to give your muscles a chance to recover.

4 Things to Factor into Your Diet for Muscle Growth

Bulking and Cutting Seasons

Bodybuilders, athletes, and fitness enthusiasts understand the value and difference between bulking and cutting seasons. Basically, bulking refers to training periods where you consume more than you burn to get bigger. Cutting would then mean lessening calorie intake to become leaner–sculpt your body as you convert body fat into muscle.

Theoretically, you bulk up then you cut down. The length of the bulking period would depend on how much muscle mass and strength you want to gain. To avoid acquiring too much fat in the process of bulking, we suggest limiting your caloric surplus to 500. And when you're cutting, be sure not to compromise your nutrition and training to prevent muscle loss.

Calorie Intake

You will need a nutrition plan to balance your calorie allocation. It will depend on your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) which is influenced by your age, gender, current lean body mass, occupation, physical activity, and medical conditions. You can use an online calorie calculator but nothing beats a consultation with your physician and/ or nutritionist.

To gain muscle, you need to have a caloric surplus of around 300 to 500. For example, if your TDEE is 2,000 calories, then you should eat up to 2,500 calories per day. Try eating small but frequent meals to spread out your calorie intake for better digestion. Also, remember to account for liquid calories.

Protein-rich Food

It is crucial to consume protein to build muscle. Studies suggest you must aim to eat 0.8 grams of protein per pound (or 1.7 grams per kilogram) of body weight per day. The protein needed will also depend on the person's level of physical activity per day.

Lean proteins like chicken breast, fish, tempeh, eggs, beans, and nuts are the best foods to increase muscle mass because they contribute to growth and recovery. You can also get proteins from whole grains but you'll have to eat a lot to achieve the ideal portion of 25 to 35% of your total daily calorie intake.

Carb and Fat Percentages

You can't rule out carbs and fat completely since these food groups provide our body energy. You need around 40 to 60% of your calories to be from carbs and 15 to 25% to come from fat. But again, we must think of the quality of carbs and fat we eat.

To develop muscles, it is best to consume starchy and fibrous carbs like potatoes and bananas and get good fat from avocados and fatty fish like salmon or tuna.

Final Thoughts on How to Increase Muscle Mass with Exercise and Diet

Exercise and diet go hand-in-hand in increasing muscle mass. It takes consistency in both practices to have a defined muscular frame. When it comes to exercise, remember that it's about working out in challenging ways and not in painful ways. As for diet, it's all about getting the necessary nutrients to sustain your energy while building muscle. We have a dedicated team of trainers here at Alchemy Personal Training who can design a bespoke workout routine and provide you with nutritional guidance to inch you closer to looking and becoming your strongest self.