Committing yourself to build bigger, stronger muscles is a top goal for many people. Sometimes this may be difficult because there are popular methods that can be harmful. You want to grow muscles safely and healthily.
Avoid all the shortcuts and the promises of fast muscle growth that put your health in danger. Keep reading to learn how to build your muscles safely and quickly here.
What Factors Affect Fast Muscle Growth
Everyone wants to feel like their efforts in the gym are paying off. The sight of bulging muscles on your body is the only reassuring sign of growth. If you’ve spent several months lifting heavy, you expect some muscles to show off.
Unfortunately, our bodies respond differently to workouts and diet. But you don’t have to worry if you think you’re putting in a lot of work without any significant results. Several factors determine how fast you improve muscle mass.
Training Age or Experience
Early phases of training are often synonymous with rapid muscle growth. A newbie who has been serious with their regimen is likely to experience faster muscle growth than a pro.
Your muscles can only grow so much. At some point, you’ll reach a plateau phase where growth is slower than you would wish. Tangential growth is possible at this level but with a 100% amplified training plan.
Mass Growth Hormones
The level of growth hormones in your body also determines how fast you grow muscles. Hormones like the growth hormone and insulin growth factor 1 attach to androgen receptors to boost muscle growth.
Individuals with higher levels of these hormones are more likely to build bulkier muscles. Growth hormones (also known as anabolic hormones) boost muscle mass by binding small molecules together.
Your regimen, lifestyle, and nutrition are some factors you can change to stimulate the growth hormone. Intense exercise and resistance training can trigger anabolic processes and enhance protein synthesis for bigger muscles.
Individuals who practiced intermittent fasting saw a 1250% increase in their growth hormone levels. Fasting helps you reduce belly fat and insulin levels.
When it comes to your diet, you should consider taking more lean proteins and natural fats. A protein-dense diet is essential to fast muscle building. Take more chicken, steak, eggs, whole carbs, and natural fats like coconut or avocado.
Supplementation
Supplements, especially those that mimic the functions of growth hormones, may help you grow more mass. Research-backed non-steroid hormones like mk2866 contain ostarine that binds to androgen receptors to trigger muscle growth.
Other considerably safe and effective supplements like whey protein can be a great addition to your regimen. Whey protein is naturally sourced from milk and contains amino acids, a key muscle recovery ingredient.
Testosterone Levels
One of the simple reasons women and elderly individuals may struggle to grow muscles is testosterone. Generally, men have a higher average of testosterone than women. And testosterone also begins to drop slowly from the age of 30.
Elevating your testosterone levels is one way to achieve fast muscle growth. Persist with resistance training to boost it, especially if you’re a man. A 30-minute weight lifting session can increase testosterone in men by 21.6% and women by 16.7%.
A diet rich in lean proteins and cruciferous vegetables is essential for testosterone production. These foods contain zinc which can help you increase your testosterone levels.
Another way to boost testosterone levels is to focus on building a lean body. Body fat inhibits testosterone levels and encourages higher levels of estrogen. If you’re over a certain weight, you’ll end with more E than T which can cause your body to struggle with burning body fats and building muscles.
Getting at least 30 minutes of sun every day can speed up testosterone production. Sun exposure stimulates vitamin D synthesis, which helps to increase testosterone levels. Consider taking vitamin D supplements, especially if you live in really cloudy areas.
Muscle Limiting Hormones
Catabolic hormones may increase while you’re focused on stimulating anabolic hormones. Catabolic hormones counteract the functions of growth hormones by inhibiting muscle growth.
These hormones break down rather than fuse molecules and prevent muscle growth. Higher levels of catabolic hormones will cause muscle loss. You need to know how to combat their effects on fast muscle growth.
The number one anti-growth hormone is cortisol, also known as the stress hormone. Your pituitary gland releases more cortisol when you’re stressed or overwhelmed.
Cortisol prevents effective protein synthesis. It instead accelerates the breakdown of muscles to supply your body with energy leading to shrinking muscles.
Think about integrating a stress relief plan into your program to combat cortisol. Avoid stress triggers and overworking yourself to reduce stress and cortisol levels.
Increased levels of myostatin may also inhibit muscle growth. Myostatin levels may increase due to sedentarism, diabetes, and smoking. Do more aerobic exercises to activate skeletal muscles and decrease myostatin in your body.
How to Stimulate Fast Muscle Growth Naturally
You’ll feel you’re headed in the right direction if you know what is likely to stop you from bulking up fast. Try to figure out your potential challenges before ramping up your mass-building efforts.
After that, you can consider revamping your regimen to speed up muscle growth. How do you have to work out, or what do you eat to grow muscles fast?
Here are some tips for helping you stimulate fast muscle growth naturally.
Focus on Compound Exercises
To see your muscles growing, you need to make sure your workouts target your muscles appropriately. Working out more muscle groups at the same time can help you grow faster.
Many people make the mistake of spending a lot of time doing isolation exercises. Isolation workouts can mean spending a lot of time in the gym without proper gains. You’re often overworking a single muscle group which doesn’t help your overall growth.
Compound exercises impact and engage several joints and muscles at the same time. A squat, for example, targets glutes, obliques, hamstrings, back, and spine muscles. You’re using less effort and time but for higher returns.
Some must-do compound exercises for maximum muscle engagement include:
- Farmers walk /loaded carry
- Pull-ups
- Squats
- Deadlift
- Bench press
- Dips
- Overhead shoulder press
- Dumbbell row
You can also try adding in lunges and push-ups.
Progressively Increase Your Load
Muscle growth stagnation can occur if you stick to the exact weights every week. Once muscles can tolerate a particular load, the potential of growing muscles reduces.
Increasing reps for the exact weights may make you feel inflamed, but it may not encourage muscle growth. The best way forward is to increase your load progressively to spur muscle tension.
Heavier weights will induce more muscle stress and tearing of muscle fibers. The more your muscles wear out, the higher is their uptake of proteins to launch repairs.
Progress to heavier weights to increase the tension impact on your muscles. You’re better off lifting heavier on a set of fewer reps. You should feel fatigued on a set of 8 to 12 reps for maximum gains.
Avoid Not Increasing Weights
If you’re not pushing yourself enough in the gym, you’ll find it difficult to build mass fast. Lifting weights that are too light can help you burn calories, but they won’t provide enough pressure to help you grow muscles.
Science shows muscle tension is the key to bigger muscles. Adding volume in weights gradually allows you to increase your muscles.
To know your current volumes, multiply your weights by your reps by your sets. If you squat 100 pounds at five sets of 10 reps, your volume for each session is 5000 pounds. Experts say 8 to 15 reps is the best range for optimal muscle hypertrophy.
Think about increasing your weights and decreasing reps if you’re too comfortable with your current weights. Increase your reps for the new load until you can beat the 8 to 15 rep range.
Prolong or Slow Down on the Eccentric Phase
Lifting exercises have two key phases you need to understand to maximize your gains. The first phase is the concentric (hard), and it’s the stage where your muscles are at work.
The second phase is eccentric (easy). This is the stage where your muscles are not fully engaged.
For context, think about when you’re doing a bench press. The part where you go for a heavy lift is concentric. And the part where you release and lower your hands is eccentric.
To get more out of your workouts, you’ve got to maximize the eccentric phase. You can prolong the eccentric phase to heighten the tension in your muscles. Or you can try variations that focus on getting more gains out of this phase.
Reduce Cardio
Cardio is an excellent addition to your mass gain goals. Some cardio can improve blood circulation and prepare your system for heavy lifts.
Yet, cardio is best in moderation. Too much of it can reverse the gains you’ve made. Too much cardio fuels muscle burning to provide energy for a cardio workout.
Cortisol findings suggest moderate to intense exercises can provoke the circulation of cortisol. The same study shows low-intensity exercises do not increase cortisol levels.
Plan for Optimal Recovery
The recovery phase plays a massive role in your workout regimen. Recovery between workouts and post workouts contributes to the effective growth of muscles.
Working out until fatigue or exhaustion doesn’t always result in fast muscle growth. Overtraining leads to problems like a drop in endurance, chronic fatigue, loss of appetite, nagging aches, and muscle aches. All these problems will slow you down and negate your weight gain goals.
You don’t want to lose enthusiasm and deviate from your workout routine. Overtraining issues can compound to cause you to lose interest in your program. Rest between workouts and use workout splits to avoid overworking some muscles.
Plan for one or two days of full recovery where you don’t work out entirely. Recovery allows for muscle repair and strength building. Every muscle needs 24 to 48 hours to repair and grow new tissues. Try to avoid working out the same muscle groups on consecutive days.
Aim for Frequency and Consistency
An effective bulking-up program should allow you to target each muscle group at least once every work. Your muscles won’t grow per your expectations if you’re not working them out regularly.
The more you train a muscle group, the more it’s likely to grow. Higher frequency under volume matched training is vital for muscular growth.
Add compound exercises to your training to build more muscle groups. Work out regularly, and most importantly, think in the long term. Remember, muscles take time and consistency to grow.
Focus on a Fast Muscle Growth Diet
Your diet determines how fast you grow muscles. Some foods will help you gain more muscles more quickly. So spend time choosing and shopping for the foods that support your muscle gaining goals.
Think about foods that encourage the repair and build-up of muscle tissues. These foods should be the best sources of essential amino acids. Examples include eggs, meat, fish, and dairy products.
Take only whole carbs. That way, you’ll regulate your sugar levels and allow your body to generate energy for workouts.
Eating whole carbs instead of refined ones will ensure your body isn’t storing fats and inhibiting muscle growth.
Aim for at Least 7 Hours of Sleep Every Day
Proper sleep is another factor every bodybuilder should take into account. Without sleep, your body doesn’t get the time to break down proteins and restore worn tissues.
Your body secrets the crucial growth hormone during deep sleep. Brain functions associated with phenomenal growth in babies occur during deep sleep.
Sleep also encourages proper recovery and repair of muscle tissue. Sleep relaxes your muscles and allows them to heal and relieve pain and tension. Your muscles are likely to be sore and tense if you lack sleep after heavy workouts.
Build a sleeping routine where you regularly go to bed and wake up at specific times. Aim to sleep for at least seven or eight hours every day. Ensure your room is dark, cool, and quiet to encourage healthy sleep.
Are Your Muscles Growing Fast Enough?
Heavy training alone won’t help you grow muscles fast. Fast muscle growth is possible with a comprehensive muscle growth strategy.
Use this guide to establish an effective regimen to help you grow muscles faster. For more health and fitness tips, check out the rest of our blog.
