How to Pack on Muscle Quickly and Effectively

HOW TO PACK ON MUSCLE QUICKLY AND EFFECTIVELY

During the holidays, while spending time with family and friends that I haven’t seen in a while, our conversations turned to people asking me training and nutrition questions. I love talking about this stuff so I really didn’t mind. The majority of the questions revolved around building strength and muscle, and I spent some time debunking bogus claims that people heard from a “gym bro” as well as “fake news” that plagues the internet.

So how do you pack on muscle quickly and effectively?  Simple answer is, you don’t. Building muscle effectively requires a variety of things that need to fall into place, and it takes time. Patience is the name of the game but most of us just don’t want to hear that. We’re obsessed with instant gratification and constantly look for the quick fix. This is why so many people fail in their fitness journey.  

When someone asks me how long will it take to lose the weight they desire and or to gain muscle, I quickly reply with this question:

"When was the last time you were happy with the way you looked?"

Most people give answers like 5, 10, 15 or more years ago.  So how can one expect to “look good” in a matter of months? When it comes to the topic of recomposition (generally losing body fat and maintaining or gaining muscle), too many are disillusioned to think that it can be done quickly.

So let’s get to the steps you need to start taking to begin your journey.

Step #1 Nutrition

To gain muscle you need to eat more calories than you expend. If you’re generally a sedentary individual, a  quick calculation you can use is multiply your bodyweight by 12, and add 500 calories. So a 200lb male would need about 3000 calories (2900 to be exact). You need to ensure you take in at least 1g / lb of bodyweight of protein.  What about carbohydrates?  You need to ensure you eat enough carbohydrates in order to ensure you have the energy for your workouts, as well as allowing you to gain weight. If your body doesn’t have enough carbohydrates, then it will simply breakdown muscle, and use it as energy.

Finally, your body needs a certain amount of fat to ensure your inflammation regulation, heart health and a solid hormonal balance that allows for the production of hormones like testosterone.

To put it all together, eat lean sources of protein, complex carbohydrates, and unsaturated fats (fats that don’t become solid at room temperature). This will give your body the fuel it needs to gain “quality weight”.

#2 Training

Contrary to what you may see on YouTube, Instagram or Fitness Magazines, you don’t need to do copious amount of sets and reps to gain muscle.  What you need to do is lift heavy. Low weight, high reps and high sets work well for those trying to gain overall muscle volume, and depending on the muscle group, they do have a place.  However, most “athletes” you seen in magazines doing this type of training are both advanced and are unnatural athletes. Training with and without the use of steroids are very different approaches. Assuming you’re natural and time is important to you, I recommend using what’s known as the BURST METHOD.

The Burst Method ensures you hit your basics, and are out of the gym in 40 min-1h, training 4-5 times a week. You can look up this method and conduct your own research, but essentially it consists of incorporating compound movements like the bench, deadlift and squat, as well as isolated movements (accessory movements), and performing anywhere between 30-40 reps, broken down in 4,6, or even 8 sets.  The rest here is also minimal 20-30 sec. between sets, ensuring that your muscle has a lot of time under tension while lifting heavy.  An example for the squat in sets and reps would be as follows; 1x5, 1x5, 1x5, 1x4, 1x4, 1x3, 1x3, 1x2. That’s a total of 31 reps over 8 sets with 25 sec. rest between each set.  If you can do more, increase your weight and try to hover around that 30 rep range for major muscle groups and 40 rep range for smaller muscles like the shoulders and arms.

This is a very simple and quick explanation and this discussion can go on forever. There are many other methods that will work as well if not better than the recommended method above but this is intended for the average person who is short on time and wants to get shit done.  If you have specific questions about combining exercises and training programs make sure you ask and I can do a more specific write up.

#3 The Other Stuff

The other stuff is extremely important with trying to either gain muscle or cut body fat: SLEEP, WATER, and STRESS.  Ensuring you get enough sleep, 7-8 hours of good sleep is enough. Drinking plenty of water is essential, it helps with many things such as muscle growth - this depends on the individual but a good starting point is 4-6 liters.  Finally, stress needs to be managed in a healthy way.  Generally if you have a good training regimen, you’re already better equipped to manage stress better than others. However, make sure to take time for yourself, live in constant gratefulness and stop sweating the small stuff...it’s bullshit anyway.

Addressing other Questions:

What supplements do I need?

You don’t NEED any supplements, that’s why they’re called supplements. If you’re not eating well, sleeping enough, drinking enough water, training, and managing stress, supplements will do next to nothing for you. If you’ve got all the above taken care of, then I would take an Omega 3 supplement that will help with inflammation.  A creatine monohydrate, since it’s a well known and extremely well researched supplement proven to increase strength, muscle growth and cardiovascular capacity. A whey isolate as a post workout shake if you’re unable to get a meal in right away after you lift, and the cherry on the cake that doesn’t do as much as people may think is an amino acid drink to sip on during your workout. I do feel a lot better during the hot summer months when I sip on an amino acid mix. Other supplements like vitamin D, B C,K etc… Minerals like Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium are also very important.  However, i would recommend getting some blood work done to understand what you may be deficient in and focus on taking only what you need. Don’t pump vitamine D or B because you hear people online say that everyone is deficient in them so you have to take a fist full of vitamins daily.

Will I get fat if I try and gain muscle?

Yes and No. The slower you gain muscle, eating quality foods, like good fats, lean sources of protein and low glycemic carbohydrates,  the less fat you will gain. On the other hand, if you’re just trying to get in as many calories as you can, your weight will increase faster and that means that both muscle and fat increase.  This is attractive to some but remember that once you’re finished with the “bulking cycle”, you follow it up with a “cutting cycle” and if you have a lot of fat to lose during your cutting cycle, you’ll also lose quite a bit of the hard earned muscle with it. So a fine balance is required here. A general rule I use is, I go into a mini cut that allows me to maintain my muscle, once my abs disappear. It’s a lot like walking a fine line and keeps things interesting as you learn to eat with a purpose.

FINALLY HOW LONG SHOULD I BULK?

Unless I have some history this is a pretty impossible question to answer with any accuracy. A general rule would be stick to a bulk for 6 months.  It’s a lot more difficult than cutting in my opinion, and as mentioned you can do mini cutting cycles during the bulk while maintaining muscle. It takes time for muscle to grow so trying to bulk for 1 or 2 months isn’t going to do very much for you. In the grand scheme of things, 6 months isn’t that long. And remember if patience is king, consistency is his queen.

Put in the work, get the guidance you need and you’ll see results.

I hope you found this helpful guys. If you have any questions about this article, or any questions in general, please send them to bonaathletics@gmail.com or comment in the post.

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Lift Heavy, Get Strong,

Coach Sil