We’ve all seen that person at the gym who comes and goes but his physique remains mediocre. To build muscle with weights, lifting them up and putting them down randomly isn’t enough. You need to set systems in place and follow what others have done before you. Building muscle is not an art, it’s a science and there are certain rules you need to follow if you want to optimize your game.
3 Ways of Training
When a person goes to the gym he has mainly 3 options of training.
- Hypertrophy Training
- Strength Training
- Endurance Training
To be fair beginners could experience muscle growth in the gym, just by looking at the weights. The further you are from reaching your genetic muscle-building limit, the quicker you can see progress. Different types of training can set various limits on potential muscle growth, with hypertrophy training being the most effective for building muscle at a faster rate.
They all lift weights, but it’s the way they do it that makes the difference.
Hypertrophy Training
The key is time under tension. When aiming for muscle growth, the goal is to push the muscles to failure by performing controlled repetitions within a 40-second timeframe. This is why the guideline of doing 8-12 reps is emphasized – it’s based on actual effectiveness. Rather than focusing on one-rep maximums for strength or using light weights for high repetitions for endurance, it’s recommended to target a rep range of 8-12 for best results.
Of course, every exercise has a different range of motion, and the correlation between the amount of reps and time isn’t the same for all exercises. That’s why we keep in mind the 40-second time frame and the general rule of 8-12 reps.
Remember, there is no magic number. It’s not as simple as doing 7 reps for strength and 8 reps for hypertrophy. It is more of a spectrum. All you need to remember is to keep your rep range between 8-12, and you will be fine.
Progressive Overload
You don’t just “Build muscle with weights”. Just because you train in a rep range of 8-12 reps doesn’t mean that your body will respond with muscle growth. For that to happen the proper stimulus is required. Progressive overload is a fundamental principle in weightlifting that involves gradually increasing the load your muscles go under. That can happen in 3 ways
- Increase weight for the same amount of reps
- Increase reps for the same weight
- Increase time under tension with slower repetitions for the same reps and weight
Your goal each time you go to the gym is to beat your records and train hard. Progressive overload can only happen when you are training to failure. Otherwise, you are cheating.
Get Your Mind Straight
You can only build muscle by training hard, and you can only train hard consistently if you have a reason to. Start by figuring out why you want to build more muscle in the first place. That will give you the proper motivation to start. But as we all know, motivation fades away easily. You cannot expect yourself to be constantly motivated and hyperexcited. What you actually need is discipline.
Discipline will allow you to push your body to the limits when feel like quitting. It will make you break your previous records by turning your pain into patience. It will also allow you to eat properly and rest when you need to rest. You cannot expect results in the gym without the proper nutrition. That’s what’s required to build muscle with weights
- Proper Training
- Proper Nutrition
- Proper Resting
Keep it up!
