How to Build Muscle Explained
Building muscle is a relatively complicated biological process.
We could get into all of the nuances if we wanted to…
Protein synthesis, mechanical tension, metabolic stress etc….
But there is a very simple analogy I love to use that makes muscle building simple
…. And therefore easier to achieve!
Building Sandcastles
There are 4 key components to muscle building.
Each one can be related to building a sandcastle.
HAVING ENOUGH SAND (Calories)
The first thing we need to build a sandcastle is Sand.
The first thing needed to build muscle, is energy. (Which we measure in calories)
Specifically we need to have a SURPLUS of calories.
Which means we need to be consuming more energy than we burn
The logical question to ask is…
How many calories do we need?
The specific calorie requirement will vary from person to person.
We can estimate using a calorie calculator …
But A lot of trial and error is involved in getting your calorie target right.
And this is always best done under the supervision of a coach.
Once you have established your calorie surplus…
The next question to ask is:
“How much of a surplus do we need”
Here lies the magic of gaining mass (weather muscle or fat).
Many people become concerned about the rate at which they might be adding mass.
They don’t want to get too bulky…
And they definitely don’t want to gain excessive amounts of fat.
The severity of our surplus will decide not only how quickly we gain weight.
But how much fat we are adding relative to the amount of muscle
The smaller the surplus, the less fat we will add.
If our surplus is far too big, we may gain some ‘negative weight’
Often the sweet spot is somewhere in the middle.
Where we have plenty of calories spare for muscle building, but the calories aren’t so much that we are gaining excessive fat.
Once again, this is very individualised.
We all respond to calories differently.
My advice to anyone wanting to add muscle is to slowly increase your calories and continue to do so at a level that you’re comfortable with.
There will a be time to reduce them again in the future.
Linking back to our illustration…
To build a good sandcastle we need to overfill the bucket.
This often leads to us needing to scrape around the edges or skim a bit off the top.
But…
There is no need to dump an entire beach worth of sand into the bucket.
Giving ourselves plenty of calories to work with, but not overdoing it…
Is the key to getting our calories right for muscle building.
Add some Water (protein)
Imagine we have a bucket full of sand.
But the sand is totally dry!
It’s not going to make the best sandcastle.
To create a sandcastle of high quality, we need to add some water.
In our analogy, water is protein.
Protein is what our muscle tissue is made from.
We need to be consuming enough protein in order to create muscle tissue!
… Just like we need to add enough water to create a good sandcastle.
Not only does this help us actually create muscle tissue.
But it also helps us to recover between workouts!
Which leads us nicely onto our next step…
The Spade (lifting)
The spade in our analogy is representative of hard work!
Creating a surplus of calories and eating enough protein isn’t going to build muscle on its own.
That’s like having an ocean and a beach … and hoping for a sandcastle.
The difference is the spade.
We need to apply some effort, some elbow grease, in the form of resistance training in order to create something!
Training is the signal to the body to convert this extra energy and protein into muscle.
Again….
We could delve into detail about how to train effectively for muscle building.
(Perhaps I’ll do another podcast to go into more detail)
But regardless of all the techniques, rep ranges and exercises….
Intensity is the most important thing.
And specifically a progressive intensity over time.
We constantly want to push ourselves a little more in the gym
Once again…
The super power for doing this effectively is to hire a coach… who understands training to help you do this in the safest and fastest way possible.
Recovery
The final piece to effective muscle building is recovery.
Imagine a child on the beach, making sandcastles.
If the kid gets tired…
He’s not going to be able to make anymore sandcastles.
Getting adequate amounts of recovery is essential to muscle growth.
This involves plenty of sleep, stress management, staying hydrated and ensuring we eat a nutritious diet.
Here we can link back to protein.
Because not only is protein essential to building muscle.
But it repairs our muscle tissue as well.
This lets us continue to workout and train with enough intensity to build muscle.
Recovery is often the part of muscle building that is forgotten.
But … it underpins all of the other components we’ve covered.
In summary
Building muscle is as simple as we’d like to make it!
Focus on the following 4 things:
create a calorie surplus
Eat plenty of protein
Lift weights
Recover hard!
If we can do these things, we will be able to build muscle and enjoy the many benefits that come from being stronger and having more muscle!