If you’re looking to gain muscle, it’s important to understand the science behind muscle growth and how to continuously challenge your muscles with new stimuli in order to see consistent gains. While most people’s workouts don’t provide enough of a challenge to promote muscle growth, there are five key ways to ensure your workouts are designed to do just that.
First, increasing the amount of weight you lift is a straightforward method to apply progressive overload and create new stimuli for your muscles to grow from. This method is especially effective for beginners, who can add 2.5 kilograms to the bar every week on main lifts like the bench press, squat, and deadlift.
However, relying solely on adding more weight can lead to plateaus, which is where the second key method comes in: adding more reps. By simply adding one rep to your set, you’ve technically lifted more weight than the previous week, creating a new stimulus for your muscles to grow. Based on a 2017 meta-analysis, you can increase reps all the way up to 30 while using the same weight and still see the same growth compared to adding more weight.
For those who have access to more weights, the third key method is something called double progression. This system utilizes both reps and weight to ensure that week by week, you’re forcing your muscles to grow. For example, doing three sets of squats for 8-12 reps at a weight of 60 kilograms, and increasing the weight to 65 kilograms once you can do three sets of 12 reps with good form.
The fourth key method is to use compound exercises, which are exercises that work multiple muscle groups at once. This not only saves time in your workouts, but it also provides more stimuli for your muscles to grow.
Finally, the fifth key method is to vary your exercises and rep ranges. By switching up your exercises and rep ranges every few weeks, you prevent your muscles from adapting to your routine and hitting a plateau.
Conclusion
Gaining muscle requires continuous challenging of your muscles with new stimuli. By implementing these five key methods – increasing weight, adding reps, double progression, using compound exercises, and varying exercises and rep ranges – you can design effective workouts that force your muscles to grow every single session.