Essential Tips on How to Build Muscle

We all have our reasons for working hard at the gym. Whether you’re working hard at losing weight, gaining weight, or building muscle we’re here to help support you in your journey and help you achieve good results.

However there may be some of you wondering “I’m training hard, why am I not seeing results?”

Training specifically for muscle growth and eating the right amount of muscle building foods is critical if you want to gain lean muscle. But people often fall short on the nutrition side of the equation, so let’s tackle this side first.

Building muscle requires taking in more calories than you burn. A balanced diet with a good amount of high-protein foods is important to build muscle mass. Because the more protein your body stores – in a process called protein synthesis – the larger your muscles grow.

Protein is a macronutrient that plays many important roles in our bodies. It helps build and aid in muscle repair to give you strength and mobility and increase fat burning. Choose quality, high-protein sources of food that help build muscle before and after workouts. Great natural sources of protein include chicken, fish, lean red meats, and dairy – however these aren’t always convenient for those on the run.

For people with busy schedules and those who have a specific diets (plant-based), protein supplements are a great option to help you meet your daily protein requirements. At VPA^®, we have a range of products for a beginner to increase their lean muscle mass and reduce their body fat.

Research shows that you build muscle faster on your rest days if you feed your body some nutrient-dense carbohydrates. Downing more carbs after a sweaty workout increases your insulin levels and this helps shuttle protein into muscle tissue to start the repair process. Thus slows down the rate of protein breakdown and results in greater rates of muscle growth. So grab a banana or a sweet potato! If this isn’t feasible for you, try our Muscle Gainer which is a blend of WPC and rapidly digested carbohydrates.

You guessed it – we’re still talking about healthy fats here. Fats help boost metabolism and maintain hormonal function. Fat restricting diets can impede muscle growth so let’s not skimp on these. Healthy fat includes avocados, olive oil, yogurt, nuts & chia seeds, and let’s not forget chocolate!

In order to build muscle, keep restrictive dietary fads at bay. This is especially true for women who want to build muscle. Maintain a balanced diet of proteins, carbs, and fats and you will see results.

Now that you know what to add to your muscle building diet, let’s talk about the heavy lifting. The best way to building lean muscle is through resistance training, or some people call it strength training / weightlifting. If you want to build muscle you need to train with intensity and push yourself to progressive overload. This means working hard to continually put more stress on the muscles by lifting more weight or completing more reps, as this gives them a signal to build more.

Lift progressively heavier weights in your routine especially when working on large muscle groups, like chest, back and legs and this is also true for women building muscle. Results will not spring out of nowhere and turn you into the Incredible Hulk overnight, so women need not be afraid! And anyway ladies, strong is the new sexy.

It is also important to prioritise your rest days. Rest is essential for muscle growth. Insufficient rest slows fitness progression and increases the risk of injury. While your body is at rest, your muscles takes this time to heal and rebuild itself stronger and increase in size.

So there you have it, that was a quick guide on how to build muscle. The magic formula to building muscle is to strike the perfect balance between training hard and getting good nutrition. Remember to take your fitness level, intensity, frequency, and duration of activity into account.

Every body is different so don’t forget to give it a break as needed.

Some great supplements for those new to muscle building include: