An important goal of strength training is to increase muscle mass. In order to get the best out of yourself and your body, you should follow certain rules. There is more to it than just going through an intensive training program.
Increase in muscle mass vs. definition
For now, let's clarify what the difference is between gaining muscle mass and definition.
The muscle mass is defined by reducing the fat mass and at the same time strengthening the muscles so that they become more visible.
Increasing mass, on the contrary, means increasing weight and muscle volume. Diet is a particularly important factor in this.
The increase in mass therefore means increasing the muscle volume and thus also an increase in weight. It is important that both weight and muscle mass increase, so in the best case a combination of both takes place.
To internalize this even better, a sentence will help: increasing mass without building muscle is possible, but building muscle without gaining fat is not!
One influencing factor that also needs to be considered is genetics. Every body is different and doesn't have the same prerequisites, but with the right tools, everyone can achieve good results and achieve mass gain.
Nourishment
While you're in your bulking phase, you should eat a calorie surplus for about two to four months. The diet should be rich in carbohydrates and proteins. This gives your body all the nutrients it needs to build muscle. Due to the excess of nutrients, you can carry out your training time more intensively and longer than usual.
One possibility would be to eat every 3 hours and, for example, to have a snack between each main meal. A quark with our fruity Flave is a good snack, for example - so you are well saturated without adding unnecessary sugar.
Dietary supplements can help you during this time and provide you with optimal support. For example, our BCAA helps you optimally with regeneration and supports your muscle building.
training
Complementary training is essential to build muscle mass. During this time, use heavier weights, use bars or dumbbells, or train with your own body weight.
You should avoid isolating muscle exercises. Perform compound exercises that work large muscle groups. A few ideas: bench press, dips, squats, deadlifts. With these exercises, you use several joints and thus get more muscle growth.
The training time should not be too long (1.5-2 hours) to have enough buffer for regeneration. This is the time when the muscles are built and that also costs your body a lot of energy.
recreation
In your mass phase, focus on short and intensive training sessions for a better result. Long workouts can lead to muscle catabolism (muscle breakdown), nervous system fatigue and overtraining. The consequences are cracks, injuries or lesions. Ideally, you should put in a day of rest after each day of training and make sure you get enough sleep to give your body time to regenerate.