Ten Things You Should Know About How to Build Muscle

Building muscle strength and muscle mass is about more than just looking and feeling jacked. Bigger muscles offer numerous health and wellness benefits, such as speeding up your metabolism, enhancing your cognitive abilities, strengthening your bones and reducing body fat. But it takes more than just a gym membership to hit your goals. For the best results, you need to combine a wide range of exercise, lifestyle and diet strategies.

  1. A Happy Medium for Your Reps and Sets

    • If you lift weights that are too light, you won't get the muscle strength increases you want. Conversely, if you lift weights that are too heavy, you raise your risks of strains, sprains and other injuries. For the best muscle growth, use weights that are heavy enough that you can only do eight to 12 repetitions per set. For maximum returns, aim for three sets of eight to 12 reps per exercise.

    Take a Breather

    • To recover and rebuild from the strain you put on them, muscles need 24 to 72 hours of rest between workouts. Give your body the time it needs to recover. If you don't, you could injure yourself or compromise muscle growth since the muscle tissue hasn't had time to get stronger from your last resistance session.

    Check Creatine Off Your List

    • New York University's Langone Medical Center reports that creatine is one of the most researched, and one of the best selling, athletic performance supplements available. Numerous studies have found that this supplement may increase muscle performance and endurance, which lets you work out longer and thus experience greater muscle gains.

      Example research cited by New York University includes a study by Old Dominion University's department of exercise science and published in the "Journal of the American College of Nutrition," and a study of competitive athletes published in the "International Journal of Sports Medicine." In general, 3 g of creatine per day will provide results, but talk to your doctor before adding any type of supplement to your diet.

    Gluttony Equals Gains

    • As you amp up your muscle-building workouts, you also need to amp up your calorie intake to provide your body with the surplus nutrients it needs to grow your muscles bigger and stronger. For most people, an extra 500 calories per day is enough to get started, with an eye on making sure you consume at least 1 g of protein for every pound that you weigh. A registered dietitian can help you create a specific calorie balance that meets your lifestyle and metabolism.

    Catch Some Zs

    • Do more of nothing at night to get more out of your workouts. When you sleep, your body increases its release of muscle-building hormones and reduces the levels of muscle-wasting hormones in your body. For optimal muscle health, attempt to get at least eight hours of sleep every night.

    Run Away From Cardio

    • Cardio burns excess calories, but you need those excess calories to feed your muscle-building routine. If you love running and similar forms of cardio and don't want to give it up, try to limit such exercise to only 30 minutes or less per day. Anything more than that may jeopardize the muscle gains you're trying to achieve.

    Bottoms Up

    • Drink more water. Dehydration causes muscles to shrink, and also reduces muscle performance, meaning your can't work your body optimally while exercising. Additionally, your muscles lose more protein when under the stress of dehydration. The American Council on Exercise recommends drinking 20 oz. of water three hours before you hit the gym, followed by 8 oz. of water every 10 minutes while exercising.

    Switch It Up

    • If you do the same workouts over and over again, your body adapts and you no longer challenge your muscles as hard as you used to challenge them. Every six weeks, change your workout routine by adjusting the number of repetitions you use or switching out certain exercises for brand-new exercises. This helps target new muscles and forces your body to work harder. The added novelty of a new workout may also help to keep you motivated and excited.

    Add Recovery Snacks

    • As soon as you finish exercising, drink a shake or eat a snack that contains approximately 30 g of protein and 50 g of carbohydrates. This is the ideal ratio to help give your body the quick burst of nutrients it needs to quickly enter the recovery phase, which is the phase where your muscles repair torn tissue and actually get bigger and stronger.

    Take Your Time

    • Patience is a virtue. Everyone builds muscle at a different rate. Don't look over at the gym bench next to you and compare yourself to the other person working out. If you try to rush the process, you may find yourself tempted to push beyond your limits, which can lead to injuries or other training mistakes. "Men's Fitness" magazine warns that rushing the process is one of the biggest mistakes people make in the gym. Listen to your body and work on adding small challenges to your workout to slowly build your strength in a safe, healthy way.