How do you build muscle properly?

No pain no gain. That is why muscles have to be stimulated with the right intensity in order to increase muscle strength and build muscle mass.

If the stimulus is too small, there will be no muscle adaptation, i.e. growth. If the stimulus is too high, there is an overload in the form of sore muscles or strains.

A beginner can achieve success with just a few training stimuli. Medium to advanced athletes needs to fine-tune their training and increase resistance. The principle of progressive stress stimulus works here. When the organism has adapted to the new loads, the intensity of the training sets must be increased gradually, either by increased weight, more repetitions or more sets. The general principle for building muscle mass applies to sports scientists and experts alike: high weight with few repetitions.

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Do muscles only grow in the gym?

Machines or free weights and weights are available in the gym to effectively shape the targeted body parts and muscles. Of course, muscles can also be trained at home – primarily with your own body weight. Even in nature, complex exercises that affect many muscle groups can be easily performed. This promotes muscle strength, endurance, coordination, and flexibility.

How much strength training is correct?

The training goal and the condition determine how the training is structured. Muscle building and strength endurance are the essential parameters for strength training, which are essential.

Muscle strength builds up more during heavy training. In addition, the ability of strength endurance increases. If you train relatively easily, the muscle grows slightly less, but the endurance increases quickly.

Prof.Dr.Dr. Wolfgang Buskies from the University of Bayreuth (Germany) has been doing fitness research for years. His rule of thumb is that if you repeatedly use 25 to 30% of the maximum strength of your worked muscles, you do strength training. This form of physical exercise shows 2 essential effects, whereby regular training is required: The muscles grow (quantitative) and become stronger (qualitative). Other scientists believe that a beginner should work with 50% of the maximum weight and trained athletes with 70 to 80% of the maximum weight.

Basically everyone has to find their own formula that leads to the desired goal.

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Which training plan is the right one?

Various studies on health-oriented fitness strength training prove that recreational athletes can effortlessly achieve excellent growth rates, especially at the beginning. The more advanced and professional the training for strengthening muscle strength is, the more differentiated the training plan will be in order to continue to achieve the desired effect, and the more complex the exercises will become.

Beginners should mainly train their strength endurance in the first 12 weeks. This means 15 – 25 repetitions per set with a correspondingly lightweight, strain the muscle for around 45 – 70 seconds. Take a break after each set (1 – 3 min) depending on the load.

After this basic training, targeted muscle building training can be started. That means: 8 – 15 repetitions, strain the muscles between 20 – 45 seconds per set.

Of course, these are approximate values, since everybody reacts differently. Women respond to strength training differently than men. There are also big differences between men. With 2 training days a week, men are already building muscle mass. Women lose relatively more fat with the same training effort and gain a slimmer figure. This is also related to the amount of testosterone in the body, which is significantly lower in women.

Beginners should definitely get good advice, either from a sports doctor, sports institute or fitness center. Because wrong training can creep up lasting damage. Everybody has its own peculiarities and needs individual training stimuli to feel good.

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How can nutrition strengthen the muscle?

The basis for the amateur athlete is a low-fat, balanced mixed diet with 0.8g protein per kilogram body weight and moderate carbohydrate consumption.

If concrete muscle building is to be achieved, protein is important in order to maintain and build up the body cells. Experts recommend 1 – 1.5 g of protein per kilogram of body weight. This amount can already be achieved with natural foods since we tend to absorb more protein than necessary.

Here are some examples of protein sources:

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fat curd	250 g	30 g protein
Low-fat milk (1.5%)	1 liter	35 g protein
Grained cream cheese	200 g	26 g protein
1 egg	Medium-sized	10 g protein
turkey breast	250 g	60 g protein
almonds	30 g	6 g protein
pumpkin seeds	30 g	5 g protein
peas	60 g	4 g protein
lenses	100 g	24 g protein
soybeans	100 g	37 g protein
broccoli	1 cup	6 g protein
oats	30 g	5 g protein
potatoes	1 piece	4 g protein
couscous	30 g	4 g protein
rice	1 cup	5 g protein

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Animal and vegetable protein in combination with cereals is an optimal mixture and also has a high biological value for the body. Excessive protein consumption can strain the kidneys and lead to diseases such as gout.

In muscle building training, carbohydrates are consumed to a lesser extent. They are important for training because they are a quick and effective source of energy and facilitate the absorption of protein and minerals in the muscles. However, an “overdose” of carbohydrates reduces fat burning and favors the storage of fats. Therefore, complex carbohydrates such as whole wheat pasta, whole wheat bread, fruit, and brown rice should be preferred.

When is the timing correct?

Protein can be eaten in the morning, at noon and in the evening. With carbohydrates, care should be taken that they are eaten for breakfast or after intensive training, but not in the evening after 6 p.m. In order to build muscle mass in a targeted manner, sugary foods, drinks and fast food should be avoided.

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ANDROPEAK ^® is the ideal companion for training sessions as well as regeneration phases. Because ANDROPEAK has been proven to support muscle building and at the same time accelerate the loss of body fat. After the training, the body has to recover and needs rest. Studies have shown that ANDROPEAK has been shown to shorten muscle regeneration. The muscles can recover faster from physical exertion.