Muscle building

Building muscle - the most important tips and tricks

How does muscle building actually work?

When it comes to building muscle, people usually talk about muscle hypertrophy. This refers to the growth of tissue and organs. Muscle building therefore refers to the development and increase of skeletal muscle, which can be specifically promoted through hypertrophy training. Muscle enlargement is the primary goal of muscle building. Muscle building is an adaptive response of the human body. This occurs when a muscle fatigues during an intensive training session. This causes damage to the muscle, which is then repaired and simultaneously strengthened, i.e., as it grows. This is also called supercompensation. Muscle activity always requires a certain stimulus (stimulus threshold) for the muscle to grow. Otherwise, the muscle cannot fatigue and therefore cannot become stronger or fuller. Only when the muscle suffers damage does supercompensation come into play. In order to stimulate a muscle to grow permanently, you have to continually stress it, which the muscle is not equipped for (principle of progressive overload).

What are the three types of muscle hypertrophy?

In addition to numerous training methods, you also have to look at the structure of muscle tissue in order to find the right exercises or training plan for you.

• True muscle building: sarcomere hypertrophy. During intense training, small injuries (microtraumas) occur in the sacomeres. Sacomeres refer to the individual contractile protein structures within the muscle fibers. After training, you enter the so-called regeneration phase. This is when the body replaces the damaged protein structures and adds new sacomeres to the old ones. With continuous training, more and more new sarcomeres are created, which can interconnect and thus form new myofibrils – the individual contractile, i.e., contractile threads of a muscle fiber. This is why it is also referred to as "myofibrillar hypertrophy." This type of hypertrophy only occurs as a result of training with heavy weights, which is why it is found in weightlifters, for example. It is naturally accompanied by an increase in strength, as the number of contractile elements, i.e., sarcomeres, increases.
• More pump: Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy training. No new protein structures are formed here; only the amount of semi-liquid plasma within the muscle fiber increases. Glycogen and the water it contains are responsible for the increase in muscle thickness. This type of muscle growth strengthens training endurance. Part of the muscle mass of bodybuilders is based on sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, which explains why their strength, in the vast majority of cases, does not correspond to their enormous muscle mass. Although elite bodybuilders have more muscle mass than elite weightlifters or powerlifters, they have significantly less maximum strength. The reason lies in a different training approach: Bodybuilders perform few or no maximum strength training sessions and instead focus on longer sets with correspondingly less weight: typically, 8 to 15 repetitions are performed. This type of training largely depletes the glycogen stores in the muscles. During the recovery phase, these stores are then replenished and slightly increased.
• The wild card: Activation of satellite cells. It is possible to activate and build underdeveloped muscle cells through training. These muscle stem cells are located at the edge of the muscle, which is why they are also called satellite cells. The more muscle cells are active in the muscle, the more voluminous and plastic it becomes. Hypertrophy: The muscle grows larger by storing more nutrients and water. Taking creatine can enhance this process. In addition, new contractile protein structures are formed, so that strength increases over time. However, this only happens with a diet rich in protein and calories. Training to muscle failure has proven to be the most important factor in muscle building. This means you can train with relatively light weights that only fully fatigue your muscles after 20 to 30 repetitions. According to the latest studies, this type of training produces the same muscle growth as heavier strength training with 8 to 15 repetitions. However, the increase in strength is significantly lower if you choose the lighter weights.

How long does it take to build muscle?

In the first few weeks or months, beginners' muscles experience completely new stresses, as the body's nervous system initially tries to adapt, resulting in better utilization of existing muscle mass. In this sense, one can say that muscles with the right muscle volume and training parameters increase strength, and muscle mass slowly but steadily increases with it. Only when the body can no longer cope with the demands of strength training through nervous adaptation alone does it begin to build new muscle mass. To build truly visible muscles, you should plan on a period of three to six months. Muscles really only grow quickly in people who approach training and nutrition with a lot of discipline. Thus, a very untrained young man can, in an ideal scenario, build several kilograms of muscle mass in his first year of training; exactly how much depends on several factors. In the second year of training, it will be only six kilos in total, in the third three, and so on.

Tips for effective muscle building - the right training plan

• Vary your exercises - The muscle fibers in your muscles don't all run in exactly the same direction. To stimulate all the fiber bundles, you shouldn't always do the same basic exercises for one muscle. Vary your workouts! So, incorporate several variations when training with weights, such as different grip positions. This way, the entire muscle truly grows. Especially large muscles (like the pectoral muscles) should be exposed to different stimuli during strength training.
• Warm-up - Warming up before every workout is an absolute must! Well-warmed joints and muscles respond better to stimuli and are much more flexible. Furthermore, injuries are less likely to occur during an intense workout.
• Regular increases for muscle-building success - Pure muscle training can be simple, but also complicated. One key to success in building muscle is regularly increasing the strength of individual muscle groups.
• Motivational tools - Regular training is very important when building muscle. Therefore, use whatever you can to get rid of your inner demons. These include listening to music, working out with a training partner (if necessary), updating photos, and a consistent training plan.
• No or little alcohol - Alcohol has various detrimental effects on muscle building. It inhibits your metabolism and prevents your body from releasing growth hormones, among other things. Furthermore, alcoholic beverages often contain a lot of calories. Non-alcoholic beer, on the other hand, isn't harmful, even if its isotonic effect isn't really proven.

Muscle building and recovery - How does regeneration help with hypertrophy training?

Muscles are not built during strength training, but afterward. This means that if you train correctly, you will exhaust your muscles. During training itself, no new tissue is built; on the contrary, protein structures are broken down first. Muscle building only gets going after training: the body rebuilds the damaged structures and then forms a few new ones, provided you give it enough time and don't train again too soon. With an optimal training program that adheres to the principle of "progressive overload," you always stimulate a muscle again exactly when supercompensation, i.e. muscle growth as a result of the last training session, has reached its peak. This means for anyone striving to build muscle: without sufficient recovery time between training sessions, the body cannot supercompensate because further damage to the tissue occurs too soon. The result: Muscle building proceeds unnecessarily slowly, stagnates, or in the worst case, even turns into systematic muscle loss. Of course, you shouldn’t “recover” for too long, because too long a period of inactivity also eats away at muscle mass.

Muscle building and nutrition

Nutrition also plays a major role in muscle building. Your body needs sufficient carbohydrates and the right nutrients to build muscle. They perform different functions in the body:

• Proteins: Proteins serve as fiber for the body. A balanced diet with fresh fish, lean meat, low-fat milk, legumes, eggs, and nuts provides you with healthy protein. You can also support your body with protein shakes, for example. Use supplements only as a complement to a natural and balanced diet.
• Carbohydrates: Carbohydrates provide your body with the energy it needs for strength training and building muscle mass. If you don't consume enough carbohydrates, your body will struggle to do this. Make sure your diet includes plenty of whole grain products, as well as rice, oatmeal, potatoes, and plenty of vegetables.
• Fats: Fat is also an important energy source. Your body needs this nutrient for the important vitamins A, D, E, and K. Unsaturated fats from plants and fish, such as omega-3 fatty acids, are among the good and healthy fats. They are easier to digest and extremely important for your metabolism and hormone production.

What factors influence muscle building?

How quickly and how much muscle mass someone can build depends on the following factors:

• Age: No one can build new muscle mass as quickly as young men between 15 and 25, as their testosterone levels are at their highest. Young women are also better positioned than older women, as it takes longer to recover from training with advancing age. The exact age at which one should begin heavy weight training is very individual and depends on the individual's level of maturity; however, growth should be complete. Many successful strength athletes and bodybuilders began training at a very young age.
• Hormonal environment: Testosterone plays a key role in muscle building, which is why men generally build muscle faster and more than women. However, testosterone levels aren't only regulated by age; sleep volume, stress, regular strength training, and other factors also play a role. Besides testosterone, other hormones also have a positive effect on muscle building, such as insulin and growth hormone.
• Genes: Every body is uniquely composed, which is why some people are better suited to building muscle than others. In addition, every person has a different distribution of white and red muscle fibers. Generally speaking, the more white, fast-twitch fibers a person has, the more muscle mass they can build ("sprinter type"). On the other hand, those with a relatively high number of red fibers are more likely to be the "marathon type" and will have difficulty building muscle.
• Anabolic steroids: If anabolic steroids weren't effective, they wouldn't be listed as "performance-enhancing substances" on the doping list. The fact is: There are numerous chemical aids that significantly accelerate muscle growth and also ensure that achievable muscle mass far exceeds natural levels. Therefore, a healthy degree of skepticism is always appropriate when engaging in the field of strength training, fitness, and bodybuilding. Under no circumstances should one measure one's own progress against that of others who, given their very lean yet extremely muscular physiques, may not be "natural," as they say in the sports world.

The necessary mindset for muscle building

People who fail at building muscle are failing themselves. There are different types of mindsets.

• Targeted - Building muscle is a lengthy, complex, and sometimes painful process, and isn't "fun" in the traditional sense. If you're someone who enjoys a playful approach to exercise and participates in groups or clubs, you'll probably struggle with systematic strength training regularly and over an extended period. Sure, the exercises and training plans will vary from time to time, but there's no such thing as surprise, drama, euphoria, or team spirit in muscle-building training. People who are successful in bodybuilding or fitness training draw their motivation largely from within themselves and accept that progress is very slow. They also appreciate the strong structure of their daily routine, which is an inevitable part of strength training, and don't see it as a limitation.
• Performance - Even "gentle strength training," which is not performed until the muscles are exhausted, leads to strength and muscle gains. However, in terms of effectiveness, it cannot compete with the approach followed by the majority of bodybuilders and fitness athletes: training to muscle failure, i.e., to the momentary fatigue of the muscles. During this type of training, the glycogen in the muscle cells is converted into energy without the use of oxygen, a process that causes lactic acid (lactate) to accumulate. The associated noticeable burning sensation in the muscles, as well as the trembling during the last repetitions of a set, should be aimed for if you want to optimally stimulate muscle growth. Muscle-building training can therefore sometimes be painful, and you have to push yourself through it. The reward is often severe muscle soreness – which means you continue to suffer for the next few days.
• Focused - Anyone who has been doing strength training for a long time knows that there are different qualities of "muscle feel." When you get a good muscle feel during an exercise, you can clearly feel the working muscles, which virtually guarantees that the exercise will have an effect and trigger a growth stimulus. The foundation should always be to train each muscle group with sufficient intensity, which is possible with both basic exercises and isolation exercises. Beginners, in particular, often don't know exactly which muscles should be challenged during an exercise, or they are unable to specifically target the muscles with their nerves, which means they don't work properly. The result: They perform an exercise somehow, but don't create an effective growth stimulus for the muscles they're training. Often, the reason is that the weight is too heavy: To compensate for the lack of strength, they use momentum or other muscles, and the results are not achieved. To achieve a good muscle feel during every workout, you need not only knowledge of anatomy and good body awareness and coordination, but above all, you must concentrate on the training. If you want to achieve the best results, you should leave the rest of your life at the door of the gym while you train.
• Organized - If you want to achieve effective muscle building, you have to pull so many screws that the goal has a significant impact on your daily life. You have to take care of a lot of things every day: planning your workout, keeping your equipment together, shopping, preparing meals, timing them, cooking ahead and taking them with you, ensuring active recovery, etc. You'll quickly realize: training itself is the least of the challenges in the muscle-building process. Without organizational skills, the whole process quickly grinds to a halt.

What really helps you build muscle quickly?

Of course, there are also aids that accelerate muscle growth or improve muscle definition. These include, of course, non-recommended substances such as anabolic steroids, which, while they can have a powerful effect on muscle growth, also carry numerous and sometimes very dangerous side effects. Beginners should definitely steer clear of them to avoid long-term harm. Only professionals and under the supervision of doctors and coaches use substances to compete at the top of bodybuilding. Health should be the priority, especially for younger athletes and beginners. In fact, at Muscle Lab, we offer numerous products and supplements that support and stimulate muscle growth in various ways. These include muscle builders, natural muscle builders, weight gainers, carbohydrates, and cycle support products.