Do you want to know how to transform your body like a beginner who gained over 5 clean kilos by creating their own training plan and making a small adjustment to their diet in just one year? This is my story of how I achieved my goals through dedicated work at the gym and home.
Set a goal for your physical transformation
I suppose if you are reading this article it's because you too want to have a physical change, more specifically, you want to see how I gained more than 5 kilos in just one year. Maybe you want to have better results than me, for which you must know the biological limits which are between 10%-20% of the muscle you can gain in a year for men and around 5%-10% for women. It is clear that it will depend on thousands of factors such as age, nutrition, discipline, genetics...But we can take these measures more or less.
My first time starting in the gym, I didn't know these limits. I knew it was going to take time, but I didn't know how much. With only 77 kilograms, I wanted to reach 90 kg in a year. According to the percentages, it is possible. However, I didn't start off on the right foot. I didn't know how to create a routine that fulfilled all the basic requirements for gaining muscle mass, I didn't know how to train, I didn't know the concept of reaching failure in a workout. You could say that my first month, like many, I trained for fun, which is not bad, but our goal is also results.
Currently weighing around 85kg, it's only a 10%, a good number really, but not the best, and as a reader, you should aim for maximum performance because it's the best way to know that you are training correctly.
Once we have chosen our physical goal for our physical change, we will have to act accordingly. Being a beginner, this doesn't sound easy because you require a lot of information to learn. That's why I'm leaving everything laid out in this article so you can understand the critical points when it comes to having the best muscle gains in a workout.
Workout routine to gain muscle mass
When you are a beginner, several questions arise over time, such as what are the main exercises, how to perform the exercises, how many sets to do in an exercise, how to train the weight from less to more or from more to less. There is a wide variety of unknowns that a beginner does not initially consider because they unconsciously do it wrong. That's why I'm going to show you one of my routines used to gain muscle mass:
Weekly Workout to Gain Muscle Mass: Chest and Triceps
Dumbbell Bench Press for 6-10 repetitions.
Incline Barbell Bench Press for 6-10 repetitions.
Low Cable Crossover for 6-10 repetitions.
Cable EZ Bar Skull Crushers for 6-10 repetitions.
Cable Rope Overhead Tricep Extension for 6-10 repetitions.
Cable Tricep Pushdowns for 6-10 repetitions.
Weekly Workout to Gain Muscle Mass: Back and Biceps
Lat Pulldowns for 6-10 reps.
Machine Rows for 6-10 reps.
Deadlifts for 6-10 reps.
Incline Zottman Curls with Dumbbells for 6-10 reps.
Z-Bar Curls for 6-10 reps.
Reverse Dumbbell Curls for 6-10 reps.
Weekly Muscle Building Training: Legs and Shoulders
Leg Extension Machine for 6-10 reps.
Leg Press Machine for 6-10 reps.
Hamstring Curl Machine for 6-10 reps.
Dumbbell Military Press for 6-10 reps.
Cable Lateral Raises for 6-10 reps.
Upright Barbell Rows for 6-10 reps.
In my case, as we can observe in the routine, I have 3 days to work two muscle groups. Each muscle group requires around 10-20 weekly sets, so our training can be 5 or 6 days if we want to maximize our muscle gain.
Now, we are focused on increasing muscle mass, so the sets of any exercise should be 6-10 repetitions as long as we do not have more strength to perform more repetitions. Our goal should always be to perform repetitions until near failure, and in the last set of the exercise, if possible, we should perform to failure.
The number of sets and the number of repetitions must be strictly followed because this is what will make us gain muscle mass in the most optimal way possible. Doing more than 20 sets can result in fatigue, and doing less than 6 repetitions will be more focused on strength gain than muscle gain.
Let's look at the table, in each training session according to the muscle group, there are always the so-called basic exercises, which are essential for muscle gain. For example, in chest, bench press, in triceps, there is no basic exercise, but I would say that the best is the tricep extension with a cable. In back, deadlift, pull-down, or row, in biceps, biceps curl, in leg press, and in shoulders, military press. These exercises are essential for our muscle development. We can replace some basic exercises, but we must always have at least one in each muscle group we train.
As for the weight order when performing the exercise, you can vary it one week from more to less and another from less to more, with the goal of being near failure in most of the sets.
All of this is what I have learned when training at the gym and creating an efficient personalized plan to gain muscle mass. These are factors that, as a beginner, if you do not seek information, it will take a lot of time to reach this level of knowledge. Knowing all this information, we will fulfill the training part 100%. Now comes the second part, which is very important, a diet with enough protein.
Reach your daily protein intake in your diet: Formula for how much protein to consume in a day
Let's start with the fact that I am not a nutritionist, so my advice will not be valid, and it would be better to ask a qualified person. However, we can use formulas to know how much protein to consume per day based on our body weight, height, and sex.
The formula I use and has been useful to me is this: From 1.2g-2g per kilogram of muscle mass. For example, if I weigh 80 kilos, the ideal would be to consume 160g of protein, although we could consume less, the important thing is to be in that range.
Record your workouts, especially weights and repetitions
Fortunately, I have quality control over this topic. The increase in muscle mass is affected by a progressive overload in the exercises, that is, the increase in intensity in them, which is directly correlated with the increase in weight and repetitions. That's right, muscle gain is complemented by strength training.
Knowing the number of pesos (weights) you lifted a week ago can sometimes be confusing and you may not remember it accurately. The best idea is to write it down in a notebook or a training notes app - both are good options. However, in my opinion, using the app on mobile devices is much faster and even more attractive because we can see our statistics immediately. I have an app called GymNotes that you might be interested in because it is the perfect tool that has helped me gain muscle mass more easily.
The most important factors of keeping a record of your training are:
Weight record, need to increase weight every week/month.
Repetition record, need to increase weight every week/month.
Notes to help you in any exercise.
Calculate your 1RM if you focus on strength training.
Understand statistics, simply see your performance grow and not decline.
Know your heart rate when doing an exercise, it helps to know the intensity of your workout.
From now on, having a workout notes app or a notebook is essential for your training. Without it, you're likely to plateau and hinder your gains. Recording the information isn't hard at all. As a beginner, I started with a basic notes app where I recorded the exercise with weight and reps, and then moved on to a more specialized app. However, both tools will serve you well for efficient training that offers muscle gain.
That's it! These are several fitness tips that would have been useful for me to learn from the start. I've shared my experience as a beginner in the industry so you understand that we all start as beginners, although I'm still a beginner myself having only been in this world for a year! If you found this information useful, share it with all your beginner friends so they don't make the same mistakes I did and start off on the right foot.
Have a proper protein intake, execute an efficient training plan for muscle gain, and track your progress. And if possible, do it with my app!