1. Perform Your Drop Sets
Once muscle fatigue begins to set in, continue with the exercise but utilize lower weights. The aim is to achieve muscle failure, so, during the rest period, there will be a requirement for maximum repair, which in turn of course will provide for maximum results. This is a great option when trying to break through a plateau, and thus answering the question as to how to gain muscle mass.
2. Consuming the Right Muscle Fuel
It’s a fact that not all your proteins will be equal to one another. There’s a ratio which is termed as The Protein Efficiency Ratio which refers to the amount of weight gained in comparison to the amount of protein you consume. Interestingly, eggs come out on top with respect to this ratio, with a score of 3.92. That said, make sure you get enough eggs each day since they out-muscle the likes of beef, fish, and whey.
3. Don’t be Tempted to Over-do the Cardio
Over-doing the cardio is certainly not the answer as to how to gain muscle mass! After just 20 minutes of a solid cardio workout, the body begins to utilize muscle tissue as a form of fuel, thereby undoing much of the hard work you’ve already endured. If you assess high level 100m runners, you’ll see that they perform their cardio routines in short, explosive bursts. So, if you stick with those sort of rules, you’ll all the sooner have a build similar to Usain Bolt, and in record-breaking time too!
UPDATE Jan 25, 2017 – Speaking of Usain Bolt: Usain Bolt has lost one of his nine Olympic gold medals after Jamaica team mate Nesta Carter was found guilty of doping at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Carter was found to have taken the prohibited substance methylhexaneamine, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Wednesday. The Jamaica team must return their medals. Trinidad and Tobago will be promoted to gold, Japan move up to silver and fourth-placed Brazil will be awarded bronze, subject to any further results from the IOC anti-doping retesting programme.
4. Timing Your Lifts
Invest a longer time on the eccentric phase of your lifts – eccentric being the lowering phase. This is because it’s during that phase that your muscles undergo the most damage. The eccentric phase should last for around 3 to 5 seconds. Researchers at East Carolina University discovered that with an extended eccentric phase, there was a 46 percent increase in strength, and that occurred merely within a single week. So, if you’re wondering how to gain muscle mass, here’s most certainly one of the answers!
5. Occlusion Training
A little-known fact is that by restricting the blood flow to muscle tissue by way of tying a light tourniquet around the muscle group you are working on will have a positive impact on muscle hypertrophy, or, in other words, the muscle will increase in size. This is due to the lack of oxygen the muscles are able to receive, according to a report by Medicine & Science in Sport & Exercise journal.
