Basic exercises for gaining weight. Exercises for mass

Have you always considered yourself too skinny? Skin and bones? While most people need to lose weight, gaining it back can be a very difficult task. Do you want to know how to quickly gain weight without harm to your health? In this article we will tell you how to increase body weight in a short time.

1. Eat frequently to consume more calories

Although everyone should follow this rule, this is especially important for those who are trying to gain weight quickly. Eating often means eating five to six small meals a day that contain as many calories and nutrients as possible.

This doesn't mean there is harmful products and sugar, this means more protein and complex carbohydrates. If you want to gain healthy weight, don't store fat. Your snacks should be nutritious but high in calories, think about:

• nuts
• nut butter
• dried fruits
• avocado.

And this is your evening snack. Forward!

And while this is a great way to gain weight, it's not healthy, so avoid sugary drinks and coffee. Replenish your fluid supply with plain water and smoothies (like an iced milkshake) or skim milk or juice shakes for a more active increase in calories.

Diet menu for weight gain

Have you already figured out how to gain weight in a short time? That's right, you need to eat well, that is, consume enough calories for muscle growth. And you need to take into account the amount of fats, proteins and carbohydrates. The bottom line is that each of these nutrients is very important in nutrition, and they must be present in the diet of a person who wants to gain weight quickly.

To make things easier for you, we have compiled an approximate diet for weight gain for men and women. To begin with, you can use them as they are on the site or you can customize them to suit you by replacing products or increasing their quantity if you feel that this will not be enough for active growth.

For men

Breakfast

Dinner and supper

Snacks between main meals

Sample menu for girls

Breakfast

Lunch - dinner

Snacks 2-3 times a day

To gain weight as quickly as possible, you can use the suggested nutritional options. If there is no result, then the calorie intake needs to be increased. This can be done by simply doubling the number of servings, or adding 1-2 more meals, or adding high-calorie foods. It's your choice, whichever is more convenient for you.

2. Eat the right types of fats

You want to gain weight and look healthy, not like a skeleton with a belly. Then maximize your intake of cereal, dairy products, nuts (including nut butters), and meat, and avoid ice cream, fried foods, and fatty junk foods.

Healthy fats should come from fish, peanuts, cashews and olive oil. Beware of saturated (bad) animal fats. If you want something tasty, bran muffins, yogurt, fruit pie and fitness bars are good alternatives.

3. More protein

While it's a myth that the more protein you eat, the more muscle you'll build, protein is an important part of your diet. It is a building material for our entire body: muscles, bones, skin, hair and blood. Therefore, complete your menu.

Foods enriched with proteins include meat, cheese, milk, fish and eggs. For vegetarians, protein can come from soy products such as tofu, or better yet from a combination of foods such as rice or corn and legumes.

4. Increase the amount of carbohydrates in your diet

Although they are criticized, carbohydrates provide energy and help build muscle and are involved in all life functions. Carbohydrates are your body's main source of energy. But it is better to avoid simple carbohydrates. They hold empty calories and are likely to be stored as fat because sugar quickly entering your bloodstream causes your blood sugar levels to spike.

Buckwheat, rice, pasta (pasta from durum varieties wheat), potatoes and all grains fall into the approved category. Glucose from them is released into the blood slowly and provides a stable supply of energy for a long period, without causing insulin surges that lead to fat deposition.

When gaining weight, the total calorie intake per day is calculated. And to gain weight, you need to increase your daily caloric intake. Eating before bed will add another meal and increase your overall caloric intake.

In addition, the body needs about 3-4 hours to digest and absorb food. After this time, he is in a state of hunger and begins to use muscles to obtain nutrients. That is, it begins to destroy hard-earned muscles.

To avoid gaining excess fat, you can eat the following as your last meal before bed:

• cottage cheese
• white meat
• fish.

2. Exercises to gain weight quickly

If you decide to go to the gym or have some equipment at home, pay attention, this will allow you to properly create a training program. And also use our selection tips, because the length of the limbs, size and muscle strength impose certain restrictions on training.

1. Strength training

To gain weight quickly, it is not enough to simply increase your caloric intake. The fact is that the body must see the need to recruit additional muscle mass. Because more weight means an increase in the load on the cardiovascular system, an increase in the load on nervous system. Which, for safety reasons, our body will not do. He must see a clear need to gain muscle.

Strength training will help us with this, as it will give a signal that the existing muscles are not enough and we need to build new ones. And increased caloric intake will be a good opportunity for weight gain.

Yes, cardio training develops some of your muscles, but how can you gain weight quickly if your body does not get enough power loads? No way. And here training with additional weights will come to the rescue. This is a good complex.

This doesn't mean you have to become an affiliation with the gym (although that certainly works!). Perform push-ups, crunches, lunges and squats in the comfort of your own home. But to speed up the process and get better results, you need to use additional weight.

Exercise will also increase your appetite. A protein bar or shake after your workout will give your muscles what they need.

2. Increase physical activity

As stated above, in order to gain weight, the body must receive a stimulus. Your muscles should receive more load and work harder. If your loads are small, change them and make them more challenging.

Buy strength training equipment for your home. This will work if you only have 15 minutes before going to work, then you can flex all your muscles by doing a quick muscle building program that will set you on the right path.

3. Use less energy outside of training

Besides storing, burn as few calories as you can. Grab the remote control, it's yours milkshake, and fall on the sofa. 🙂

If you really are becoming less mobile everywhere, then it is important to do strength training. Even if you don't see fat in your body, internal fat (the one that covers your internal organs) may appear unnoticed. And internal fat loves inactivity. So before you sit down to watch a movie, pump the iron. And only then have a movie marathon with a few light snacks.

• Bring snacks, cheese, nuts. They can be consumed between meals. This is convenient when it is not possible to take buckwheat with meat with you
• If you feel like you're gaining extra fat, reduce your calories, eliminate or replace unhealthy foods with healthier ones, and do more exercise to burn fat.

In most cases, gaining muscle mass is the most desired result for any person who comes to Gym. Unfortunately, only a few achieve truly excellent results. Why? There are many reasons for this: poor nutrition, irregular visits to the gym, poor training program. It is the last point that we will now talk more specifically about. What mass training programs are there? What exercises should I do? About this and much more below.

The importance of basic exercises

The basic mass training program is perhaps one of the most effective for both beginners and professionals. Many experts recommend starting your thorny path to building bulky muscles with the help of such training. Why? The fact is that during basic exercises, several muscle groups are used simultaneously, which speeds up the mass-gain cycle. This is explained by the fact that loads of this type are more natural for the musculoskeletal system and involve more muscles in the work than isolated exercises. It would be logical to conclude that the more muscles you work, the more effective your overall muscle development becomes. Plus, you can handle huge load, as more muscles contract.

Microperiodization in training

Alternating between heavy and light training is a very important element in bodybuilding. Muscles always need some time to recover from the severe stress they receive after active training. As a rule, after this recovery they need a little more time to grow, which, in principle, is what everyone strives for. Such a long rest negatively affects the growth effect of small muscles, which recover faster. It is microperiodization, alternating “heavy” and “light” training weeks, that allows you to achieve maximum progress.

Progression in loads

This is another important component of bodybuilding, which is a fundamental principle for a strength sport that uses our muscles. Only progression of loads allows your muscles to grow as quickly as possible, while also gaining strength. If you do not increase your training load, then your muscles will have no reason to grow in volume. It's simple. Therefore, always try to add more work so as not to stop growing. Next, we will describe in more detail what mass training programs there are, indicating them for athletes with an average level of fitness. Go!

Hard week

Above, you learned that microperiodization is a useful thing in bodybuilding. So, now we will tell you what a hard week should be like and what exercises you need to do to build muscle mass.

Monday (back day):

1. Pull-ups (possible with weights) - 4 x max. This exercise can be replaced with overhead rows.
2. Deadlift - 4 x 8. After this, we do the last approach with maximum weight 2-3 times.
3. Seated rows to the chest - 3 x 8.
4. Standing steps - 4 × 10.

After each exercise, in order to reduce the risk of injury, you can stretch your back.

Tuesday (breast day):

1. Bench press on a horizontal bench - 4 x 8. If the incline bench press is more effective for you, then do this option.
2. Incline dumbbell press - 3 x 8.
3. Dumbbell fly/crossover - 4 x 12.

Remember that when doing chest exercises with an incline bench, you cannot do too much of an angle (more than 30-40 degrees), because this way the deltoids work more. Don't forget about progression. You can also include abdominal exercises in your chest workout.

Thursday (leg day):

1. Squat - 4 x 8-12 (we do the last one to failure).
2. Deadlift/Romanian deadlift - 4 x 5-8.
3. Leg press - 3 x 12.
4. Standing/seated calf raises - 4 × 15.
5. Leg bending sitting/lying - 4 x 15.

As for the calves, there are disparate ideas: some say that it is better to work them at the beginning of training, others say the opposite. Advice for you: feel your body while doing this exercise so that your muscles can better cope with the load.

Friday (shoulder day):

1. Seated up press, alternating movements with a barbell (military press) and dumbbells - 4 x 8-10.
2. Lifting the barbell to the chin - 4 x 8-12.
3. Reverse flyes in the butterfly machine - 4 × 10.

We can include abdominal work in this workout.

Saturday (hands day):

1. Standing barbell bend - 4 x 8.
2. Triceps bench press (close grip) - 4 x 8.
3. "Hammers" - 4 x 12-15.
4. Lifting dumbbells - 4 x 8-10.
5. Bars - 4 x max.

By performing these exercises to gain mass, you can achieve excellent results. Of course, if you attend training regularly and follow your diet proper nutrition. By the way, at each workout you can perform supersets of 2-3 exercises (it is advisable to choose the most effective ones), gaining light weights. This approach allows your muscles to be fully loaded, which will significantly accelerate their growth in volume and strength.

Easy week

We continue to describe mass training programs. The previous type of training “destroyed” your muscle fibers, so that over the next week (and this is an easy one) they “healed”, increasing their overall size. In order not to continue to “bomb” our muscles, we can move on to simpler physical activity, which will allow you to stay in good shape and maintain your strength and endurance. In principle, the exercises remain the same, but it is necessary to reduce the working weights (by 20-25%), increasing the number of sets and repetitions. Finally, you can combine 2 muscle groups into one workout, loading them twice a week (Monday and Friday - back and shoulders; Tuesday and Saturday - chest and arms; Thursday - legs). Choose 2-3 exercises for each group, leaving 1 basic one.

Since we do small weights, we need to rest less between approaches (up to 1 minute). Just like during a heavy week, you can do supersets and also slightly adjust the number of sets/repetitions to suit you. Finally, it’s best to work your abs on arm and leg days.

Training for "advanced" level

We will not talk about the exercises themselves here, since athletes with an above-average level probably know what to do. Now we'll talk about the most important aspects training for athletes with good physical fitness, which will be interesting for beginners to learn. To be more specific, we will talk about the following things: ultra-intensity training, variable intensity training, isolation and split techniques.

Ultra-intensive training

The fundamental reason for a training plateau is muscle addiction to a certain type of load. Mass training programs that include a lot of compound exercises do not allow for high-intensity training, which causes your muscles to adapt to physical activity. This feature makes training a normal activity that does not cause muscle hypertrophy. That is why there is an urgent need for additional load so that it stimulates muscles to grow. High-intensity training allows you to “shock” your muscles, encouraging them to increase in size. Basic principles of this type of training:

• It is necessary to perform 1-2 local (i.e., for 1 muscle group) high-intensity exercises.
• It is advisable to perform such exercises at 1 out of 3-4 workouts. Otherwise, you will again cause your muscles to become addicted.
• Periodically you need to change high-intensity exercises.

These are the “pies”. Believe me, it works very effectively.

Isolation and split training

In your training, you need to use 40-50% isolation exercises, which will help you “outline” the lagging muscle (or group of muscles), while increasing its strength and endurance.

As for split training (splitting workouts, allowing you to load 1-2 muscle groups per day), the optimal amount for beginners is a 3-day split, and for professionals, a 5-day split. This approach makes it possible to work out one or another muscle group as much as possible, while maintaining the same level of load. In addition, split training allows you to give your muscles more time to rest and fully recover, which is no less important an element for experienced bodybuilders than an effective training program. Gaining muscle mass occurs precisely during rest, and therefore this component should not be missed.

Variable intensity

Finally, the last trick is variable intensity training. Its whole essence comes down to training at three levels: heavy, medium and easy. Of course, everything depends on the intensity of the training, including the number of approaches, sets, rest time, etc. For maximum efficiency, it is necessary to alternate these types.

Gain muscle mass at home

It is very problematic to pump up at home without any exercise equipment. Of course, you won’t build muscle mass with push-ups alone, and therefore you will have to acquire minimal training equipment used in a sport such as bodybuilding. Mass training programs will generally be the same with only slight variations. We will give one of them.

• Full squats with any weight - 3 x 20.
• Push-ups from the floor - 4 x 15 times.
• Crunches - 3 x 20.
• Push-ups with narrow palms - 3 x 15.
• Lunges forward using weights - 3 x 15 on each leg.
• Hold on your elbows (plank) for 30 seconds.
• Hand push-ups in L-pose - 3 x max.

This is enough, but we repeat that you will not be able to build high-quality muscle mass at home. Of course, if you have a gym (garage) with basic exercise equipment (barbell, dumbbells), then everything will become easier, because you can pump up by doing only the “basic”.

We translated from scientific language in humans, several important knowledge that will help you grow muscles as effectively as possible.

We believe that almost everyone who reads fitness texts understands that exercise can increase both strength and muscle size. However, there is a clear difference between strength training and training aimed specifically at increasing muscle size.

How muscles grow

Weight training itself does not cause muscle growth. But the load received during training causes fatigue and stimulates physiological mechanisms, which, mainly during rest, cause the muscles to increase. Growth occurs as a result of an increase in the thickness of muscle fibers and the volume of fluid in muscle cells.

The ability to gain muscle mass depends on gender, age, weight training experience, genetics, quantity and quality of sleep, nutrition and fluid intake, and even stress levels can affect the ability to gain mass. For example, work overload or insufficient sleep can significantly reduce muscle growth, despite proper training and nutrition.

Mechanical and metabolic stress

There is no doubt that if you regularly and correctly lift iron, this leads to an increase in muscle volume and strength, however, scientists still have not decided what exactly causes muscle growth.

Training causes two specific types of stress: mechanical (microtears in the muscles - read more: "") and metabolic (triggering chemical repair processes due to the energy spent by the muscles), and they both can provide the necessary stimulus for muscle growth.

The challenge for research is that both mechanical and metabolic stress act in tandem, and isolating the effects of each separately on muscle growth is not easy.

"Slow" and "fast" muscle fibers

To design an exercise program to maximize muscle growth, you need to understand physiology.

There are two main types of muscle fibers: slow-twitch and fast-twitch. Fast-twitch fibers are larger in diameter than slow-twitch fibers and, accordingly, occupy a more prominent place in your muscles.

“Slow” fibers are also classified as aerobic, due to their high oxidative abilities, which enable them to contract for a long time. They are best suited for long-term activities that require minimal effort (such as long-distance running).

Fast-twitch muscle fibers have a high firing threshold as well as a high conduction velocity and are better suited for fast efforts (which is why sprinters look athletic compared to distance runners). In other words, these are the fibers you need to successfully jerk a heavy barbell.

Repeated effort method. If you want to grow, do sets to failure

It's not enough to just lift weights at high reps unless it causes muscle failure. The body stores and uses energy very efficiently, so repeating exercises with a constant load can limit the amount of mechanical (roughly speaking, they will tear badly) and metabolic stress (little growth hormones will be released) on the muscles and minimize the results of the workout.

Simply put, to maximize muscle growth, it is advisable to do exercises until muscle failure (I can’t do it anymore!)

3 types of training

Scientists Zatsiorsky and Kremer in 2006 identified three fundamental types of training: the maximum effort method, the dynamic effort method and the repeated effort method. The first two methods are good for their purposes, but are not the most effective for muscle growth.

1. Maximum effort method

This method uses significant weights to increase the activity of “fast” muscle fibers (which we wrote about in more detail above). Roughly speaking, the maximum effort method is associated with lifting the maximum possible weight (and therefore a small number of repetitions per set).

The main stimulus from the maximum effort method is mechanical (aimed at creating micro-tears in the muscles), myofibrillar hypertrophy with a significant increase in strength and a moderate increase in muscle mass.

The maximum effort method is effective for developing strength, but not the most effective remedy increasing muscle mass.

2. Dynamic force method

Dynamic force training does not use maximum weight, but rather focuses on moving the weight as fast as possible to stimulate the motor units.

This method is most effective for increasing the rate of force development and contractile power required in many sports or dynamic activities. However, it does not provide enough mechanical or metabolic stress to the muscles needed to stimulate growth.

3. Repeated Effort Method

The repeated effort method does not involve maximum loads, but the need to do exercises until muscle failure occurs (when it is no longer possible to perform any further repetitions in the set).

The last few repetitions, which have to be done through the burn, can involve all the fibers in the target muscle into contraction and cause significant overload. When using the repeated effort method, slow motor units are activated at the beginning of the approach, and as they tire, the “fast” muscles will also be activated.

The method of repeated effort and performing an exercise to failure is most effective for muscle growth, says science. It is important to work until failure. If the load is insufficient or the approach is not performed to failure, stimulation of the “fast” motor units (as you read above, they are the ones that mainly give volume to the muscles) does not occur or the necessary metabolic conditions that promote muscle growth are not created.

Sleep and recovery are just as important as training and nutrition itself.

Rest is the most underrated element of training. No matter how long you endured the pain of those last reps or how diligently you sourced protein and calories from your diet, it is not as important as the time it takes for nutrients and hormones to promote muscle protein synthesis after exercise.

Exercise and food are an important part of the muscle growth equation, but they're not the whole story. Adequate recovery is very important - it is necessary to give the muscles enough time to replenish glycogen stores and undergo the processes of reconstruction and creation of new muscle tissue.

The recovery required for muscle growth is 48–72 hours between training sessions for a particular muscle group. This scientific argument, by the way, speaks in favor of split training - when each muscle group receives the main load, for example, once a week.

Inducing mechanical and metabolic stress during your gym training will only make sense while the hormones and substances necessary for muscle growth are released during REM sleep. This means that a full night’s sleep is important for muscle growth after training. Inadequate sleep and recovery will ruin your efforts in the gym and at the dinner table. Moreover, lack of sleep can increase adrenaline and cortisol levels, which can also reduce the ability to form new muscle tissue.

Lack of sleep, poor appetite, long-term illnesses, and loss of growth as a result of exercise are all symptoms of overexertion that can significantly impact a person's ability to achieve their fitness goals.

“Underrecovery” is another reason to think about overexertion. “To promote muscle growth, you need time for rest (active rest) to allow for full recovery,” says Schoenfeld (2013).

Training program for gaining muscle mass

Number of repetitions

Science suggests that for maximum muscle growth, select the weight so that you do 8-12 repetitions until muscle failure - it’s good that almost every trainer in the gym seems to know this simple fact. True, now, unlike you, not everyone knows why exactly.

Amount of rest between sets

Short to moderate rests between sets (30 seconds to 2 minutes) can cause significant metabolic stress.

Number of approaches in each exercise

According to scientists, performing 3-4 approaches provides the most effective mechanical tension for all muscles involved.

Travel speed

Scientists recommend performing movements with maximum effort faster - 1-2 seconds (for example, lifting a barbell), and the eccentric phase of the exercise (for example, lowering a barbell) for a longer period (2-6 seconds). Slower execution of the eccentric phase is necessary to ensure sufficient mechanical tension - it is this “easier” phase of movement that is most important for muscle growth. “From a hypertrophy perspective, eccentric contraction has a greater impact on muscle development. In particular, eccentric exercise has been associated with greater increases in protein synthesis” (Schoenfeld, 2010).

Free weights or machines

Scientist Schoenfeld argues that each type of weight plays a role in optimal muscle growth: “Free weights that involve a large number of muscles help increase muscle density, while the stabilization provided by the machines allows individual muscles to be more stressed.”

Preparing for serious training

When training for muscle growth with a large metabolic and mechanical effect, it can cause serious muscle damage and is recommended for people with at least one year of training experience.

It is necessary to start with a dynamic warm-up, loading the core muscles (abs, stabilizer muscles and others) to prepare muscle tissue to the stress of high volume training.

Exercise order

It is preferable to start training with complex movements with free weights to engage the maximum number of muscles (for example, squats with a barbell, deadlifts are best done at the beginning of training), and during the course of the session gradually move on to machines that affect individual muscles.

Extreme exercise

The last exercise in each workout must be performed in a weight-loss machine: after all repetitions of the approach to failure, the weight is reduced and the maximum possible number of repetitions must be done with it until failure.

Weight loss approaches can cause significant mechanical and metabolic stress, as well as significant discomfort, and should be performed at the end of the session.

It is important to dose the load that is necessary for you, because “overload” can be no less harmful to muscle growth than “underload”. For example, in the program recommended by scientists for muscle growth (see below), cardio load is limited. According to Schoenfeld, "too much energy expenditure can reduce muscle growth."

The exercise program presented below is based on the latest scientific research related to increasing muscle mass.

Attention: RM – repeated maximum

Day 4. Rest or low-intensity cardio exercise

Greetings to readers of the sportivs blog about health and sports. I am with you again, Alexander Bely. Today we will touch on a topic such as a set of exercises for gaining muscle mass. I recently met a childhood friend who is into bodybuilding, he shared some tips with me and told me a couple of interesting tricks on how to gain muscle mass. When I got home, I decided to put it in an article. We'll talk about best exercises that will help you achieve good results.

Since ancient times, it has been accepted that a man should be strong and strong. A striking example is the Russian heroes, who personified strength and courage. To become big and strong you need to do physical exercises, the best option are basic.
Let's look at all the features of basic exercises.

Basic exercises

You can achieve good results at home, however, by visiting the gym and working with weights, you can get maximum results. No work, dear friends, can be completed without a clearly defined plan.

So here, in order to increase muscle volume, you need to create a certain set of workouts.

Basic rules of growth

Now we will look at the most important nuances that will help you build muscle mass.

1. Training. It is important to choose the most suitable set of exercises for you. For some, this training program is good, for others it is different, but pay attention to the fact that each complex is compiled individually.

2. Nutrition. During any human activity, energy and strength are consumed. To replenish them you need a certain amount of calories. You should eat a day to restore losses. If you want to progress, then in addition to restoration resources, you also need a certain amount of additional food, which will be used as building material.

To grow normally, I recommend at least 1.5 grams of protein per 1 kg of weight, that is, if you weigh 80 kg, you need to eat 120 grams of protein per day. However, you should not focus only on protein; an important factor is the number of calories you receive. The optimal amount would be 2500-3000 kcal.

Don't forget about fats either. Many people think that fats make you fat, to some extent this is true, but if you take all the factors into account correctly, they can be your friends. There are healthy fats - saturated fats. They are found in animal products such as fish, beef, oils and nuts. Ideally, you need to calculate daily ration Used (proteins, fats, carbohydrates).

3. Recovery. Muscles grow while you sleep. To achieve good results, sleep 8-10 hours a day. Avoid overtraining, do not go to training tired, this will negatively affect the intensity as well as your health.

4. Sports supplements. Surely everyone knows that an elite car like a Ferrari or Lamborgini has incredibly strong power. Let's now think about what it needs to maintain that power and strength - fuel, that's right. If such cars are filled with 92 or 95 gasoline, they simply will not be able to drive normally, and the same with the human body, it is necessary to additionally “feed” the body so that it is strong and powerful.

Protein, also known as protein, gives you the building blocks to build muscles. - substances that make up protein. Gainer is a complex nutrition with high nutritional value, perfect for gaining weight. There are many more various options sports nutrition, however, we have considered the most necessary ones.

In order to purchase high-quality sports supplements and achieve visible results in a short time, I recommend visiting Activizm online store.

Remember that during training your muscles do not grow, but rather are destroyed. Growth occurs during rest, when muscle fibers, in the presence of building material, reunite and form new ones. Remember that training is only 30% of success, the remaining 70% is plus food.

Let's now look at the benefits of exercise.

• You feel good.
• Your mood improves.
• You become happy with your reflection in the mirror.
• You set new goals and progress.
• People around you like you.

After we've talked about the benefits, let's move on to the next key section - a set of exercises.

Exercises to increase muscle size

The main exercises that promote active growth are basic. Now I'll tell you why. Basic exercises are those during which 2 or more muscle groups are involved.

Basic workouts are:

1. . This is the daddy of all exercises. There are even competitions in this discipline, since it is the main one. The chest muscles develop, however, during work the deltoids and triceps are also involved.

2. Deadlift. An exercise for the back, during which the legs, abdominal muscles, and entire arms are also involved.

3. Squats. To have big arms you need to squat. It sounds strange, but it's true. During squats, 70% of your body is pumped.

4. Lifting the barbell from the chest. The main load goes to the muscles of the arms and deltas.

5. . The back develops, the arms are pumped.

6. Biceps curl. Hands are pumping.

The base is key to building muscle mass. For beginners, I recommend starting with isolation exercises such as blocks and dumbbell exercises. For teenagers basic exercises with light weight will contribute to the active growth of not only muscle mass, but also height. For girls in the gym, you can do the basics, you just need to take the appropriate weight. If you follow all the nuances and my advice correctly, you can achieve excellent results.

The most important thing in bodybuilding is muscle mass. Yes, yes, it’s muscle mass, not relief. Relief is a secondary point in giving the body beautiful shapes. Initially there must be a good mass so that there is something to relief.

The training program for gaining muscle mass is very simple and does not require a person to be highly athletic. Just general physical training is enough. Bodybuilding, like psychology, is very simple in its essence, although this is not immediately noticeable, but if you understand all its subtleties, then everything becomes quite transparent. Of course, we won’t go into all these subtleties in this article, but we’ll look at what training program to use for this below.

The theory of muscle gain

So, as already mentioned in previous articles on similar topics, in order to gain weight, you should use mainly basic exercises. They are great for this purpose. However, mindlessly performing these exercises is unlikely to lead you to large muscle volumes. As Joe Weider, a famous trainer and founder of the International Bodybuilding Federation, noted, muscles react to loads differently, depending on the weight of the weights and the number of repetitions in the approach. Thus, if your goal is to gain muscle mass, then you should primarily proceed from these rules.

A training program for gaining muscle mass involves performing exercises with a weight that you can lift 6-9 times. It is this approach to training that will lead to an increase in muscle strength and will place maximum emphasis on increasing their mass.

Although also a good option for gaining mass would be to perform 8-12 repetitions per set, but this is different for everyone, so you need to try 6-9 repetitions and 8-12 to determine which your muscles respond better to.

If you perform fewer repetitions, then the emphasis will be more on increasing strength rather than muscle volume, but if the number of repetitions is more than 12, then the emphasis will shift from increasing muscle mass to developing muscle endurance. Therefore, during mass training, it is important to stay in the range of 6-9 times (8-12), no more and no less.

Exercises should be performed to failure, that is, if you, for example, perform the 9th repetition of an exercise, but cannot complete the 10th, then this will be a failure phenomenon. If the muscles are not pushed to failure, then the process of gaining weight will be much less effective, and for some people who are not genetically adapted to this sport, it will not happen at all.

The number of approaches in such a training program will vary depending on the fitness of the athlete. If you are a beginner and your “experience” of regular training is no more than 2 months, then you should perform no more than 1-2 approaches per individual muscle group. If you are no longer a beginner, then the optimal number of approaches will be 2-4.

I would also like to note that you will have to work mainly in the “negative” phase, that is, spend more time lowering the projectile than raising it. For example, if you are doing a barbell curl, then the upward movement of the apparatus should take no more than 1 second, and its lowering should last at least 3 seconds. This is due to the fact that the muscle, in the “negative” phase, or in other words in the lowering phase, receives a larger number of microcracks that affect its growth.

Let's start practicing

So, now let's move directly to the training program itself. But first, a small digression. If you don't want your muscles to be pathetic, then no need to feel sorry for yourself in training! Forget about easy fitness, a training program for gaining muscle mass requires maximum strength and energy. For muscles to grow, they need to be given a serious reason, a good push, maximum stress!

We will arrange the exercises as follows: two muscle groups in each workout. Rest between workouts should be 48-72 hours, it depends on the speed of muscle recovery, for some this process goes faster, and for others slower. The diet is predominantly protein, preferably half an hour before training and half an hour after it, drink a protein shake.

In this example, we will start our training on Monday. At the beginning of each workout, we devote the first ten minutes to aerobic warm-up in order to warm up our body. At the end of the workout we also do a 10-minute warm-up.

Important! If you are a beginner, then it is better to start practicing.

Monday (We pump up the pectoral muscles and biceps)

Exercise name	Sets/reps	Photo
	4/6-9; 8-12
This additional basic exercise of the complex is more suitable for advanced athletes. Therefore, if you feel that your level of preparation is low, then it is better to skip it for now. Over time, it will need to be included in the program.	4/6-9; 8-12
This exercise belongs to the category of isolating and forming, so it can be performed for 12-15 repetitions per set. There should be 3-4 approaches.	3-4/12-15
As with the bench press, the first set is a warm-up. This is followed by 2-4 sets of 6-9 or 8-12 repetitions to failure.	4/6-9; 8-12
This exercise can be called expanding, since it makes the biceps grow in thickness. So, when looking at the hand from the front in the future, you can see the effect of this exercise	4/6-9;8-12
Again, this is an isolation exercise, perform 12-15 repetitions per set in order to shape the peak of the biceps. Approaches 3-4.	3-4/12-15

Thursday (Strengthening your back and shoulders)

Exercise name	Sets/reps	Photo
The first set is a warm-up, which should be 50-60% of your working weight. Next, we perform 2-4 approaches with the working weight, repetitions in each approach 6-9 or 8-12 times until failure. * Perform deadlifts once every 2 weeks.	4/6-9; 8-12
Difficult for some, but still very effective exercise to develop the width of the back. If you are a beginner and find it difficult to do pull-ups, skip this exercise and move on to the next one.	4/6-9; 8-12
If you did pull-ups before, this will be a “finishing” exercise. If not, then this is the main exercise of the complex for the latissimus muscles.	3-4/12-15
This will be the main exercise of the complex to increase the thickness of the latissimus muscles. Beginners will find it difficult to perform it correctly after deadlifting, so they should also perform it once every 2 weeks. Naturally in the week when there is no training.	4/6-9; 8-12
The exercise acts as an alternative to the previous one or as a “finishing off” addition. The number of repetitions and approaches is 4/6-9 if this is a main exercise and 3-4/12-15 if this is a finishing exercise.	4/6-9;8-12
This is the main exercise of the complex aimed at working your shoulders. Similar to other exercises: the first set is a warm-up, then 2-4 sets of 6-9 or 8-12 repetitions until failure.	4/6-9; 8-12
The second basic exercise of the shoulder complex. The difference from the previous one is the emphasis on the load. In this case, it falls on the rear bundles of deltas. *Alternate the sequence of this exercise and the barbell chest press every week.	4/6-9; 8-12
+1 option This exercise must be performed at every shoulder workout. “+1 variation” means adding one more variation of the isolation exercise. It could be or. Alternate them every week.	3-4/12-15

Sunday (Pumping up legs and triceps)

Exercise name	Sets/reps	Photo
We warm up with a weight equal to 50-60% of the working weight and perform 2-4 sets of 6-9 or 8-12 repetitions until failure with the working weight. Exercise requires partner(s) insurance!	4/6-9; 8-12
It can be either a main or an additional basic exercise. It can be considered basic only when for some reason you cannot perform squats with a barbell.	4/6-9; 8-12
A basic exercise aimed primarily at training the back of the thigh. It is better to perform with dumbbells, as this will provide a more correct trajectory of movement and load vector.	4/6-9; 8-12
Another relatively basic exercise for the hamstrings, which should be used to “finish off” your legs using exceptional execution technique.	4/8-12
Basic exercise for training triceps. After the warm-up approach, we perform 2-4 sets of 6-9 or 8-12 reps until failure.	4/6-9;8-12
Just like all isolation exercises in this example, we perform 3-4 sets of 12-15 times. Can be performed lying down, sitting or standing. You can alternate for variety.	3-4/12-15
The last exercise of the complex, designed to fill the triceps with fresh blood and work them for relief. Performed with low weight but with exceptional technique. You should feel tension and burning in your triceps.	3-4/12-15

The stress on the body when gaining weight is very serious. A large amount of energy is consumed and, accordingly, it needs to be replenished somehow. Diet ordinary person here it will be ineffective and will negatively affect the results of training. Therefore, you need to make some adjustments to your diet.

You need to eat 4-6 times a day. There are practically no restrictions, except in the size of portions - they should be small so that it is easier for the body to absorb them. Don’t be afraid to gain weight, in any case, when training for weight, you will gain fat along with muscles (but it doesn’t matter, because there are also)

The golden rule of bodybuilding says that the optimal daily dose of protein for an athlete is 1.5-2 grams per kilogram of weight. Not a small amount, which is very difficult to consume only with regular food. After all, even for a 70-kilogram athlete this will amount to 100-140 grams of pure protein. And this is equivalent to, say, 600-700 grams chicken fillet. Not everyone can eat so much meat a day, it’s inconvenient, and you’ll get bored very quickly. You can solve this problem using sports nutrition suggested for this training program:

N.O.-Xplode 2.0
A pre-workout complex that helps increase strength and endurance. Significantly increases the effectiveness and impact of training with weights.

Conclusion

This program uses mainly basic exercises in addition to some isolation exercises. It is this specially designed training program that will help you gain muscle mass as quickly as possible. Finally, I would like to remind you once again, Don’t feel sorry for yourself in training! Watch this motivational video that once again confirms everything said above.

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