How To Build Muscle Naturally

One of the most common reasons for guys of joining a gym or lifting weights is to gain muscle mass. Some people may just want to get fit or they just wanna be active but the ultimate goal of almost everyone is to build muscles.

Unfortunately, some stupid people spread this misconception that you can’t build muscles naturally. You have to take steroids to look like your favorite celebrity. In fact, especially in India, most of the gym trainers support steroids and motivate you to take steroids.

Well, the reason behind this is the lack of factful knowledge and fitness education. Most of the gym trainers are not even certified in India.

These uneducated people don’t know how to build muscle naturally. Hence, they think it is impossible to build muscle naturally and promote steroids and drugs.

Trust me guys, you can build muscle naturally and achieve your dream physique. You don’t need to destroy your body by taking steroids and drugs.

This article will explain to you that how you can build muscle naturally. So let’s get started…

1. Lift Heavy

Lift heavy weights and give your muscles a reason to grow. To build muscle naturally you have to lift as heavy as you can.

Make sure you don’t compromise with your form during heavy lifts. Lift only that much of weight which you can lift with proper form.

Do most of your workout in hypertrophy range that is 6-12 reps per set. It is supposed to be the best rep range to build muscle mass and increase muscle size.

SUMMARY: Lift heavy weights for 6-12 reps per set without compromising your form.

2. Do More Focus On Compound Exercises

Compound exercises are exercises that involve multiple muscle groups and multiple joints. In these exercises, different muscle groups work together at the same time.

The top three of them are:

• Bench press
• Squats
• Deadlift

These three exercises are the most efficient for building muscle naturally. From Arnold Schwarzenegger to Jeff Seid, everyone does these exercises. Add them at the beginning of your workout as your ATP stores are full at that time.

Compound exercises give you the luxury to lift super heavyweights. In addition, theses exercises improve strength and necessary for the overall development of your body.

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Compound Exercises: Benefits, Types, & Safety Tips

SUMMARY: Bench press, squats, and deadlifts are the best exercises to build muscle mass naturally, increase strength and for the overall development of your body.

3. Progressive Overloading

You can’t build up your physique by lifting the same weight or by doing the same workout over and over again.

When you train with the same intensity as you were doing in the previous workouts, your body gets used to that stress. You have to give your muscles a reason to grow by doing progressive overloading.

You can do this in two ways:

• Lift heavier weights or
• Add more sets

Putting your muscles under more tension results in more stress and recruits untrained muscle fibers, therefore, more muscle growth. Try to increase your strength by 3-5% every week.

SUMMARY: Give your muscles a reason to grow by lifting heavier weights or by adding more sets in your workout.

4. Train Like A Beast

Do you keep checking your phone after every set? Or keep an eye on the girl under squat rack? If yes, then stop doing this mickey mouse stuff.

When it comes to training, you have to go all-in. Don’t get distracted by anything during your workout.

Here are some things that you should do while workout:

• Do each set like your last set.
• Feel each and every rep in your muscles.
• Switch off your phone or at least turn off the notifications.
• Wear a stopwatch to ensure that you don’t rest for too long.
• Do your workout with focus and dedication, and just forget the world.

SUMMARY: To build muscle naturally, you have to give your 100% in the gym. Hence, leave out all the distractions and train like a beast.

5. Take Enough Protein

Protein is the most important nutrient to build lean muscle mass. It is the building block of muscles.

Along with proper training, a high protein diet is also important to build muscle naturally. Take around 1.8-2.4 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight (0.8-1.1 grams of protein per pound).

Protein-rich foods include eggs, chicken, meat, fish, soy, legumes, beans, milk, and cottage cheese (paneer).

It is not easy for everyone to consume that much of protein. So, if you are struggling to get enough protein through diet alone, you can add whey protein supplements.

In addition to the amount of protein, the quality of protein is also important. Make sure to get all the essential amino acids in a sufficient amount especially leucine – that directly stimulates the muscle growth.

SUMMARY: Muscles are made up of protein. Hence, it is essential to eat around 1.8-2.4 grams of protein per kilograms of body weight.

6. Add Healthy Fats In Your Diet

Fat is a very calory dense nutrient. One gram of fat gives you about 9 calories. That’s why fat helps in meeting your high calory goals.

Eat at least 1 gram of fat per kilogram of body weight. You can take even more fat if your calory requirements are higher.

Some sources of healthy fats are:

• Egg yolks
• Fish
• Peanut Butter
• Avacado
• Seeds (flaxseeds, chia seeds, etc)
• Cottage cheese
• Oil (Olive oil, coconut oil, desi ghee)
• Nuts (Almonds, cashews, peanuts)

Try to get most of your fat from these healthy sources. In addition to muscle gain, fat gives you healthy joints and promotes brain health.

SUMMARY: Eat at least 1 gram of fat per kg of your body weight. Fat is high in calories which helps in gaining muscle mass and have other health benefits too.

7. Be In A Caloric Surplus Mode

In order to build muscle naturally, you have to eat more than your requirement. Consume around 500 extra calories from your maintenance. Click here to check your maintenance calories.

Let’s say your maintenance calories are 2500 and your goal is to consume 3000 calories daily. Now after calculating the amount of protein and fats you need, fill the remaining calories by carbohydrates.

Try to take around 5 meals in a day and if you find it difficult to eat that frequently than take at least 3.

SUMMARY: To build muscle naturally, you have to eat more calories than you burn. Add about 500 calories in your maintenance and you are good to go.

8. Eat Plenty Of Carbs

To gain weight or to build muscle mass, you have to add a high amount of carbs in your diet. Carbohydrates are the primary source of energy. You need to eat plenty of carbs to fuel your intense workouts and to build muscle naturally.

Try to eat most of your carbs in the complex form because they are healthier than simple carbs. Complex carbs are low in GI (Glycemic Index) and also contains dietary fibers.

Some good sources of healthy carbohydrates are:

• Oats
• Brown rice
• Whole wheat bread
• Starchy vegetables like potato
• Chapati
• Roasted chana
• Lentils
• Beans
• Fruits

Make sure to eat plenty of carbs, especially if your metabolism is high or you are a hard gainer.

SUMMARY: Carbs are the primary source of energy and you need to eat a lot of carbs to fuel your workout and to build muscle mass.

9. Take Creatine

Creatine is one of the best supplement which can actually help you in building muscle mass naturally. Apart from whey protein, if you want to invest money in supplements, then creatine is the one.

Creatine is very cheap and it provides you several muscle-building benefits including:

• It generates more energy during your workout.
• Enhances high-intensity exercise performance.
• Increases strength and power.
• Helps in building more muscle mass naturally.
• Increases muscle size.

You must have read:

Muscle Building Benefits Of Creatine

Creatine is available in different forms in the market like creatine HCL, creatine ethyl ester, etc. Among all these variations, creatine monohydrate is the best and cheapest.

SUMMARY: Creatine is a natural supplement that helps you to build muscle naturally and improves your athletic performance in the gym.

10. Rest And Recovery

Rest days are also as important as workout days. Resting is part of the process to build muscle naturally.

During the workout, you cause a lot of wear and tear in your muscle fibers. So in order to grow your muscles, you have to give them proper rest to recover. However, different muscle groups take different time periods to recover.

Larger the muscle, more the time it takes to recover. Big muscle groups like legs, back, and chest take about 72 hours to recover whereas for smaller muscles like arms, shoulders, and abs, 48 hours are sufficient.

So a good thumb rule is to give at least three days rest to each muscle group and don’t train any muscle more than twice a week.

In addition to the recovery period, your sleep also plays a major role in building muscles. Take at least 7 hours of good night’s sleep. Many people don’t realize how important sleep is to building muscle. If you don’t give enough sleep to your body each night, you may completely erase all of your muscle-building efforts in the gym.

SUMMARY: A rest of 3-4 days is sufficient for any muscle group to recover after training. Along with that, take adequate sleep of at least 7 hours.

The Takeaway

So these were the things you must have to do in order to build muscle naturally. If you follow these tips wholeheartedly then I promise you that you’ll definitely get great results.

Don’t get manipulated by your uneducated gym trainer to take steroids. It will take time and a lot of hard work, but yes, it is totally possible to build muscle naturally.