Anyone serious about body-building wants to know what to do to gain muscle, lots and lots of muscle. Like any construction job, you need lots of energy to build muscle. The construction industry gets it from oil and electricity. Your body gets it from a balanced diet.
You actually need more calories than you burn while you workout. When you work out, you simply “train” your muscles. Actual construction starts after the training, while relaxing, when the body repairs injured muscles, enlarging and strengthening them, preparing them for the next round of training.
Most dieticians will tell you 1000-1200 calories a day should be enough. Enough for a sedentary person. If you want to gain muscle, you need calories up to 20 times your bodyweight. That’s 4000 calories for a 200 pound person.
Sorry, no potato chips. What to do to gain muscle is to eat smart. Your body needs a generous supply of good protein, low glycemic carbohydrates, fat and lots and lots of water. Good protein can be obtained from lean meat, fish, chicken, eggs, cottage cheese and skimmed milk.
Then to absorb all that protein, you need low glycemic carbohydrates. Fruits, oatmeal, whole wheat and brown rice are good sources. These foods provide not just low-glycemic carbs, but also plenty of fiber.
Finally there’s the fat, which helps metabolize all those carbs and proteins. Not the bad fat from French fries, but good fat (Essential Fatty Acids), which you get from olive oil, nuts, flaxseed and fish. They help not only with the metabolism, but also give more volume to the muscles.
You’re energy needs secured, you’re now ready to begin construction. A properly structured gym plan, that you should follow consistently and persistently, is essential to your muscle building goals. Choose any fancy-named plan that you like, just stick to it.
What to do to gain muscle is not really a secret. The key to success at continually gaining muscle, or gaining success in any kind of endeavor, is consistence. Give it time and you will have bigger, better, stronger muscles.