Five steps to building muscle without resorting to steroids

The ability to continuously build muscle mass is very important in bodybuilding because it is the key to success in this sport. Many beginning bodybuilders who have tried to gain decent muscle mass have failed. Why? Simple ignorance of their mistakes. Many of them resorted to the use of steroids in order to build muscle quickly. But they did not consider that anabolic drugs should be used when the natural maximum is reached or the period of “stagnation” is over, then the anabolic boost in the direction of progress is justified. If you have reached a time of “stagnation” in training, and it seems impossible to move forward. Do not immediately turn to pharmacology. For starters, go through the following five steps and believe in the indispensable forward movement after them:

Step one. Diet and its evaluation

Diet is the first and very important step. Take a proper look: what foods do you get your calories from? Perhaps a third of your daily diet is fat? How much protein do you consume? If you train hard, you need 2 grams of protein for every kilogram of your body weight per day. The diet should be balanced: you need to get high-quality protein, i.e. that which is contained in meat, eggs, milk, fish. Also in the diet you should remember about carbohydrates, which contribute to the preservation of protein and are just necessary for building muscles. You should not go on a low-carbohydrate diet during a period of “stasis.” More than half of the calories you can get from rice, buckwheat, pasta, vegetables.

Second step. Low-carbohydrate diet, increase calories

What if you’re not ready to consume more calories? A low-carb diet is what you require. You shouldn’t just eat as much as possible, as muscle tissue is only synthesized when there is a stimulus for muscle growth. There has to be a proper load on the muscle cells so that they start looking for protein for their own growth and repair. If muscles do not need calories and “building material”, then all your efforts with additional nutrition will not only be in vain, but also dangerous, because fat tissues will fill their ranks with recruits. A low-carbohydrate diet alone will not give the desired effect, which is why it is important to increase the calories slowly, very little by little, so that the calories are received only by the muscles and exactly in the process of growth. Otherwise, excess calories will be deposited in fat tissue.

Third step. The caloric content of the diet and the proper distribution of meals

Remember how important it is for a bodybuilder to divide the diet into small, frequent meals. First, it facilitates digestion through a continuous flow of micro and macro components; second, the rate of fat storage is reduced, even with a high calorie diet. But one exception should be mentioned. Throughout the day, the most significant meal of the day should be breakfast (but this does not mean that after breakfast you should fall off your feet from what you have eaten). A thorough breakfast, as well as a high-calorie diet, but even calories, will greatly accelerate all the metabolic processes in your body, including muscle growth. Scientific studies show that when you eat your main meal at the beginning of the day, the probability that calories will be deposited as fat tends to zero. Try to eat more often, increasing the caloric content of your diet, and take the bulk of your meals in the first half of the day to grow muscle, not fat.

Fourth step. A varied workout program

A varied training program is at the core of your training. Continuous growth is primarily the result of muscle stimulation. Even if you eat almost the best in the world, it does not mean that success will come. Continuous muscle growth simply requires a variety of loads combined with the aforementioned dietary approaches. How do you maintain the ability to grow? Let’s turn to the basics. Muscles grow when subjected to constant strain. Put another way, you should always be loading your muscles in new ways. Most lifters think this means continuously increasing the working weight of the equipment. But it doesn’t have to! You can also increase the load by doing with less weight but more repetitions; reduce rest time between sets; use blocks instead of core exercises; change your intensity methodology, all the way up to completely changing your training program. Any change of the training regime is suitable, the main thing is an unfamiliar stress to the muscles.

Fifth step. Reconditioning and a training program for rest

Exercise must be in moderation, between workouts it is necessary to have a full and long enough rest for stable muscle growth. Unfortunately, there is no simple way to determine if your muscles are ready to work, but muscle soreness is a good indicator. If you are planning to work a certain muscle group or your training program is centered around one muscle group, but it hurts when you touch it, or you feel significant pain when you contract it. In that case, you need to let them rest for at least a day so that the muscles have a chance to fully recover, the exercises will wait. It is important to remember that a large amount of growth hormone is released during sleep, and muscle tissues are actively growing. That is why, by no means sacrifice sleep; you should sleep at least 7 hours a day. Biorhythms play an indispensable role in the body’s rest and wakefulness. According to these laws of our body, it is best to sleep from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Most importantly: act wisely and always listen to your body. Periodically stop for a while to evaluate your progress. After the analysis, make any necessary changes in your training regimen and nutrition. If you follow the above recommendations, you will soon transform your muscles as much as your genetics allow.