How to Gain Muscle Mass - 5 Principles of Muscle Hypertrophy

Gaining weight is very easy, many people may gain a lot of weight for a short period of time. On the other side, building lean muscle mass can be very hard, especially for guys that have a fast metabolism, commonly know as hard-gainers.

Also Read: How To Eat To Gain Muscle Mass - Diet Strategies For Hardgainers

Like many of the people in the world that are fighting with a body fat, there are also many people that are struggling to gain weight and build muscle mass. If you are one of those from the second group, continue reading this article.  

For everything in life you need three things - a goal, plan to achieve it and dedication. Those are three basic things to success in anything you want. You need to apply this rule and start your muscle building trip. 

There are 3 main ways to make your muscles grow:

1. Force muscles to grow with the right training

2. Feed your muscles with enough healthy calories

3. Rest, recover your muscles, let them grow

Those are only three general rules for muscle gain, now continue reading to learn five principles of muscle growth.

1. Multi-Joint Movements

In order to gain muscle mass faster, you need to place emphasis on the compound, multi-joint movements. Compound exercises are much better for building muscle mass than single-joint, isolation exercises. That is because exercises like squat and bench press allow bigger loads of weight and involve more muscle groups which lead to more muscle gains.


Top 10 Exercises To Build Muscle Mass


Bigger load and heavier exercises stimulate the bigger release of the muscle-building hormone. 

It is very important to do one of the hardest exercises - Squats. The squat is a great mass builder and it is probably the movement that involves the most muscle groups at the same time. 






2. Progressive Overload


The progressive overload is one of the most important muscle-building principles. Lifting the same weight will not help you build muscles. Muscles can quickly adapt to the weight and you need to put some more load in order to force your muscles to grow. 


Mass-Building Full-Body Workout Routine for Beginners


The key of muscle gain to leave your comfort zone, give your muscles a reason to grow. If you lift heavier weights from week to week you won't let your muscles time to adapt and you will force them to grow.


The best rep range to stimulate muscle growth is from 8 to 12. I recommend doing 10 reps per set for best muscle growth stimulation. 




3. Caloric Surplus 


To gain muscle mass you need to eat a lot. And that means you need to spend a lot of your time in the kitchen. It is one of the biggest mistakes that lifters make and don't succeed in building muscle mass, they don't consume enough calories or macronutrients. 


20 Foods You Should Eat to Gain Muscle Mass


You need to consume 18 calories per pound of your bodyweight to build muscle and at least 1 gr of protein per pound of bodyweight. On training days, try to consume more proteins because your muscles need it to repair and grow. 


Foods that are Best Sources of Protein




Consume enough calories and all three macronutrients (protein, carbs, fats) and in a combination with resistance training your muscles will start to grow. 




4. Rest Your Muscles


This is how it goes, you give your muscles a reason to grow in the gym, build them in the kitchen and they grow while you sleep. Lack of rest can decrease the chance of muscle growth.


Also, don't overtrain your muscles. Don't train same muscles for two days in a row or you will overtrain them and prevent them from growing. To build muscle you need a short and intense workout and long periods of rest. 




5. Supplements Selection


Many supplements ads promise you results. A lot of them are actually unnecessary and just a waste of your money. The best muscle building supplements that you need to buy are Creatine and Whey Protein. They can be a great support for building muscle mass. 


You can check the list of 5 best muscle-building supplements, but you must know there are no better supplements for building muscle mass than Whey Powder and Creatine. 


Top 5 Muscle-Building Supplements




If you start following these five principles right now, you have a big chance to build your muscles for less than one month. Applying these rules could make the most benefits for beginners because in the starting phase, first two to three months, you can build most muscle mass. 


It is very important to start doing it right from the beginning, so don't lose your time following wrong workout plans and wasting money on unnecessary supplements.