There are many reasons for participating in strength training and it’s important to note that not everyone is interested in building muscle – so if that’s you and you don’t care, you’re probably not going to enjoy this article, so I’d bail out now.

Right, if you’re still there you clearly have somewhat of an interest in getting HENCH (that’s what the kids call it these days). Let’s first clarify that building muscle mass is not the same as getting stronger – not exactly. What I mean to say is you can definitely get stronger without building too much muscle mass, this is largely based of the total amount of training you’re doing and is a result of neural adaptations, but we’ll save that for another time. However, if you want to get as strong as you possibly can you will inevitably have to make your muscles bigger. This is why the strongest people in the world tend to be quite enormous (hench) but this is the extreme end of the scale. Maybe you just want to have
slightly bigger, “more defined” muscles and that will require you to build lean mass. The reality is that building muscle is hard work and for those who have been trying for a while now will know this. When we lift weights with sufficient intensity our muscles experience what is known as mechanical tension which sets of a cascade of events at the cellular level to stimulate something called Muscle Protein Synthesis (MPS). MPS is our body’s process that will lay down new muscle tissue (a huge oversimplification but you get the picture). However, at the same time, our body is constantly experiencing Muscle Protein
Breakdown, much the same way our body is constantly using energy, so we need to eat food to get that energy back. So, if protein synthesis (building) is greater than protein breakdown and we are doing enough strength training, along with the right amount of protein consumption in our diet, then you will have a gain in muscle size.

So, how much protein do you need?

Well, it’s based off how much you weigh. To maximise muscle gain you’ll want to be eating 1.6-2.2grams of protein for every kilogram of body weight. For example, I weigh about 86kg so I need to consume around 138 – 189grams of protein every day. Now because this number is based off how much you weigh, as you increase your muscle mass your weight goes up and so therefore the amount of protein you need every day also goes up. It seems to be best if you spread your protein intake out over the course of 3-5 meals so about 30-40grams of protein each meal. To put this into perspective, there is about 30grams of protein in a chicken breast. So for me, that’s a little more than 6 chicken breasts a day, or about 15 eggs. To put it simply, you need to eat quite a lot if you want to make your muscles bigger – let alone how much you need to do in the gym.

As I mentioned earlier, you can definitely get stronger without getting bigger, to a certain point, after which you will need to start making your muscles bigger to continue to get stronger. You can use light weights or heavy weights to achieve this goal. The notion that light weights make you toned and heavy weights make you bulky is pretty much total crap. What is important is the number of sets you do on a particular muscle in a week. These sets need to be taken to failure or 2-3 before failure. So either lifting a weight for 10 reps and not physically being able to do an 11th rep – or lifting that same weight and stopping after about 7-8 reps. Both of these will do but a little hint, do the 7-8 reps! Depending on how
long you’ve be training you’ll need to repeat this about 12-15 times a week (up to 20sets for those who have been and it for years)… just for that muscle….

To put this into perspective

Let’s say you come in for a TFS class and do some squats and you’re wanting to get HENCH and put on some size. With the way to classes are programmed, you’ll do anywhere between 4-8 sets of squats depending on the class type. If we make all those sets heavy enough, regardless of how many reps, you’ll need to do that particular class 2-4 times each week and that’s just for the muscles in the front of your thighs and your glutes (if you can squat low enough) so you still need to do all this again for all the other muscles you want to make bigger.

So now you know just how difficult it is to actually get SWOL (also what the kids say) and because both the amount of protein you need to eat and the number of sets you need to do each week increases, it gets harder and harder to keep making progress. Not to mention all the other things that contribute to muscle gain, for example – hormones. As a female your body’s natural hormonal environment will likely make it more difficult to gain muscle – sorry gals!

To summarise – if you want to maximise muscle growth

1. Eat 1.6 – 2.2grams of protein per kilogram of body weight each day (30-40grams per
   meal)
2. Complete 12-15 (up to 20) sets to failure every week (or 2-3 reps prior) for each
   muscle you want to grow. (split these sets up over 2+ sessions)
3. Continually repeat this process for years and adjust as strength and size increases.
   Don’t forget days off and take a week off every now and then for your sanity.

Mr. Fit Space, signing off.