Gaining Muscle Without Gaining Weight
Weight = muscle? Do I have to gain weight in order to gain muscle? Or do I have to lift heavy weights to build muscles that look good?
This question is often asked by people who are just starting out and don’t want to hurt themselves by lifting too much at once or by people who can’t use heavy weights for other reasons.
Say you live in the middle of nowhere, where no gyms exist. Is it possible to pump up your body with the most common exercises if this is the case?
What makes muscles grow?
You add more weight to your muscles every time you work out, making them grow. In this article, we won’t get into the science behind muscle growth and try to explain it again. Remember that, in practice, the only way for muscles to grow is for the weights to get heavier.
How to move the load up
A typical bodybuilder would think that the progression of loads is a process when, on January 1, you squeezed 60 kilograms, and on January 1, you squeezed 100 kilograms.
Why have we made so much progress? Because every time you added two of the smallest pancakes to your barbell, you slowly and steadily moved up to a new level.
Over the past year, you’ve added 40 kg to how much you can bench press. Not too bad, huh? As the number of pancakes on the barbell has gone up, it goes without saying that your chest, triceps, and deltas have also grown.
Is there a different way to move forward?
The best way to progress is by adding more weight to the load. What can I say? Someone who can squat 200 kg can’t have skinny legs and a flat back, can they? If you do pull-ups with two 24-kilogram weights on your belt, you can’t have a narrow back, and you can’t have weak pecs and triceps if you squeeze more than 150 kilograms.
Your muscles will still grow even if you train to be a powerlifter. So, adding pancakes to the barbell is the best way to get stronger and build muscle mass.
But is there a different way to move forward? You can get better at:
- The number of ways
- How many times does it happen?
- The number of workouts
- Time to rest between sets
- How fast the exercise is done
- So, let’s maybe start with how to do things.
Bodybuilding is the same thing as training in steps.
Bodybuilding is not about being strong or being able to keep going. Bodybuilding requires both strength and stamina.
Bodybuilding is a way to show off your power. If you squat for 10–20 sets, you will get more out of it than if you only do 3–5 sets. If you still can’t do more than 15 squats, you have a long way to go.
The most important thing is not to do too many of them.
The approach should not be made more than 15 times. If you’re working out your lower body, you might be able to do 20 repetitions, but if you’re not doing isolated exercises, you shouldn’t do more than 15 repetitions for your upper body.
So, you won’t be able to keep improving by doing more reps for a long time.
Don’t you have many things to do?
Not very many exercises! You just need to add another workout to your routine (provided that there is no weight gain). Don’t listen to people who say you can only work out for 40 minutes, but try to work out for 1.5 hours.
If you have nothing else to do,
If you rest for 3 minutes between sets, cut this time down until you only need 30–45 seconds between sets. You can also slow down your movements, which will make the exercise much harder. If you squat, squat slowly and rise slowly, keeping the weight on the barbell under complete control. Two “fast” squats are the same as one “slow” one.
Which one works better?
Check out the numbers in the last few paragraphs. First, there will be an increase in weight, then an increase in approaches and reps, and then everything else.
What will I get out of it?
For example, you might squat with a 60-kg barbell. It doesn’t matter if you no longer want to squat or if you don’t have pancakes. So, what can you do if you squat with a 60-kilogram barbell but get more robust in every other way?
You can get about the same legs and buttocks without going up or down as someone who squats 100–120 kilograms. Of course, you won’t be Mr. Olympia, but training with a small weight isn’t hard in any other way. You can work out your body without adding weight, but it will take more time and effort.
