Guide to Building Muscle.

How to build lean muscle mass?

Muscle building is only possible by following certain principles: adjust your diet and adjust your training! We are not all the same. We will all react differently to a specific training and a specific diet. Learn to recognize your own differences to make as few mistakes as possible.

Control your progress!

Also check if you are on the right track! If your development is good, you have found what suits you! If you are no longer progressing, it is time to change your habits. Do not hesitate to take your measurements regularly: your weight, your measurements around your arms, legs and chest, and also your fat percentage will give you precise indications of your progress. To build muscle mass well, you should also trust a good coach who will measure you and ensure your progress. Of course, the miracle coach does not exist! It is a partnership between two that will ensure your success.

Muscle building is sometimes a long process: A good gain in muscle mass will be about 3 kilos of lean muscle per year. However, it is possible that you will gain a little more when you are starting out or have just finished a period of food restriction to dry or during special circumstances.

GAIN WEIGHT OR BUILD MUSCLE!

The goal is of course not to gain weight, but to build muscle mass. Nevertheless, an increase in muscle mass usually also goes hand in hand with an increase in fat. If this were not the case, athletes would build muscle before a competition.

What everyone wants is to gain as little fat as possible while building as much muscle as possible, and this will only be achievable by monitoring your progress and setting your calorie intake just slightly above your basal metabolic rate.

This is the number of calories your body needs to meet its needs during the day. As you will see, gaining lean muscle mass is no easy task.

Differences depending on body type?

However, there are certain rules that can help you. The morphological differences that characterize you can also guide your progress:

If you are an Endomorph , you tend to gain weight quickly and even build fat. So you should limit your excesses as much as possible and be very careful not to exceed your basal metabolic rate uncontrollably.

If you are a Mesomorph , you will easily build muscle and not too much fat. Even without exercise, you will look muscular (yes, I know, it is not fair) and you can go a little higher in calories in your process of building muscle, which will remain effective most of the time.

If you are an Ectomorph , you will stay slim or even thin no matter what you do, and you will have a harder time gaining weight no matter what you eat. Even extremes will only help you substantially. So you can go very high in calories without fear of your belly being covered in a layer of fat. Be careful though, because as you get older, you will stay slim, but you run the risk of getting a belly if you are not careful enough.

IS MY BODY TYPE THE ONLY FACTOR FOR BUILDING MUSCLE?

It is certainly true that if every individual could place themselves without doubt in a morphological category, one might think that this would simplify the progression. Unfortunately, most of us depend on 2 morphological categories. It is very rare to see a perfect mesomorph or ectomorph.

Often an individual will be more mesomorphic than endomorphic, but will also have some features of this morphological category.

So it is an illusion to think that your muscle building will be a health walk. It will be more like a battle course!

You will need to pay attention to your diet, which can change every year as your body changes. You will need to pay attention to your training and see what gives you the most benefit, but also change it regularly, and you will need to adjust your nutritional supplements as you progress.

If you take this seriously, you will learn something that will serve you all your life: the power of self-reflection! Look at how many lives a champion like Arnold has lived! Sports, cinema, politics, cinema again, he has succeeded everywhere. Every career of his is the result of self-reflection. And it is in his sport that he has acquired this quality! Building lean muscle mass, control over his body, he knows that!

AVOID THE “MIRACLES” OF SOCIAL MEDIA!

You will easily find miracle workers on social networks: they can make you build lean muscle mass with just a snap of your fingers! Miracles do not exist!

Some will even post pictures of their lean physique all year long, when they have only been truly lean one month out of the year. But for their image, they will post pictures of their bodies in top shape all year long.

This allows them to tell their fans that they are the best athletes, the best coaches, when all this is just a facade.

It is often because of such practices that the concept of lean muscle building is so misused and people think that it is so easy to gain 10 pounds of lean muscle mass.

Bodybuilding, strength training, and power training are synonymous, but if you want visible results, you absolutely have to add nutrition to your training. If you don't, you won't be able to build lean muscle mass, and maybe no muscle mass at all?

But if you see that your weights are increasing, that your training is becoming more and more intense, even if your muscle mass is not changing, you are on the way to progress. It is up to you to adjust it by refining it and trying to build lean muscle mass.

We will try to help you as best we can.

MUSCLE BUILDING: BASIC CONCEPTS.

BUILDING MUSCLE OR GAINING MASS?

Building muscle means increasing muscle mass with the aim of performing better in a specific sport. Gaining muscle mass is mainly focused on aesthetic purposes. So there are two quite different approaches to the subject and of course two different measures. Measuring your muscle mass gain is done by weight gain, body part measurements and body fat percentage. In order to measure muscle building, you also need to measure performance in the sport you excel in. Otherwise, how do you distinguish lean muscle mass gain from fat muscle mass gain?

Remember that muscle qualities are diverse: strength, endurance, resistance, flexibility, explosiveness or speed and coordination.

Gaining muscle mass can therefore reduce your flexibility if you do not work on it. Not working on your flexibility and working on your explosiveness can lead to injuries such as strains, sprains or tears. It is therefore important to include muscle building in a broader program to improve performance. Nevertheless, the visual result will also be less important than with gaining muscle mass.

These considerations should also be taken into account when gaining muscle mass, although performance is not the main motivation. The visual aspect is the main driver.

WHAT IS THE RIGHT TIME TO BUILD MUSCLE?

Everything always depends on your goal: If you are a competitive athlete, the competition schedule will mainly determine when you have to rest and when you can train extra and build muscle. If you are not a competitive athlete, you can adjust your muscle building to your personal goals and perhaps, like many, take advantage of the holidays to show your best body on the beach.

However, keep in mind that your calorie intake will vary depending on the season: In winter, you need more calories than in summer. This is perfectly logical: your body temperature is on average 36.5 degrees Celsius and it must respond to the temperature difference with the outside environment. For example, if it is 30 degrees Celsius in summer, it must warm your body temperature by 6 degrees. In winter, on the other hand, if it is 0 degrees Celsius, it must make more effort to go from 0 to 36 degrees.

Your age will also affect your ability to build muscle. It is easier to gain 3 kilos of muscle at 20 than at 60. So sometimes you need to find a different motivation than performance as you get older. For example, staying healthy and limiting the damage of aging by maintaining good muscle mass. Because weight gain, even muscle weight, can cause problems with tendons or joints later in life.

STRENGTH TRAINING AND CUSTOMIZED NUTRITION.

Nutrients.

Proteins.

When you start building muscle, you need to adjust your diet to your goal! It seems very logical that building muscle mass can lead to weight gain, so you need to increase your nutritional intake. Foods are divided into different categories: proteins , carbohydrates and fats. The basis of muscle building are proteins. A normal intake according to current knowledge is between 0.83 and 2.2 grams per kilogram of body weight per day. 0.83 for a sedentary person and 2.2 gr for an athlete. For bodybuilders, this can go up to 3 gr per kilogram of body weight.

The first step is to take inventory: how much protein do you consume per day? Once you know this, increase your daily intake significantly and you have just taken the first step towards a constructive diet.

Carbohydrates.

The second category of foods are carbohydrates. If we were to compare the construction of your body to the construction of a house, we could say that proteins are the bricks that form the wall and carbohydrates are the energy that the builders put into building the house. So you need energy! And this energy will be provided by carbohydrates. Pay attention! The quality of carbohydrates is very important! There are fast carbohydrates and slow carbohydrates! Fast carbohydrates enter the bloodstream quickly and thus cause a strong insulin response, which sometimes leads to a drop in blood sugar levels and fatigue. Slow carbohydrates, on the other hand, distribute carbohydrates more slowly in the blood and thus provide limited and gradually released amounts of energy, giving your body more energy for a longer period of time.

However, you can eat fast-digesting carbohydrates right after training because your body demands it; it will absorb the sugars directly from the blood. In the same way, endurance athletes will need to consume fast-digesting carbohydrates regularly in order not to experience the effect of a "hunger knock".

As with protein, you should increase your carbohydrate intake gradually, being careful not to consume too many calories.

Fats.

Finally, there are lipids, or fats. Your body needs them! For cell membranes, certain hormones, cell communication, the composition of certain vitamins, but above all as an energy reserve. In short, when you consume too many calories, your body does not eliminate the excess, but stores it in fat cells called adipocytes. The problem with these cells is that when they are full, they multiply to meet the demand, but when you later reduce your calorie intake, they are deflated but not eliminated. So it is more difficult to return to your original weight once you have gained unwanted weight. That is why it is important to control your diet.

As for fats, the only interesting aspect is their role as a carrier of fat-soluble vitamins, unless you are an ectomorph.

The frequency of meals.

It is always recommended to eat several small meals instead of one big meal a day. Always prefer 5 or 6 meals a day with a balanced calorie intake, instead of a daily calorie imbalance. If you eat regularly, your body will naturally react: it will store less reserves because it knows that it is getting enough nutrition every 3 hours to support all its vital functions.

If, on the other hand, you only eat once or twice a day, your body will tend to react by thinking that it needs to store reserves for safety, and above all, there is a risk of eliminating what costs energy and is not essential for the proper functioning of the human body: the muscles. It is therefore important to make your body react in the right way by providing it with all its essential needs in a timely and proper manner. So make sure not to skip meals, but to respect your nutritional plan.

The importance of water.

Our bodies are made up of over 60% water. So it is important to stay hydrated, especially when you are increasing your protein intake. After all, the goal of muscle exercises is not to build muscle, but rather to break it down! In response to this breakdown, your body will use the new proteins you have given it to rebuild the broken down muscles stronger, so that they do not have to go through such an uncomfortable situation again. Muscle growth is therefore a response to a challenging workout for the muscle or muscle chain.

But when protein breakdown occurs, the kidneys will have to process it. So fluid is needed to excrete these muscle breakdown products. An athlete should drink between 2 and 3 liters per day, depending on their weight and activity. A large part of this is consumed during exercise. A good way to check if you are drinking enough is to look at the color of your urine. If it is yellow, you are not drinking enough, if it is almost white, you are sufficiently hydrated.

Nutritional supplements.

Eating every three hours requires adapted logistics and is not always easy to set up. In order not to struggle too much, you have to organize yourself and use supplements that make your life easier. Cooking once or twice a week is a way to simplify your organization. If you have to cook every three hours, you run the risk of spending a lot of time in the kitchen. Nutritional supplements, on the other hand, can make your life easier or boost your program and goals: vitamins and minerals, protein powders, whey or casein, gainers, creatine , BCAAs , glutamine , hormonal boosters , pre-workouts , omega-3 are all elements that can help you achieve your goals. A protein shake can save you from having to cook and if you calculate how much a balanced meal costs, you will see that this shake saves you money.

Advice.

You can see that building good muscles is not easy. Even though there are basic principles, it is possible that you are an exception. So the best approach is to get to know yourself, observe how your body reacts. Let yourself be helped at first and do not forget to keep a log in which you write down your results, workouts and diet. Remember that we are here to help you!

There are also many prejudices that circulate in conversations between athletes. A good increase in lean muscle mass is around 3 kilos per year. I am talking about 3 kilos DRY, of course. This may discourage some who thought they could be on the podium after 3 months in the gym, but if you think about it, 3 kilos per year means 30 kilos in 10 years. An increase of 30 kilos of lean muscle mass in 10 years thanks to strength training and nutrition is still a good result! If you weigh 70 kilos at the beginning, after 10 years of strength training you will end up with 100 kilos!

Of course, these numbers are just a rough estimate. Everyone is different and evolves differently in strength sports.

On the other hand, if you are a beginner, you can win much more in the first few years.

TRAINING PROGRAM.

There is no ONE training method, but it is important to vary the workouts and exercises. On the other hand, it is important to keep a good record of all your performance during training to be able to check your progress. When you have to go somewhere, it is difficult to start the journey if you do not know where you are. Check where you are and what you are doing. Again, it is important to also distinguish the goal you have set for yourself, whether it is building muscle quality for a specific sport or building muscle mass.

PRINCIPLES OF MUSCLE MASS TRAINING.

It is common knowledge that muscle mass training is performed with multi-joint exercises and by performing sets of 10 to 12 repetitions. The number of sets that is most suitable depends somewhat on the muscle area being trained. For large muscles, such as the legs, 16 to 20 effective sets can be performed. For intermediate muscles, such as the back and chest, 12 to 16 sets can be performed, and for the arms, 10 to 12 sets. Of course, everyone should adjust their number of sets based on the results achieved. Your training may not be suitable for another athlete and vice versa.

Nevertheless, it is important to perform each set to muscle failure! This means that you continue until you can no longer lift the weight. If you can lift the weight more than 12 times, automatically increase it for the next set. On the other hand, if you cannot lift the chosen weight more than 9 times, then decrease it for the next set. By increasing and decreasing your weights in this way, you can accustom your body to the necessary muscular overload for good progress.

PRINCIPLES OF MUSCLE QUALITY TRAINING.

In this case, the focus will be more on performance than on pure muscle mass. But performance in a sport does not only mean muscle size, other important factors also play a role: flexibility, nerve stimulation needed for explosive contraction, pure strength, and so on.

So it is more difficult to give a basic principle for a training without knowing the ultimate objective or specificity.

Basic training principles.

On the other hand, there are certain principles that apply to anyone who wants to grow in a particular field:

• Give it your all ! Don't save energy for the next exercise or the end of the workout. If you can't move at the end of the workout, that's just proof that you gave it your all and that your performance can only improve.
• Train your muscles once a week . Each muscle has an optimal recovery period that is unique. Small muscles like the biceps can be fully recovered after 2 days, while the thigh muscles need 5 days. This means that for optimal results, the arms should be trained every 2 days, chest and back every 4 days, and legs every 5 days. This would lead to days where you would have to train everything and days where there would be nothing to do. In theory, this is possible. In practice, the body would be too exhausted for maximum progress. Therefore, training each muscle group once a week seems like a good compromise to be able to progress well.
• Don't forget the stretching exercises ! Without these exercises you run a higher risk of injury. And who says "injury" also says stop training and therefore stop the progress you so much hoped to see.
• Don't be afraid of stagnation, even when you give it your all ! Your body needs periods of stagnation in which it must integrate your progress into its new body scheme. You will rarely progress in a linear pattern, but rather in a step-by-step pattern.
• Don't train when you are sick ! Your body will already use a large part of its energy to fight the illness. If you can feel better after a workout, chances are that it will be worse the next day.

HOW CAN I INCREASE THE DIFFICULTY OR INTENSITY OF MY TRAINING?

Increasing intensity doesn’t just mean increasing weight or repetitions. You have several ways to increase the intensity of your workout:

• The weight or load of the exercise, of course.
• The number of repetitions with the same load.
• You can shorten your rest times and thereby reduce the duration of the session, while maintaining the same content or even increasing it.
• You can improve the quality of movement. This means staying strict in the execution of an exercise and not cheating by throwing the weight with another part of the body.

IMPORTANCE OF REST AND OVERTRAINING.

Rest and overtraining are often linked. Too much is the evil of a good thing, it is often said. If you want to travel far, you have to spare your horse. Yet many athletes think that the more they do, the more they will improve. This is completely wrong. What will make an athlete grow is the balance between intensive sessions and rest days. But again, a distinction must be made according to the goals and the sports. A marathon runner will have many long sessions and the strength athlete fewer, shorter and more intensive sessions.

So, how do you know if you are doing too much? Listen to your body: if you are abnormally tired, if you have repeated injuries, if you are fed up with training, then you have asked too much of your body, you may be close to overtraining. It is time to pause, take the time to rediscover the joy of training and above all the effectiveness of a good program.

In general, 2 rest days per week seems like a good compromise for strength training, especially if you are pushing your body through heavy sessions. But of course, every case is different.

SOME TRAININGS (NON-EXHAUSTIVE LIST).

 1. The 10 to 12 reps ; as mentioned above, this is the classic approach to building muscle mass.

 2. Heavy-duty : developed by Mike Mentzer. It includes few sets, but very high intensity and especially very heavy.

• Training 3 days a week with 2 rest days between workouts.
• 7 to 9 sets per workout.
• Example: 3 sets of 12 reps and 4 sets of 8 reps.

3. MAX-OT or maximum overload training:

• 2 muscles per workout
• 4 to 6 reps per set
• 6 to 9 sets per muscle
• Rest 2 to 3 minutes between each set
• Maximum 30 to 40 minutes of training per session and 2 rest days per week
• Take a week of rest regularly to avoid overtraining

4. The FST-7 or Fascia Stretch Training. The principle is to end each training session for each muscle group with 7 sets of isolation exercises, interrupted by 30 to 40 seconds of rest to stretch the connective tissue around the muscle and promote its development. It is also important to stretch the muscles before, during and after training.

• 6 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions with a multi-articular exercise for the small muscles and 11 to 12 sets for the larger ones.
• Immediately after 7 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions with an isolation exercise, separated by rest periods of 30 to 40 seconds.

5. The SST or Sarcoplasm Stimulating Training is a circuit training to exhaustion.

Variation in training. Here are 2 examples:

• 1st example advanced: Circuit 1: 1 set of 8 reps with an appropriate weight, followed by 10 seconds of rest, then 1 set of 5 reps with the same weight, 10 seconds of rest and 1 set of 1 rep with the same weight. Circuit 2 in the same session: reduce the weight by 20% of the previous one and perform the same routine, except for the second set where only 3 reps are done.
• 2nd example: 1 set of 6 reps with appropriate weight, followed by 15 seconds of rest, then 1 set of 4 reps with the same weight, 15 seconds of rest. Reduce the weight and perform a set of 5 eccentric reps in 5 seconds (slow), reduce the weight again, take 15 seconds of rest and perform a set of 5 concentric reps in 5 seconds. Take 15 seconds of rest and perform an isometric set of 45 seconds. After these exercises, perform 2 exercises for the same muscle group and combine them in a set of 10 to 12 reps.

The training is very short but very intense.

The list is not exhaustive, but it may give you some ideas for your next session. The goal here is not to give the “best” workout, because everyone can experience different sensations when trying them out. We are all different and can therefore react differently to each stimulus generated by a specific workout. However, nothing prevents you from experimenting and seeing the results, sensations and pleasure they can provide. Nevertheless, do not lose sight of the fact that every workout is intense and that you should warm up beforehand. You should also stretch, but above all pay attention to not doing too much or too little.

Never forget to warm up before exposing your body to a workout of this intensity, otherwise you risk sustaining injuries that will slow your progress.

Most athletes have experienced a dip in motivation at some point. If so, look up one of these workouts in a book, magazine, or online. It can boost your motivation and progress.

On the other hand, there is no "miracle" training. Moreover, a training that works well for you this year and has brought you a lot of progress, may turn out very differently next year. Do not hesitate to innovate, to search and to experiment.

NUTRITION PROGRAM.

When you decide to start doing sports, it is important to control your nutrition to be performance-oriented and effective. But it is also important to know that you will have different needs than a sedentary person. You will consume more metabolites, vitamins, minerals...

The quality of food is also constantly changing in our society and is impoverishing from decade to decade. Before we talk about nutritional supplements, I want to give you some important information about sports nutrition.

THE NUMBER OF CALORIES REQUIRED.

What is good for you is not necessarily good for your neighbor. If you are building muscle mass on low calories, that is something specific to you and will not be true for everyone. In fact, there are basic rules in nutrition that apply to the majority of individuals, but there will also be countless exceptions, all different from each other.

As mentioned before, your body type will largely determine how you respond to food. If you are ectomorphic, you will need a significant calorie intake to change your body shape, and this process can be slow. In contrast, an endomorph can gain bad mass quickly. Your profession and level of physical activity will also affect your calorie intake. Your nervousness and stress are also important factors, as well as the type of sports activity you practice.

In general, if you know your basal metabolic rate, you should just be slightly above it. Start by adding about a hundred calories and see if you’re gaining too much fat. If you are, increase it by another 100 or 200 calories. If you’re gaining more fat than muscle, you may have gone a little too far…

However, if you do not know your basal metabolic rate, try to find it out. This is the number of calories you need per day to meet all your energy needs. In short, look at your progress... When you stagnate, you have approximately reached your basal metabolic rate. What is certain is that we cannot control everything. So we will try to control the maximum, knowing that some factors may escape us. So you will have to play a little with approximations.

What foods should you consume?

Your body needs different types of nutrients.

• Carbohydrates are also called sugars or carbohydrates. They mainly form the "energy" that the body needs. They also play a role in other areas such as DNA or the construction of cell membranes. They influence the feeling of satiety and sleep. You will notice that if you eat a meal with a lot of carbohydrates, you quickly tend to fall asleep afterwards.
• Fats also play an important role because they store energy that the body does not need immediately. They are also very important for the construction of cell membranes, the transport of fat-soluble vitamins and the production of hormones.
• Proteins form the muscles, but also the enzymes in our body, they play a role in the skeleton, tissues, DNA, energy transfer and the transmission of cell signals.
• You got it right, each of the different nutrients has a role to play. And if some gurus encourage you to avoid certain foods, know that this is not natural and your body will always react. So it is always important to maintain a certain balance between these foods, but this balance will change depending on your goal, your body type and other factors as well.

EXAMPLES OF RESPONSES.

• Imagine cutting out all sugars. This can happen in certain competitive sports. Then know that your brain absolutely needs sugars to function. So it will convert your proteins into sugars and produce ketone bodies for that. This means that your protein intake will be used for this purpose, or else it can also break down your muscles to be able to use its proteins. This process can also be activated when your body needs energy, then it will also convert proteins into carbohydrates.
• It is very rare and difficult to eliminate proteins completely, and if that were the case, it would quickly lead to serious and severe deficiencies and dysfunctions. On the other hand, animal proteins are more easily absorbed by the human body. So if you are vegetarian, vegan or vegan, you should make sure that your diet is balanced by adding vegetable proteins. Spirulina, for example, is one of the plants that provides the most protein, but also soy, beans, seeds...
• When eliminating fats, know that every food is made up of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Some foods contain less fat than others, but there is almost always a little bit. The question you can ask yourself is: "Is this enough?" If you want to make sure that you consume as little fat as possible and still have the amount necessary for your body to function properly, then you need a supplement in the form of capsules. On the other hand, if you eliminate fats and consume a surplus of calories in the form of carbohydrates or proteins, you will have an excess of energy that your body will store as fat anyway. So, there is no point in eliminating everything, but it is important to maintain a balance between proteins, carbohydrates, fats AND calories.

NB !

• If you gain too much body fat, your fat cells will fill up. But once they are full, your body needs to store the fat elsewhere. To do this, it will multiply the number of fat cells. However, once multiplied, it is not possible to reverse the process when you lose body fat. The number of cells (and therefore your ability to store fat) will not change.
• Consuming fast sugars is not necessarily good: for diabetes, for the fat storage that it can quickly cause. On the other hand, sugar calls for sugar. It is sometimes easier to follow a diet without fast sugars than to allow yourself a small sweet reward that can tempt you to dive into all the sugar in your cupboard. If you eat enough slow sugars, there is less chance that this phenomenon will surprise you. Your body will have less need for sugar. You can also get help with a chromium supplement that reduces the urge for sugar.
• If you are increasing your protein intake for muscle building, stay alert to not forget to drink enough. You can drink up to 3 liters of water per day, depending on your body weight of course.

A FEW TIPS!

Everyone has their own calorie needs. The first thing you need to do when working towards a goal is to know where you stand. The same applies here: if you have a goal but don’t know where to start, you can’t know the way to it. Check how your body is doing, measure it, check your body fat percentage. Start your training and diet and check regularly whether you are on the right track. Don’t hesitate to question yourself!

Also, don’t be afraid to gain a little fat when you’re building muscle. You can’t avoid a little fat gain if you want to increase muscle mass. The concept of “gaining lean mass” is a difficult one to achieve, both naturally and for most people.

On the other hand, avoid overdoing it and try to gain more muscle mass than fat. All the fat you have built up, you will have to lose anyway if you want to improve the aesthetics of your body. A good balance between your strength training, cardio and nutrition is the key to success.

Typically, athletes who want to build muscle mass and for whom gaining lean mass is important alternate between periods of bulking and periods of cutting. To be able to determine whether you have actually gained lean mass, all you have to do is compare your measurements at a certain point in time with the same body fat percentage. If you see that you have gained more volume and weight for the same body fat percentage, you will know exactly how much progress you have made.

DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS AND ESSENTIAL VITAMINS.

Most of the foods in our diet are processed. The way they are grown, soil degradation and many other factors mean that their nutritional value is not the same as it was 60 years ago. Nutritional supplements can help you fill the gaps caused by this problem. They can also save you time by making your life easier.

During an increase in muscle mass or volume the following seem to be most suitable:

THE VITAMINS AND MINERALS.

It is very important to take a vitamin and mineral supplement when you want to improve your muscle quality or mass. Regardless of the goal you are pursuing, to be effective, you must adjust your diet. However, sometimes it is necessary to avoid certain types of foods for a specific purpose. But sometimes these removed foods also contain essential elements. This is something important to keep in mind when building muscle mass.

On the other hand, an athlete also needs more metabolites. He forces his body to use more energy, to perform more chemical reactions. Therefore, he needs not only more fuel, but also more transporters, more catalysts, in short, more elements that characterize the biochemical reactions of the human body.

Vitamin and mineral supplements are therefore essential for the proper functioning of your sports body! Imagine taking everything you need to make progress, but missing a single transporter and therefore no way to bring the fuel to the cell! So make sure you have everything you need, so that your body does not lack anything.

• Vitamin C : In winter, your body has to respond to cold and viral or microbial attacks. Taking a small supplement of vitamin C can definitely help you fight colds and flu better.

Don't be afraid to take too many vitamins, if you take too many your body will naturally excrete them. However, for the fat-soluble vitamins, don't exceed the recommended daily intake because you won't naturally excrete them.

THE PROTEINS.

As we have seen, proteins are an essential component of muscle. It is therefore crucial to have a well-dosed protein intake, depending on your goal. You can increase your protein intake to 3g per kg of body weight, but then you also need to drink much more.

Do not hesitate to drink up to 3 liters of water per day, it will not be too much.

The different protein powders.

Proteins are available in the market in different forms. So you are wondering: what type of protein should I consume to be most effective?

• Whey protein : This is a fast digesting protein. It is originally made from whey protein, which comes from whey. It is used for both muscle building and fat loss, as it should be included in a proper diet. It is absorbed quite quickly, so it is suitable for taking in the morning or immediately after training.
• Casein is a milk protein. It is digested slowly. So you can take it at any time of the day, or in the evening before going to bed, if your diet requires it.
• Whey Protein Isolate : This is a very fast absorbing protein. Made from whey protein and micro-filtered, the big advantage is that it is extremely low in carbohydrates, fats and lactose. If you develop a lactose allergy, this is the product for you.
• Vegan proteins are made from peas or other vegetables. If you are vegan, muscle building is possible. Of course, there is a little less protein concentration when they are made on a plant basis, but as the absorption of animal proteins is easier, you can still achieve very good results even if you limit yourself to plant foods.

THE GAINERS.

Gainers are dietary supplements that generally contain more carbohydrates than proteins. You should not take a gainer without a proper diet, otherwise you risk gaining more fat than muscle. Gainers often contain fast sugars in their composition, which leads to a greater insulin response and promotes the storage of energy as fat if they are not used properly by the body. However, if you are ectomorphic and have difficulty gaining weight, then this product is for you!

THE AMINO ACIDS.

A protein is a chain of amino acids linked together . Therefore, we can say that amino acids are the "building blocks" of proteins. However, proteins cannot be assimilated in their primary form; they are too large molecules to be able to pass freely through the blood. They must be broken down, "digested" until all the amino acids are separate. Once the amino acids are released, they can be absorbed by the body, arrive at their destination and our body can then build proteins as needed.

So it is impossible to effectively build muscle mass or even do effective bodybuilding without amino acids.

• The BCAAs or branched amino acids, also called essential amino acids. Our body can convert any amino acid into another. The only amino acids it cannot convert are the essential amino acids or BCAAs. They must necessarily come from your diet. They can be found in certain foods such as meat, fish, dairy products... But a BCAA supplement after training will have more beneficial effects.
• The AAKG is a combination of arginine (an amino acid) and alpha-ketoglutarate. It plays a role as a precursor of NO. It promotes vasodilation of the blood vessels. But arginine also promotes muscle building and helps to some extent with the mobilization of fats during your workout.
• The NO or nitric oxide improves the supply of oxygen and nutrients to the muscles. It also causes dilation of the blood vessels. It can also promote an increase in the production of growth hormone.

The creatine.

It is the most effective supplement for someone who wants to increase their strength. There have been many studies done on the effectiveness of creatine and they have shown its benefits for increasing muscle strength.

But be careful! If you take creatine, it is better to take it with sugar! Many studies show that its effectiveness is increased. For example, take a glass of grape juice. And especially do not take caffeine if you want it to remain effective!

It is recommended to do 3-month courses to prevent the body from getting used to exogenous intake and stopping to produce its own creatine.

The pre-workout.

They are as different as there are brands on the market. Their goal is to stimulate your training, either by adding elements that improve its effectiveness (beta-alanine, arginine, creatine, inulin, vitamins, etc.), or by generating excitement in your body (caffeine, taurine, etc.). The latter are double-sided: if you take caffeine because you feel a bit sleepy, it will wake you up and allow you to have a good training session. But if you get used to it, you will no longer have the desired effect. At that point, it is therefore good to use stimulants only when you really need them. Whatever your motivations, pre-workouts can stimulate your training.

Hormone boosters.

The male hormone stimulates muscle growth, helps burn fat faster. Unfortunately, it decreases as the years go by. A small dose of a hormone precursor or a hormone booster can help you have more effective sessions, increase your strength and burn excess fat, but also boost your libido. So essential for lean muscle mass. Tribulus terrestris is a plant with this reputation, but also zinc, maca, fenugreek, they are often present in all hormone boosters .

The joint protectors.

When you develop your muscle mass, you also run the risk of increasing your strength. So, you will lift heavier and your joints will also be more stressed. It is therefore important to take care of your joints both preventively and curatively!

Especially since there was a time when it was thought that a joint could not "heal" after it was damaged. Then studies were conducted on glucosamine and chondroitin and significant improvements were observed with regular use of these two supplements.

SWEET DRINKS.

Once you’ve finished your workout, your muscle is empty and needs nutrients fast to rebuild itself. Protein of course, but also fast sugars. This is one of the few times you can quickly take sugar without any negative effects. A sweet drink, like the carbo load , or a protein and sweet drink like the protein shake , are good examples.

There are many resources available to help you with your diet. However, nothing is simple. These are supplements, not miracle cures like Asterix's magic potion or Popeye's spinach. Nevertheless, they are very effective if you start with a good diet.

But these supplements are usually an effective aid for good muscle mass building.

Meal ideas.

Eating healthy and sticking to your diet isn’t always easy. Just because you have to follow a diet doesn’t mean you have to go out of your way to eat unpleasant foods. If your coach has told you to eat chicken, rice, and broccoli in your diet, don’t try to eat everything separately – chicken first, then dry rice, then broccoli. No, mix all your foods together, that’s what makes them taste good!

Chicken Provencal.

• 200 g chicken fillet
• 100 g rice (weighed uncooked)
• 150 g vegetables (tomatoes, aubergines, courgettes, garlic, onion)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

This comes to about 710 calories, 50g protein, 80g carbs and 17g fats, which is a good meal for muscle building. You can increase the carb intake by increasing the amount of rice if it is not enough.

To make the dish tasty, fry the finely chopped garlic and onion in a non-stick pan. (Stir well to prevent it from burning) When they start to cook and get a nice transparent color, add the vegetables cut into strips or cubes and olive oil. Cover the pan with a lid to prevent it from burning. This will ensure that the moisture from the vegetables is released well. Then add the chicken cut into cubes. Add spices to taste (espelette pepper, ras-el-hanout, ...) and let it cook. When it is ready, you can also add some parsley, chives, tarragon or fresh coriander.

You prepared a delicious dish!!

Fish pate with paprika.

• 170 g cod (or other similar fish)
• 150 g bell pepper, a clove of garlic, a shallot
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 100 g rice (weighed uncooked)
• 100 ml egg white

For a total of 591 calories, 47 g protein, 82 g carbohydrates and 7 g fat

Fry the garlic and shallot in a non-stick pan. Add the fish when it is almost translucent (stir well to prevent it from burning). Fry the fish briefly. When it is ready, pour everything into a blender, add the olive oil, some of the peppers and the egg white. Mix everything and pour the mixture into a cake tin lined with baking paper. Bake for 20 minutes at 160 degrees Celsius. Check the doneness with a knife. Insert the knife into the middle of the pate. If it is nice and hot, it is done, otherwise put it back in the oven for a while and check again. When it is done, remove the fish pate from the oven and let it cool.

With the rest of the peppers, cook them in a pan and season to taste. Then puree them in a blender, possibly through a sieve if there are still bits of pepper skin, and you have a sauce to pour over your fish pate. It is also a recipe that you can eat as a snack, because it can be served cold.

Each of these recipes is an example. You can of course adjust the calories of each to suit your specific needs. But with a little creativity, you can eat healthy and tasty!

Common mistakes to avoid. Coach's tips!

Everyone is different!

The two problems with sports and nutrition are that everyone has their own opinion and that most people think after a few months that they know more than anyone else. The second problem is that everyone is different and that a rule that seems obvious to you can be the opposite for others. It is therefore important to regularly question yourself and not take anything for granted. However, you can try out the training and nutrition habits of others without betting on the result, but for the information and experience that you can gain from it. But you will change, change your body shape, improve, get older! So there is no guarantee that everything that you take for granted this year will remain the same in a year or the next 5 years. Remain open to self-reflection. Increasing muscle mass often requires regular adjustments.

INTERNET.

Not everything on the internet is necessarily true! But you can use it to further research the topic you are interested in! If you find the same ideas supported by scientists on multiple websites, chances are you are getting closer to the truth.

You can also find training programs, testimonials (but be careful).

Every sport requires adapted training!

No matter what sport you practice, you will need certain qualities that will develop in the sport itself or in strength training to hope for a return or a transfer to your favorite sport. You will need strength, endurance, resistance, flexibility and coordination.

Each sport therefore requires training that is specific to its own specific case, as well as adapted strength training.

When you go to the gym, don’t judge the guy who’s training next to you and doesn’t lift half your weights. Does he also look like he’s training wrong? Ask him! Maybe he’s a 10,000-meter champion who has a completely different approach than you. He might not be a great bodybuilder, but don’t try to follow him into running.

Errors of ectomorphs.

Often, if you are ectomorphic, you claim up and down that you can eat anything and not gain muscle or fat. If you want to build muscle, the same rules apply to everyone: a minimum of protein, water, slow carbohydrates. But for you, if you have already eaten what is needed to build muscle, you can also "eat anything". Of course, within reasonable limits. Alcohol does not fall within these limits. In addition, some ectomorphs remain slim over time, but with a small belly. So be careful if you want to stay slim for a long time.

Working on flexibility.

If you want to avoid disappointments, lower back pain and hamstring muscle injuries, you MUST take the time to improve your flexibility. Sometimes just a few minutes are enough. Because of course, as you have understood, we are not all equal when it comes to this muscle quality. There are different approaches and everyone has their own ideas on the subject: some recommend stretching when your muscles are still cold, others do it when they are warmed up, some on rest days, others on training days. Some do static stretches, others dynamic. What is the best approach?

Let’s see which athletes are the most flexible. Without a doubt, they are dancers and gymnasts. So we can say that their work is effective to achieve good flexibility. And what do they do to stay flexible? Well, they practice their flexibility before, after and sometimes even during training, they do full movements (not half ones). They do a lot of dynamic and also static stretching exercises.

Now try to tell me what is the best way?

What is certain is that if you don't train it, sooner or later you will suffer from lower back pain, strains or, even more seriously, tears.

Overtraining.

"Too much" is the enemy of "good." Thinking that the more you do, the more you improve is a mistake that many beginners make, but sometimes even experienced athletes. So how do you know if you are training enough or too much?

It's actually quite simple: if you're making good progress, your training and diet are adequate. If you stagnate, don't feel like training anymore, are abnormally tired, get injuries, then you may be suffering from overtraining.

Only solution: rest! But when you rest, you stop making progress, so it is good not to overtrain your body.

So be careful when you want to increase your muscle mass, to remember that "too much" is the enemy of "good"!

Do not reheat.

To avoid injuries, you should never perform a heavy or difficult exercise without proper preparation: the warm-up.

The ideal would be to condition in general with a "cardio" exercise, but also with some exercises that will target the area in question in a light but gradual way during the session.

The older you get, the more important the warm-up becomes. The elasticity of the tissues decreases every year and prevents adaptation to too abrupt exertion. This can lead to micro tears in the muscle fibers that can grow into larger tears in muscle tears.

Therefore, never start heavy strength training without warming up first.

No "miracle cures" available.

The supplements are exactly what they claim to be: a supplement to a proper diet. A mistake that many make is to replace the entire diet with shakes! Try to vary your diet, eat different meals and give your body different nutrients. This way it benefits from more vitamins, minerals and it is also more pleasant to eat varied.

It seems reasonable to include one or two shakes a day in your diet, but drinking only shakes is excessive and reduces the variety of foods consumed, which can lead to an imbalance. This does not seem to be beneficial for good muscle growth.

CONCLUSION.

Everyone makes mistakes. But everyone can also correct them. The internet gives you access to information, but sometimes that information is not correct. If you think that an athlete who posts pictures of his "six pack" all year round is really in top shape all year round, that is not necessarily true. It may be true, but it may also be that he did a photo shoot in the summer and posts the pictures on his account all year round. Be careful! Be prepared to question yourself, but also to question the information itself. Do not hesitate to consult experienced specialists to confirm or refute your research.

The progress you make will be your only truth: as long as you make progress, it means that you have found the right solution for good muscle mass development at that moment. If you do not make progress, be brave enough to question what you have read, what you know or what you have been told. Maybe it is not suitable for your case to build muscle mass.