How to Gain Muscle: Tips for Building Strength

October 01, 2024

4 mins

There are countless health benefits to regular exercise. Not only does exercise help to improve physical and mental health, it can even improve your sexual health. 

There are tons of options for how you approach exercising. Depending on your goals, your workout regimen might look very different from your gym buddies’. 

If your goal is building muscle mass, here are some of the best tips for getting stronger and bigger, fast.

How Do Muscles Grow?

Creating an effective workout routine will be much easier with a good understanding of how muscles grow and strengthen. 

Your muscles are made up of thousands of tightly wound elastic fibers. As a result, your muscles are incredibly adaptable – especially when compared to the solid and rigid structure of your bones. 

Lifting weights that put your muscles under stress leads to micro tears and tiny rips in these muscle fibers. Technically, this is referred to as “muscle injury.” While that might sound like the wrong outcome, these micro tears are an important step for muscle growth, so long as the tears aren’t severe.

When your muscles undergo stress like this, the cells that make up your muscles are "activated" and attempt to repair your damaged muscle fiber and tissue. As a result of filling in this damage, your muscles grow larger as these new cells grow and heal the damage. 

This is why muscle recovery and rest days are so important, and why you should take pride in your post-weight training muscle soreness – it just means your muscles are growing!

The Connection Between Testosterone and Muscle Growth

Testosterone plays a crucial role in muscle growth by driving several key physiological processes. One of its primary functions is to increase protein synthesis. This is the process your body uses to repair and build muscle tissue after exercise. Higher testosterone levels make this process more efficient, leading to faster muscle recovery and growth. 

Additionally, testosterone promotes hypertrophy, the enlargement of muscle fibers. This directly increases muscle size and strength. Another important effect is its influence on fat distribution. Testosterone helps reduce body fat, allowing muscle gains to become more visible. It also boosts red blood cell production, improving oxygen delivery to muscles during exercise and enhancing stamina. 

With these combined effects, testosterone becomes a vital hormone for those looking to build or maintain muscle mass. 

Conversely, low testosterone levels can hinder these processes, making muscle development more challenging. For men who may suspect low testosterone is affecting their muscle growth, it’s important to consult a healthcare professional for proper guidance. While testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) is sometimes used to treat certain conditions associated with low testosterone, it’s not a quick or universally recommended solution for muscle gain. Additionally, testosterone therapy carries its own risks and potential side effects, and its safety and effectiveness for muscle building alone haven’t been conclusively proven.

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What are the Best Ways to Gain Muscle? 

Lifting weights is probably the first thing that comes to mind when you think about muscle-building. 

While strength training is definitely a major part of gaining muscle strength and muscle mass, it’s not the only factor involved. To get the best results from working out, you’ll need to make a few lifestyle changes. 

There are three crucial elements to efficiently building muscle: diet, exercise, and rest.

Diet

Nutrition is absolutely key for muscle protein synthesis and massive gains. For many, this means adjusting their current diet to focus on two main goals: increasing overall food intake and boosting protein consumption.

Most people aim for around 2,000 calories daily to maintain their weight. However, if you're trying to build muscle, you'll need to increase your daily calorie intake. Calories provide the energy your body needs to turn the protein you consume into muscle.

Most athletes consume 17 to 19 calories for every pound that they weigh, which typically equates to 500 surplus calories. A basic guideline is to start with roughly 15 to 20 calories per pound and make changes as necessary. 

Along with eating more food in general, you'll likely need to increase your protein intake. Your body uses the essential amino acids found in proteins for a wide variety of purposes – one of which is muscle growth. 

Your body needs to store more protein than it breaks down in order to build muscle mass. Quite simply: the more protein your body has, the more it can use on your muscles. 

It’s best to start off your new diet by focusing on one gram of protein for every pound that you weigh, and increase if needed. Stick to healthy proteins like chicken breast, whey protein shakes, legumes like lentils, and quinoa instead of gunning the red meat and full-fat dairy products.

Whatever calories are left should be focused on quality carbohydrates like whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and fats in order to create a healthy and balanced diet. Most animal products have a ton of protein, so you’ll end up including a lot of meat and dairy in your diet. Be sure to include plenty of beans (soy in particular) and nuts as these are high in protein and other important nutrients, vitamins, and minerals. 

Exercise 

The only way to effectively build muscle exercising is to create micro-tears in your muscle fibers. The easiest way to do this is to lift weights. Before you go out and start curling some dumbbells though, there are a few things that you should know that can help maximize your results. 

For starters, focus on muscle groups as opposed to individual muscles. Curling can help your biceps grow, but this concentrated exercise largely benefits just that one muscle. Placing an emphasis on muscle groups will help you work out several muscles during every repetition. Exercises such as squats, pushups, lunges, planks, deadlifts, pull-ups, and bench press all work multiple muscles at one time.  

A 30-minute workout is a great way to maintain weight and gradually build muscle. However, to truly build strength, you'll likely need to work out for 60 minutes or more, focusing on multiple muscles in each group.

Focus on using heavy weights with few repetitions and move slowly. Holding weights at the peak of a movement while your muscles are strained can result in more tearing in muscle fibers, too.

Many exercise plans also include cardio, and while most gym bros might think that cardio burns muscle, this is a myth. Cardio can actually help you gain and maintain muscle mass when combined with weight training workouts. By improving cardiovascular health and endurance, cardio can enhance your ability to perform longer and more intense workouts. It also increases blood flow to muscles, delivering oxygen and nutrients essential for muscle repair and growth. 

Here's a weekly workout plan designed for a man aiming to gain muscle. This plan balances strength training with rest and recovery, targeting major muscle groups for optimal growth.

Day 1: Chest and triceps

• Bench press: 4 sets of 8-10 reps

• Incline dumbbell press: 3 sets of 8-10 reps

• Chest dips: 3 sets of 10-12 reps

• Triceps pushdown: 3 sets of 10-12 reps

• Overhead triceps extension: 3 sets of 10-12 reps

Day 2: Back and biceps

• Deadlifts: 4 sets of 6-8 reps

• Pull-ups (or lat pulldown): 4 sets of 8-10 reps

• Bent-over rows: 3 sets of 8-10 reps

• Barbell or dumbbell bicep curls: 3 sets of 10-12 reps

• Hammer curls: 3 sets of 10-12 reps

Day 3: Rest or light cardio

• 20-30 minutes of low-intensity cardio (walking, cycling) or full rest

Day 4: Legs

• Squats: 4 sets of 6-8 reps

• Leg press: 3 sets of 8-10 reps

• Lunges: 3 sets of 10-12 reps per leg

• Romanian deadlifts: 3 sets of 8-10 reps

• Calf raises: 3 sets of 12-15 reps

Day 5: Shoulders and abs

• Overhead shoulder press: 4 sets of 8-10 reps

• Lateral raises: 3 sets of 10-12 reps

• Front raises: 3 sets of 10-12 reps

• Shrugs: 3 sets of 10-12 reps

• Plank: 3 sets, 30-60 seconds each

• Hanging leg raises or crunches: 3 sets of 12-15 reps

Day 6: Full-body or compound movements

• Clean and press: 4 sets of 6-8 reps

• Pull-ups: 3 sets of 8-10 reps

• Push-ups: 3 sets of 15-20 reps

• Kettlebell swings: 3 sets of 10-12 reps

Day 7: Rest or active recovery

• Yoga, stretching, or light cardio (walking, swimming)

Notes:

• Progressive overload: Gradually increase weights to continue muscle growth.

• Rest and nutrition: Ensure proper recovery by sleeping well and consuming enough calories and protein to support muscle growth.

If you're a runner at heart or want to include more cardio in your weekly workout while still prioritizing muscle gain, here are some effective ways to balance both:

Warm-ups (before each workout)

• 5-10 minutes of light cardio (e.g., brisk walking, jogging, cycling, or rowing) to get your heart rate up and blood flowing to the muscles.

• Dynamic stretches or mobility exercises focusing on the muscle groups you'll train.

Cardio finishers (post-workout)

After your strength training, add a 10-15 minute cardio finisher to boost endurance without detracting from muscle gains:

• High-intensity interval training (HIIT): 30 seconds of sprinting followed by 1-minute walking, repeated for 10-15 minutes.

• Rowing or cycling: Moderate to high intensity for 10-15 minutes.

• Jump rope intervals: 1 minute on, 30 seconds off, for 10 minutes.

Cardio days (replace rest days or add active recovery)

On rest days or lighter workout days, integrate longer cardio sessions:

Day 3 and day 7: Active recovery

• 30-45 minutes of steady-state cardio (brisk walking, cycling, or swimming) at a moderate pace.

• Optional HIIT session on day 7: 20-25 minutes of high-intensity interval training.

Circuit training on strength days

If you want to mix strength and cardio, include short cardio intervals between strength exercises:

• After each set of squats or bench press, do 1 minute of jump rope, burpees, or mountain climbers.

This keeps your heart rate elevated while still focusing on muscle building.

Rest 

Rest is just as important as the workouts themselves when it comes to building muscle. During rest, your body has the opportunity to repair and rebuild muscle tissue that’s broken down during exercise, leading to increased strength and growth. Without adequate rest, you risk overtraining, which can stall muscle gains, lead to injury, and cause fatigue.

Sleep is a critical part of this recovery process. When you sleep, your body releases growth hormone, which plays a key role in muscle repair and protein synthesis. Aim for seven to nine hours of quality sleep each night to ensure your body has enough time to recover and prepare for the next workout.

Rest days, or active recovery days, are also vital for preventing burnout and allowing your muscles to fully recover. Incorporating rest doesn’t mean being inactive—it can involve light cardio, stretching, or yoga to keep your body moving without straining your muscles. This balance between training and recovery is essential for sustainable muscle growth and overall fitness.

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How Rex MD Can Help

It takes real work to gain muscle strength and muscle mass, but a few changes can get you stronger in no time. 

If you're concerned about your testosterone levels, Rex MD’s TestoRx program offers personalized solutions that can help you understand and manage your health. You’ll have access to quality care from a team of licensed clinicians and testosterone solutions, if appropriate.

To find out if the program is right for you, just answer some about your symptoms and medical history. Your provider will order lab work for you to help determine if you’re eligible for testosterone injections or another treatment option.

Then, you’ll be able to schedule a virtual call with the Rex MD care team to further discuss your results, eligibility, and which treatment option would be most suitable for you, if any.

While testosterone is key to muscle growth, TestoRx is not clinically recommended as a way to gain muscle. Instead, it focuses on addressing broader health concerns related to low testosterone under the guidance of medical professionals. If you suspect low testosterone may be impacting your well-being, talk to a doctor through Rex MD to explore options tailored to your needs.