How to build muscle faster in the gym?

Almost everyone who has been going to the gym for a while and still sees the same picture in the mirror wants to grow faster. The simple truth: muscle doesn’t grow just from lifting heavy weights, but when training, food and rest finally work together.

Translated by Janar Rückenberg

Why growing faster doesn’t mean flailing around more

You see the same story in the gym all the time. Someone shows up month after month, year after year, does their exercises, but their body barely changes. In some cases training has simply become a habit. Like brushing your teeth, only with a barbell.

Bodybuilders who compete or genuinely want to keep developing their physique can’t just wander around aimlessly. They train in order to grow. The faster that happens in a sensible way, the better. Still, what counts in the end is the progress achieved, not just how quickly the kilos or centimeters show up at the start.

Some people really do grow more easily. It seems they only have to look at a weight and their shoulders widen. Others have to work harder for every extra kilo. That doesn’t mean slower progress is hopeless. In bodybuilding and strength training, the winner is often the one who can train smart, consistently.

How to grow faster with less?

Stan McQuay, the 2000 Mr. USA middleweight winner, is a good example of a man who had to rethink his training instead of accepting slow progress. He has said himself that he was always a slow gainer. He grew so slowly that he started looking into why that was and which training methods work best.

Stan McQuay realized he couldn’t train the same way as the pros, many of whom are fast gainers. What started working for him was the idea that “less is more”. Shorter training, more focus, more rest. Not endless volume that leaves the body half-finished.

Since the eighties, many lifters have moved toward shorter, more intense workouts. Fewer sets and repetitions, more rest days. The old idea that training twice a day, six days a week is always better doesn’t suit everyone. Training gives the body a signal. The growth itself happens largely during recovery.

Stan usually trained each body part once a week, and only rarely trained some body parts twice. He tried to make his workouts as intense as possible and to avoid giving the same body part exactly the same training load twice in a row. When the exercises, repetitions and feel are always the same, the body gets used to it. Then the sharpness of the training often disappears too.

Nutrition was just as important for him. With a fast metabolism, he had to consume at least 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight in order to grow and hold on to his mass. He also needed more carbohydrates than many other bodybuilders. When the training was hard but the food was weak, he lost mass.

Shocking the body, plateaus and recovery

Rico Cherry, NPC Mr. USA 1997, considers himself more of a fast gainer. His approach was different. Whereas Stan McQuay benefited from shorter, more tightly controlled work, Rico Cherry used shocking the body: sometimes heavier workouts, sometimes lighter ones, rotating exercises, repetitions, negatives and supersets.

That doesn’t mean more is always better. Rico Cherry also stressed rest and good nutrition. He essentially said that training at the same intensity six times a week would end very badly. Mike Mentzer put it aptly: you can train intensely and you can train often, but not both.

A plateau, or sticking point, can hit even those who otherwise progress quickly. It’s a state where no matter what you do, progress stalls and muscle mass may even shrink. Some people then add even more volume and push harder. Rico Cherry saw it differently: when the body is overtired, you need to back off.

Sometimes a few days of rest were enough for him, sometimes he took a whole week off, and sometimes even two weeks. That isn’t laziness. It’s an honest assessment of how tired the body really is after long sets and intense workouts.

How to grow faster without overtraining?

Training is stress for the body. In simplified terms, it moves through three phases. The first is shock: lifting weights damages muscle fibers, and we often feel this as muscle soreness. The second is adaptation: the body adapts, supercompensates and becomes stronger. In the third phase the body has already got used to the work, and a standstill may set in.

The adaptation phase usually lasts from a few days to a few weeks. It depends on how hard the training is, on recovery and on the athlete’s capacity. If the training load is always the same, the body learns to cope with it. That’s why the idea behind progressive strength training is simple: the muscle has to be surprised with new work, gradually.

You can vary sets, repetitions, rest intervals, training frequency and exercise selection. But there is a limit here too. If you keep trying to outsmart the body all the time without leaving room for recovery, you end up overtrained. Then neither a new program nor another trick will help. Rest will.

Life outside the gym affects your plateau too. Work, other sports, general activity levels, poor sleep and psychological stress all draw from the same recovery reserves. If you aren’t getting enough sleep, it’s no wonder the barbell won’t move and your muscles won’t grow.

Practical signs to watch for

First, check whether your training has a clear aim. Are your weights, repetitions or technique improving over time? If not, the problem may not be motivation but your program. The same workout with the same weights will eventually give you the same result.

Second, look at your recovery. If your muscles are constantly sore, your sleep is poor and you already feel drained at the start of a workout, your body isn’t ready to build new growth. Honestly, for many people rest is harder than a hard set.

Third, don’t blindly copy someone else’s plan. Weider’s instinctive training principle is a reminder that the basics matter, but you also have to learn to listen to your own body. The more experienced you are, the better you can tell when to push and when to pull back.

FAQ

Does faster growth always mean more workouts?

No. If your training is already hard, extra volume can wreck your recovery. Many people do better with a shorter, more intense workout that they are well recovered for.

What should I do if I’ve hit a plateau?

Review your training volume, sleep, food and stress. Sometimes changing your exercises or repetitions helps, but if you’re very fatigued you may need a week or two of calmer training.

Should everyone train each body part once a week?

Not necessarily. Stan McQuay used that rhythm, but in training what counts is your recovery, experience and goal. Some people do better with more frequent work, others with a less frequent, more intense approach.

Author: Janar Rückenberg

Source: WHO – physical activity.

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