In the pursuit of increased muscle mass there should only be three things you need to do; eat, sleep and train. Do these three things well and you should have no trouble getting the gains you wish for.
EAT
Base every meal (including breakfast) on protein. They are the building blocks of muscle so get it in wherever you can. Fresh meat, fish and eggs and lots of it. 2grams per pound of bodyweight is a good place to start.
You need to be on a calorie surplus to grow (you need to be taking in more calories then you are burning), and although it can be hard to keep these calories all clean, it is possible. Fat dense food will be high in calories and will have a great satiety effect so make for a great snack during the day. Lots of avocados, coconut, nuts, salmon and grass fed butter. Not only will good fats help with getting the calories in, it will keep your testosterone high so you feel great and keep growing!
TRAIN
Focus on the compounds. Nobody has the time to spend hours in the gym every day, so don’t waste your time repping out 100 bicep curls. Make your workouts count and lift heavy. If your programme doesn’t include squats, deadlifts, bench and pull ups… change your programme! The big movements recruit the most muscles so in turn will give you the biggest gains. Be sure to change your programme every 6-8 to keep your body stimulated.
Include some short HIIT sessions in your weekly training to fight any fat trying to creep in from those surplus calories. Hill sprints work wonders.
SLEEP
It is all well and good eating and training like a Hugh Jackman, but unless you are giving your body the time to repair and recover you can kiss any increase in muscle mass goodbye. During training, you will cause your muscles to tear. It is in the repairing of these small tears that your muscles will grow back bigger and stronger. When you sleep, reproduction and regeneration of cells will be at a higher state allowing for good recovery. 8 hours a night is perfect, more if possible after a heavy gym session.
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