How to Build Muscle Fast

Everything you need to know about how to build muscle fast

Ready to lift? Most fitness experts agree that the fastest way to build muscle is to lift weights. Forget the myth that weightlifting can make you look bulky. It’ll create lean muscle that will create a more toned appearance and, while your weight on the scale might go up because muscle weighs more than fat, you may notice a loss in centimetres.

Train smart for optimal results

To build muscle quickly, you’ll want to aim for three full body strength workouts per week, performing ten to fifteen reps of each exercise. FitnGlam has fantastic machines with adjustable weights that can help you isolate the muscles in any part of your body as well as a large selection of hand weights to work your shoulders, arms and chest. Finding the right weight, however, is key. If it feels too easy, choose something heavier and, as you build muscle over time, you can increase your weight to ensure you’re always in the “challenging” sweet spot.

Fuel your muscle quest with protein

When it comes to building muscle, good nutrition is just as important as your workout and protein is your new best friend. Ideally, you want to aim for consuming 1.2 to 2 grams of protein per kilogram of your body weight. So, if you weighed 60kg, you’d need to eat 72 to 120 grams of protein per day. You’ll also want to prioritise a particular type of protein – sources that contain a high amount of leucine. This essential amino acid plays an important role in stimulating your body to absorb the protein it requires for muscle building. You’ll find in foods like whey, dairy, meat, eggs, soy, white beans, kidney beans, lentils, and peanuts.

Next time you’re in Protein House, why not try the Muscle Freak protein shake? It includes 2 scoops of chocolate whey, making it a delicious way to consume 56 grams of muscle-building protein.

Something else you’ll want to remember if you’re on a quest for more muscle is to eat enough calories and this includes tucking in to carbohydrates to fuel those workouts. If you don’t eat enough carbs, your body will look for an alternative energy source and start dipping into any protein you’ve consumed, using it for fuel when it could’ve gone towards muscle growth. This is why a healthy, balanced diet is key.

Rest and recover for peak performance

Don’t underestimate the importance of rest! If you’re hitting the weights section every other day, use the days in between to do a little cardio and preserve at least one of them for rest. These rest days give your body the time it needs to recover as well as focus on rebuilding and repairing. Every time you do weight lifting exercises, you create a tiny “tear” in your muscle tissue. Your body then repairs itself by filling in the gap with a little more muscle but can’t do this if you’re always overexerting yourself in the gym. That downtime is literally your muscles’ growth time.

Getting enough sleep is also important as bedtime is another prime repair time. You can then hit the gym with renewed energy so you can perform your muscle-building exercises optimally. Then, before you know it, that weight that once felt hard will become the easy one you discard for something a little more challenging.

Here’s to more muscle!
At the end of the day, while there are no shortcuts to building muscle – you’ll always have to put in the work – if you do it right, you’ll be on the fast track to reaping visible rewards that will make you feel accomplished, strong and ready to take on the world