Bulking Season - 5 Tips for Muscle Growth

The days are getting colder, break out the sweaters it's time to start bulking! For most people this is the ideal time to put on additional weight, when you will be bundled up for the next 3-6 months.

Muscle growth occurs when you create micro-tears in the muscle fibers through straining those muscle fibers. To create these tears you will need to apply resistance to the muscle and tear through a stretch and contraction. Once you have "torn" the muscle, your body will then build it back up stronger. Therefore, in order to build more muscle you need to repeat this process over and over again. The goal is to create the micro tears and then have sufficient rest and nutrition to allow your body to rebuild the muscle. A common mistake is not allowing you body enough time or providing enough nutrition for your body to repair the muscle. The key to creating those microtears is resistance, therefore if you want to build muscle you need to create that resistance through weights or bands or whatever.

While there are many factors in building muscle we have outlined the top 6 main points to hit to make sure you grow muscle fast during the cold season.

Eat for Muscle Growth

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There are three areas to maximize when building muscle. Maximize energy, Maximize nutrient digestion, and Maximize recovery. This does mean a combination of Carbohydrates, Proteins, and Fats. While you can achieve muscle growth through less carb or less fat, you will not maximize the effect if you are not intaking everything. Everyone's calorie expenditure will be different, but you want to want sure you are in a calorie surplus each day. Nutrients differ for everyone but as a general rule:
1.25x your weight (lbs) in protein (g)
1.50x your weight (lbs) in carbohydrates (g)
0.60x your weight (lbs) in fat (g)
ex. 180 lb human
225g in Protein
270g in Carbohydrates
108g in Fat
This would be about 2,952 calories in a day and while timing has some importance (but not much), if you you are eating 3,000 calories a day you will basically be eating all day anyways.

Time Under Tension

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Lifting weights up and down is important but in order to create the desired effect of straining the muscle you need to focus on the time you keep the muscle under tension. When you hold a weight at the top of a rep there is very little strain and also at the bottom of a rep there is very little strain. The strain comes while contracting and stretching the muscle, focus on those portions and target a time under tension for each set. If you do 10 reps in 10 seconds you created 10 seconds of time under tension. If you do 5 reps in 20 seconds, you doubled your time under tension. On the extreme side doing 5 reps in 60 seconds would also not be ideal because if you can do that than you probably aren't challenging the muscle with enough resistance. Aim for about 30-40 seconds of time under tension per set and feel the burn!

Sleep

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The goal is to repeat the process over and over as quickly as you can recover. Your body recovers the most while you are sleeping, therefore to improve recovery and maximize growth you need to sleep. Ideally, you need 8 hours per night but that its not always possible. But, the more sleep you can get the better.

Complex before Isolation

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Complex exercises are ideal for building bigger muscles because essentially you activate more muscles then if you isolated one and then you can actually lift more weight and create greater resistance. Focus on nailing those big complex exercises first when you have the most energy and then isolate after.

Challenge Yourself

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In order to grow you need to be challenged, this is relevant for everything in life not just muscle building, but muscle building is no different. Set and outline your goals. Challenge higher weights, challenge the time under tension, challenge the exercise until failure. Just like in life you need to fail sometimes to know how far you can go, if you are not failing every now and again, you are not challenging yourself enough.

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With these 5 tips you can MAXIMIZE your muscle growth this bulking season! Good luck and stay focused.