Hello, tis me again, Alejandro. First I showed you how to ACTUALLY lose weight and now I'm back with another easy to read, straight forward, no bullshit approach to building muscle. Something I have personally found fascinating since the age of 16 (fuck me mate I'm getting on).
The fascination for me is beautiful, almost art-like. That we can, to some degree, carve and sculpt our own bodies to look a certain way through the gaining of muscle mass in specific, target areas. Similar to how a sculptor can alter a lump of bog standard clay and through the use of moulding, applying pressure, chiselling and years of practice is able to transform clay into a bespoke masterpiece. We too can effectively do the same exact thing with our bodies, by tricking the individual muscles through a stress response to grow larger, thus allowing us to sculpt our very own masterpieces...
Enough of the jibber jabber, we aren't here for my deep thoughts on why getting some guns is beautiful. We are here for the practical applications which clearly display how to actually gain muscle, and to be honest it is very simple.
The fitness industry and many influencers will try to sugar coat this agenda, they will try to make you believe that they have a secret formula to gaining muscle, and to be like them you need to attain that secret gem they deeply possess. But no, it's never as simple as merely being told, you're convinced into buying specific workouts, convinced into buying certain products or convinced into buying certain diets. All of which have the agenda of profiting from you, not the agenda of sincerely wanting to help you.
On the other hand, I am going to tell you what you need in order to build muscle and I believe there are only 3 ingredients to building muscle. 1 - Stress
2 - Protein
3 - Caloric Surplus
That is all you fucking need pal. Cya later.
Of course, I wouldn't leave you in the dark like that because I'm a nice fella. Thankfully (for you), I possess the secret gem so with a PayPal transaction of £90 I'll be able to send over an in depth article that goes over these 3 ingredients to build muscle because I care about profiting from you, not helping you...
Fuck, let me try that one again. I care about helping you, not profiting from you.
1 - Stress
So to build muscle, you need to stress the muscle.
"How do we stress the muscle Alejandro?"
What I mean by "stressing the muscle" is working a muscle so hard, that the individual muscle fibres cannot take any more exertion and quite literally get damaged / tear because the work load and stress being forced on them is too much.
This may sound bonkers and counterintuitive, but once the muscle fibres are torn, not only do they get repaired, but they repair in an evolutionary fashion (they repair, plus they gain size, gain endurance and gain strength as a survival mechanism, because as the stressful environment damaged them, we now need an advanced muscle in comparison to before, so reform / grow larger to easier deal with future stresses).
There are different ways to recruit, target and tear Type 1 and Type 2 muscle fibres but for the sake of this blog and it's succinct nature, I'll ramble about this another day (or simply drop me a message if you want to find how to specifically address the building of the different muscle fibres).
Let's take a Monkey for an even greater example. We have a Monkey in a forest edge. This monkey is swinging away from a hungry pack of Hyenas below, trying it's best to escape. The monkey can only hold itself up based on it's muscles, if his muscles fatigue from the exertion of swinging for prolonged periods, the monkey falls and the hungry pack of Hyenas get their dinner.
Alternatively, the monkey might be able to outswing the Hyenas after hours of exercise, to the point that the Hyenas have to stop or cannot keep up with the pace. The monkey would have exhausted his muscle fibres and because of the stress of the environment, the monkey's muscles will evolve, becoming larger, stronger and more durable so that for the next chase, it is well equipped and capable of surviving again.
We are effectively doing the same thing, tricking our muscles into thinking they need to be larger to cope with the stress environment (although really we are in a nice, warm, stress-free environment listening to Taylor Swift through our AirPods and checking out our juicy pumps in the gym toilets).
Exhibit A (cringe):
So this is step 1 of building muscle.. Fuck up your muscles. Rebuild stronger. Fuck them up again. In an everlasting cycle of fucking and rebuilding.
2 - Protein
You probably know already what I am going to say here.. Consume more protein.
"How much protein should I consume to build muscle?"
You want to consume 2g of protein per kg of body weight. So if you weigh 80kg, that would be 160g of protein per day.
"How can I calculate how much protein I am eating?"
Simply by downloading MyFitnessPal, entering in all the food you eat and clicking on macros to see how much protein you're on.
Why do I need protein? Why is it so important? Can't I just fuck up the muscle fibre?
No mate, you can't.
You need to fuck up the muscle fibre, but unfortunately we need something to rebuild the muscle fibre, that something is Protein. Protein is broken down into Amino Acids, Amino Acids are effectively the building blocks of the body and are responsible for the rebuilding of damaged muscle fibres. Carbohydrates and Fats (the other 2 of 3 macronutrients) cannot be turned into Amino Acids, thus are useless in the repairing stage.
Just eat more protein, sorted.
3 - Caloric Surplus
Being at a Caloric Surplus means you are consuming MORE calories into your body, than what your body burns off.
"Why do I need to be at a caloric surplus to gain muscle? Can't I just tear down my muscle fibres and let protein rebuild them?"
Nah, you can't.. and before you ask another great question, I will tell you why these 2 factors are not enough..
So you've gone to the gym, torn your muscle fibres, consumed enough protein BUT you've barely eaten any calories. Calories are the energy source of the body, it's our fuel. Our fuel to get out of bed, our fuel to brush our teeth, our fuel to walk, our fuel to maintain posture, our fuel to talk, our fuel to maintain homeostasis within the body, our fuel for the motherfucking day.
Unfortunately, our body prioritises calories, and it puts the bodies functioning and survival before growing some larger muscles so you look good on a sandy beach (after all, not making it to the beach might not be your best look). Consequently, if you do not eat enough calories, the protein you consumed with the intent to build muscle is now going to be converted into energy, into glucose and used as fuel for survival and bodily functions, not for gaining larger muscles as intended.
If you are however in a caloric surplus, your body will use it's carbohydrates and fats to survive / function, it can now use the excess calories and specifically the unused protein > amino acids to rebuild your torn muscles, soon making your booty pop like Kim K.
"Won't I get fat if I am at a caloric surplus?"
You don't need to be at a major surplus, I'd suggest being in a surplus of around 200 calories, purely to avoid your protein being used as energy. This ensures there are barely any calories which are left over and stored as fat, thus, no you will not get fat (but you may gain a little - this process is often known as bulking).
If you do get fat you're eternally fucked and there's no helping you (if you gain a lot of fat it means you are in an unnecessary surplus so restrict your calories. This usually happens if you're too impatient; you'll know if you are gaining a kilo of weight p/week). If you feel as though you gained too much fat (or you want to lose all the fat to reveal the hard earned muscle) all you do is put your self at a gradual caloric deficit, so that you retain the muscle and get rid of all the unwanted fat - known as cutting.
That's all there is to it - stress, protein and being at a caloric surplus. If you do this day in and day out over the course of extended periods you will turn your bit of bog standard clay into a bespoke masterpiece ;).
For any further questions about any of this, any conversations or advice for your current muscle gain or weight loss journey then please feel free to drop me a message. Have a quality day.
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