Gym Gear’s Quick Guide to Building Muscle

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Building muscle is a common goal amongst our clients and there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach for everyone as people’s personal goals can differ greatly.

However, there are some surefire things you can be doing to make sure your strength training is effective and that you’re going the right way about building muscle.

In today’s article, we’re going to take you through some ways that you can start building muscle, including setting realistic goals, some of the equipment you can use, dietary options, and more.

Goal Setting

To safely build muscle, it’s really important that you set realistic goals. You’re not going to build muscle overnight or even over a month. In fact, it can take 6-10 weeks of consistent workouts to see a difference. So, make sure you set your goals strategically. 

To keep yourself on track, make sure that your fitness goals are measurable (meaning you have a clear definition of when you’ve achieved it) and have a deadline (even if you have to move your deadline here and there, just having one can keep you motivated).

Equipment

There are lots of different types of equipment to help you build muscle, below are some of our favourites.

The Sterling Series Adjustable Bench is versatile, allowing you to carry out lots of different exercises with free weights. Its soft leather cover makes it wonderfully comfortable and the adjustable nature of the seat not only makes it a great fit for people of all sizes, but also means that you can train from a flat position to an inclined position. 

Our Urethane Barbells Set are safe and efficient, and don’t require you to change any weight plates. This is a 10 x barbell set (2 x 10kg, 15kg, 20kg, 1 x 25kg, 30kg, 40kg & 45kg) and is perfect for weight and resistance training.

The Sterling Series Elite Half Rack allows for nearly limitless strength training possibilities is robust and is a safe solution to lifting weights without a spotter. It has fixed olympic weight horns for storage and it also has an integrated chin-up bar.

Multi gyms offer you versatile resistance training. The Pro Series 3 Station Multi Gym features 3 stations in one piece of equipment and is ideal for a wide variety of safe and effective upper and lower body exercises.

This space-saving machine optimises floor space and offers infinite training programs/workouts. The first station is a multi-press with Adjustable press arms coupled with adjustable back support. The second station is a lat pulldown/seated row and the third station is a leg extension/leg curl.

Diet

What you eat has a huge impact on the efficiency of your training and how quickly you build muscle.

In order to build muscle, you need to eat more calories than you burn. To work out how many calories you should be eating to meet your goals, you can use an online calculator such as this one.

The food you eat before a workout prepares your body for the exercise. You should be getting essential fatty acids (EFA) such as eggs or tuna, complex carbohydrates such as brown rice or oats, and protein such as beef or dairy. 

After a workout, you need to prioritise eating carbohydrates and protein because they’re what get depleted during exercise. Foods like high-protein nuts, sweet potatoes, eggs, toast,  and chicken are perfect to eat post-workout. The carbohydrates get turned into glycogen and are stored in your muscles, replenishing them.

Hydration is also key both before and after a workout, so don’t forget your water bottle.

Rest

As surprising as it may be, your muscles aren’t actually getting stronger when you’re at the gym! They get stronger when they repair from the gym, so getting enough rest is so important.

Rest comes in the form of days off training and getting proper sleep. Make sure you’re not training on consecutive days – you need at least one rest day in between training sessions. 

Not getting enough sleep can affect so many of your body’s functions. It can decrease your energy and growth hormone levels. Plus, not sleeping well increases your levels of catabolic hormones, which can damage your muscles. 

Hopefully this quick guide has given you some pointers on building muscle. At Gym Gear, we have a whole host of gym equipment that can help you reach your strength training goals, as well as cardio training, functional training, and more.