Although millions of people go to the gym, many of them fail to gain a muscular body despite regular workouts. That’s why we present five scientifically proven ways to do just that.
It’s crazy sometimes. You go to the gym regularly a few times a week and do hard exercises like the bench press, squats, or bicep curls, but the muscles don’t want to grow. At some point you ask yourself desperately: Why is this? What’s wrong with me? Successful YouTuber Jeremy Ethier addresses exactly this question. He explains to his 4.54 million followers the best way to force muscle growth. It has been scientifically proven!
1. Increased weight, increased load
Perhaps the simplest and most popular way to force muscle growth is to gain weight.1 This increases the load on the muscles. In the recovery phase, the muscles begin to grow in order to better prepare for the next effort. So try to lift a little more weight each week, especially if you do the same exercises. A training diary is useful so you can document the success of your training and remember the previous week’s weights.
Also interesting: Better Muscle Growth – 8 Tips for Effective Strength Training
But there’s a catch with the story, as fitness YouTuber Jeremy Ethier explains: You can’t keep putting on weight indefinitely. At some point you reach your physical limits. In addition, joints and tendons can become damaged if you exceed your performance limit. At this point at the latest, the weight slows down and the muscles grow accordingly.
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2. High repetition rate increases muscle growth
Anyone who squats because of their weight has another lever to stimulate muscle growth: repetition rate.2 So, for example, if you can do 8 reps with maximum weight, next time try to get 9 reps.
A little tip: if you are working at your maximum performance, it is best to have a training partner or assistant with you. They can step in to protect you if you can’t complete the last repetition on your own.
As Jeremy Ethier explains, one extra rep per week will make big gains. Because this means that you lift significantly more weight during the week than in the previous week. According to a 2017 study, you can increase your repetitions up to 30 and achieve consistent muscle growth.
Also interesting: How many repetitions are ideal for strength training to build muscle?
3. Include more sentences in training
If you can’t or don’t want to increase your repetition rate, you have another muscle growth tool on hand: the number of sets.3 For example, if you’re doing 3 sets of 8, try 4 sets next week. And the next week with five sentences. This increases the total weight being lifted significantly over the course of the week!
However, this method has two stops. Adding sentences increases the duration of the exercise. It gets complicated, especially when you have a limited time window each day to train. Also, the golden rule among bodybuilders is that no muscle group should be trained more than 30 groups per week, because anything beyond that will not result in additional muscle growth.
Also interesting: more muscle and less fat with super training
4. Do the exercises more slowly
A simple yet effective way to stimulate muscle growth is to slow down the rate of exercise.4 Because this increases the time of muscle tension at the same time and therefore the load is higher.
“This is particularly effective for exercises that work smaller, weaker muscle groups, such as the shoulders, where adding a little too often weight increases the difficulty disproportionately,” explains Ethere. Slowing down is also useful for exercises that involve your own body weight, since you can’t add any extra weight.
For example, if you need two or three seconds for a full sequence of movement, you can treat yourself to an extra second each week. But it shouldn’t be more than six seconds at the end.
Also interesting: does bigger muscle automatically mean more strength?
5. With better control of the body for more muscle growth
Correct implementation of strength training exercises is an often underestimated factor in muscle growth. But that’s exactly where muscle growth can be stimulated – without putting on weight or more repetitions.
If you put on more and more weight and then exercise incorrectly, you can damage your body and cause injury. Alternatively, you can maintain your usual weight, but pay close attention to your posture, the tension of the muscles used, and the control of movement. For example, if you train with lower thrust and try to target the desired muscles in isolation, you will ensure better muscle growth. For best efficacy, special emphasis should be placed on muscle contraction, studies show.5
Sources
- 1. Carvalho L, Junior RM, Barrera G, et. The. (2022). Muscle hypertrophy and strength gain after resistance training with different volume-matched loads: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Nutrition and Applied Metabolism.
- 2. Van CJ, Sexton CL, Osborne SC, et. The. (2022). Effects of high volume versus high load resistance training on skeletal muscle growth and molecular adaptations. Frontiers in Physiology.
- 3. Schoenefeld PJ, Contreras B, Krieger J, et. The. (2019). Volume resistance training enhances muscle hypertrophy but not strength in trained men, medicine and science in sports and exercise.
- 4. Wilk M, Zajac A, Tufano JJ. (2021). The effect of movement rhythm during resistance training on muscle strength and hypertrophy responses: a review. Sports medicine.
- 5. Calatayud, J, Vinstrup, J, Jakobsen, MD et al. (2016). The importance of mind-muscle communication during progressive resistance training. European Journal of Applied Physiology.