The trainer answers: how to gain mass?

Meet our new column #TrainerAnswers. Now every two weeks the most competent instructors will answer all your fitness questions and reveal the secrets of quality workouts. Today World Class elite trainer Anton Kotov shares his knowledge with us .

Anton Kotov: “Recently you can meet people with such a request less and less often. Usually from men coming to the gym you can hear something like: “I would make my arms relief… But I don’t want to swing hard!”. In the minds of ordinary people, muscle mass gain is associated with big and ugly bodybuilders, whose muscles are inflated, round and look extremely unnatural. In fact, the first thing that is important to understand is that gaining muscle mass is a very long and difficult process. And strength training in the gym, for example, for six months can give at best a gain of muscle mass of about 4-8 kg. And this is not much.

Nevertheless, increasing muscle mass is extremely important if you want to make your body beautiful and taut. Muscle corset is a kind of skeleton of your body. Muscles create the shape of your figure. And if, for example, you have naturally not very broad shoulders, it is the developed musculature that will help to correct and compensate for this. Therefore, if your goal is to increase the volume of any regions of your body, then training to increase muscle mass will help you achieve the desired result. But you will have to work hard – set yourself up for long-term work!

What’s the right way to train?

The best workouts for gaining muscle mass are strength training on machines and with free weights. I recommend working out 2-4 times a week. This is the optimal number of workouts that will produce visible progress. That said, it is crucial to base your training on your level of fitness to avoid overtraining and risk of injury.

If you’re a first-time exerciser, you should start with general machine training, which is a workout where you work all your muscle groups at once. Working on exercise machines practically excludes incorrect technique, as the trajectory of movement in them is clearly fixed, which increases the safety of training. However, to learn how to handle and adjust the machines correctly, please contact a trainer at your club.

How do I adjust the load?

The load should be increased with each workout to keep you progressing and moving towards your desired goal. However, it’s important to remember that initially you need to gradually ease into the training process so that your body has time to adapt to the stress you’re giving it. Yes, working out is dosed stress! And it is extremely important to dose it correctly! This is one of the most common mistakes of beginners – the first time they come to the gym, they train very intensively and overload their muscles so that the next day they can barely move certain parts of the body because of muscle pain. Remember that pain is not an indicator of progress, but only an indication that you have overloaded your body. It may sound strange, but you can make progress without the so-called muscle crepature – muscle soreness – at all. Load yourself at the initial stage so that you estimate the load at 5-7 out of 10 points on the scale of your own sensations. Gradually increase it, let your body recover and adapt to it.

If you are already an experienced exerciser, you can use so-called split programs – variants of training, when on different days you work out different muscle groups. In addition to exercise machines, it is also important to include in your workouts exercises with free weights – barbells and dumbbells. This way you will force your muscles to work harder and, as a result, the training effect will be stronger. As for the intensity of the load, here you can work in the range of 8-10 points on the same scale we talked about above.

Cyclicality of training

It is also important to remember that for effective muscle mass gain, it is necessary to cycle the training process – that is, periodically change the focus and intensity of training. My practice shows that cycles of 4-6 weeks are optimal from the physiological and psychological point of view. What does this mean in practice? For example, if your one cycle lasts 5 weeks, then for 4 weeks you train with a strength training program according to your fitness level. Then for one week you either completely change the focus of your training, do aerobic (cardio) training, stretching or any other type of activity, or you continue training in the gym, but reduce the intensity to light loads. Each mesocycle I recommend changing the basic training program. This approach allows you to achieve results comfortably and effectively, avoiding the plateau effect when gaining muscle mass.

How quickly will I see results?

It should be said right away that due to various factors it will be easier for some people to gain muscle mass, while others will find it more difficult. But this does not mean that because of some reasons someone can immediately forget about building a beautiful body with well-developed musculature. Each of us needs a different amount of time to master skills, knowledge. The same goes for training. Someone just needs more training to achieve what they want. Therefore, if you suddenly started working on gaining muscle mass and you do not manage to progress quickly, do not despair! Remember that the result is following a well-built system that takes into account nutrition, training and recovery. You may be missing something somewhere, and this is where consulting a knowledgeable trainer can help you get ahead and save time.

Where to start? Coach Recommendations

The one thing I recommend to absolutely everyone before starting training is to see a doctor to confirm you are ready to exercise. Also, if necessary, he will inform you about physical activity restrictions that can make the workouts safe. When striving for the perfect body shape, you should not forget that your health should always come first”.