The Key to a Great Physique; More Muscle

Published in Fitness
July 12, 2023
8 min read
The Key to a Great Physique; More Muscle

“Bodybuilding is an art, your body is the canvas, weights are your brush and nutrition is your paint. We all have the ability to turn a self-portrait into a masterpiece.” – Kai Greene

The key to a great physique is having the muscle mass to sculpt and form your body as you desire.

Arnold Shwartzanegar made the analogy of bodybuilding being like an artist creating a sculpture out of clay, where if the artist wants to create a more rounded appearance of the shoulders he will slap on some more clay and carve it out.

The bodybuilder however has to work much harder by performing lateral raises for thousands of reps to increase the size and symmetry of the deltoids.

Leaning up requires building muscle to create a sculpted physique that projects a strong and fit individual.

It doesn’t matter if you’re starting with a skinny frame or one that carries a few extra pounds, building muscle should be the main priority.

It provides the raw materials that you can sculpt and shape to meet the aesthetic you desire.

Have a vision

“I saw the angel in the marble, and carved until I set him free”- Michelangelo

When you imagine yourself with your ideal physique what does it look like? I don’t even mind if it is realistic or not, in fact, the more unrealistic the better.

If your goals are so big that you don’t know if you can achieve them or not then you’re probably going to be more successful than the majority. Even if you fall short it’s not really failing.

You’ve dedicated yourself to a goal that has changed you as a person both inside and out. That same dedication to a big goal will provide much more results than achieving a realistic goal.

The whole purpose is to create a body you love to live in and look at. Pursuing a goal is solely to point you in the right direction and focus your efforts.

A client I worked with recently had the goal to lose 100lbs in a year, along her way there were some unfortunate circumstances that caused her progress to suffer.

However, even though she fell short of her goal she still lost 82lbs even with an injury that took her out of the gym.

Without a destination in mind you will always be lost and directionless. Whether you want to lean up, gain weight, get shredded, or somewhere in between is your choice.

It’s important to be specific about your desires because it gives you the roadmap you need. This is especially important for performance goals because the training and nutrition plans you follow will be different depending on the end goal.

This is why having a specific vision is important to establish prior to committing to your routine.

Most people give up after a couple of weeks to months of hard training when they aren’t seeing the results they desire. Training for maximal strength will be different than training for maximizing muscle mass.

The same goes for nutrition, if you want to lose weight and lean up you won’t be eating like someone who is trying to bulk. Sounds obvious but your progress is reliant upon the details.

The psychological impact of having a clear vision is just as important as the roadmap guiding your actions. When times get tough and you are tired and feel like quitting this clear vision will be your North Star.

Creating a fitness lifestyle is not easy and it’s for sure not quick either, to truly reach your peak it’s going to take years.

Don’t be concerned about the time, within 6 months you will already start to notice the changes.

Just keep your eyes on your future self and don’t stop.

Key factors for muscle growth

Brad Schoenfeld is a researcher who primarily studies how to build muscle. In his article detailing the mechanisms contributing to muscle growth, he describes three key variables; tension, muscle damage, and “the pump.”

  • Tension

This is one of the primary drivers for building muscle as it causes a high degree of stimulation to the muscle and even other body systems such as hormones.

A high degree of tension can be produced through strong muscular contractions, which can be achieved by lifting heavier weights.

Counterintuitively you can actually increase the tension from lighter weight but with more reps per set. Lastly, tension can be placed on a muscle through a stretch.

The best way to maximize both active and passive forms of tension is by slowing down your reps so that you really emphasize the lowering portion of all lifts.

In a bicep curl, there is active tension being performed to move the weight from a straight arm position into a bent arm position.

When the weight is being lowered from a bent arm position back into a straight arm position there is a stretch occurring on the muscle.

If you slow down this lowering portion of the curl you will maximize both forms of tension described above. This should be utilized for every exercise you perform, as a general rule the lowering portion of any exercise should be twice as long as the lifting phase.

  • Muscle Damage

Anytime your body is injured whether it be from an accident or an intentional stress placed on it through intense exercise an inflammatory response occurs as a result.

The more damage done to the tissues will create a greater reaction from our immune system.

Inflammation brings vital nutrients to the site of injury so our body has the necessary materials to fix whatever has been broken.

In this case, the immune response to the damaged muscle tissue will cause inflammation and a cascade of other effects that will result in a bigger and stronger muscle once it has fully recovered.

Along with transporting the necessary building blocks to the site of injury, there is also a body-wide elevation of the hormones responsible for optimizing the recovery process. Creating the best environment for our bodies to heal and grow.

  • “The pump“

There’s nothing in the world that feels better than a really good pump filling up your muscles. That’s what cures a bad day or a broken heart faster than anything else.

It’s also a big factor for muscle growth due to the accumulation of byproducts that result from breaking down energy to contract our muscles.

As more contractions occur so does the build-up of things like lactic acid while oxygen becomes less available. Since our exercising muscles are using a lot of energy and oxygen to power our activities the body will send more blood to the area.

This increase in blood flow supplies more nutrients to power our workout while getting rid of waste products.

Higher rep sets cause an increase in waste and lactic acid in the muscle groups being trained since the blood cannot get rid of it fast enough.

This accumulation, as well as the temporary increase in muscle size due to the pump, causes a singling effect within the body to increase the rate at which the muscles rebuild themselves.

Eat more protein

Everyone knows protein is the building blocks the body needs but in my experience, most people are under eating this essential nutrient. Not only is it vital for muscle but everything in the body is made up of protein.

An added bonus is that the more muscle you build and the more protein you consume will result in a higher metabolism. When you want to lose weight or you want to gain muscle protein intake should be your top priority.

Meaning every meal you eat should have protein in it, whenever you’re feeling hungry throughout the day your first thought should be a protein source.

When you’re thinking in this way food choices should become easier because you already know what half your plate will be filled with.

Once you have your daily intake of protein covered the remaining calories can be consumed with whatever you like. While there is some importance to timing your high carb meals, it will be second on the list of importance.

A good starting point for a daily recommended daily protein intake is .5-1 gram of protein per pound of body weight.

I prefer always staying on the higher end of one gram per pound for both myself and my clients. Something to recognize is that this is a fluid measurement in that it is changing as your weight does.

If you’re losing weight you’ll need less protein and as you build muscle and gain weight your needs will increase.

If you only track one aspect of your diet this should be it. Believe it or not, eating enough protein and meeting all your nutritional needs is the hardest part of getting in shape. Exercise is easy in comparison.

This is why the majority of your focus should be on your nutrition because it will account for all the results you see along your journey. I

f you go to the gym and push yourself you’ll be doing enough to stimulate muscle growth. However, if you don’t have everything your body needs to recover and grow it won’t matter.

This is not meant to insinuate that training is not important, because it is. Training should be well thought out and planned to continually push your body to adapt but exercising will take an hour to complete.

Minding your diet will account for the remaining 23 hours of your day.

Work on your weak points

Whenever you see people with really well-developed body parts you can easily assume that’s either their favorite body part to train or it just comes naturally.

Genetics will always play a factor but really there is no substitute for hard work. We have the ability to overcome certain perceived limitations by putting in extra effort on those stubborn areas.

When that’s the case it’s exactly what they need, extra effort.

It’s okay to take some time away from the muscle groups that respond really well and redirect that focus to the lagging parts. It’s not fun or easy but it will be worth it.

Sometimes it’s actually even more motivating because we will see progress where we didn’t see it before. It could even be the case that those weak points never actually get any direct work, so no wonder they’re a little behind.

A good example of this would be the rear deltoids, they are assisting whenever you’re working your back but if you’ve never done a rear delt fly then they’ve never been stimulated directly.

Isolating these weak areas by removing all other muscles in a given movement will be the most productive way to bring them up.

Not only that but developing lagging muscle groups will create more lines and shape in your body that wasn’t there before. This provides more of a muscular appearance even though you haven’t gained much weight at all.

To use the rear deltoids as another example, a more defined shoulder will make the tricep look more developed since the outline of the lateral head becomes more visible.

Another benefit to refocusing your efforts is the motivational edge that it brings.

Once you start seeing progress in your physique or performance, it becomes easy to go to the gym and stick to a routine. It allows you to go through the “newbie” gains period all over again but for specific muscle groups.

There is nothing more exciting than seeing progress from all the hard work you’ve been putting into yourself.

  • Summary of main points

    1. Having a vision is the most important starting point, it will direct your path and keep you motivated. Think big
    2. Adding muscle is the way to sculpt the ideal physique. Artists add clay but bodybuilders do more reps, and we’re all bodybuilders.
    3. Add more protein to your diet because the chances are you’re not eating enough to build muscle.
    4. Aim for anywhere between .5 to 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. As your weight changes so does your protein intake.
    5. Spend more time on lagging body parts, they will create a more complete look to your physique.
  • Call to action

Think about all the kinds of body types you see on a daily basis, this can be in person, social media, television, or whatever.

Who do you admire the most and identify with?

Now think about where you are at right now, are you going to have to gain weight to look like them or lose it?

There is always going to be some combination of the two involved but identify what is the most important for you. Meaning if you are starting out very thin and skinny building muscle should be the sole priority.

On the other hand, if you’re more heavy set then trimming down is at the top of the list.

This is not to imply you can’t build muscle and lose weight at the same time, it’s just meant to organize your thoughts from most to less important.

You can always switch gears later but make as much progress as you can with the top priority first.


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