How to Build Lean Muscle: 5 Proven Strategies for Maximum Gains
Making muscle gains starts with a combination of mechanical tension and metabolic stress from training¹, coupled with a considered approach to recovery that supports muscle repair and growth by creating the right anabolic environment.
To help you get the most from your time spent in the gym, follow these 5 proven strategies to add more muscle.
1. Force muscles to adapt
A foundational aspect of muscle development is the overload principle, where training-induced stress forces the body to adapt. If you do not impose the right stress on muscles, they have no impetus to respond and adapt to grow bigger and stronger.
This means building muscle isn’t about lifting the heaviest weights. It’s about imposing the right stimulus to trigger an anabolic response with a combination of the most effective exercises, the right weight, and the most appropriate set and rep structure and lifting tempo.
When it comes to building lean muscle, the core compound lifts are best.
They activate the greatest number of muscles per rep and you’re able to lift the heaviest weights with exercises such as the squat, bench press, deadlift, military press and barbell row.
Compliment your heavy compound lifts with sufficient isolation work to condition muscles and develop more definition. Isolation lifts and training techniques can also target specific muscles to enhance your overall appearance.
A mix of compound and isolation exercises ensure that big and small muscle groups get the right stimulation to grow.
Finding the balance between maximal weight and volume is the key to stimulating lean muscle growth, with rep ranges of between 6 to 12 recommended for bodybuilders.
This rep range balances load and time under tension (TUT) to deliver the ideal mechanical stress needed to trigger the muscle repair and growth process at a cellular level.
With regard to the lifting tempo – the time (in seconds) taken in each phase of the rep – a mix seems best. A meta-analysis² that looked at the effect of rep duration during resistance training on muscle hypertrophy found no difference in hypertrophy between rep durations.
The research team, led by respected sports scientist Brad Schoenfeld, concluded that “a fairly wide range of repetition durations can be employed if the primary goal is to maximize muscle growth.”
While the findings suggest that training at “volitionally very slow durations (>10s per repetition) is inferior from a hypertrophy standpoint”, a lack of controlled studies on the topic makes it difficult to draw definitive conclusions.
2. Increase your training frequency
Another study³ led by Schoenfeld analysed ten studies to determine the effects of resistance training frequency on muscle growth.
The research team found that a higher training frequency was associated with a greater effect on size than a lower frequency.
The findings led them to conclude that, when training muscle groups between one to three days per week on a volume-equated basis, “the current body of evidence indicates that frequencies of training twice a week promote superior hypertrophic outcomes to once a week.”
The researchers recommended training major muscle at least twice a week to maximise muscle growth. “Whether training a muscle group three times per week is superior to a twice-per-week protocol remains to be determined,” they concluded.
3. Fuel for growth
Beyond the growth stimulus from training, muscle growth relies on feeding your muscles with the right amount and kind of macronutrients after a training session to support repair and growth.
Your main focus is consuming enough protein throughout the day, especially after training to create a positive nitrogen balance.
Nitrogen is a key component of protein, including muscle protein. When protein breaks down, it releases nitrogen, but when we build muscle, we retain it. As such, nitrogen balance refers to the ratio between nitrogen intake and excretion, serving as an indicator of whether we are building or breaking down muscle.
Science-backed recommendations on daily protein intake for muscle growth typically range from 1.6-2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day (g/kg/d).
In a meta-analysis⁴ published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine that reviewed a total of 49 high-quality studies, researchers determined that the optimal protein intake for those who train with weights to develop muscle is 1.6g/kg/day.
While the researchers deemed this the upper limit above which athletes derive little additional benefit, other studies show positive results from higher intakes, especially for those focused on muscle building.
Research⁵ using the Indicator Amino Acid Oxidation (IAAO) technique in young male bodybuilders recommended an upper limit of 2.2g/kg/day, while a 2018 study⁶ affirmed this range.
Determining your needs within the 1.6-2.2g/kg/day depends on individual factors, particularly your daily activity levels, the type of exercise you perform, and your ultimate goals. However, this is the recommended range for anyone who trains in the gym.
4. Supplement intelligently
Supplements should complement a nutritious, balanced diet to give you an edge in the gym and make healthy eating more convenient. Well-formulated supplements also offer a highly effective way to boost your daily protein intake.
As protein is the cornerstone of muscle gain, a whey protein product supports anabolism because it contains numerous beneficial compounds, like the complete spectrum of essential amino acids (EAA), including the highly anabolic branched chain amino acids (BCAA).
Whey protein is also highly bioavailable, which means it is rapidly digested and easily absorbed to deliver the most benefit, especially directly after training, with whey isolate offering benefits over whey concentrate when it comes to digestion rate.
Including amino acids and glutamine in your pre- or intra-workout supplement stack also spares muscle tissue and improves the repair and recovery process to reduce your recovery demands.
5. Get enough rest
We need sufficient rest – between sets, exercises and workouts – to give our body time to replenish depleted energy stores, which ensures you can perform at the right intensity to stimulate muscle growth, and allows the repair and recovery process to unfold between training sessions.
Rest between sets can last for 90-120 seconds during heavy compound lifts, as research⁷ shows that “longer inter-set rest periods enhance muscle strength and hypertrophy in resistance-trained men”, with the option to use shorter timeframes (20-60 seconds)⁸ between moderate isolation or high-intensity, high-volume lifts.
Between training sessions, it is critical to get adequate sleep, because this when the real anabolic magic happens!
The body repairs the damage we inflict on muscle cells during training while we sleep, leading to muscle growth and strength gains.
This happens as protein synthesis, the process of building muscle protein from the food and supplements we ingest, is heightened during sleep as the body releases powerful anabolic hormones overnight, including testosterone and growth hormone.
Growth hormone secretion peaks during deep slow-wave sleep, particularly during the early part of the night⁹. Testosterone levels also rise during sleep, with the highest levels often occurring during the rapid eye movement (REM) sleep phase¹⁰.
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References:
- Krzysztofik M, Wilk M, Wojdała G, Gołaś A. Maximizing Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review of Advanced Resistance Training Techniques and Methods. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Dec 4;16(24):4897. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16244897. PMID: 31817252; PMCID: PMC6950543.
- Schoenfeld BJ, Ogborn DI, Krieger JW. Effect of repetition duration during resistance training on muscle hypertrophy: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Med. 2015 Apr;45(4):577-85. doi: 10.1007/s40279-015-0304-0. PMID: 25601394.
- Schoenfeld BJ, Ogborn D, Krieger JW. Effects of Resistance Training Frequency on Measures of Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Sports Med. 2016 Nov;46(11):1689-1697. doi: 10.1007/s40279-016-0543-8. PMID: 27102172.
- Morton RW, Murphy KT, McKellar SR, et al. A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength in healthy adults. Br J Sports Med 2018;52:376–84.doi:10.1136/bjsports-017-097608.
- Arash Bandegan, Glenda Courtney-Martin, Mahroukh Rafii, Paul B Pencharz, Peter WR Lemon, Indicator Amino Acid–Derived Estimate of Dietary Protein Requirement for Male Bodybuilders on a Nontraining Day Is Several-Fold Greater than the Current Recommended Dietary Allowance12, The Journal of Nutrition, Volume 147, Issue 5, 2017, Pages 850-857, ISSN 0022-3166,
https://doi.org/10.3945/jn.116.236331. - Schoenfeld BJ, Aragon AA. How much protein can the body use in a single meal for muscle-building? Implications for daily protein distribution. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2018 Feb 27;15:10. doi: 10.1186/s12970-018-0215-1. PMID: 29497353; PMCID: PMC5828430.
- Schoenfeld BJ, Pope ZK, Benik FM, Hester GM, Sellers J, Nooner JL, Schnaiter JA, Bond-Williams KE, Carter AS, Ross CL, Just BL, Henselmans M, Krieger JW. Longer Interset Rest Periods Enhance Muscle Strength and Hypertrophy in Resistance-Trained Men. J Strength Cond Res. 2016 Jul;30(7):1805-12. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000001272. PMID: 26605807.
- de Salles BF, Simão R, Miranda F, Novaes Jda S, Lemos A, Willardson JM. Rest interval between sets in strength training. Sports Med. 2009;39(9):765-77. doi: 10.2165/11315230-000000000-00000. PMID: 19691365.
- Takahashi Y, Kipnis DM, Daughaday WH. Growth hormone secretion during sleep. J Clin Invest. 1968 Sep;47(9):2079-90. doi: 10.1172/JCI105893. PMID: 5675428; PMCID: PMC297368.
- Luboshitzky R, Herer P, Levi M, Shen-Orr Z, Lavie P. Relationship between rapid eye movement sleep and testosterone secretion in normal men. J Androl. 1999 Nov-Dec;20(6):731-7. PMID: 10591612.