You want to know all about natural bodybuilding but don’t feel like reading a lot? Then this is the web page you need: a top 50 essential muscle building questions for naturals, succinctly answered based on the most recent scientific insights.
GENERAL
- How do you grow muscles?
- How do you measure muscle growth?
- How much muscle growth can you achieve as a natural?
- I’m getting stronger, but not more muscular. How is that possible?
- Can you convert fat into muscle?
TRAINING
- What is a set and what is its use?
- How many reps should a set contain?
- Why do you have to do multiple sets?
- Why advanced players do more sets than beginners?
- How hard should you train? (or: what is the best reprange?)
- Why shouldn’t you always train to muscle failure?
- How many sets should you do for optimal muscle growth (weekly volume)?
- And how many sets per workout (session volume)?
- How often do you have to train?
- How long should a muscle group rest between workouts?
- How often should you deload?
- Which is better: full body or split?
- How long should you rest between sets?
- How long should a training last?
- How many sets should you do per exercise?
- Do you need to use a full range of motion (ROM)?
- Can you rest (long) between repetitions or do you have to keep a muscle under constant tension?
- At what pace should you do a rep?
- How do you create progressive overload?
- How often should you vary?
- What is the benefit of metabolic strength training?
- Which exercises are indispensable for muscle growth?
- Do you have to train with free weights?
- I don’t grow anymore. How is that possible?
- How many sets do you need for muscle maintenance?
- How many calories do you burn with strength training?
NUTRITION
- How much should you eat for muscle growth?
- How do you calculate your maintenance level?
- Can you build muscle and lose fat at the same time?
- How much protein should you eat?
- How should you time your proteins?
- Should You Have a Protein Shake After Exercise?
- Does it make sense to eat protein before going to sleep?
- What are good protein sources for muscle growth?
- How many carbohydrates and fats should you eat?
- What should I eat before and after training?
- What are ‘superfoods’ for muscle growth?
SUPPLEMENTS
- How important are supplements really?
- Which supplements work?
- Do Pre-Workout Supplements Work?
- Should you use creatine continuously or cycle?
- Should You Take Creatine Before or After Exercise?
- Is it wise to use creatine in the cut?
- How Well Do BCAAs Work?
1. HOW DO YOU GROW MUSCLES?
The simple answer: by training hard and gradually training harder. The more technical answer: by creating overload and continuing to do so in the long term (progressive overload).
Overload is created by making the training load slightly bigger than during the previous training or training period. By training load we mean a certain number of sets that you train to close to muscle failure.
Actual muscle growth occurs through muscle protein synthesis, the process by which protein from food is converted into muscle proteins. You need sufficient protein, calories and sleep for this.
2. HOW DO YOU MEASURE MUSCLE GROWTH?
By following a combination of indicators in the longer term.
Unfortunately, there is no conclusive measurement method for muscle growth. However, there are five indicators based on which you can determine with some certainty whether your muscles have grown, provided you use all five (or at least the first four), namely:
- body weight*;
- progression (weight/reps);
- mirror image/progression photos;
- muscle and abdominal circumference;
- fat percentage**.
* On average, during a ~15% calorie surplus bulk you should see a weekly weight gain of 0.5% of your body weight. That includes the inevitable small increase in fat mass.
** There are different methods to measure your fat percentage, but unfortunately it is difficult to do this yourself in an accurate way.
3. HOW MUCH MUSCLE GROWTH CAN YOU ACHIEVE AS A NATURAL?
A male natural bodybuilder can gain a maximum of 10 to 18 kg of muscle mass in his life through strength training (an average of 13 kg). The exact amount depends on body type and other genetic conditions.
In the first two years of your training career, you can already realize about 75% of your muscle growth potential, if you continuously train according to a well thought-out program. After three years you are already at 85% to 90% of your genetic potential.
By far the most muscle growth is achieved in the first three years, provided there is a consistent and sound training program. Source: Sean Nalewanyj .In practice, however, it usually takes much longer, because the training is not optimal. In the first six to twelve months it doesn’t matter much: because of your high training sensitivity as a beginner, you can already gain a lot of kilos of muscle mass with a moderate training program. As your body adapts more (adaptation), muscle growth becomes increasingly difficult and you will have to train with (more) intelligence. In addition, issues such as recovery, nutrition and timing of nutrition are becoming increasingly important.
According to the Alan Aragon model, the potential monthly muscle gain, broken down by training status, looks like this:
What we see at work above is the principle of diminished returns mentioned earlier. In other words, you will have to work harder and harder, while getting less and less in return. Thankful, isn’t it?
4. I’M GETTING STRONGER, BUT NOT MORE MUSCULAR. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?
Your training protocol is probably too focused on pure strength gain rather than muscle growth. Another possibility is that your diet is not in order. Or it is a combination of both.
Broadly speaking, you can become stronger through adjustments in muscles (especially muscle growth) or in the central nervous system, the so-called neural adjustments (which mainly come down to the more efficient use of existing muscle mass). How you get stronger (especially muscle growth or especially neural adaptations) depends on your training style (bodybuilding or powerlifting) and on your diet.
If you mainly train for maximum strength, i.e. with a lot of weight and few repetitions (1-5 reps), you train your powerlifting style and strength gains are accompanied by relatively little muscle growth. If muscle growth is your goal, train with lower weights and more reps (6-20 reps). See also question 7.
Even if your training is in order, muscle growth can not occur, namely if you eat too little. In most cases, muscle growth requires a calorie surplus (10-15% on top of the maintenance level) – see question 32. In addition, you should eat enough protein (1.6-2 g/kg body weight/day) – see question 35.
5. CAN YOU CONVERT FAT INTO MUSCLE?
No, that’s a myth. Now it has to be said: apparently it is possible that your body ‘replaces’ fat by muscle. That is the case with body recomposition: fat mass disappears and muscle mass appears. See also question 34.
6. WHAT IS A SET AND WHAT IS ITS USE?
A set is a series of consecutive repetitions of an exercise, using a certain resistance (the training weight). Doing several repetitions in a row is necessary for muscle growth, because only then can you use sufficient motor units in the muscle.
Muscles are controlled from the brain. Muscles are connected to this via motor nerves. One musculoskeletal nerve can cause multiple muscle fibers to contract. This is also known as a motor unit.
For muscle growth it is important that you address as many motor units as possible and preferably especially large motor units. The muscle fibers in these units contract slowly and that provides the most growth stimulus. Slow muscle contractions are necessary as a muscle becomes more fatigued in resisting a given weight. This explains why muscle fatigue (during a set) is an important factor for muscle growth.
The greatest muscle fatigue occurs in the last repetitions before the point of muscle failure. Muscle failure is when you can’t do a decent full rep. The roughly five repetitions before muscle failure have the greatest growth stimulus and are also referred to as stimulating repetitions (or ‘effective reps’). You will notice that these repetitions are stiffer and therefore slower. If you finish a set while your last reps were just as fast as the first, you’re still a long way from the point of muscle failure and so you stopped too early. See also question 23 .
You now understand that a set should not just contain an arbitrary number of repetitions, but that you should train the set close to the point of muscle failure. This is the only way to get to the repetitions that really matter, in other words the stimulating repetitions.
7. HOW MANY REPS SHOULD A SET CONTAIN?
That makes no formal difference, but the most efficient and safest protocol is: 6-10 repetitions for compound exercises, 10-20 repetitions for isolation exercises.
In theory, you can achieve muscle growth in all rep ranges (ie from 1 to 30 reps) as long as you train close to muscle failure and thus ‘grab’ your stimulating reps. It is therefore a myth that there is a rep range specific to muscle growth (the hypertrophy range). It is true that you build up more maximal strength in the lower rep ranges and more strength endurance in the higher rep ranges, but it makes no difference for muscle growth.
There is no hypertrophy range . Anything between 1 and 30 reps is sufficient for maximum muscle growth. Source: Menno Henselmans .Still, most coaches recommend training mainly in the range of 6 to 20 repetitions (the ideal reprange for hypertrophy). This is mainly for practical reasons.
Since you should get about five stimulating reps out of each set, it makes sense not to do sets of less than six reps. Training with such heavy weights also entails an unnecessary risk of injury.
However, don’t train too lightly either: if you have to do thirty reps before you reach muscle failure, your set may fail much sooner under the influence of central and/or cardiovascular fatigue. Then you miss out on the all-important stimulating repetitions.
8. WHY DO YOU HAVE TO DO MULTIPLE SETS?
One set contains at most about five stimulating repetitions. That is not enough to stimulate muscle growth on a weekly basis. Doing multiple sets creates more stimulating reps.
9. WHY DO ADVANCED LIFTERS DO MORE SETS THAN BEGINNERS?
Due to adaptation: the more training experience you have, the more your body has adapted to the training load, the more (sets) you need to create growth stimuli.
Over time, a certain number of stimulating repetitions is no longer challenging enough to trigger a growth stimulus. To increase the number of stimulating reps, you will need to do more sets.
10. HOW HARD SHOULD YOU TRAIN? (OR: WHAT IS THE BEST REPRANGE?)
Make sure you are one, up to three reps away from muscle failure (1-3 Reps In Reserve, 1-3 RIR) at the end of each set. And we already saw that it is best to use weights with which you train in the range of 6-20 repetitions, taking into account that 1-3 RIR.
When training for muscle growth, it is not so much the training weight that is important (the absolute intensity), as the effort you make (the relative intensity): regardless of the weight, you should train your sets to close to muscle failure. In short, effort is more important than load. However, you should not train lighter than 30%1RM (a weight with which you can do 30-40 repetitions).
If you have no injuries and can therefore train ‘normally’, we recommend: train compound exercises with relatively heavy weights (6-10 reps @ 1-3 RIR) and isolation exercises with relatively light (10-20 reps @ ~1 RIR). Only in metabolic training components can you also benefit from longer sets (20+ reps).
If you stay too far away from muscle failure in your sets (>3 RIR), you create too few stimulating repetitions per set to stimulate muscle growth.
| Training form | Reps | RIR | Peace |
| Compound Exercise | 6-10 | 1-3 | 2-5 minutes |
| Isolating exercise | 10-20 | ~1, sometimes muscle failure | 1-2 minutes |
| Metabolic | 20+ | muscle failure | 1-2 minutes |
11. SHOULDN’T YOU ALWAYS TRAIN UNTIL MUSCLE FAILURE?
No, unless you can only do a very few sets.
Training to muscle failure provides the greatest growth stimulus on a set basis, but it also causes disproportionate fatigue. Frequent training until muscle failure is therefore at the expense of your recovery, so that on balance you can create fewer sets and therefore less stimulating repetitions.
Although it is tempting to train your sets to the limit, it is better to always leave one to three reps in the tank (1-3 RIR). In this way you avoid disproportionate fatigue and on balance you can do more sets and therefore more stimulating repetitions.
It is okay to train isolation exercises to muscle failure every now and then, for example your last set of biceps curls.
If you have little time to train and can only do a few sets per week per muscle group, then it is better to train them all until muscle failure. Better yet, shift your priorities in daily life and make sure that you can do 10-20 sets per week per muscle group.
12. HOW MANY SETS SHOULD YOU DO FOR OPTIMAL MUSCLE GROWTH (WEEKLY VOLUME)?
Average 10-20 sets per muscle group per week.
How many sets you need for optimal muscle growth (your optimal training volume) depends on the one hand on your training status, on the other hand on genetic factors.
The very general guidelines:
- beginners: around 10 sets per muscle group per week;
- intermediates: around 15 sets per muscle group per week;
- advanced: around 20 sets per muscle group per week;
- more advanced: more than 20 sets per muscle group per week (possibly with specialization).
By ‘sets’ we mean working sets (ie no warm-up sets), in the rep range suitable for muscle growth (6 to 20 repetitions), trained to near muscle failure (average 1-3 RIR).
13. AND HOW MANY SETS PER WORKOUT (SESSION VOLUME)?
You do 3-10 sets per muscle group per workout. 10-12 sets is the maximum.
Anything you do above 10-12 sets is probably unnecessary (junk volume), because you can only build a limited amount of muscle mass per day. In addition, the quality of your sets decreases the more you do them in one session, so it’s better to save some for the next workout.
After about 5 sets, the efficiency starts to decrease sharply, to stagnate around 10 sets.
14. HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU TRAIN?
Train each muscle group 2 or 3 times a week.
Two or three times a week is an optimal training frequency for the vast majority of natural bodybuilders. Only (advanced) advanced users can benefit from training a muscle group a little more often, which in principle is also possible because they recover faster. Nevertheless, they should keep the session volume limited.
Training a muscle group two or three times a week means spreading your weekly volume more or less evenly over two or three weekly sessions, with enough rest time in between (see next question). For example, if you need 15 sets a week for your chest, here’s a possible breakdown:
Monday: 5 sets
Wednesday: 5 sets
Friday: 5 sets
And with two sessions a week:
Monday: 7 sets
Friday: 8 sets
Studies don’t really show a benefit of training a muscle group three times a week compared to two. So it is mainly a matter of preference and what your schedule allows. Only advanced/advanced individuals may be able to derive some benefit from high frequency training with low session volumes.
We do not recommend training a muscle group only once a week (eg ‘Monday chest day’). Beginners may still get away with that, as they only need 10 sets per week at most. But if you need 15 sets and you put them all in one workout, you’re throwing at least 5 sets overboard. After all, they are then no longer productive and only cause unnecessary muscle damage. In short:
Monday: 15 sets
Preferably do not train 7 days a week, but give your body at least one day a week complete training rest.
15. HOW LONG SHOULD A MUSCLE GROUP REST BETWEEN WORKOUTS?
48 hours on average. However, the required rest time strongly depends on the training load, training status and rest quality. The quality of rest depends on sleep, stress level and diet.
Even with optimal rest quality, beginners sometimes need up to 72 hours to recover a muscle group from a training with 5-10 sets, due to a lack of adaptations.
The more advanced you are, the more your body is adapted to training stress, the faster you recover. In advanced athletes we see that the peak of muscle protein synthesis often falls within ten hours after training and that synthesis has returned to normal values after about 24 hours. Although that also depends on how intense and voluminous the training was.
16. HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU UNLOAD?
Every six weeks on average, excluding any reactive deloads.
A deload is a longer period of (relative) training rest, usually of a week. This is necessary because after the usual rest after a training not all fatigue (local and central) is ‘cleared up’. In short, there is fatigue that gradually accumulates. By deloading regularly you give your body the chance to deal with that cumulative fatigue and you prevent your progress from being stymied by poor recovery.
Reactive deloading means that you (only) deload when your body gives signals of fatigue. You must be able to read those signals properly.
Thanks to the relatively light training load, beginners usually do not have to deload yet. Usually, deloading only becomes appropriate after about a year of serious training.
17. WHICH IS BETTER: FULL BODY OR SPLIT?
It doesn’t matter: neither is preferable if you’re aiming for optimal muscle growth.
What matters is that you do enough sets for a muscle group on a weekly basis (question 12) and that you spread them out over two to three weekly training sessions (question 14) with sufficient rest in between (question 18). Whether that culminates in full body sessions, a push-pull split or a push-pull-legs split doesn’t matter. You can even train full body one time and only one or a few muscle groups the other time.
The only thing we don’t recommend is a ‘bro split’, where you only train one muscle group each workout. This almost always means that you are doing more sets for that muscle group in one workout than is optimal. Ideally, you should only do 3-10 sets per muscle group per workout (question 13).
18. HOW LONG SHOULD YOU REST BETWEEN SETS?
For isolation exercises: 1-2 minutes. For compound exercises: 2-3 minutes (squats and deadlifts 3-5 minutes).
Shorter rests are not optimal for muscle growth, because it comes at the expense of the number of stimulating repetitions you create per set, or the amount of weight.
If your training focuses more on fat burning and/or fitness improvement than on muscle growth, then short rest periods are useful.
19. HOW LONG SHOULD A WORKOUT LAST?
Do 3-10 sets per muscle group per workout and a maximum of 15 to 25 sets in total. The latter amounts to a maximum of 60 to 90 minutes of training at normal rest times.
In principle, there is no minimum height for a workout. It is advisable to do at least 2-3 consecutive sets per exercise (see next question).
20. HOW MANY SETS SHOULD YOU DO PER EXERCISE?
There is no ‘golden’ rule for this, but generally 2-3 sets in a row and a maximum of 5-7.
How many sets you do per exercise is primarily determined by the way your training volume is structured: the number of sets per week, the training frequency and the number of different exercises per muscle group.
Keep in mind the Stimulus to Fatigue Ratio (SFR). This is often more favorable in the second or third consecutive set of an exercise than in the first. Then it decreases again. During a workout, therefore, preferably do 2-3 consecutive sets per exercise (instead of just one). Do a maximum of 5-7.
21. DO YOU NEED TO USE A FULL RANGE OF MOTION (ROM)?
In most cases yes.
For muscle growth it is best to use the total range of motion of an exercise.
There are exceptions. And also if you train with constant tension (see next question) you will usually have to shorten the ROM a little (!) a bit.
22. CAN YOU REST BETWEEN REPS OR DO YOU NEED TO KEEP A MUSCLE UNDER CONSTANT TENSION?
In principle, that doesn’t matter; both training methods may suffice. Make sure you use a fixed training method for each exercise.
To build muscle optimally, you need to do enough sets with sufficient effort and use progressively heavier weights over time. As long as you meet those conditions, it probably doesn’t matter which training technique you use: constant tension (a training method in which the repetitions more or less flow into each other) or non-constant tension (the traditional way of training with short breaks between repetitions, full ROM and a little momentum). However, with constant tension you will need to use lighter weights to create the equivalent of effective reps.
Constant tension training is also an effective alternative if you can only train with light weights, for example in the aftermath of an injury.
23. AT WHAT PACE SHOULD YOU DO A REP?
The concentric phase is done quickly or explosively, the eccentric phase controlled.
‘Controlled’ does not mean overly slow. With the barbell bench press, for example, you quickly push the bar up (the concentric phase), and then lower it to your chest in about two to three seconds (the eccentric phase).
Only if you apply constant tension, you can choose to slow down the eccentric phase (‘slow eccentrics’). Make sure you use a standard training pace, otherwise it will be difficult to keep track of your progress on that exercise.
By the way, keep in mind that rep tempo decreases as a set progresses. This is a good sign: The closer you get to muscle failure, the harder it becomes to move the weight, the slower the reps. And we already saw that slow muscle contractions due to muscle fatigue deliver the most growth stimulus (question 6).
Do you do the last rep of a set as fast as the first? Then you are far too far from muscle failure and the set is not or hardly effective.
24. HOW DO YOU CREATE PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD?
This can be done in many ways, but in essence it means that you gradually use heavier weights.
Progressive overload is the key to muscle growth. And funnily enough: that you can lift heavier weights is because you have grown (and not the other way around). Still, you can’t use more weight every workout. That is why you often try to do more repetitions with the same weight as an intermediate step.
The easiest progression model is therefore that where you work with a target reprange: as soon as you can do a certain number of repetitions with a certain weight at a certain number of RIR, you increase the weight.
To be able to know if you are making progress, you have to write down what you do every workout: exercises, number of sets, weights, number of repetitions, and possibly also rest times and RIR.
25. HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU VARY?
Only occasionally: you progress primarily by increasingly harder training, not by different training.
Variation is subordinate to specificity and overload in training theory. This means that with a number of fixed exercises, rep ranges and other training parameters – in the service of your training goal – you try to make progress over a longer period of time and in this way create overload.
Varying only becomes important when your body – despite adequate volumes and intensity – has become somewhat accustomed to certain training stimuli: training staleness. In intermediate and advanced bodybuilders, this staleness often occurs after a few mesocycles, so after roughly three or four months.
Nevertheless, only vary if you are sure that you are using sufficient volume and that your recovery is in order.
26. WHAT IS THE BENEFIT OF METABOLIC STRENGTH TRAINING?
Although metabolic strength training is certainly not the most effective way to achieve muscle growth, it can be useful as a supplement to your ‘regular’ training. This is because with metabolic stress you may induce more sarcoplasmic muscle growth. However, there is still too little research available to determine the exact benefit of metabolic strength training.
By ‘metabolic’ we mean strength training in which you use short rests, do long sets and apply special techniques such as supersets, drop sets and constant tension (see question 22). This creates metabolic stress that may itself trigger a growth stimulus. Some studies seem to suggest that you stimulate more sarcoplasmic muscle growth in this way (as opposed to myofibrillar muscle growth).
Yet you can say that mechanical tension is also the main driver behind muscle growth in metabolically oriented strength training: whether you do short or long sets (with heavy or light weights), eventually the muscle becomes fatigued and the stimulating repetitions arise.
Coach Eric Helms therefore thinks that metabolic strength training is not very important and that it is therefore not something you should do to achieve optimal muscle growth. There is as yet no convincing research that indicates otherwise, simply because this matter is very difficult to research.
However, as an (advanced) advanced person it might be worth incorporating a metabolic element into your program. For example, by training a small part (10-20%) of your training program in higher rep ranges (>20 repetitions), whether or not in combination with short rest periods and/or the aforementioned metabolic training techniques.
27. WHICH EXERCISES ARE INDISPENSABLE FOR MUSCLE GROWTH?
None .
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Well okay, without lateral raises it will be very difficult to develop broad shoulders.
28. DO YOU HAVE TO TRAIN WITH FREE WEIGHTS?
While you can go a long way with just machines, you will eventually have to do exercises with free weights (dumbbells and barbells) if you want to maximize your muscle growth potential.
How effective an exercise is at developing a particular muscle group depends on the movement pattern and the amount of mechanical tension you can exert with it. Whether you use machines, free weights or cables, it doesn’t matter in that regard.
This is shown, for example, in a recent study, which compared the effects of two training programs: one completely free-weight based (squat, dumbbell row, etc.), the other completely machined (leg press, machine row, etc.). After five weeks of training, the effects of both programs with regard to muscle growth and strength appeared to be the same. It should be noted that the study participants were untrained individuals.
It is likely that you will eventually also have to train with free weights in order to develop a full musculature. The main advantage of free weight training is that you can create a completely natural movement, targeting multiple muscle groups to not only move the weight, but also stabilize it. Training with equipment usually does not provide this advantage, because you train a muscle group in isolation and do not use the coordination muscles.
That is partly why most reputable coaches recommend doing big, compound exercises (compounds), like the barbell squat, barbell bench press and dumbbell shoulder press (besides a number of other reasons).
However, you can also include the necessary devices in your schedule. On the one hand, there are excellent machine compounds, such as the leg press and machine row. On the other hand, devices are ideally suited for isolating exercises, such as the preacher curl.
If you had to choose between just equipment or just free weights, the choice should fall on the latter. But normally you don’t have to choose and you can do a combination of both.
29. I’M NOT GROWING ANYMORE. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?
Either your training program is no longer challenging enough, or you no longer recover sufficiently from your workouts. And sometimes it’s a matter of being ‘newbee-off’.
Recovery problems are usually a result of too much cumulative fatigue (cure: deloading, see question 16) and/or poor living conditions (little sleep, a lot of stress and/or poor nutrition). You can recognize poor recovery by certain symptoms, such as fatigue and loss of strength. Another characteristic is that you no longer grow across the board, so not with all muscle groups.
However, if you are convinced that your recovery is in order, then your program is apparently not challenging enough anymore. Most of the time, it simply comes down to your body needing more stimulating reps to grow again. You achieve that by doing more sets. However, don’t add sets indiscriminately — for example, start with one extra set per workout and only on the muscle groups you’re stuck on.
Don’t just add volume. First check whether your recovery is in order. Source: Rippedbody.com .There may also be some training staleness. This means that you could also change your training schedule on other points, for example by replacing some exercises. However, be cautious and do this every three to four months at the most. ‘Turning up’ a training schedule is all too often a way to easily avoid plateaus and thus make a mock progress.
Finally, it can also be ‘just’ that you are ‘newbee-off’. As a beginner, you have been able to make gains relatively easily for six months to a year thanks to your high training sensitivity. Even without a thorough training program and with poor nutrition and sleep, you often see beginners make considerable progress. That fairy tale doesn’t last forever, though. From a certain point, your body has adapted in such a way that creating growth stimuli now comes down to intelligent training, in combination with good nutrition (for which the use of a calorie app is needed) and sufficient recovery (including sleeping well and regular deloading). In fact, the real work is only just beginning and requires a lot of knowledge, which you can already feed yourself with this muscle growth FAQ. Unfortunately, this turning point for many is the time to turn to steroids, while there is still so much natural muscle growth ahead!
30. HOW MANY SETS DO YOU NEED FOR MUSCLE MAINTENANCE (INSTEAD OF MUSCLE GROWTH)?
To maintain muscle mass, you need at least a third of the number of sets you need to do for maximum muscle growth.
The condition is that you use the same intensity, both absolutely (the weight) and relative (the effort). If that is not possible, for example because you suddenly have to train at home, then that one third is not enough.
As you get older, you will need more and more sets to stay on maintenance, partly because your testosterone levels drop. If you’re over thirty-five, aim for half your normal training volume.
31. HOW MANY CALORIES DO YOU BURN WITH STRENGTH TRAINING?
A 70 kg person burns an average of 100 (normal intensity) to 250 kcal (high intensity) with half an hour of strength training.
You have to subtract the calories from this that you would have burned at rest (1 kcal/kg/hour), while you have to add the calories from the ‘afterburn‘ . After an hour of strength training, that afterburn is usually no more than 50-100 kcal.
32. HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU EAT FOR MUSCLE GROWTH?
Usually 10-15% above the maintenance level is sufficient.
The body needs energy for muscle growth. In fat people it can be obtained from fat reserves, but if you are (fairly) slim, you will have to eat some extra calories. So suppose your maintenance level is 2000 kcal, then you add 200-300 kcal on top of that. We also call that bulking, even if you actually only eat a little bit more than usual. You will have to use a calorie app to put such a small calorie surplus into practice.
A greater calorie surplus than that 10-15% is usually not necessary. Everything you eat more is then inexorably stored as fat.
In some situations you don’t need any calorie surplus to build muscle at all – see question 34 .
33. HOW DO YOU CALCULATE THAT MAINTENANCE LEVEL?
Use our step-by-step plan for an accurate calculation .
It is impossible to calculate your daily energy requirement exactly; it is always a fairly rough estimate. By following certain measuring points during your training program (weight, waist circumference, fat percentage) you will gradually find out whether you are at the right level.
Nevertheless, try to estimate as accurately as possible and use a calorie app to track your food intake.
Most calculators on the internet estimate energy expenditure from physical activity, including work and sports, much too broadly. It is therefore better to calculate only your ‘bare’ maintenance level and manually add the calories from physical activity to that.
34. CAN YOU BUILD MUSCLE AND LOSE FAT AT THE SAME TIME?
Yes, that is possible and we call body recomposition (as opposed to bulking and cutting). However, ‘recomping’ is only a realistic option in specific cases.
The body does not need extra calories in all circumstances to facilitate muscle growth. For example, it can live on fat reserves in fat people. And beginners and returners are so sensitive to training stimuli that muscle growth is much easier and therefore requires less energy. You can then build muscle even with an energy deficiency, while you also lose fat mass.
An example of a successful body recomposition. Before and after of course. © Adobe StockUnfortunately, body recomposition is already much more difficult to achieve with average bodybuilders. And for advanced lifters it is in most cases even impossible. It is therefore much more efficient for them to bulk and cut. ‘Bulk’ as in slightly more food than you need (10-15%).
35. HOW MUCH PROTEIN SHOULD YOU EAT?
Daily 1.6 to 2 grams per kilogram of body weight.
To facilitate muscle protein synthesis, you need more protein than the average person – about twice as much. In most cases 1.6 g/kg/d is sufficient, but it is okay to eat a little more just to be safe.
However, don’t eat much more than 2 g/kg/d (barring exceptions), because that unnecessarily comes at the expense of the amount of carbohydrates you can consume. And carbohydrates are in fact just as important for muscle growth as proteins (see question 40).
In the cut you may need a little more protein to maintain muscle: 1.8 to 2.2 g/kg/d.
36. HOW SHOULD YOU TIME YOUR PROTEINS?
With proteins, it’s not so much about timing, but about spreading it over the day: divide your proteins more or less evenly over four to six intakes, i.e. meals with 20 to 45 grams of high-quality proteins, always with three to four hours between the meals. Plan your training between two meals.
Unlike carbohydrates and fats, proteins cannot be stored and preserved until the times when they are needed most. Your body is therefore much more dependent on acute protein intake to stimulate muscle protein synthesis. It is important that a minimum of proteins is required to optimally stimulate muscle protein synthesis. However, there is also a maximum amount of proteins that can be used in one go to increase that synthesis.
37. SHOULD YOU HAVE A PROTEIN SHAKE AFTER EXERCISE?
No that is not necessary. It’s about planning your workout more or less between two protein-rich meals. In this way, your body can have sufficient protein during, immediately and also for a longer time after training.
Which proteins you take and in what form is not that important, as long as they are of good quality (question 39). Protein powder is especially useful if you can’t prepare a meal or if you find it difficult to eat enough protein through regular food. So there is nothing magical about a protein shake.
38. DOES IT MAKE SENSE TO EAT PROTEIN BEFORE GOING TO SLEEP?
Perhaps. Your last meal of the day is preferably a ‘shot’ of casein protein (eg cottage cheese) of about 40 grams, immediately before going to sleep.
In this way you also keep muscle protein synthesis high during the night, although it is still questionable whether one such ‘shot’ is sufficient for a complete round of sleep of seven to eight hours. More research is needed to answer these.
39. WHAT ARE GOOD PROTEIN SOURCES FOR MUSCLE GROWTH?
From a formal point of view, animal proteins are the best: eggs, whey protein, (lean) meat, poultry, fish and dairy. But in principle you can also achieve optimal muscle growth with (purely) vegetable proteins.
To optimally stimulate muscle protein synthesis, the protein source must contain all essential amino acids, preferably with a high content of leucine, the most important amino acid for muscle growth. For optimal muscle growth, you should consume about 2.5 grams of leucine per meal. A larger dose has no further positive effects.
Animal protein sources are better at stimulating muscle protein synthesis than vegetable ones. This is due to their higher biological value – including a significantly higher leucine content – and their higher digestibility. The best protein sources are therefore animal. However, eat some plant-based protein too, because of the additional fiber, micronutrients and various phytochemicals they provide. Legumes in particular are a healthy and protein-rich food source.
In order to get enough of all the essential amino acids as a vegan, you need a little more protein than normal in total – about 20-30% on top of the 1.6-2 g/kg/d.
40. HOW MANY CARBOHYDRATES AND FATS SHOULD YOU EAT?
Do not eat more fat than is necessary (0.7 to 1.5 grams per kilogram of body weight per day), so that the rest of your food intake (besides protein) is made up of carbohydrates.
Carbohydrates are important for muscle growth for several reasons. For example, they are the main source of energy for your strength training – they are much more efficient than fats and proteins.
Of course you also need fats. These are important for your testosterone production, among other things. But with a normal diet you probably always get enough fats. The minimum fat intake is probably around 0.7 g/kg/d. You can safely sit above that, but don’t overdo it, because eating too many fats will only come at the expense of your carbohydrate intake, which is even more important in the cut. Divide your fat intake roughly equally between unsaturated and saturated fats — you need both.
In general you can say that low carb diets for fat loss are no more or less effective than low fat diets, but that for muscle building it is best to go low fat, or that you at least prioritize your carbohydrate intake.
Basically, your macronutrient breakdown should look something like this:
- proteins: 1.6-2 g/kg/d;
- fats: 0.7-1.5 g/kg/d;
- carbohydrates: the rest.
41. WHAT SHOULD I EAT BEFORE AND AFTER TRAINING?
Nothing specific. As long as you eat enough calories, proteins and carbohydrates in one day, and spread your protein intake evenly over the day, you automatically create a good ‘nutrient base’ for your training.
Many bodybuilders eat a lot of carbohydrates before and after training – intuitively, or because the old bodybuilding booklets propagated this. There is certainly nothing wrong with that, but it is probably not necessary. However, we do not recommend training on an empty stomach .
If you eat a large meal before your training, don’t eat it too short of your training, but at least an hour and a half in advance. Otherwise, your body is still too busy with digestion during your training. Also avoid too many fats in your pre-workout meal, as they are digested more slowly.
Timing of nutrition around the training is more important during the cut. Since you eat much less carbohydrates throughout the day than in the bulk, it is best to concentrate your carbohydrate intake around your training.
42. WHAT ARE SOME ‘SUPERFOODS’ FOR MUSCLE GROWTH?
They don’t exist. Muscle growth is facilitated by the total calories, macronutrients and micronutrients you ingest in a day. There are no foods that on their own encourage more muscle growth than others. Otherwise we wouldn’t eat anything else all day 😉
From a health point of view, it is recommended to consume a lot of unprocessed food. That is food that comes directly from nature, such as vegetables, fruit, seeds, kernels, nuts, eggs, fish, meat, herbs and so on.
If you also want to snack some, fine – your muscles will grow no less because of that. Only during a strict cut is it better to avoid snacking, since that only makes dieting unnecessarily difficult.
44. HOW IMPORTANT ARE SUPPLEMENTS ANYWAY?
Not very important, even rather unimportant.
At best, sports supplements will account for only 5% of your training-related results: most are of little to no value. #factsnothype
— Brad Schoenfeld, PhD (@BradSchoenfeld) April 1, 2021
45. WHICH SUPPLEMENTS WORK?
Among the strength sports supplements, the effectiveness of creatine has been scientifically established. In fact, this is the only strength sports supplement that can actually give you a helping hand, if necessary.
In addition, caffeine also has ergogenic effects (meaning that it promotes strength), but only if you have not used caffeine for a long time. However, caffeine does increase alertness, even if you use it daily.
For the rest you still have nutritional supplements, but logically you only need them if your regular diet falls short. Think of vitamins and minerals, and of course proteins.
Protein powders and bars are therefore certainly not necessary to achieve maximum results, as long as you get enough proteins from your diet (approximately 2 g/kg/d) and if you spread those proteins evenly throughout the day (see also question 36). .
Consume adequate protein from food and there’s no need for protein supplementation. Simple as that.
— Brad Schoenfeld, PhD (@BradSchoenfeld) April 26, 2021
46. DO PRE-WORKOUT SUPPLEMENTS WORK?
Pre-workout supplements (PWOs) often only ‘work’ because they contain creatine. But creatine is not a substance that you necessarily have to take before training (rather better after training, see question 47).
If you already want to use a PWO, it must contain at least one or more of the following ingredients, in at least the stated doses:
- citrulline malate: 6-8 grams;
- caffeine: 300-500 milligrams;
- rhodiola rosea: 300-500 milligrams;
- alpha GPC: 600 milligrams.
Possibly supplemented with
- beta-alanine *: 4-6 grams;
- betaine *: 2.5 grams.
* Like creatine, they have no acute effect.
Mind you, most of these fabrics only work a little. Much more research is needed to substantiate the claims of PWO manufacturers and online stores.
47. SHOULD YOU USE CREATINE CONTINUOUSLY OR CYCLE?
Creatine cycling is normally not necessary and it may even be better to use it continuously. Creatine is also a relatively cheap strength sports supplement, so you don’t have to do it for cost savings.
Of course there may be circumstances why you decide to (temporarily) stop taking creatine. For example if you go on holiday or if you are simply tired of having to take such a scoop of powder every day. Or because you know that supplements make no difference over an entire training career, not even creatine.
48. SHOULD YOU TAKE CREATINE BEFORE OR AFTER TRAINING?
A limited number of studies suggest a slightly better absorption of creatine immediately after strength training.
This is probably because of the better blood circulation that you have after training, so that creatine can be transported more easily through the blood to the muscles.
49. IS IT WISE TO USE CREATINE IN THE CUT?
Hell yes. Creatine is an excellent supplement to use during a cutting phase.
Creatine supplementation can help you maintain your training performance and recovery, which is important for maintaining muscle mass. In addition, it may help to prevent muscle breakdown due to endurance efforts, which is useful if you do a lot of cardio during your cut.
50. HOW WELL DO BCAAS WORK?
They don’t work.
BCAA supplements are a waste of money, because the amino acids that are important for muscle growth (the BCAAs) do their job best in ‘company’ of the less important amino acids. In short, it is better to eat whole proteins than individual amino acids.
FINALLY
The advice in this article are guidelines – although based on knowledge from the evidence-based bodybuilding community, they do not guarantee success. Every body is unique and reacts slightly differently to a specific combination of training, nutrition and rest.
It is therefore up to you to discover what works best for you from the general guidelines.
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