When it comes to physique improvements, muscle building is often a top priority. Added muscle mass will increase the definition of your muscles, improve your lean body mass, and add bulk and size to your frame in all the right places. Muscle growth takes time, persistence, and a long-term commitment to the process.

While gaining large amounts of muscle may seem daunting, with proper training programs and adequate consumption of certain foods, serious muscle building is possible for most people. This article breaks down everything you need to know when it comes to building muscle, including how to work out, what to eat, and recovery protocols.

Building muscle and gaining strength requires sufficient and consistent nutrition and fitness habits. No matter what your goals are, both what you eat and your activity level can be adjusted to help achieve those milestones. Building muscle, for instance, requires strategic shifts in both how you move your body and how you nourish it.

If you think that means you can eat any combination of macronutrients—protein, carbohydrates, and fats—you're right, however, it's important to be mindful of what's optimal.

"Protein is the key recovery nutrient, while carbohydrates help with ensuring adequate calories and energy to fuel training sessions. Fat is not particularly anabolic like protein and carbs can be; but fats provide calories and help support hormone levels, so they're certainly essential,.

You’re in the gym for only an hour or so each day, leaving another 22–23 hours in which muscle growth depends solely on what goes in—or stays out of—your piehole. So why is the nutrition side of the mass-gaining equation often marginalized? It’s probably because a bench press is a lot sexier than a spinach salad.

If you're even somewhat interested in fitness, every time you open up your phone's social media apps you'll be inundated with gigantic dudes deadlifting cars, ads for protein powders, and professional athletes talking about their lifting routines. There are so many tips available for building your biceps, bulking your back, or torching your triceps you could put even a third of them into practice and be set on workouts for months. Not everyone is in the gym trying to get like Arnold—but there's more to building muscle than just looking swole.

There is no one size fits all guide to healthy living, and the same goes with staying active. After all, the best workout routine is the one you’re able to stay consistent with. Regardless of what you’re into, you can always benefit from muscle building. Strength training makes all your other athletic endeavors, and your activities of daily living, more efficient.

Our muscles offer a huge support system to our joints. They absorb a bit of the impact that radiates through our knees and hips when running, jumping, and even walking. The more muscle we have, the more force gets absorbed, saving our joints from long-term damage. Our muscles also ensure our joints move the directions they’re supposed to. When our muscles are too weak to push against an opposing force, our joints may not be able to handle the impact, causing breaks and tears. This kind of support allows us better balance, preventing those kinds of accidents before they happen.


Diets that promote muscle building include strategies like eating more calories than you burn, increasing the amount of protein consumed throughout the day, and consuming more good fats. In addition to monitoring your diet, it is also important to perform strength training on a regular basis and to perform workouts that target muscle growth to stimulate hypertrophy.

It is also important to remember that to gaining lean muscle and losing fat at the same time, you should avoid consumption of sugar, white flour and processed foods, as these will stimulate fat storage in the body.