Gym Workout Plan for Gaining Muscle: The Ultimate Guide

Seeing those bulky, strong muscles in the mirror requires hard work, patience and dedication with proper planning. Miss out on one of these, and bam! you will spend your entire life in the gym but there won’t be any result. And talking about the most important element to build muscles? It is a powerful and effective structured muscle gain workout plan.

Trust us, you are mindlessly spending your time in the gym doing reps and sets if there is no structured routine. If you are into strength training, then it is better to design it properly for muscle growth and hypertrophy.

From the body split you choose to the exercises you want to target, everything is important here, along with consistency.

You have to understand that muscle hypertrophy isn’t a simplified process, and if you don’t have a trainer, you need to plan it out. For your convenience and if you don’t have the time to plan it all out, we have designed a gym workout plan for gaining muscle in this blog.

Here we will explain how the muscle gaining workouts work, and what plans you should be adding along with basic nutrition guidelines.

Understanding Muscle Growth

An increase in the size of the muscles is known as muscle hypertrophy. When you add resistance against the muscles and increase the load, the muscle fibers work harder and break. The body then signals the synthesis of new stronger muscles by releasing protein. The muscle-building workouts are the only solution to increase the mass and size.

Being a major key factor of muscle growth, overloading the muscles progressively promises great benefits on strength and size. Research shows that loading the muscles progressively with greater resistance or reps can promote muscle hypertrophy and strength in men and women both. Not challenging your muscles by increasing the load can affect your hypertrophy goals.

The muscle-building workout can also be influenced by multiple factors such as training intensity, frequency, volume and nutrition. The training volume as per research affects the growth of the muscle to a significant extent. The training intensity is also a solid variable to promote muscle hypertrophy.

Nutrition is an extremely important aspect of muscle growth and strength. The intake of protein according to individual’s demands, eating balanced intake of carbs and fats with fiber intake maintains optimal health and supports muscle hypertrophy goals. Research also proves the direct relationship between calculated protein intake and muscle hypertrophy.

The Best Gym Workout Plan for Muscle Growth

The hypertrophy workout plan should be planned with proper considerations. Following are some of the essential factors that you must incorporate when planning the hypertrophy workouts:

Focus On Muscle Building Exercises

Strength training for muscle growth should include exercises that target the muscles in the body by incorporating resistance in the form of kettlebells, dumbbells or resistance bands. The plan can also include a little bit of conditioning work. The ideal frequency range for muscle hypertrophy workout plan is 3-4 days with optimal rest in between.

Compound Vs. Isolation Exercises

Compound and isolation exercises are great options to consider when designing the workout split for muscle growth. This way you can include compound exercises options to work multiple muscle groups together and isolation exercises for a focused muscle activation. The weights picked in these exercises can be adjusted according to your fitness level.

Calculate Your Reps

Rep ranges play an essential role in a muscle gain workout plan. The more reps you can hit, the more muscle stimulation there will be, and hence more muscle mass. The recommended range for muscle hypertrophy is 6-12 per exercise or in case of advanced users reps can be done till failure.

Track Your Workouts Progression

It is extremely essential to track your workout and progress you are making at the gym. Strength training for muscle growth requires tracking the weight you are lifting. Make sure you upgrade it or de-load according to your body needs, and it will be only possible if you have tracked it.

The Ultimate Workout Split for Muscle Growth

The workout split for muscle growth should be planned by assessing everyone’s fitness level. Below we have different workout split options for every fitness level:

Best For Beginners

Full body routines performed three times per week are an ideal option for beginners. The workouts these days can be split in different sets targeting every muscle group. The beginner muscle gain workout plan should focus on including 8-10 reps per exercises with moderate to light weights.

Intermediate Users

The intermediate users should engage in strength exercises four times a week at least targeting upper body and lower body. The split can be arranged by utilizing two days for upper body and two days for lower body exercises. This allows for having rest in between the workout days, ensuring muscle hypertrophy.

Best For Advanced Lifters

As you advance in this workout routine, incorporate strength training exercises at least 5 to 6 times per week in this pattern: push, pull and legs. This can be divided in three days, repeated two times a week. One day will be fixed for push muscles, the other day will be for pull muscles, and the third day for legs. This routine is great for maximum muscle stimulation in advanced users.

Picking The Best Workout Split

It is extremely essential to pick a workout split that suits your fitness level and training needs. The advanced workout routines usually require time, and be sure to commit to it if you can properly give this routine time. Other than that, pick a training split that feels comfortable and enjoyable. Muscle building is not a one month’s job, it requires time, dedication and patience, and hence choosing the split that is easy to do will make the job quite easier.

Top Gym Exercises for Mass Building

Now, when you know what workout splits can be included to build muscle mass, you must be wondering what exercises to include in the split. The exercises are of two types only: compound and isolation. Below are some helpful exercises that will bulk you up if done correctly and with proper planning:

Compound Exercises

The compound exercises for lower body days include squats, deadlifts (all variations), leg presses and hip thrusts. Make sure to do all these exercises with heavy weights and pay attention to the reps. It should be somewhere between 6-10 if you are a beginner.

The gym exercises for mass building in upper body days should include bench presses, pull-ups with a solid pull-up bar, rows, and overhead presses. These exercises will improve your core strength, increase muscle mass, strength and balance.

Including compound exercises in a muscle gain workout plan is an extremely effective and time-efficient strategy to build muscle mass and strength.

Isolation Exercises

The isolation exercises in upper body workout days should include biceps curls, triceps extensions, or triceps kickbacks. These exercises are great to build strength in these muscle groups which otherwise are not targeted in compound moves. Furthermore, these are great to build solid core strength and stability.

Leg curls, calf raises are some great isolation exercises options to exclusively target the lower body muscles. Proper isolation work can help to improve muscle imbalances.

Prioritize Proper Form and Technique

The gym exercises for mass building must be performed with proper form, and mind-muscle connection. Doing this can maximize the effectiveness of every rep and greater muscle activation. Paying attention to form and technique during the exercises can also decrease the risk of injury.

High-Protein Diet for Muscle Gain

The food you eat directly impacts your performance and goals. Athletes and fitness enthusiasts should focus on proper dietary intake to promote muscle growth and increase strength.

Here are some of the nutrition guidelines for muscle growth:

Protein Intake for Muscle Growth
Eating a high protein diet for muscle gain is extremely important. Protein is the only nutrient that will help you to repair the damaged muscles and increase the muscle strength and size. Focus on eating lean protein options such as chicken, fish, or supplements. According to research, a protein intake of 1.6g/kg/day can maximize muscle hypertrophy, providing an effective energy balance.
Eat Good Carbs and Fats
Weightlifting for muscle gain is exhausting and tiring, which means you need to fuel your body properly after the workout by eating complex carbs and healthy fats. The muscle gain diet is not only dependent on protein but requires a good balance of healthy carbs and fats as well. This will help in improving workout performance and aiding in muscle recovery.

Common Mistakes to Avoid in Muscle-Building Workouts

Every bodybuilder or beginner fitness enthusiast wants muscle hypertrophy with faster strategies. And in the process of doing so, they often make mistakes that hinder their overall performance in the gym. Here are some of the common mistakes that you need to avoid at all costs in muscle-building workouts:

Overtraining And Lack Of Recovery
Overtraining and not paying attention to recovery techniques is one of the biggest mistakes everyone makes. Showing up to the gym daily without any break is doing no good to your body. Rather it will put the body in more stress, hindering your progress completely. Have at least 2 rest days and manage your training frequency according to your needs.
Lifting Heavy With Poor Form
Weightlifting for muscle gain if done with poor form can put you at a serious risk of developing injuries. Constantly monitor your technique and form, keep your core engaged and back neutral to remove the excessive pressure from spine. Progressive overload is the key to muscle hypertrophy, but should be done very carefully.
Insufficient Protein Intake
The poor diet along with insufficient protein intake can be a reason you are not making any gains. As said earlier, protein is the basic nutrient you need to increase the muscle mass and if your body lacks protein, you can go towards muscle atrophy.
Not Structuring Workout Plans
For muscle hypertrophy, structured workouts give you direction and proper planning. It is not the best strategy to pick any random exercises and hit the maximum number of reps. Follow a structured workout routine for best results.

Final Tips for Maximizing Muscle Growth

Muscle growth is a slow process but absolutely achievable. And workouts are not the only way to hit this goal. Rather it depends on a combination of various factors such as nutrition, rest and recovery, number of reps, etc.

Here we have some other helpful tips to maximize the muscle growth:

Track Your Progress
When in the gym, track your progress regularly. This will help you to adjust the frequency of your workouts maximizing muscle hypertrophy. Another great strategy would be to track your reps to adjust them in the remaining days.
Progressively Overload
Constantly challenge the muscles by progressively overloading and adding more resistance. This technique ensures every muscle group is working against the resistance.
Increase Training Intensity
You can increase the training intensity of best gym workouts for muscle growth by changing the reps along with weights frequently. This technique is beneficial to keep muscles constantly under tension.
Prioritize Basic Growth Factors
Hydration, sleep, and recovery are important growth factors which should never be ignored. The research shows that sleep quality is directly linked to improvement in muscle mass and accumulation of fat. And hence, it is essential to maintain it.

Conclusion

A structured workout routine, showing up daily, and chasing your goals with consistency is the only way you can go towards hypertrophy. Include lower-upper body splits, push-pull days, and target different muscles in the body to bulk up the muscles.

Remember that your consistency and patience will eventually take you closer to your goals. If you don’t have a workout routine planned yet, then take help from the routines we have shared above, and let us know if they worked for you.

There is no ideal day to start your muscle gain workout plan. So, start following this routine today, and see how your body transforms.