Is it possible to build muscle at home?
Everyone who visits the gym wants to achieve great results as quickly as possible. But most of the time this doesn't happen. How to build muscle, and can it be done at home? You will find answers to these questions in the article.
This topic will always be relevant, and every bodybuilding beginner wonders how quickly he can see results. However, often no one even tries to plan the stages of growth of their muscles. And this applies not only to novice athletes, but also to experienced coaches. But this is very important, as practice shows.
Is it possible to pump up quickly? For almost every coach, this question only causes a smile at first, but then it becomes annoying. There is simply no single answer to such questions. Each person is different, and two different people may take different times to achieve the same results.
You can even start with the fact that every young person, coming to the gym, has a different motivation and desire than others. Everything here is very subjective, but one thing can be said: if you set a task for yourself and do everything possible to solve it, then the result will certainly come.
Stages of muscle growth
It is very important to set achievable goals. If we still talk about real examples, then you can choose an average man with a height of 178 cm and 70 kg of weight. According to his, again, average capabilities, he can eat quite well, which is also of great importance. In this case, you can get the following graph of its progression:
- Preparatory phase - from 2 to 4 months;
- Hypertrophy phase - more than 2 years;
- Phase of hyperplasia - 1–2 years;
- System adaptation.
Preparatory phase
As you can see from the diagram above, this is the shortest of the four stages. However, it is also the most important. It is here that the athlete lays the foundation for his future progress, the quality of which determines his speed.
Training in the gym is associated with great physical exertion, and the body must readjust to reduce energy costs in the future. The energy supply system is changing first. This is due to the need to give the muscles more energy. In turn, this causes the need to accumulate more glycogen and ATP in muscle tissues. Significant changes also occur in the work of enzymes responsible for the exchange of energy in the body.
Simultaneously with these processes, the muscles also need to restructure their work in order to expend the minimum possible amount of energy. To do this, the central nervous system begins to act differently on the muscles so that they work more in harmony.
In practice, this means an increase in strength. For example, if at the very beginning of training an athlete could work with a barbell of 50 kilograms, then after a couple of months this weight will already increase to 60 or even 70 kilograms. This happened not because of the increase in the muscles themselves, but because of their more efficient work. Everyone who is already involved could see this for themselves.
The first 2-3 months of classes should not be chasing a constant increase in weight. It is much more efficient to work with light weights, but perform all exercises as technically as possible.
Everyone who is just starting to engage in bodybuilding should pay special attention to technique. This will allow you to learn how to control your muscles, which in turn will gradually work more efficiently. When this happens, it remains only to add weight.
Other systems of the body must also adapt to new conditions - metabolism, bone and ligament apparatus. At the time of growth of muscle tissue, the number of blood vessels that feed them increases accordingly. This entails changes in the transport system.
After a couple of months from the start of training, the muscles increase somewhat, but this is not due to the growth of the myofibril, but due to the growth of all accompanying systems. But after a while, the muscles stop growing, since the growth process itself has not yet taken place. This will happen only in the second stage.
muscle hypertrophy
This stage will begin only two or even four months after the start of classes, when the body is prepared for the growth of muscle tissue. At this stage, the muscle fibers begin to “swell up”, as it were. And contrary to popular belief, this process is not so long. For some reason, a large number of people, including athletes, are sure that it takes many years to achieve a result. However, it is not.
A muscle cell is able to reach its maximum size in an average of a couple of years. In other words, two years will be enough to realize the potential inherent in a person (in fact, this is called hypertrophy).
To make it clearer, the following figures can be given. Within two months, a novice athlete is able to increase his own weight from 70 to 74 kilograms. Then in the first year, due to the increase in muscle fibers, its mass can increase by 10 or even 15 kilograms, and during the second year - by another 5 or 10 kilograms. Thus, in two years, with due effort in training, you can easily add up to 20 kilograms.
It is worth noting that now the conversation is not about athletes who are engaged professionally, but about ordinary people who want to know how to pump up at home. Therefore, it will not be a pure sports mass, but with a low fat content (usually about 5%). However, for those who simply want to improve the appearance of their body, this is quite a worthy result.
Thus, we have come to the moment when the existing muscle fibers have reached their maximum size. But this does not mean that more muscles will not increase in size. It's just that now it is necessary to create new fibers that have their own reserve for growth. This will happen during the third stage.
muscle hyperplasia
At this stage, you need to move on to high-volume training with lighter weights. This will cause the muscle fibers to divide and subsequently grow to their maximum size.
Those people who were able to achieve the maximum of their hypertrophy during the second stage by starting to use high-volume training, are able to significantly increase their muscles. If you again resort to numbers, then in one or two years you can add from 5 to 10 kilograms of muscle mass. Thus, if we return to the example above, then at the stage of hyperplasia, a beginner with 70 kilograms is able to reach 95 or 100 kg.
It is worth noting that quite a few bodybuilders in their classes combine the stages of hypertrophy and hyperplasia into one, which usually lasts for four years. This is a very correct move. By developing both hyperplasia and hypertrophy at the same time, much greater success can be achieved. They will help each other, and classes will become more effective.
It should be remembered that the maximum potential in increasing muscle tissue is reached within three or four years. After that, the process will slow down, and as a result, it will stop completely. Thus, the final phase begins.
System adaptation
The essence of the stage is quite simple: it is necessary to increase the capabilities of those body systems that inhibit muscle growth.
At the last stage, it is necessary to expand the foundation that was laid in the first stage. As you can see, building your own body is very similar to the process of building a house. If, after construction, the house at a certain point in time became small for you, you need to expand it, while strengthening the foundation.
Thus, you again have to work on all the systems that were described at the beginning of the article. When they can expand their capabilities, muscle growth will begin again.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to say for sure how long the stage of systemic adaptation can last. If you manage to capture its essence, then you can safely call yourself a professional. You can decide for yourself what you need to pay more attention to and how you can change something. With due diligence in work, an understanding of this will surely come. It is difficult to judge this from the outside, but the person himself feels all the changes and can influence the development of his body.
In conclusion, I would like to note that before asking if it is possible to pump up, you must define a goal for yourself. If you want to have big muscles, then you should draw up a development plan. Give yourself a few months to prepare your body. Only after that it is possible to proceed to the phases of hyperplasia and hypertrophy. This will take an average of five years.
When this goal is achieved, it is necessary to start working on the systems of the body. There are many cases when guys gained about 30 kilograms for 4 or 5 years. However, they did not use the achievements of modern sports pharmacology.
If you asked yourself the question: how to pump up at home and decided to achieve your goal, then high efficiency and determination will help you with this.
Video on how to build muscle at home:
