Why Building Muscle is All in Your Head
Do you want to build muscle?
Even if you don’t want to become a bodybuilder your answer should be yes!
But why?
Because if you’re goal is to get lean, toned, perform better, or lose weight and burn fat, you need muscle!
Thus, building muscle is the name of the game. As I my good friend Vince Del Monte says, “We’re all bodybuilders!” because we’re essentially in the game of building muscle and burning fat. Make sense?
Ok, now that we’ve got that out of the way, I want to tell you that building muscle isn’t really that difficult. No matter if you’ve got “skinny guy” genes or haven’t been able to build bulk in the past, you CAN build muscle in the future.
But it starts in your head!
Muscle Building 101
For those of you who want to know how to build muscle, here’s the recipe:
1. High volume strength training (ie. 10-12 reps, 5-6 sets)
2. Lots of food (preferably quality food)
Putting on muscle comes down to breaking down your muscles through strength training and then rebuilding the “damage” with lots of quality nutrients.
I weigh 165 pounds. If I wanted to put on 20 lbs of muscle I would need to eat a lot food. Specifically, I would need to eat about 70,000 additional calories over the course of a few weeks (since 1 lb = 3500 calories). That’s not easy to do.
But perhaps more important is the fact that in order to build muscle you first need to really challenge them. That’s where your high volume training comes in.
And this is where the power of what’s in your head comes into play.
This is perhaps the single biggest reason that most people who want to build muscle don’t. They don’t have the mental fortitude to push themselves WAY out of their comfort zone.
Actually, everyone has the mental fortitude, but it just needs to be brought to the surface with some compelling reasons WHY.
Building muscle is all about getting out of your comfort zone
This subtitle really says it all!
Have you heard me (or other experts) talk about the fact that it’s those last 1-2 reps that make all the difference?
I call it the “extra 1%”.
The reason this extra 1% is so important is that when you THINK you can’t do anymore, you must, because that’s where your muscle truly reach new limits.
As an example, if you continually push 150 lbs for 3 sets of 10 reps on the bench press, how on earth are your chest muscles supposed to get stronger and more developed?
Initially, you’ll see some improvements, but those improvements will begin to taper off as you get more adept at this exercise and pushing that same weight.
Two of the fundamentals concepts of fitness training are known as OVERLOAD and PROGRESSION.
In order to build muscle and get stronger, you must progressively overload your muscles with new challenges.
To do this though, your mind must be the engine to drive you and push you to new heights.
If that little voice in your head keeps telling you to STOP when your muscles start to burn, then forget about it!
However, if you the ability to embrace the “pain” and have the mental strength to keep pushing, then you can achieve some outstanding results!
SIDE NOTE: Sure we’re talking about muscle building, but the truth is that this applies to ANY and ALL aspects of your fitness. Running, sports, burning fat, etc…
Thus, the reason I say that building muscle is all in your head is because it is. You need to be able to get out of your comfort zone to grow. Your muscles need to find new challenges because when they do they will rise to the occasion to meet them.
It’s really that straight-forward. You muscles cannot do anything else but adapt to the stress you impose upon them.
Here’s an example of how this could work…
Let’s say you want to build a bigger and stronger chest, I might put you through the following chest workout over a few weeks.
For simplicity, we’re just going to use the bench press (alone) for this example. I’m also going to randomly choose 135 lbs as our starting point.
WEEK 1 – 10 reps x 5 sets @ 135 lbs (2-3 times per week)
WEEK 2 - 12 reps x 5 sets @ 135 lbs (2-3 times per week)
WEEK 3 – 10 reps x 6 sets @ 150 lbs (2-3 times per week)
WEEK 4 – 12 reps x 4 sets @ 150 lbs (1-2 times per week) => regeneration week
This is a very simplistic bench press workout model. In reality, you’d probably be able to lift a little bit more each workout but let’s not worry about that for now. Notice how each week we increase either the number of reps OR the weight.
We’re stressing the muscles in new ways (ie. more reps or more weight) every few workouts. If you were to continue with this model for 6 months your chest muscles would be FORCED to adapt and would be able to lift close to another 125 lbs! That’s a bench press of 260 lbs – just by training properly.
But that’s only if you can push yourself mentally each and every workout.
Doing 5-6 sets and forcing yourself to complete NO LESS than 10-12 reps in each one is not easy to do. Especially, after the first few sets. What most people would do is lower the weight and continue. However, this is where having a spotter can make a huge difference.
Having someone to assist you in the last few reps and to make sure you don’t give up early can be the difference between building muscle and simply staying where you’re at!
So if you find yourself giving up before the last few crucial reps then I would highly recommend you seek out a spotter, a trainer, workout with a friend, or use my Fitter U or Fitter U Fitness iPod workouts. That way you’ll get the needed push when it matters most.
With proper training and a strong mind you can overcome any obstacles in your way, including “skinny” genetics!
=> Is your mind holding you back or propelling you forward? Leave a comment and let me know what goes on in your head during your workouts.
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I have just started lifting weights for the upper body.. I have always done yoga, but now after having two babies I feel I need to add that extra punch to tone up. Since I am trying to follow the healthy alkaline diet as well I really feel this is a great time for me to start working on toning up as well. Thank you so much for your tips and motivation!
Yuri, I”m confused. I swear that I”ve heard you say on your fitter U programs that doing tons of reps is NOT the way to do it. What gives?
Yes, you are right. In this post, I am simply using muscle building as an example. Please realize that burning fat, building muscle, and training for strength and power all have different exercise protocols. For Fitter U, the goal is weight loss NOT building muscle and that’s why I don’t advocate tons of reps throughout that program.
Who has the time???
Hello Yuri
Thank you so much for your email on Building Muscle and also the quick response to the Volume 3 Treadmill trainer. I’m 40 years old and have been running now for approx 3 years, I’m quite fit, do cardio and weight training as well as my running training. I compete in a 1.5km and 6km cross country race every weekend but no matter how much or how little training I do and just can’t seem to get a faster pace. I usually feel out of breath more so than having sore legs, any suggestions ??
THANKS AGAIN !!
From Monica (Australia)
Just keep plugging away Monica. Using the Treadmill Trainer interval workouts will help as well.
Hi.. I am doing floor exercises and i make my mind do those extra reps when it is almost impossible but the rest of the day i have pain in my feet and lower body .Please tell what to do ? I am doing lower body 2 days and 1 day upper body and again 2 days upper body.
thanks
Sabrina attique
I’m not quite sure what that could be Sabrina. And I’m assuming it’s not just muscle pain, right? Have you seen a physio?
I’m getting ready to dive into Fitter U’s Push Pull Swing really soon – so this is great motivation to read before my workout. Though I’ll be following the “less reps, heavier weights” protocol for this workout (and not so much with a goal of “building muscle” but rather with a goal of toning and strengthening my muscles while reducing my body fat), the extra 1% tip is definitely useful. I like what you say in your Treadmill Trainer series: “your comfort zone is directly related to your success zone”. It’s good to push a little bit harder than you THINK you can and add variety to your program by stepping out of the usual comfort zone (even if “comfort” is merely defined as emotional or mental comfort)to attempt something slightly outside of that zone. I try to lift a tiny bit heavier, run just a little bit further or faster, etc as often as I can in order to build on new successes instead of simply relying on my current level of fitness.
Great stuff Shannon. Let me know how the workout goes.
I do not have time to go to the gym and still I want to be in better shape, build muscles and lose weight. I started doing Bodyweight exercises and watching my food intake. Is this enough to help me build muscles? I do not have weights at home either..Can you suggest exercises that I could do at home.
Yes, it is a great place to start. Using your bodyweight and increasing progressions of various exercises, you can definitely see some great results. Eventually though, I would suggest adding some form of added resistance.
Yuri, is there a way to contact you directly for a consultation before committing to the program online?
Christine, send me an email at info(at)totalwellnessconsulting.ca with the details of what you’re looking for.
For some reason it gives me a delivery failure report?