How much weight are you supposed to put on while gaining muscle mass? Your aim should be an additional 1lb (450g) per week. Gaining 1lb per week is definitely possible and doable.
It comes down to how close you are to reaching the upper echelon of your limits. If you are a beginner you can even surpass this limit, but as you get more advanced gaining mass will be more tricky.
If you are going to gain some muscle on your frame, don’t fear of gaining some fat in addition to that muscle. What you need to do is put some additional calories to your already good diet. Eating more calories is the only way to gain size and strength. Stay on your current muscle building diet and add some sort of protein shake to your daily eating regime. Below, you’ll find a recipe for a muscle building shake.
– 1/5 liters of low fat milk
– 3 scoops of whey protein
– 1 tablespoon of peanut butter
– add a fruit or two for taste and additional fiber – strawberries or cherries will do fine.
Drink this shake over the course of the day. Add it between or after your meals.
If you are not using other supplements, this would be a good time to start using the basic ones:
– Creatine monohydrate – 10 grams per day for a week, and then bring it down to 5 grams a day – before and after your workout).
– 10 grams of glutamine a day
– 5-8g of fish oil
– multivitamin/multimineral supplement
In addition to all this eating you should pay attention to the rest you are taking. You should be getting at least 8 or 9 hours of sleep every night. Couple this with a half hour or so nap sometime during the day as well.
The 3 day split for mass:
Because you have probably been pounding the weights hard, now it’s the time to deload. Take a week of active rest and then return to your weight training. Cut the weights by 15-20%. That’s right – lower the weights now an you will surpass your maxes in a few weeks.
In order to grow, you have to be increasing your strength gradually. Try to increase the weights you lift by 5-10lbs every week or every second week. Try to increase the weights on all the big movements like squats, deadlifts, bench press, military press, leg press, barbell rows, dips and pull ups.
For the next 8 weeks, here is the 3 day split routine you will be following:
Day 1 Chest/ Back (only work sets are listed, do as much warm up sets as you need, but don’t waste too much strength on the warmups)
1. Incline bench press – 2 work sets of 8 reps
2. Chin ups – 2 work sets to failure
3. Dips – 2 work sets of 8 reps
4. Barbell rows/ Deadlifts – 2 work sets of 8 reps – alternate between these exercises each week
6. Dumbbell flies: one set of 10-12 reps
5. Dumbbell pullovers: one set of 10 reps
Day 2 – Rest or light cardio like walking or stationary bike
Day 3. Thighs/ Calves/ abs
1. Barbell squat: 4 work sets of 10 reps
2. Leg curls: 4 work sets of 10-12 reps
3. Dumbbell lunges: 3 sets of 10 steps
4. Standing calf raises: 4 sets of 12-15 reps
5. Crunches: 4 sets of 12-15 reps
Day 4 – light cardio for 25-30 minutes or rest
Day 5. Shoulders/Arms/
1. Seated barbell/dumbbell press: 3 work sets of 8-10 reps each.
2. Close grip bench press: 2 work sets of 12-15 reps
3. High pulls with barbell or dumbbell fly (choose one or the other and only use that exercise). Do 2 working sets of 10 reps each.
4. Barbell curl: One warm-up set of 8 reps followed by 3 working sets of 8-10 reps each, with a drop set on the final set.
5. Leg Raises: 2 work sets of 10-12 reps.
Day 6 – Rest
Day 7 – Rest