By Amy King
Regardless of your ultimate health goal, the aim is to build as much quality muscle mass as possible, because of the overall health benefits and longevity it provides.
In order to achieve this aim, there are two things you need to look at: Your training and your nutrition.
In terms of training, your workouts will need to encourage muscle gains through resistance training and muscle gains involve at its core a process of stimulus, followed by a period of recovery.
Our bodies are adept at anticipating future needs… and whilst this at times works against us, for example with our tremendous ability to store body fat in case of famines, thankfully at other times our body’s ability to adapt works for us with our ability to gain muscle.
Personally, what I love about muscle building is that you can spend between 45-90 mins most day of the week strength training… and then your work is done. Could imagine if we were afforded that luxury for our working lives? Sign me up to that working week!
Anyway, reverting back to my previous point, when we gain muscle, it is our body preparing for bigger challenges, ahead of time.
So, in this series of articles, I’ll take you through everything you need to know, in order to create your PERFECT muscle-building blueprint.
The first part of the series goes covers analyzing, measuring and setting up your workout.
Are you ready for gains??? Let’s go!
If you think about it, when you are in the gym, you’re working with weights…
Those weights are numbers and when we have numbers, there is a certain level of arithmetic involved.
That is to say… There’s actually a mathematical formula for muscle gains!
Your workout can be measured by 3 main variables:
1. Intensity
2. Volume
3. Density
Intensity is a measure of how close you get to your maximum strength capabilities.
The closer you get, the higher your intensity is, meaning that it increases as your working weight goes up.
Volume is a measure of your total working weight, for all of your exercises, sets, and reps.
You can measure volume using this formula: Weight * Sets * Reps = Volume
For instance, using 100 kg for 2 sets of 10 would create a volume of 2000 kg (100*2*10=2000 kg)
Last but not least, we have density, which is a measure of your volume, related to the total time needed for its completion, including rest times.
To measure density, you use this formula: Volume / Total completion time = Density (kg per minute)
For instance, if those 2 sets of 10 with 100 kg take you 2 minutes to complete, this would be a density of 1000 kg/min.
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Alright, so far you learned the following:
1. Volume = Weight * Sets * Reps
2. Density = Volume / Total completion time
But how exactly can you measure intensity…?
Well, here comes the practical part!
To get an idea of what 100% intensity looks like for you, for a certain exercise, you have to find out the weight you can lift for one single repetition - This will show you your maximum strength capabilities.
To do this, you will use the “One repetition maximum” method.
Again, this method implies using a weight that will take your muscles to failure after one single rep, meaning that you will not be able to complete a second rep unassisted.
Before we get to the actionable steps, if you are a beginner, avoid testing your one-rep max, as it may lead to injuries.
Instead, you can use a more subjective measure such as “Rate of Perceived Exertion” and my favourite scale looks like this:
Or you can use the same one-rep maximum scheme but go for a 5 rep max instead, where you use a weight that takes your muscles to failure at around the 5th repetition.
Here are the steps to testing your one-rep max:
This same scheme can be used by beginners for the 5-rep max method.
Alright, this important bit of information we just gave you, is part of what will allow you to create your muscle-building blueprint.
The reason why this is important is that the ratio of these variables is what will determine how the muscles work, what type of energy it uses, and thus, how it develops.
It also helps you build awareness around your workouts, encourages a focus on progression, helps you set and track against goals and build mind muscle connection.
In the next article, we’ll explain to you exactly how these variables affect the way the body provides energy.
See you in part 2!
Amy King is the founder of AKE Fitness & Nutrition. When she’s not serving her clients, she is pursuing her corporate career in mining, bodybuilding and spending time with loved ones. She calls Perth, Western Australia home.
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