The Basics of Building Muscle | 5 Tips to Get Ripped Fast

Building muscle isn’t always easy but there’s a number of things you can do with your nutrition to speed up the process. Getting enough protein and calories on board, alongside good quality, consistent training, form the fundamentals of muscle gain. Following our 5 tips below will mean you’re doing everything you can to pack on healthy, lean muscle mass.  

 1. Eat more and fuel muscle growth with food

To build muscle your body needs energy. If your diet is low in calories and you are in an energy deficit, it becomes much more difficult to build muscle. Based on the current evidence, a small-moderate daily calorie surplus of 250-450kcals is recommended. 

 2. Eat every 3 hours

In your body there are continuous periods of muscle protein breakdown and muscle protein synthesis. When muscle protein synthesis exceeds muscle protein breakdown, there is a net gain of muscle. 

Whilst protein breakdown remains fairly stable, muscle protein synthesis requires a stimulus. Eating a high protein meal will provide this stimulus and increase your rate of muscle protein synthesis.  

Regardless of how much protein you eat in a single meal, rates of muscle protein synthesis will naturally start to drop. This is why it is important to eat protein at regular intervals throughout the day with evidence showing that every 3 hours is optimal.