Who wants to get pumped today? I feel the need to employ the old teacher standby… “I can’t hear you!” Who wants to get PUMPED? Welcome to part three in my series on Strength Training Umbrellas. I use the term umbrellas to define broad categories, or general goals that strength trainers tend to have. These umbrellas can help you make decisions about the overload and modality of training.

A few reminders and provisos: First, you will probably fall under different umbrellas at different times, especially as it pertains to exercise across the lifespan or training for competitive seasons. The umbrella categories represent basic similarities in training goals; however people who fall under the same umbrella may have vastly different routines. As the saying goes, there is more than one way to skin a cat. And lastly, one umbrella isn’t better than any other. Goals are unique to each of us as individuals, so it’s important to move your body in the way that feels right for you.

Umbrella number three is strength training for gaining muscle size. And ladies, before you click outta here, gimme a chance. It is a common assumption that anyone with a size goal is some bench-pressing-a-tractor, grunting-in-time-to-Metallica, hopped-up-on-who-knows-what-supplement, measuring-their-biceps plate head. But just like every other assumption or stereotype, it is usually based on the few crazies and it colors everyone else in a negative light.

There are many individuals who train to gain muscle size and mass. Yes, there are those guys who just want to have the biggest pecs in the room or those girls who are training for a figure competition and are in their bulking phase. But what about the person who was in a car accident and needs to regain lost muscle after surgery or recovery? Or the older person who has fallen and is trying to maintain muscle mass for balance purposes? Or the person who is trying to make body composition changes (you gotta put some muscle on to help lean out)?

Each and every one of those other individuals is training under the size umbrella. There are two common points about training to increase muscle size or mass. First, this is higher intensity training. This is not the land of a billion reps at low weight; however, it should be noted that as long as the intensity is enough to create delayed onset muscle soreness most workouts, you are good to go. More on that later.

The second similarity about putting on size is the input from nutrition (ha, pun!). You guys know I love the science lessons, so here it comes. The first law of thermodynamics (yeah, I’ve talked about this before) says that matter can be neither created nor destroyed. So if you want to add matter/mass to your physical person, guess what? It has to come from somewhere. It means you need to be consuming more calories.

Here is the catch. The calories not only need to be of the correct variety, but they need to show up in your body at the right time. Ask anyone who has tried to put on muscle size and they will probably tell you that the hardest part wasn’t the exercise, it was the diet.

When I say that the calories need to be the correct variety, I mean that they need to be from the correct macronutrient. There are three macronutrients, or macros in the current lingo, that provide the calories in any given food or drink. Protein, carbohydrates, and fats. Carbohydrates are what fuel your body. To do everything. Seriously. From blinking your eyes, to walking to the mailbox, to bench pressing in the gym, your body wants carbohydrates. If you are trying to gain size, eat a carb rich meal or snack about an hour before you hit the gym. Those carbs will power you through all the weight you are about to shove around. A bagel with peanut butter and a banana is the classic one, but find something your tummy tolerates well.

Your body wants to use protein to rebuild that muscle tissue that you just exercised to near exhaustion. In other words, you want to be consuming protein post workout. And preferably pretty quickly post workout. Like, within an hour. That’s why those protein powders and premade bars are so popular. But in terms of gaining size, protein isn’t actually the do all end all.

As I said previously, you also need to be consuming a lot of calories to add muscle size. My first boss as a personal trainer was a powerlifter, and a good one, too. He trained with the idea of gaining muscle size all the time. For him in his sport, more muscle mass equaled being able to bench or squat more, which was a good thing. And he used to have a saying, well he had a lot of them, but I digress. “Cheese makes you big, but peanut butter makes you huge.”

A one ounce serving of cheese contains 7 grams of protein in about 110 calories. A two tablespoon serving of peanut butter contains 8 grams of protein in about 180 calories. You’ll see here, the driving force behind putting on a good amount of muscle size isn’t actually protein. It is calories. Good old thermodynamics strikes again. Now, if you are going to want to lean out and get shredded after all this muscle is added, the macronutrient distribution (i.e. protein) plays more of a role, but that’s 14432 posts for other days.

So, step one in trying to gain size is to make sure you are eating. A lot. Although it should be noted that real food is always best and to try and limit fast foods and junk since your body will run better. Step two is actually the exercise part. You’ll remember, hopefully, that I noted that any amount of intensity that causes delayed onset muscle soreness can trigger gains in size. Yup, as long as you are sore a day or two post workout, you are doing enough. This goes beyond just those initial weeks, though. You want to feel soreness after most, if not every workout. This means that you need to be vigilant about adjusting weight. If a weight for a given exercise starts to feel too light, then it is time to pick up heavier ones.

This is why many people training under this umbrella lift heavy. I mean real heavy. Five sets of five of increasing intensity up to failure is common. These are the people who want to put on size for the sake of being bigger. The linemen on the football team or shot putters, you get the idea. But if you don’t want the biggest biceps in the room, you don’t have to lift to exhaustion. If you are choosing an amount of weight that will cause fatigue in 6-8 reps and adjusting consistently when that becomes too light, you can still put on size. In fact, this is a great range to be in if you want to add muscle with an eventual goal of leaning out or making body composition changes.

And all this lifting brings us to step three. Step three in gaining size, is rest. Yup, you read that correctly. If you want your body to use the protein to repair that delayed onset muscle soreness into muscles with more mass or size, you have to allow your body to recover. You’ve just created a lot of micro trauma for your system to repair. If you want to gain the size, get the rest. That means don’t lift a muscle group again until the soreness is gone. This is a group who usually only trains a muscle group once per week.

There are many circumstances in life that might give the need to train to put on muscle size, which is something to keep in mind even if adding size isn’t your cup of tea. I hope I have at least been able to dispel some myths that surround this particular umbrella and given you something to think over.

Until next time, be well friends!