How to safely build up your muscles

If you’re in a rut in the gym or want to set yourself a challenge you might come to a point in your training where you want to start building muscle.

It can be quite a daunting prospect, particularly if you’re looking to make safe and maintainable changes to your body. Getting ripped isn’t just about lifting weights in the gym – you’ll have to consider your diet as well.

While it’s always advisable to consult a personal trainer or doctor if you have any questions, these are some good things to know before embarking on your journey…

How should you get started?

The first thing personal trainer Hendrick Famutimi wants to know from clients looking to gain muscle is, “if they’ve done any form of weight training before, just to gather up a basic history of what they’ve done”.

“If you’re a newbie and you haven’t lifted weights at all… If you want to get stronger and build muscle, then go with dumbbell work,” he suggests. Opting for dumbbells over a barbell means you can, “see if one side is stronger than the other”, he says. You can then make sure your dominant side doesn’t automatically take over when lifting weights – this can “lead to injuries”.

Famutimi recommends tackling compound exercises in the gym – those working multiple muscle groups, “like squats, deadlifts, bench press, clean and press”.

If you want to put together a sustainable training plan, he says, be realistic. There’s nothing worse than planning to train three times a week and only managing two – “then you’re going to feel bad about not being able to do it.”

What about your diet?

For Signe Svanfeldt, a nutritionist at Lifesum, protein is key to seeing results. “Protein builds muscles and other tissues, as well as aiding recovery,” she explains. “With a good protein balance, we can limit muscle breakdown and stimulate muscle building.”

It’s important to consider what kind of protein you’re having. Svanfeldt says: “Protein consists of small building blocks called amino acids. There are about 20 different amino acids in total, nine of which are essential. This means that we need to get them through the food we eat since we can’t produce them naturally.”

Some animal protein sources contain all nine – including eggs, fish and chicken – but it’s rarer for plant-based sources to contain all of them, so you’ll need to combine food.

To really see changes in your body, Svanfeldt’s top tip is to make sure you’re eating enough. “If you don’t, the body will use the protein as fuel, instead of its other tasks, such as building muscles”, she says.