5 Ways To Gain 5lbs of Muscle

Imagine waking up feeling stronger and healthier every single day. 

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Imagine having the energy to get everything done. You can pick things up, move them around, play with your kids (or grandkids) and still have the vitality to do it again tomorrow. 

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The key to health, strength, and ultimately, longevity, is to increase your muscle. Adding muscle can be a challenge: it isn’t easy even if you have a plan. Adding muscle takes commitment and some work, but it will pay off tenfold in the long run. 

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How do you do it? What’s the plan? Are you just going to tell me I need a personal trainer again? Not necessarily! Here are 5 ways you can add 5lbs of muscle! 

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Progressive Overload

You can’t add muscle unless you get stronger. And you can’t get stronger unless you lift weights that are a little heavier than your comfort zone. If you’re new to strength training, you can get there gradually. If you’re experienced, it’s time to lift more and increase the volume of what you’re lifting. 

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We use a ladder system for safely increasing your strength over time. A ladder system looks something like this:

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Exercise A for 4 sets of 6. Next week, 4 sets of 8. The next week, maybe 4 sets of 10. Then the following week, raise the weight and start again at 4 sets of 6. 

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As your strength goes up, this strategy will no longer work, so you have to try and change variables slowly over time. Maybe lift the weight slower and with more control, or aim to add a set. Or a single rep. Or go up 5lbs. Or even 2.5! But the goal should always be to increase a training variable of some sort over time. 

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Compound strength training

We like to make strength training simple: if you are trying to add 5lbs of muscle (or even more or less), you should perform some variation of these exercises:

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Deadlift, Squat, Bench Press (or Push-up), Row, Overhead Press, and Pull-up. Maybe even some weighted carries, too. If an old injury prevents you from performing one or more of these movements, we can help find a safe alternative. 

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If you perform each of these movements 1-2 times per week, at around 24 reps or more (we actually keep Deadlifts down lower in reps, maybe 10-15), you will add strength, and if you combine that with the next step, you will add muscle! 

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Eat more! 

Finally! My guess is one has told you to eat more before. Well, you’re welcome! 

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Being in a surplus of calories is important for adding muscle. If you want to gain muscle, we typically recommend trying to increase the amount of protein you eat. In fact, we wrote a whole blog post dedicated to just making your protein consumption easier.

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We typically recommend 0.8-1g of protein per pound of bodyweight when you’re trying to add muscle. Along with the extra protein, we might recommend some healthy carbohydrates as well that can help you with your (slight) weight gain. 

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When you are thinking about your calories, you should be in a surplus if you’re trying to gain 5lbs of muscle. To calculate that, we typically take your current bodyweight x 17 to get your goal calories per day. 

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If you come up with a plan to eat healthy, nutrient dense food high in protein, you’ll gain muscle over time. Start to think about more eggs, beef, chicken, fish, and if you can handle it, dairy. Combine that with potatoes, rice, fruit, and vegetables, and you’ll gain muscle while keeping your fat gain to a minimum. 

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Create a recovery routine 

Muscle grows while you sleep, not during the strength training itself. So you better get enough of it! 

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You probably already know that the magic number is 8 hours of sleep per night, but how do you optimize your schedule to get it? Try shutting down your phone and even your TV 30 minutes before bed. Keep the room cool and dark. Try to eliminate even those little lights that might be around your room once you go to sleep. 

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Also, if you’re doing the required strength training above, you’ll typically be more tired at night. Limit caffeine to the mornings and keep your alcohol consumption low. And perhaps most importantly, stick to a consistent sleep schedule. Aim to go to sleep and wake up right around the same time every single day. 

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Be consistent

Gaining muscle takes time. Months, maybe even more. So consistency, as with anything good in life, is the key. You can’t strength train for 2 months and expect huge muscle gains. You have to do it for 6 months or a year. You can’t eat a lot of healthy calories four days per week, you need to do it six or seven. And for months. Be consistent on your sleep almost every single day. 

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You get the picture. Consistency with all of these habits will be a game changer if you want to gain 5lbs (or more!) of muscle. 

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If you think we can help guide you to the muscle you’ve always wanted, simply contact us here and let's talk!

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