The Definitive Guide to Building Muscle Naturally
How to build lean muscle without taking steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) based on science.
Link to the Original Article
I began weightlifting at the age of 14. For about 4 years, I spent my time in the gym doing what, I would say, 99% of people in the gym spend their time doing. Very lightweights. Supersets. Drop sets. Cluster sets. Taking selfies. Eating extreme amounts of protein at the exclusion of all other dietary factors. The reason I did this was simple: not only was it the case that everyone else was doing it, but also, almost every mainstream source of fitness information basically ascribed such activity as if it were the holy grail of gains. Articles explicating the fact that “Arnold did it” from bodybuilding.com, so it must be true that I could get big too by doing the same thing.
After 5 years, though, I began to wonder: my first year of weightlifting at the age of 14 yielded some pretty good results; my body looked way better. But after that first year, continuing the same routine, I failed to make any noticeable progress for literally half a decade. And when I was 17, due to further horrible advice — from bodybuilding.com, again — to go on a crash diet, I lost almost all of that progress and became skinny-fat. All of this was extremely demoralizing.
After doing much in the way of reading online — through several different forums, like that of Reddit — I came to discover that I was no anomaly: this sort of thing was the norm. And once I discovered this online, I began to look around my own gym — everyone else has looked the same for years and has also been doing the same nonsense for years!
I grew to wonder why this was happening. The conclusion I drew was the financial drive of the fitness industry to make bank off of the insecurities of gym-goers. Basically it goes like this: “if we can keep people out of shape while giving them the illusion that they are on the way to their best body ever, we can make huge amounts of money from training programs, supplements, nutritional programs, and magazine subscriptions.”
Getting fed up with being a victim of this, I decided that it was time to take matters into my own hands. I began to read into the science of what it takes to build a great body, both through books like Starting Strength and Bigger Leaner Stronger and by reading research through websites like Stronger By Science and PubMed.
My primary discovery was that the greatest driver of muscle growth was getting stronger. Now, I am not only very strong but also, I am the most muscular I have ever been in my life — without overdoing it bulkiness end of things aesthetically speaking. Getting stronger basically gives you a dense physique, almost like that of Bruce Lee’s. As a natural, unless you have extremely good genetics — the best of which for muscle building, is very rare — that is the best you can hope for. 2 years of intelligent training — getting stronger — gave me more progress on my physique than 5 years of mainstream information gave me.
This article will be a culmination of this journey. I will teach you how to build muscle the right way, through proper training, nutrition, lifestyle choices, and supplementation. I will cite my sources but save the scientific jargon for the experts to elucidate. This is to be as simple and practical as possible.
Training
The most common piece of training advice in modern bodybuilding is the exact opposite of what is actually effective: lift light weights, for a lot of reps, a lot of sets and add in many drop sets and super-sets. The primary driver of muscle growth is what is called progressive tension overload, which basically boils down to increasing volume over time. The most effective way of doing this is by getting stronger on key compound lifts, like the squat, deadlift, bench-press, and standing-overhead press. One might rebut: “but Daniel: isn’t it the case that top bodybuilders train using isolation exercises and use light weights? They look good doing that. Why can’t I.” That is a perfectly reasonable rebuttal superficially; however, once we understand that all top athletes in the domain of fitness are taking performance-enhancing drugs — which have been proven to build more muscle without training, then training without drugs does (yes, that is right: you can take steroids, sit on the couch, and gain more muscle than someone who doesn't but is lifting weights). Given the fact that these athletes are on such drugs, they gain muscle at a rapid pace, which is not proportionate to the growth of their bone density: in turn, if they were to lift weights heavily, they run the risk of bone injury.
Case in point: building muscle while you are on steroids can be done with light weights. When you are natural, however, that is nowhere near enough stimulus to initiate muscle growth. Getting stronger on key compound exercises is the route to gaining muscle. If the bar doesn't have significantly more weight on it a year from now, you should not be wondering why your body has not changed much.
How then, should you progress? I remember when I first learned that getting stronger is the route to building muscle, I had trouble finding a good way to progress.
But, what I have found has worked best, is what can be called double progression. Without getting too much into its scientific terminology, basically what it boils down to is ensuring that you are increasing reps on a weekly basis with a given weight within a specific rep range, and once you hit the top of that rep range, increase the weight by 5–10 lbs.
Here is an example of double progression:
Deadlift:
Week 1: 135 for 3 sets of 4 reps
Week 2: 135 for 3 sets of 5 reps
Week 3: 135 for 3 sets of 6 reps
Week 4: 145 for 3 sets of 4 reps
Every 8 weeks or so, you will take what is called a deload week. Basically, this is an active recovery week, where you still lift weights but do so with less intensity. The way that I do this — and people like Dr. Eric Helms recommend doing so — is as follows: decrease total sets on each exercise by 1 or 2, work at the bottom of a rep range (so, if the rep range is 4–6 reps, only do 4 reps each set) and decrease the intensity (weight on the bar) by 5%.
Here’s an example of what I am talking about:
Ordinary workout:
Squat 4 sets of 6 reps with 365 lbs
Bench 4 sets of 6 reps with 225 lbs
Deadlift 4 sets of 6 reps with 405 lbs
Deload workout:
Squat: 2 sets of 4 reps 345 lbs
Bench: 2 sets of 4 reps 215 lbs
Deadlift: 2 sets of 4 reps 385 lbs
You can make fantastic progress doing this for a long time. Even as an advanced trainee, double progression still works.
But, however, as an advanced trainee, things get a little bit more complicated. Once you get around the 2-year mark of proper weightlifting, you will begin to notice a considerable slowing in progress. Luckily, the remedy to this is not too complicated.
All that changes is the need to periodize your training. Periodization is essentially strategizing your training more diligently, which entails working within different rep ranges and different intensities over time. Another thing that changes too, is the need to test your one-rep max (1RM).
The shift, basically, is not increasing your working weight overtime any more — though, that will inevitably increase — but instead, increasing your one-rep max over time.
Here’s an example of what I am talking about:
Week 1–4:
Compound lifts will be 80–85% 1RM 4–6 reps (4 sets per)
Week 4 Test 1RM
Week 5= Deload
Week 6–9:
Compound lifts will be 82.5–87.5% 1 RM 3–5 reps (4 sets per)
Week 9 Test 1 RM
Week 10= Deload
Week 11–14:
Compound lifts will be 85–90% 1RM 2–4 reps (3 sets per)
Week 14 test 1RM
Week 15= Deload
As we can see, our working weight will be determined by our one-rep max. So, if you are starting week one with 1 rep maxes of 400 on deadlift, 350 on squat, and 275 on bench, your working weight on these movements can start at 340 for 4 reps on deadlifts, 300 for 4 reps on squats, and 235 for 4 reps on deadlifts; the goal, is to get each of these movements up to 6 reps. Once that is done, test your one-rep max, and shoot for 5 more pounds from the last time you have tested it — so, in this example, you would be shooting for 405 on deadlifts, 355 on squats, and 275 on bench. As you can see in the above routine, you will be working in different rep ranges and different intensities over time. This will ensure that every 4 weeks you can add at the very least 5 lbs on to your one-rep max, and continue to make progress despite a larger training age.
This is the weightlifting side of things. Now on to the cardio side of things.
Cardio
When it comes to building muscle, cardio really should be subordinated. And insofar as you are doing cardio, it should have three aims in mind: (1) ensuring that it is not interfering with your weightlifting progress. This first aim boils down to this: don’t do too much of it, and especially don’t do too much of the wrong cardio — i.e., moderate-intensity cardio, like running. Moderate intensity cardio, as opposed to low-intensity cardio like walking or high-intensity cardio, like HIIT (or, to speak more clearly, sprint-intervals), has a strong interference effect on weightlifting. In turn, running should probably be limited to twice a week for 30 minutes per session if you want to optimize muscle gain. Likewise, HIIT should also be limited, as, too much of it runs the risk of overtraining, and in turn, not recovering from your workouts — thus, less muscle gain. HIIT should be limited to no more than 4 30 minute sessions per week. Walking and other low-intensity forms of cardio basically have a large-cap on how much of it you can do without interfering with weight lifting, so do as much of it as you like. (2) ensuring that it is promoting general health and (3) ensuring that it is helping your training. Both HIIT and walking have been shown to have profound benefits on general health and likewise, HIIT has been shown to increase performance on weightlifting exercises and both walking & HIIT have been shown to improve recovery from weightlifting.
My routine cardio-wise is as follows, and it is based on the above-cited research:
Two 30-minute HIIT sessions per week
Ensuring I walk a minimum of 3 miles per day
This is enough to ensure that I reap all of the benefits from cardiovascular exercise, while also not diminishing my progress with the weights.
Nutrition
The common nutritional advice for muscle building is as follows: eat an extraordinarily large number of calories and eat an extraordinarily large amount of protein. Both of these pieces of advice are misguided, and more often than not, when done in conjunction, serve only to make you fat and also serve to diminish the quality of your hormonal health. You can certainly gain muscle by following such advice while gaining muscle, but it isn’t necessary for you to eat that many calories nor that much protein.
This is fundamentally due to what can be referred to as energy balance. Energy balance boils down to this: if you eat more calories than you burn, you will gain weight (calorie surplus); if you eat fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight (calorie deficit); if you eat as many calories as you burn, you will maintain your weight (neutral energy balance). The goal for building muscle, of course, is to put on weight. Hence, you need to be in a calorie surplus to build muscle. The logic of the former advice given — i.e. to eat in a large calorie surplus — is often as follows, “well, if I eat a lot of calories, I will gain more muscle.” Not exactly, though. All this would do is add unnecessary amounts of body-fat. You can use a calculator to determine how many calories you should be consuming during your bulk, but you should not go over 10% above your maintenance calories. In order to really tier this caloric intake to yourself though, you will need to check in every month to see how much weight you have gained. As a beginner (defined as someone who can make weekly strength gains), if you are not increasing your total body-weight by 1%-1.5% per month, increase your daily calorie intake by 100 calories. As an intermediate lifter (defined as someone who can make monthly strength gains), if you are not increasing your total body-weight by 0.5%-1% per month, increase your daily calorie intake by 100 calories. As an advanced lifter (defined as someone who can only make progress over the course of several months or more) if you are not increasing your body-weight by at least 5% per month, increase your calorie intake by 100 calories. In all of these cases, if you have gained more than the aforementioned percentages in weight, decrease your calorie intake by 100 calories. If, however, you check-in at the end of the month, and you have gained the appropriate amount of weight, keep your calorie intake the same. This ensures that the weight you are gaining is muscle, not fat — though, a small amount of weight gain will always entail some of the latter. As a natural lifter, this is the best we can hope for. In your first year, the best you can hope for is to gain 20–30 lbs of muscle, and in the years afterward, that amount decreases more and more. An extreme amount of calories will simply make you fatter.
Now, an extreme amount of protein will also prove to be detrimental, but this is more to your endocrine system and also your performance. That is due to the fact that (1) protein is a very satiating macronutrient (meaning, it makes you feel very full) (2) in large amounts, creates a diet that is lower in carbohydrates and fat. First and foremost, carbohydrates are the number one driver of performance in the gym, due to the fact that glycogen stores are the energy source that is utilized in weight lifting; having a protein intake that detriments your carbohydrate intake, will inevitably lead to worse performance in the gym, and in turn, less in the way of muscle gain — as, like stated earlier, performance in the gym, in terms of gaining strength, is the fundamental route to muscle growth. Next, it is well understood at this point that optimal hormonal health is in part dictated by consuming enough carbohydrates and fats. In particular, consuming too little carbohydrates and fats is associated with lower testosterone levels and higher cortisol levels — this is a recipe for lack of recovery, and in turn, the inability to make progress on your muscle-building journey.
The optimal protein intake for muscle building is from 0.8 grams per lb of body-weight to 1 gram per lb of body-weight. Any more than that becomes excessive — though, I must add, not dangerous, as many doctors (who by most accounts, are nutritionally ignorant) might lead you to believe.
A quick tip also, is to drink at least a gallon of water a day, as this confers many benefits including that of performance enhancement, as, being dehydrated significantly diminishes weightlifting performance and in turn, muscle growth. Given that weightlifters sweat more, a gallon is a good minimum to meet ordinary needs and also to cover losses from sweating.
The final part of the nutrition aspect of things is what foods you should be eating. I like to follow the 80/20 principle: basically, 80% of my ordinary intake of food will be coming from mostly unprocessed, whole foods. Don’t worry about spicing and salting your foods — these do not affect food quality or macronutrient intake to any worrying extent, and in fact, doing both carries its own set of beneficial health properties. So, fruits, vegetables, lean protein (like meat and dairy), and whole grains. The rest (20%) can be whatever I want. Likewise, I dedicate a day or two out of the week to eat basically whatever I want — of course, within reason (I very rarely exceed my daily calorie intake when I do this); on days where I eat whatever I want, I basically make sure I am getting enough protein to meet the aforementioned minimum requirement and then eat out at night. Hence, you do not have to be the sad, lonely bodybuilder, who cannot enjoy their food and also, feels the need to withdraw from social events due to restrictive
Lifestyle Choices
Although this is an extremely important section, it is going to be very short, as, it doesn't take much of a lifestyle change in order to optimize weightlifting results. In fact, I would say that it has four fundamental pillars: (1) get 7–9 hours of high-quality sleep per night (2) limit alcohol intake (3) keep stress to a minimum, and (4), stay within a healthy body-fat percentage range.
For sleep, the best thing that can be said on that front is to get on a regular sleeping schedule. Go to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time, at least most days — that is to say, don’t sweat it if once or twice a week you get a little bit less sleep because you wanted to stay out late, but simply don’t make a habit of it. Some things I like to do to ensure that I not only get enough sleep, but also, high-quality sleep, is this: I do not look at screens for the last hour of being awake, because blue-light can interfere with sleep quality; I have routine that calms me down before bed so I can fall asleep easily (generally, I read); and, sometimes, I supplement with this.
The data suggest, that limiting alcohol intake seems to be best when limiting it to zero. This is due to the fact that, for general health purposes, in any amount, it is regarded as unhealthy — yes, despite fleeting news pieces on the pseudo-health wonders of wine (as, whenever these stories drop, all such benefits are “potential” ones, whereas, we can definitively say that alcohol in any amount is bad for your health, based on a plethora of large-scale studies). But, for the purposes of weightlifting, it seems to be the case that you can get away with a drink or two a day, but even a weekendly bender will set you back substantially, as, alcohol intake — especially, though not exclusively, in excessive amounts — has been associated with lower testosterone levels, higher estrogen levels, and lower athletic performance. Hence, if you want to drink, keep it to 1–2 drinks a day. Otherwise, to ensure optimal muscle growth, health, and performance (in all facets of one’s life), it is best to stay away from the booze.
Being too stressed out brings about a plethora of negative health consequences. It increases the rapidity by which you get sick and increases the likelihood of you developing longer-term illnesses like cardiovascular disease or cancer. Likewise, given that training is itself a stressor, and that the need for deload weeks and recovery through proper nutrition and rest is to keep stress and fatigue at bay, the overaccumulation of stress from your ordinary life will hinder your progress in the gym, and in turn, delay muscle-building results. It can get so bad that muscle-building can be put at a halt until stress levels return to a manageable level. In turn, you want to incorporate habits in your life that will reduce stress. This mainly boils down to doing things that you find relaxing. I like going for long walks, reading, spending time with my significant other or friends, and listening to calming music. Likewise, the pillars of optimizing sleep and reducing alcohol consumption can also contribute to decreasing stress levels.
Finally, staying at a healthy body-fat percentage (for men, this is generally a body-fat percentage that does not exceed 15% and for women, a body-fat percentage that does not exceed 25%-27%), is crucial to ensuring that you can make good progress with your muscle-building endeavors. “But Daniel: aren’t strongmen fat? They have lots of muscle!” Yes, but they are also on performance-enhancing drugs. The data suggests that exceeding the aforementioned body-fat percentages in non-drug using athletes leads to a drop in insulin sensitivity, a suppression intracellular signaling responsible for protein synthesis (a necessary component of muscle growth of), and an increase in estrogen and a decrease in testosterone — i.e. a cocktale for not inhibiting muscle growth. First, here is a link to determine your body-fat percentage. Now, if you have discovered that you have a body-fat percentage that is higher than 15% as a male and higher than 25%-27% as a female, then it is time to cut weight. This can be done, again, by consulting this calculator, and by choosing the option “calorie deficit.” In doing so, you will still keep your protein at 0.8g per lb of bodyweight to 1g, so as to lose predominantly fat, not muscle, in your weight loss journey. The goal while cutting, too, is to maintain your strength, so as to retain your muscle throughout the process of weight loss — so don’t push for strength gains while cutting weight, as, that will diminish recovery, and in turn, make regressions in strength far more likely. That, at this point, is my approach to weight loss: it is no longer for the sake of aesthetics (though, that accompanies it happily); rather, it is to ensure that I am in a surplus for most of the year and that I stay below 15% body-fat for most of the year, so I can spend as much time as possible doing the fun stuff: building muscle and eating more food!
Supplementation
Supplements are mentioned last here because they are the least important. You can build a lot of muscle and a beautiful body without them. That is why they are called “supplements”: they are by their very nature supplemental. If, however, you are interested in the ones that actually work — the ones that have a huge amount of data to support that they work, that is — I am going to mention two, as, there really are only two that have enough data to justify their usage. Anything else, while it might be effective, pales in comparison in terms of support in the scientific literature, that these two compounds possess in their efficacy to help with muscle growth.
The reason why these compounds are both perfect for muscle building is simple: they increase performance in the gym. That is to say, they allow you to push harder, and in turn, help you to get stronger. Creatine even has inherent lean mass building properties to it. Both compounds are extremely safe to use and confer a wide variety of other benefits, such as that of nootropic effects (cognitive-enhancing effects) and hormonal optimizing effects.
The optimal dosage of creatine is 5 grams of creatine monohydrate per day (typically with a post-workout meal rich in carbohydrates), and the optimal dosage of caffeine prior to working out is somewhere around 4–6mg/kg bodyweight.
We can see now that building muscle — and in turn, getting a great physique — is rather simple: (1) get stronger on compound exercises (2) don’t over-do cardio (3) eat at a slight calorie surplus, drink enough water, follow the 80/20 principle, and don’t overdo the protein (4) get enough high-quality sleep (5) cut out the alcohol (6) work on reducing stress (7) and finally, supplement with creatine and caffeine. Following these steps will ensure that you will gain muscle in ways that will exceed your expectations.
