Although it’s great to be lean and look good on the beach, the hardwork all begins during the off-season. 

This is where you build the muscle in the first place and what makes the difference from having an average physique compared to having a really impressive athletic beach body during the summer months!

In this post i’m going to share with you 5 Ways To Build Muscle During The Off-season…

#1 Consume Lots Of Protein…

For the average guy looking to build muscle you need to be consuming at least 1.5g of protein per pound of bodyweight. That means if you weigh 160lbs you’ll need 240g of protein per day. That’s quite difficult for most guys to consume and also it’s expensive buying chicken, steak and fish all of the time!

I’d recommend looking at protein shakes for weight gain to save you money in the long run and also to save hours in the kitchen prepping food! You could have a shake for breakfast or use it as a post workout meal to help your muscles rebuild and replenish. 

#2 Lift Heavy…

There’s no point in going to the gym, lifting light weights and doing hundreds of reps – this will only waste energy and burn muscle! When trying to bulk up you need to be hitting the weights hard and heavy. Select mass building exercises like pull ups, deadlifts, squats, bench press, dips, etc – bascially compound lifts which recruit lots of large muscle groups. Train within a 6-12 rep range and aim to get stronger week-by-week.

#3 Log Your Lifts…

One of the best ways of measuring your success in the gym is to track your workouts. Although it’s easy to fall into the lazy trap, and just go by how you feel each session it’s not a very efficient way of measuring success. Can you remember what you benched 4 months ago? If you don’t log your lifts I bet you can’t remember?!?! Pick up a gym diary and log each workout. Record the number of sets, reps and weight lifted and aim to improve. 

#4 Rest & Recover…

As much as it’s important to go to the gym at least 4x per week when trying to bulk up it’s also absolutely imperative to rest and recharge the batteries so that you can continue to progress further. Overtraining and under recovering leads to feeling burnt out, and increases the likelihood of injury. On your rest days, you can still stay active but opt for more gentle exercise i.e. walking, low intensity swimming, etc.  You could also spend time stretching and foam rolling in order to replenish your muscles and improve recovery time. 

#5 Set Yourself Targets…

Nothing beats going into the gym with a goal you’re striving to achieve. Set yourself a target e.g. 100kg on the bench press within the next 3 months, or 1 rep max 160kg on the deadlift. Going into the gym with a goal is far more motivating and gives you a reason for being there. 

Alongside lifting heavier you could also set yourself a weight goal i.e. gain 12lbs over the next 3 months. You can then take your weight each week and make changes when needed. For example if your weight is staying the same that means you need to eat more, so increase your calories by having a mass building shake and then asses again over the next few days to ensure your weight is going up.