Many students in high school dip their toes in weight lifting, especially while their hormones are at their peak. However, most of these dreams never leave the pillow, as most students have no idea where to start. Building muscle isn’t about mindlessly throwing dumbbells around, but training smarter (not harder), eating right, recovering well, and staying consistent. With the right plan, anyone can put on muscle, regardless of their genetics.
Over the coming weeks, I will be guiding through more specific parts of the training routine, but for now here are the basics:
First of all, recovery is as important as training, as muscle grows during rest, not training. It is absolutely essential to get 7-8 hours of sleep each night and take at least 1-2 rest days each week. More training does not always lead to more growth, and over time will only lead to injury and poor recovery.
Nutrition is also equally important, and your diet should be based on your body type. Maintenance calories are the amount of calories needed to stay the same weight, neither gain nor lose. Underweight individuals should eat 200-300 above maintenance, and overweight individuals should eat 200-300 less. Skinny-fat individuals (high body fat, low muscle mass) should eat at maintenance and do a body recomposition: building muscle while burning fat at the same time. In a perfect world, you should track every calorie and every bite that enters your body, but this is usually unrealistic, especially for high school students. A good rule of thumb is to prioritize protein intake, fill half your plate with vegetables, and fill the rest with carbs and fats (balance both). Protein is the building block to put on muscle, and aim for 0.8-1g of protein per pound of body weight. If you are new to lifting, lower amounts of protein will still build muscle, but progress will be faster with high amounts.
Recovery is important, but it won’t do anything if you don’t train. Progressive overload is the only way you will build muscle and get stronger over time. Rep ranges of 8-15 are ideal for muscle hypertrophy. Pick a weight you can only hit around 8 reps of, and lift at that weight until you can do it for 15 clean reps, before you increase the weight. Push every set to complete failure.
The best workout routine is one that you enjoy and can follow consistently. For optimal results, aim to hit every muscle group twice a week. Three times can lead to overtraining, and one time won’t be sufficient for hypertrophy. Choosing from thousands of exercises is simpler than it seems. 2-3 simple compound exercises is more than enough: incline and flat pressing movements for chest, pull movements for back, presses and raises for shoulders, curls and extensions for biceps and triceps, and some squat variations for legs. The key is to train each area consistently while giving other areas time to rest.
Your frame is the most important thing to a well-developed physique. Chest and biceps are flashy, but your lats and triceps are what actually make you look bigger. Shoulders may not be the most fun to train, but wide shoulders can make or break your physique. Legs may seem easy to skip, but over time, skipping leg training can lead to hormonal imbalances. Abs are not only made in the kitchen, and training abs can make them pop, which is always impressive.
A common misconception is that you need a gym membership or a home gym to build muscle. Speaking from experience, this is not true. If you take your backpack and fill it with books, you can use it as a makeshift dumbbell and be able to train just as effectively as in the gym. Paired with pushups and pullups (you can use a doorway if you lack a pull-up bar), you can easily build just as much muscle as someone with full access to a gym.
Overall, the key to building muscle is progressive overload, recovering well, and staying consistent. Remember that working out is a mental journey disguised as a physical one. You can shortcut the physical gains, or slack off, but the mental clarity and strength you gain is impossible to attain without dedication and consistency.
