#it’s a tiny gym there’s only one lat pull down machine and a group of 4 people that came together are using it in their circuit. man come on

[suispiria]

everyone in this gym decided today is a back&biceps day

[hepalien]

Shrunkyclunks (Modern Bucky/Cap Steve) Fic Rec

Hate Sex & Hair Protocol by @maddiewritesstucky - Mature, 1.8k

SHIELD Agent Bucky, UST, Enemies to Lovers (in Steve’s head), Humor

They’re all full of shit, Steve decides.

His team don’t have a clue what they’re talking about, running their mouths about the way he and Bucky look at each other; the tension that seems to be at a constant near-snapping point between them.

'It’s called annoyance' Steve wants to yell in each of their faces, loud and one by one. It’s the pain of having to exist every day in close proximity with someone who drives you out of your fucking mind.

---

In which Steve discovers that ire and desire may just exist side by side in his brain.

Stop interrupting my grinding series by @rohkeutta - Teen, 2.5k

Nurse Bucky, Wrong Number, Fluff, Humor

“I tried to call Sam,” Captain America says, bewildered. He’s sprinting like Usain Bolt and doesn’t sound even a little out of breath. Fucker. “Who’re you?”

“Someone who’s watching you live on TV,” Bucky tells him as the tiny patriotic figure on the screen takes the turns like he instructed. Bucky should probably be a lot more freaked out about this, but honestly? After a tour in the Middle East and six years as a nurse in New York, even this isn’t enough to ruffle him. One sees a lot of shit in the ER. “Also, you better hang up now, that thing is behind the next bend.”

“Uh, okay,” Captain America says. “Thanks?”

“Whatever,” Bucky says, disconnects the call and turns the TV off to get ready for his shift.

Save a Horse, Ride a Captain by @galwednesday - Teen, 2.7k

War Vet Bucky, Meet Cute, Fluff, Humor, Modern Howlies

Bucky tapped him on the shoulder, swaying back and forth a little as he waited for the man to turn around. “Hello,” he said, and then promptly forgot what else he was going to say, because this guy was fucking beautiful. “Wow. Good face.”

Two of the guy’s friends, a man wearing a suit that fit so well it had to be bespoke and a man with a cute little gap between his front teeth, started cracking up. The petite redhead sitting next to them cocked her head to the side and pulled her phone out of her handbag. Beautiful Face just looked kind of pained, so Bucky redirected. He was a gentleman. He could take a hint. No hitting on beautiful guys who were uncomfortable with that sort of thing, no matter how lickable their jawlines were.

“Hello,” he repeated, doing his best to mind his manners. “I’m very sorry to bother you. Can I have a piggy-back ride?”

You Make My Heart Skip A Beet by @musette22 - Teen, 3.8k

Chef Bucky, POV Outsider, Fluff, Humor

“I made soda bread.”

Steve lets out the 6’2” supersoldier equivalent of a squeak. “Oh, I love soda bread,” he says eagerly, rolling forward on the balls of his feet like he does when he gets excited. “My mom used to make it all the time when I was growing up.”

The tips of Barnes’s ears turn red, and he mutters something that sounds suspiciously like, “I know.”

more under the cut

Cafe Au Écoute by @littlesystems - Teen, 3.8k

Coffee Shop AU

No matter where Steve goes, there's always the chance that he'll overhear a conversation about himself - or rather, Captain America. This coffee shop is no different. The fact that he keeps eavesdropping well past the point of plausible deniability is another matter entirely.

#TweetMeDaddy by StarSpangled - Teen, 4.1k

SHIELD Employee Bucky, Misunderstandings, Crack, Humor

Coulson, for his part, stares up at Bucky with such a betrayed look of frozen horror that Natasha actually goes the extra step and presses another button, capturing the moment and airdropping the photograph to her phone for posterity. When he speaks, his voice comes out as a hoarse whisper. “Why…?” He swallows and starts again, trying for some semblance of normality. “...Why would you tweet something like that?!”

“If you must know, sir,” and somehow he manages to make ‘sir’ come out with the same inflection most people reserve for ‘motherfucking son of a bitch’, “it’s because I have a difficult time doing my job when my job involves monitoring the man with the best fucking ass in the United States of America.” He slowly lowers himself back into his seat until he’s at eye level, making extreme eye contact with Coulson until Coulson turns away to make mortified eye contact in Natasha’s general direction through the one-way glass. Natasha would take another picture, if she weren’t too busy catching Steve’s red-faced sputtering. “Sometimes, I vent to my Twitter followers. Sometimes, it’s about hot men with washboard abs. Can I go now, or do you need a graphic description of how I pleasure myself at night?”

at first chance i'd take the bed warmed by the body by @spacebuck - Explicit, 8.2k

YouTuber Bucky

This close, Steve can see exactly how beautiful his hands are. He’s never really noticed before, or at least he’s never really had a reason to notice, but the man’s hands are large, tanned like he works outside all day. There’s an endearing callus on the heel of one of his palms, and Steve can’t quite work out when calluses became endearing.

Steve pauses the video. Swallows hard. Casts his eyes around for anything that’ll keep his mind off the hands on his screen, off the words inked into those hands, the delicate shape of a bird’s wing, the curling edge of a vine.

He looks down. The name of the channel is right there, blaring the man’s name right into Steve’s brain until it feels like he’s known it all along.

Bucky Barnes.

OR: the one where Bucky's a youtuber who solves puzzles on camera, and steve's smitten and horny

Came with my cool (I dropped it) by @liionne - Teen, 9.2k

Yoga Instructor Bucky

"When you said I need to loosen up, I didn't think you meant literally."

"I meant it every way. Mentally, emotionally, and physically." Natasha says, and thrusts a yoga mat at him.

there once was a diamond by bloobeary - Teen, 11.3k

Fluff, Thanksgiving

"You," Becca seethes, and hits him with a wooden spoon. "Could have told me," Hits him again. "You were dating Captain America." Final hit, Bucky laughs. He supposes he deserves it, giving her no more information than the fact he was bringing his boyfriend to Thanksgiving dinner at her house and then showing up with Steve.

Salt by littleblackfox @thelittleblackfox - Mature, 12k

Bakery AU

The cinnamon roll is gone in four bites. Four indecent, jaw-unhinging bites, and Steve sucks the last traces of lemon and icing from his fingers with a low, throaty sound of satisfaction. He glances up at Bucky, who is leaning against the counter and watching him with avid fascination.

“Um…” Steve says around his index finger. There’s still a little icing on the bed of his fingernail, and he stops trying to work it off with his tongue.

“You know those movies where the girl eats an eclair or something, and it’s really, like, sexually charged?” Bucky asks.

Steve pulls his finger out of his mouth. He’s never seen that kind of movie, but the thought of Bucky eating an eclair is certainly… well, it lingers. “Uh?”

“Yeah, well that was the exact opposite.” Steve scowls, and Bucky cackles gleefully. “You are something else, Steve.”

Leg Day by Brokenpitchpipe - Explicit, 12.1k

Gym Thot Bucky

“So talk to him,” Sam says.

“I can’t,” Bucky groans. “I can’t, Sam, I. He just.” He fluffs his hair up and stares at Sam, distraught. “I want him to bench press me.”

“Okay, so it’s serious,” Sam interprets. “Got it."

(Or: The one where Sam is Bucky's long-suffering roommate, Bucky is a hot mess of a millennial, and Hot Steve spends far too much time on the Lat Pull-Down machine.)

Art Nouveau by voluptuous_panic - Explicit, 12.2k

Bartender Bucky, Tattooed & Pierced Bucky

Steve's on the worst date of his life. At least the bartender's cute.

much tattoo about nothing by @deisderium - Explicit, 14.5k

Tattoo Artist Bucky

Steve Rogers gets a lot of email requests, but never one like this: James Barnes wants to use his healing factor to practice tattoos.

Turns out tattoos give Steve boners.

No Wonder There's Panic in the Industry by sprinkle_of_cinnamon - Not Rated (I’d say Mature?), 20.5k

Stark Industries Intern Bucky, Team fic, Humor

In which Bucky Barnes and his BFF, Clint Barton, are NYU interns for Stark Media Group competing to be Pepper's favorite.

Or alternatively, the time Bucky assisted the P.A. team on the Steve Rogers piece and ended up (adopted) with a contact list full of Avengers.

Life of the Party by @aggressivewhenstartled - Explicit, 21.6k

Superhero Impersonator Bucky, Mistaken Identity

“You know, kids,” Steve heard from the backyard, “one of the most common threats a superhero has to face is inside an active volcano! We’re going to have to work on your evasion skills, so for the next five minutes, the floor is lava!” This was met by a sudden spike in both volume and pitch from the small children as they scrambled onto every raised surface they could find and immediately launched themselves right back off.

“I’ve never seen actual lava in my entire life,” Steve said, vaguely offended.

“You got a superhero impersonator for The Falcon’s niece’s birthday party,” Sam said, incredulous. “The Falcon, who is an actual superhero.”

Trust Enough by @geneticallydead - Explicit, 23.3k

Misunderstandings

“Saturday. Yeah, that’s good,” Steve says, and actually scuffs his shoe at the ground. Like a ridiculous shy superhero damsel. “Say eight? I live-“

“Yeah, big building with the A on it,” Bucky says, and can’t help a big stupid grin. Steve stares at him, looking a little dazed, and after their whole conversation it’s only now that Bucky’s brain catches up and realises Steve finds him quite attractive. So. Win for Bucky.

“Let me get your number,” Steve says finally, after they’ve stared stupidly at each other for about three hours, taking out his phone.

So they exchange numbers, and then Steve says he should go, and Bucky agrees, and they kind of stare at each other for a bit more, then Steve actually does go, but not before taking Bucky’s hand and squeezing it warmly in a way that makes Bucky want to shiver all over. Then Steve is gone, and Bucky is standing alone in the alley, grinning to himself.

Right up until the moment he remembers that Steve thinks Bucky is an escort he’s just hired.

Well fuck.

The Roommate by layersofart, Niitza - Teen, 28.6k

War Vet Bucky, Roommates AU, Humor, Fluff, Angst, Team fic

In which Steven G. Rogers, a.k.a. Captain America, gets a roommate. Who rapidly turns into his "roommate"—in the euphemistic sense of the word.

It takes SHIELD and the rest of the Avengers an absurd amount of time to notice.

Brooklyn Baby by sprinkle_of_cinnamon - Mature, 33.7k

Coffee Shop AU, Modern Howlies, Mistaken Identity, Team Fic

In which Bucky is just trying to live life and enjoy his unofficial official table at the obnoxiously hipster coffee shop but some guy named Steve stole his spot.

Or, the time that Bucky unintentionally befriended the Avengers and had no idea.

Never Talk to Strangers by mambo @whtaft - Teen, 40.4k

Grad Student Bucky, Slow Burn

Never Talk to Strangers: or; How a Forgotten Childhood Lesson Led Bucky Barnes to Appreciate Charlie Chaplin, Befriend an A.I., Slip on Soap Bubbles, Be Mistaken for a Succubus, and Try to Woo a Superhero.

Sinking Our Teeth In The Heart Of The Sun by fallendarlings @pressrestartwrites - Explicit, 102.8k

Single Dad Bucky, Kid Fic, Slow Burn, Domestic, Fluff, Mutual Pining, Steve has Autism

Bucky Barnes never intended to become a single father at 25. But life has always enjoyed kicking him while he's down and it's showing no signs of stopping. A chance meeting with a brick wall of a guy named Steve in the formula aisle of the grocery store leads to a friendship it seems like both of them need. If only Bucky could remember that's all they are- friends. If only Steve didn't slot into their lives so perfectly and look so good spoiling Bucky's daughter (and Bucky, despite his protests).

Oh, if only Steve didn't turn out to be Captain America.

Steve Rogers is wandering around a world that he doesn't fit into, fighting for a government that he doesn't trust, just because he doesn't know what to do with himself if he ever relaxes long enough to actually think about anything other than the next mission.

And then came Bucky Barnes and his newborn baby.

More recs

[raoulbathletics-blog]

Rubbermaid Weights, Goku, and a 7 year-4 year Degree

I have always loved fitness; well I have always loved lifting weights.  Fitness involves much more than lifting weights like running. I’ll be honest, I can not stand running, it sucks.  I have a “rep the weights faster” as a cardiovascular ideology. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not hating on runners or endurance athletes.  I actually envy y'all (I’m from the south, I say y'all, don't expect it to change).  With that being said, yes I do admire your capacity for long duration cardio endurance but I also believe a “Man” shouldn’t weigh less than 185 pounds or be beardless. Thats another blog later on. 

As long as I remember I was into pumping iron. When I was a kid I idolized figures such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, The Rock, The Incredible Hulk, and Goku.  Yes, I know the last two or cartoon characters, but a lot can be learned from Goku’s dedication and commitment to training and nutrition.  If you didn't get hyped AF and start beating the shit out of your bedroom walls when Kakarot went Super Saiyan you aren’t even human.  I’m a nerd, so what, I can bench press a Fiat.  Anyways back to my childhood and lifting weights.  To this day I can still remember my first weight set.  It was this tiny little bench with a “barbell” that was the diameter of a broomstick and the weights were these plastic case container like things that were filled with concrete or sand. Pretty much what I had was a weight set made by Rubbermaid. There was even a cap you could unscrew on each one where you could let a little sand out or add some. I loved that damn weight set, I thought it was awesome, but hey I was 9 years old and I was about to be like Arnold (growing up all my friends wanted to “Be like Mike”, I wanted to be the Terminator).  Something about lifting weights and growing muscle has always intrigued me.  I believe my Dad had a part in my fascination with working out.  My dad has always been built, maybe not as aesthetic or as big as my celebrity and cartoon idols but compared to my friend’s fathers and anyone that I personally known my dad was, still is, swole.  My dad was the one to show me what a bench press, bicep curl, and lat pull down were.  Let’s just say he paved the way for me. Now my father showed me the in and outs of the weight room, but my perception of pure brute strength came from my mother and the rest of the Boughtons.  Those Boughtons let me tell ya.  Have you heard of the term “Construction Strong”? Well if you looked up that term in the dictionary, there would be a picture of the Boughton Family.  Now I have never seen my uncle touch a dumbbell but he could pick up an 80 pound sack of concrete in each hand and scale a ladder at the same time, the crazy thing is my mom would be right behind him with another sack a concrete.  You’d think we were a family of vikings, if it weren't  for most of us being vertically challenged and that one tan skinned kid aka me.  The Boughtons are just a solid group of individuals with a tenacity for work, not desk jockeying work, but physical manual labor in the elements of nature type of work. To this day, my 72 year old grandmother still mows 1 acre of grass with a push mower.  The damn thing isn't even self propelled. That’s what I call Functional Fitness; yeah cool “Fran” time bro but can you mix concrete with a shovel and wheel barrow, frame a house or build an award winning Mardi Gras float in less than a week.  I think not. Again being able to lift weights and not call a “professional” to change your light bulb is another blog topic for a later date. I owe a lot to my family and my upbringing for my love of working out. The patriarch of the Boughtons, my grandfather, is who I received my first protein shake.  Now I’m not talking about the delicious whey protein shake you and I are accustomed to today. I’m talking old school; glass of whole milk, 4 raw eggs, and a tsp of vanilla extract-protein shake (needless to say this was my first and last “old school” protein shake). 

I was 15 when Hurricane Katrina hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast (if you are not familiar with this area, the location I am talking about is “The Landmass” between New Orleans and Alabama). Everything was destroyed and we didn't have school for months, so there wasn't anything to do besides to either work out and/or make a little pocket change gutting houses and cleaning debris. Let me tell you, tearing down soaking wet, moldy drywall got old quick. There was a few of us that really got into working out at this time; one of which really got into it, stuck with it and he now has his IFBB Pro Card.  Ready for this, the dude is a VEGAN... Which is not totally unheard of these days.  To compete in the world of bodybuilding it’s 90 percent diet, I don’t care what you say, it is.  So when your food intake is all veggies and you are committed to pumping iron, yeah you are going to be shredded.  

So we all hit the weights pretty hard from sophomore to senior year of high school.  You know you're doing something right when your classmates all claim that you're on roids.  “Nah’ bruh, blame it on genetics, two a days at the gym, copious amounts of grilled chicken breast and the occasional case of Keystone Light. (what, I was carb loading).  I played football in high school a couple of times but I kept getting injured in the weight room due to poor programming and improper coaching on weightlifting technique from my “all knowledgeable coaches”.  I got stronger outside of the football weight room by going to other gyms and doing research on my own.  This is one of the reasons I later finally chose a career path that I’m in now.  

Then came college. I know you’ve heard of “Gaining that Freshman 50″. Well I took it up a notch and gained a whopping 70 pounds after high school.  I was what you called a career student.  I took advantage of everything college had to offer, except the academic part. I didn't hit the books hard until my 3rd freshman year and finally chose a major and stuck with it.  Prior to this I hopped around from engineering, only because my friend was doing it (the same one that is a vegan body builder but I quickly realized that my math capacity was limited to counting by 45′s) to pre law (but at this time I turned 21 and there was no need to use my fake ID anymore), to finally figuring why don't I do something relevant to what I love, Working out.  At this point I was 4 years into a relationship with my now wife and most of her family are educators and coaches.  I stated earlier how often got hurt often in the high school weight room and I wasn’t the only one.  I also had only like 2 influential teachers  in my high school career, (thank you Sheila and Monty G).  So I decided to go into coaching with an emphasis on strength and conditioning with a minor and history.  For people that don't know, if you plan to coach a high school team you'll have to teach a class too.  So I chose another topic that I really like, History, (there’s no way in hell I’m teaching math unless its only kilo to pound conversions or counting plates on a barbell).  I felt like I needed to be in the classroom and in the weight room to positively motivate and inspire kids.  After a 7 year stint in college and over $40k in student loans, I finally received that 4 year degree everyone rant and raves about. Another blog for another time. 

With that being said, I fuel planes to pay the bills.  Remember how I said my now In Laws are teachers. Well they also tell me stories of the job.  It’s not the kids that have deterred me from the job, it’s the parents.  I honestly don’t wont to deal with y'all all knowing, ignorant, neglectful, pig headed, selfish A-Holes.  Now I know not all of you parents are like this but there’s a select few that I really don't have the time or patience for.  I give props and thanks to all teachers out there.  You are a group of people that are underpaid and under appreciated for what y'all do and put up with.  

After 4 years and counting in the aviation industry, mortgage doesn't pay itself,  I finally had the opportunity to  live the American Dream.  I am now an entrepreneur that owns his own business, Rah’s Gym in Bay St. Louis, Ms.  I could have easily pursued my dream in an easier way and be a personal trainer at someone else’s gym.  Do you see the problem with that last sentence?  I’ll break it down for you. In order to truly succeed the route should never be easy.  I think there’s a difference between being a personal trainer and strength coach. Lastly, being at “someone’s else’s gym” didn’t sit well with me.  Especially since there weren’t any “gym’s” near me.  Yes, there were health clubs, and fitness centers, and judgement free zones with pizza parties, but there were no gyms.  So with the determination to finally get my Freshman 70 off, oh yeah it’s still there, and an increased limit on my card I opened my own gym.  A real gym.  I have no air conditioning, no smith machines, and a bunch of free weights.  When people ask where my cardio section is, I simply point to the one elliptical and to the road on side of the gym and say “There’s no better cardio than feet to pavement.”  

Rah’s Gym has been open for 8 month’s now and business is good for being the niche, non commercial, mainstream gym that it is.  I’ve learned a lot so far; not just about running a business but about the field that I love.  You know there’s so much more to working out besides heavy singles and curls for the girls.  I know right, who would have thought.  I house all types of athletes at the gym; Functional Fitters, aka crossfitters that don't like to be sued, Body Builders, Power lifters, Mixed Martial Artists, and even Triathletes. 

It’s an exciting time to be in the fitness industry.  People are finally giving a shit about their health and quality of life, and I want to be a part of it. I plan on losing my Freshman 70, are you. 

Lift heavy, run efficiently, and rest often.

[supplementdoctors]

Beginners Ultimate Guide to Building Muscle and Boosting Muscle Mass

So you’re a skinny guy looking to gain weight, or a bulky guy looking to lose some, or a girl hoping for that perfectly toned and chiseled physique. Either way, chances are that you’re finding ways to build or grow muscle.

And if you are, then this guide is perfect for your needs.

Join us as we discuss how to build muscle, how not to build muscle, how to make a diet plan, how to exercise, and how to get in the right mindset to be consistent in the pursuit of your muscle gaining goals.

In short, this guide has everything to get you started on solid ground and help you pave a path forward.

The Science Behind Muscle Growth

Before we proceed to specific steps, tips, and tricks for building muscle, you need to understand the science behind muscle growth. Why so? Body building and strength training are not just shots in the dark. You don’t just go to the gym and start lifting right away.

After all, it’s your body. You should know exactly what you’re doing to it before you begin.

All successful body builders and weight trainers understand the science behind muscle growth.

They know exactly what happens to their body after a grueling workout and they use that information to create strategies that lead them towards success in their muscle building goals.

So what exactly is muscle building? And how does your body react to your attempts at muscle growth?

This may surprise you. But in order to build muscles, you need to damage them.

Wait, what?

You’re thinking, you didn’t sign up for this. You wanted to grow your muscles, not damage them. But these two processes are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Muscle growth is a continuous process of damage and repair.

It is the way your body copes with the stress you inflict on it during a workout.

So, when you’re work out, you’re actually damaging your muscles. You’re creating tiny tears in the muscle’s surface. And since our body always strives for balance and equilibrium, it sets to repairing the damage as soon as it occurs.

In the cellular process it employs to repair the damage, the body fuses the muscle fibers to create new muscle protein strands called myofibrils.

As the body undergoes the repeated process of damage and repair, the buildup of myofibrils lead to muscle hypertrophy or growth.

This doesn’t happen when you workout. It occurs when you’re resting. As you slump on the bed after a grueling day at the gym and sleep the night away, your body gets busy in the process of protein synthesis.

This is why rest is as important as physical activity in the muscle building process.

The 4 Requirements Of Muscle Growth

Now that we know what goes on inside our body as our muscles grow, we need to move on to what we need to do on the outside to stimulate the internal chemical process. Let’s move on to the practical steps involved in building muscle mass.

There can be any number of things you need to do in order to gain muscle. But it would be helpful if we divide them into 4 categories. These are four things you need to do in order to achieve a steady muscle buildup over the course of time.

Lifting: Let’s start with the most obvious one. And the one you’re looking forward to or dreading the most, depending on your outlook. Heavy lifting is the staple of any muscle building endeavor. It is what actually stimulates muscle growth.

You need to be systematic in your approach when it comes to lifting. You need to be able to tell where you are at a particular moment and where you need go.

Eating: Let’s make this simple. If you plan on building muscle mass, you need to eat. If you cannot eat, then stop reading this right away and go and find another hobby. But ‘eat!’ seems like vague advice.

How much exactly do you have to eat? Well that depends on your body type and your goals. We will discuss what to eat, how much to eat, and how to create goal-oriented diet plans further below.

Consistency: When you set out to achieve your fitness goals, a lot depends upon having the right mindset. The psychological effort is as important as, if not more so than, the physical strain. But many physical fitness trainers gloss over this fact completely.

And this is where a lot of beginners fail. The right mindset and motivation is the only thing that separates a beginner who quits early and someone who continues on the path with absolute dedication.

Relaxation: Remember what we learned when we were exploring the science of muscle gain. A lot of the protein synthesis occurs in the body when we are asleep. When you’re on a muscle building routine, your body needs rest as much as it needs food and exercise.

Never underestimate the value of a good 8-hour sleep. With proper rest and relaxation, you’ll be much closer to your gaining goals more than ever before.

Lifting Weights: The Beginning

Exercise is the key to fitness.

As you grew up, this is the first thing you learned about staying healthy. If you want to be fit, you need to exercise. This may be a good general advice but it doesn’t really answer any questions if gaining muscle mass is your goal.

Exercise helps, yes. But what kind of exercise are we talking about specifically?

Most people, who are looking to lose weight, rely on conventional exercises like running, swimming or cycling.

While these may be excellent remedies if you’re looking to shed a few extra pounds, they do not contribute to building muscle, at least not the full body muscle gain.

So even if you hit the gym and spend all your time on the treadmill or the cycling machine, you would be nowhere near closer to your muscle gain goals.

So what do you need to do?

If you’re looking for gaining muscle mass and achieving that perfect body, weights are your best friend. You don’t need treadmills and cycling machines. You need dumbbells and barbells, squat racks and benches, and places to do chin ups, pull ups, and dips.

You don’t need weight machines. Many of the beginners flock to weight machines as an easy way out. Isolation exercises on machines only focus on one particular set of muscles while the machine does all the work.

You just push and pull while it’s the machines job to stabilize the weights. This is the wrong approach.

You don’t need any of that. What you need is full body routines with compound exercises. These exercises are designed to target multiple muscle groups simultaneously. When you lift a barbell in a deadlift or squats, you are not just pushing and pulling.

Your entire body is engaged in the process of stabilizing the weights. This way, you work on various muscles at the time, not just one or two.

Muscle Building Exercises

Once you’re down with the theory, it’s time to move on to some of the most effective muscle building exercises.

Deadlifts: The deadlift is when you lift a weight (typically a barbell) from the ground and place it back again. It primarily targets your middle or lower back but the additional muscles that are stimulated include quads, calves, hamstrings, forearms. It is one of the best muscle building exercises out there.

Squats: Mastering a squat may be tough but they are extremely rewarding. Think about it. If you can target 256 muscles in one movement, what else can you wish for?

A typical squat is when you place the bar of the barbell on your shoulders and squat down with a straight back. It is essential to maintain the proper body posture to avoid any problems.

Dips: A dip is when you suspend yourself above the ground holding the bars like a gymnast. With considerable upper arm strength, you dip your body down and lift it back up again. This is an excellent exercise for the chest muscles and also builds your forearms, biceps, and triceps.

Chin-Ups: There may be many so-called body builders who would not be able to do 5 chin-ups in a row when it comes to it. A chin-up is when you grab an overhead bar firmly and pull your whole body upwards until your chin is over the bar.

Suspending your whole body weight is an effective way to work on your lats, biceps, and upper back.

Bench press: If you have ever happened to stumble across a gym, chances are that you’ve seen a lot of people lying on benches attempting to lift a heavy barbell. One of the reasons the bench press is so popular is that it is extremely effective.

They build muscle mass for the chest, shoulders, and triceps all in one go.

Overhead Press: Unlike the bench press, you do this standing up. An overhead press is when you lift the weight, well, over your head obviously. An effective overhead press routine ensures steady upper body strength.

You work on your shoulders and triceps with this particular variation.

Rows: You can do this bilaterally, with a barbell, or unilaterally, with a dumbbell. Whichever the variation is, your goal is to train and develop the muscles of your upper back, which are weak in many trainees.

In a typical dumbbell row, your goal is to lift the dumbbell by moving your shoulder blade back and keeping your arm in a similar position. You have to squeeze in both shoulder blades to stimulate movement in the muscles of your upper back.

Preparing And Following A Diet Plan

When you work on building muscles in the gym, what are you planning to build it on? Energy, obviously. And where would the energy come from? It would come from food. Eating, unlike lifting, is what all of us do every day.

So there’s no point in saying you need eat to build muscle. How much you eat, however. That is the question.

This is where the principle of caloric surplus comes in. Every person’s body requires a certain amount of calories per day to function, based on the amount of physical activity you perform.

The calories give you energy to perform those tasks while maintaining your weight at the current level. If you don’t eat enough, your body receives fewer calories than the regular levels. This creates a calorie deficit.

When you are aiming to perform intense exercise to build muscle mass, your calorie intake needs to be significantly more than regular levels since the amount of physical exercise has increased significantly.

Apart from that, you need enough energy to maintain a sustained muscular growth on top your daily needs. Needless to say, you need to eat a lot.

General Eating Tips

Before we move on to specific meal plans for the day, here are some of the general eating tips you need to follow.

Eat whole and unprocessed foods: When your goal is to be healthy, how can you consume an unhealthy meal and expect the same results? You need to eat natural and unprocessed meals.

Drop the frozen meals and move towards fresh sources of vegetables, poultry, meat, and dairy. Forget junk foods and find ways to make home cooked meals exciting. There’s no reason that you should enjoy your meals less if they are home-prepared.

Mix and match: When you’re setting out to create meal plans, be careful about what to include. Over-reliance on a single food item won’t do. You require a balanced diet comprised of all essential nutrients packed in a single meal. Have fun with your diet plans.

There’s a lot of room for creativity. Pair the right kind of vegetables with the right kind of meat and the right kind of drink. Mix and match.

Protein is essential: Since your primary goal is muscle growth and since the body requires amino acids in surplus to sustain that growth, there should be a lot of protein in your diet. But wait. Don’t rush to the store to buy protein supplements just yet.

Why rely on protein supplements when you have natural sources of protein all around you? You have access to poultry, dairy, and meat. You can mix and match here too. Have eggs for breakfast, chicken for lunch and meat for dinner.

You need one gram of protein per a pound of body weight required to build muscle.

Drink lots of water: Just like your body requires more food for muscle growth, it also requires a lot more water than usual. Your muscles require more water to rehydrate and recover. But the more exercise you do, the more your body loses water through sweating.

So, the natural solution is to drink lots and lots of water. Make it a gallon of water a day just to be on the safe side. Be on the lookout for signs of dehydration like headaches. And if you’re worry about water intoxication, you shouldn’t.

As long as you’re eating a lot of food and drinking the water at regular intervals throughout the day, your body is safe.

Create Meal Plans

This is the most fun part of your muscle gain routine. It’s where you get to create specific meal plans for the day.

Since your daily calorie intake exceeds far beyond your usual levels, you have to eat considerably a lot more than usual. But we can only eat so much during a meal. So the prudent thing to do is to increase the number of meals in a given day.

Have five meals instead of three and sneak in snack times into your diet plan as well.

Track The Calorie Count

When you’re creating your meal plans keep your calculators handy. This may seem like an unusual request. Why would you need calculators for meal plans after all? The calculators are for the calorie count.

When you are creating a diet plan for muscle gain, the calorie count is the foundation around which you plan your meals.

You need to calculate the amount of calories you need to intake, depending on your body type. For that, you’ll need to determine your basic metabolic rate (BMR). A BMR is the estimated minimum amount of energy your body requires to perform basic life functions.

Once you have a BMR, you can use it to calculate the total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). This is the number of calories you need to maintain your bodily functions for a day. It may sound complex here but it’s actually pretty easy once you get the hang of it.

Once you have your TDEE, you need to now calculate how many calories you would need to maintain a sustained muscle growth for your specific body type. You also need to identify your gain goals to determine your daily calorie count.

Here are the two common muscle gain goals and their corresponding calorie count.

Lean Bulk: For generally healthy individuals around an average weight range, the lean bulk is more suitable. If you plan to go for a steady gain over time, you need your TDEE plus 250 calories a day.

Aggressive Bulk: This plan is for those individuals who are looking for a drastic gain and see a marked improvement in a limited amount of time. Usually, individuals who are underweight or new to the training go for the aggressive bulk.

In that case, they would need their TDEE plus 500 calories per day.

Developing the right mindset

Building a muscular and toned body is hard. What you need to understand is that you’re essentially forcing your body to transform physically and your body is prepared to do everything to resist the change.

It’s a constant struggle between your brain, which tells you one thing, and your body which tells you another. And if you want to succeed, you need to be in the right frame of mind to be able to do that. You need to be consistent in your efforts.

You need to develop intense discipline without which any sustained and successful physical activity is impossible.

Discipline comes from a steady routine. And a steady routine is a result of constant motivation to be able to do what you need to do on a daily basis. So the first step to developing the right mindset is to make your motivation your energy.

Recount why you step into a gym every single day. Keep your goals ahead of you and remind yourself of those goals again and again. And, to be able to achieve your goals, let go of your comfort zone. You need to choose between what’s important and what’s easy.

And as soon as you’re able to make that choice, it’s easy to settle into a routine with the right mindset.

Rest is important too

Many people who set out to achieve their fitness goals believe that overworking yourself is the key to fast success. This cannot be further from the truth. In fact, when it comes to building muscles, a full night’s rest is as important as a heavy workout.

You are essentially ripping your muscles when you work out. The actual building process occurs as you sleep. And you need to give your muscles time enough to be able to recover and replenish for the next workout session.

It all comes down to a full night’s rest – your interminable obsession with lifting weights, your abnormal desire to eat and drink more than you normally would, and your razor-sharp focus on your goal. All of these depend on those precious hours of sleep.

You may eat chicken three times a day. But the actual protein synthesis occurs in your cells as you sleep. You may spend the whole day at the gym. But the growth hormone required for muscle building is produced as you sleep. You may be incredibly motivated to work out.

But the chemical process your brain requires to sustain constant focus occurs as you sleep. With so much depending on a good night’s sleep, it becomes an unavoidable part of your daily muscle-building regimen.

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