GUIDE - HOW to TRAIN to GAIN MUSCLE & LOSE FAT

TOPICS THAT ARE COVERED

1. TRAINING PRINCIPLES TO MAXIMIZE MUSCLE GAIN

1. Definition: how does muscle gain happen?

2. Structure 

3. Execution

4. Tracking performance

5. Progression

2. SAMPLE WORKOUT SPLITS

3. FAT LOSS TOOLS

1. Cardio 

2. Steps

3. Calories 

4. Sleep 

4. MUSCLE BUILDING MINDSET 

1. How to get jacked long term, no smoll transformations

TRAINING PRINCIPLES TO MAXIMIZE MUSCLE GAIN

1. DEFINING MUSCLE GAIN

Hypertrophy - the enlargement of an organ or tissue from the increase in size of its cells. "the hypertrophy of the muscle fibers"

Aka put more tension on the muscle over time - muscle grows with the right fuel and stimulus

• STRUCTURE 

First off - Have a Structure catered towards your physique and goals. We won't be making any gains if we don't have a game plan and a structured workout plan to follow. This may sound like an obvious thing, but many of us go to the gym and always rely on “Feel”. I personally call this “Exercising” rather than “Training”. If you are training for something, you want to try to improve on a weekly, bi- weekly, monthly, yearly basis.

But If we are just going by “Feel” and have NO STRUCTURE, how are we going to improve? 

So the first step to MAXIMIZING YOUR MUSCLE GAIN is to HAVE A STRUCTURED WORKOUT PLAN. 

• Aim for 3-6 sets per muscle each workout 

• Aim for 8-12 working sets per muscle each week 

• 8-20 rep range (compounds can be lessor reps, isolation can be higher) 

• PRIORITIZING EXECUTION OF ALL MOVEMENTS

So now we have a workout structure. First step is to make sure of all movements you have in the plan you are SKILLED AT. If not, please take the time to learn the movement patterns. This will give you the greatest ROI LONG TERM. 

Once we can really perform movements with good execution and fire up the exact muscle fibers we are targeting with that particular exercise. This is where the real gains are. 

My go to methods to improve execution is as follows

1. TEMPO - add slow tempo to all your movements

2. PAUSED REPS - based on what movement you are doing add some PAUSED reps 

3. Make Range of Motion your progress tool for a while. Meaning are you gaining better range week by week instead of just constantly going up in weight 

4. RECORD YOUR SETS - re watching your movements can help quite a bit to make certain tweaks. 

5. Hiring a trainer / coach can always be the move to expedite the process.

• TRACK YO LIFTS DAWG

This goes to my first point - if we don't have a structure we are just going by feel, we are pretty much hoping we’ll make progress somehow. 

Same goes with once we have a STRUCTURE - we want to actually be tracking our workouts. In terms of our REPs, Sets, Volume etc. 

If we are not tracking - one week we will come in and be like you know what i had a tough week i'm just going to chill out.

One week we’ll feel extra jacked and go HAM. 

This week to week variation will only help us stay SMOLL

Yes we may not make progress weekly or bi-weekly. But at least we can look at how we can improve whether that's nutrition. Sleep, mobility work etc. 

So use something to track all your lifts in your workout plan. Whether that's the notes app, free strong app or ofcourse the tryna get jacked app. 

• PROGRESSION 

So now we have a TRAINING PLAN, We have movements we are good at or at least practicing to get good at, and have a tool to track your lifts.

This is where MUSCLE IS BUILT. 

Aim to PROGRESS WEEKLY in the FOLLOWING

• Form

• Control / Tempo / Feel of the movement 

• Range of motion

• Reps (use a rep range for all movements) 

• Sets over time (more volume) 

• Adding Intensifiers 

• Frequency 

• Rest time

• Load 

If plateauing - look at following factors first

1. Have we actually be sticking to the Plan or going on and off

2. How is our nutrition overall

3. How is our nutrition around training?

4. How is our sleep?

5. How is our mind going into the session? 

IF PLATEAUING FOR MORE THAN 4 WEEKS than make a CHANGE

1. Swap a variation of the similar movement 

2. Add a extra set or lower rep range a movement to get things moving 

3. Possibly take 2-3 days extra rest and come back (if this still doesn't help refer to the above) 

SPLIT EXAMPLES 

*Pick a split that you can STICK TO FOR 6-12 MONTHS MINIMUM to get feedback on how your body responds and how you can integrate it in your lifestyle long term. 

1. 3 DAYS - FULL BODY - Higher frequency, higher stimulus, helps us learn faster as well as fit it in your busy lifestyle but still get jacked. 

Sample - 3x this with different variations of the muscle group

2-3 sets 8-20 rep range, 120-180 sec rest periods 

• Squat

• DB Press

• Pull downs

• Cable lateral raise

• DB curl 

• Tricep pushdown 

• Plank

1. 4 DAYs - UPPER LOWER - Great if you have 4 60-75 min slots in the week, as this adds frequency to all muscle groups and gives us more variety in our workouts. Usually my recommended split. 

Sample Upper day 1

2-3 sets 8-20 rep range, 120-180 sec rest periods

• Shoulder Warm ups

• Push movement - Mid chest focused

• Push movement - Upper chest focused

• Pull movement - lat focused

• Pull movement - Upper back focused

• Shoulder movement - side delt/rear delt

• Bicep movement

• Tricep movement 

• Abs 

Do a variation of this for 2nd upper day 

Sample Lower day 1 - Quad focused

2-3 sets 8-20 rep range, 120-180 sec rest periods 

• Hip Warm ups

• Leg extensions (higher reps)

• Squat variation (moderate reps)

• Split squat variation - moderate reps

• Leg press - higher reps

• Calves 

• Abs - Rope crunches 

Do a variation of this for 2nd lower day - but do Hamstring dominant movements

1. 5 DAYs - PUSH PULL LEGS UPPER LOWER - Great for individuals who have been training for a while and looking to add more frequency / intensity to their training. As lesser volume per session allows us to push the intensity more per session. Quality tends to be the name of the game. 

Upper lower days - copy from above with diff variations 

Sample Push Day 

2-3 sets 8-20 rep range, 120-180 sec rest periods 

• Shoulder warm ups

• Fly variation - chest focused 

• Upper chest Focused movement

• Mid chest focused movement 

• Lower chest focused movement

• Side delt focused movement

• Tricep push down 

Sample Pull day

2-3 sets 8-20 rep range, 120-180 sec rest periods 

• Shoulder/Lat warm ups

• Pullover variation - Lat focused 

• Overhead Lat Focused movement

• Overhead Upper back focused movement 

• Mid Lat/upper back row focused movement

• Single arm Lat focused movement

• Rear delt variation

• Incline bicep curls

Sample Leg day 

2-3 sets 8-20 rep range, 120-180 sec rest periods 

• Hip Warm ups

• Hammy curls (higher reps)

• Leg extensions (higher reps)

• Squat variation (moderate reps)

• Split squat variation - moderate reps

• Leg press - higher reps

• Calves 

• Abs - Rope crunches 

Do a variation of this for 2nd lower day - but do Hamstring dominant movements

1. 6 DAYS - PUSH PULL LEGS PUSH PULL LEGS - Great for individuals who have been training for a while and looking to add more frequency / intensity to their training. As lesser volume per session allows us to push the intensity more per session. Quality tends to be the name of the game. Just be mindful of your recovery and do not over do it per session. 

Repeat above Push pull legs with different variations of movements. Can implement more Machine work for the later half of the week 

By now you should have a clear game plan of what to do in the gym in terms of structure and tools to get stronger and put on muscle.

6. FAT LOSS TOOLS 

Nutrition requires its own guide - so that will be coming next but I will give some guidelines below to stick to. To ensure we are losing fat at the same time while trying to put on muscle. 

One of the key factors if you want to execute properly is going to be adherence to the PLAN. Aka are you sticking to the plan and checking all the boxes? Since we are somewhat in the middle and not really gaining/losing weight, we have to be a bit more diligent with the daily actions that need to be taken. 

Let's begin.

1. Cardio / MOVEMENT

Keep it simple to start

• 2-3 20-30 mins 130-140 bpm 

• 8-12k daily steps based on current movement 

This won’t be your primary source of fat loss however it will be great for overall heart health, giving us greater capacity in the gym and allowing us to eat more overall food. 

For steps, do this throughout the day if possible. Will allow our bodies to burn a bit more calories throughout the day and aid in digestion, recovery, mood, appetite. 

1. Calories

Easy way to calculate your maintenance calories - your bodyweight x 15 

This highly depends on your starting point.

If you are around 12-15% Body fat - Start at Maintenance - assuming you just want to continue getting leaner while putting on size slowly. 

• Training days can be 200 calorie surplus

• Non training days can be 200 calorie deficit

• Aim to have 1.2g protein per LB

• Aim to have 0.3-0.5g fat per LB (can get away low end with lower bf%) 

• Rest carbs 

• 50-60% carbs around training window 

• Ideally AM or PM meal minimal carbs 

If you are over 20-25% Body fat - Start at a 200 calorie deficit per day.

• Training days can be at Maintenance 

• Non training days can be 400-800 calorie deficit (based on how many days we are not training)

• Aim to have 1.2g protein per LB

• Aim to have 0.3-0.5g fat per LB (can get away low end with lower bf%, go with high end with higher BF%) 

• Rest carbs 

• 50-60% carbs around training window 

• Ideally AM or PM meal minimal carbs 

1. Sleep

This is literally where all the magic comes together and your body responds the way you want it to respond if you give it the rest and recovery it needs.

Aim for 7-8 hours of quality sleep.

Sleep major keys

• 30-45 mins pre bed no screen time

• Chill with loved ones prior, do some reading, gratitude, meditation 

• 10 - 15 min walk in dark environment can be a game changer

• Dark, Cool, Quiet environment

• No caffeine 6-8 hours prior 

• Be physically active during the day

1. Track metrics 

“If it isn’t measured it won't be managed” 

This can be the most important point of all. But we are not measuring anything, it will get really tough to measure and change any things up. 

So start with the following

1. Gym performance - we can control this, how your body puts on muscle we can’t control as much.

2. Visuals - take progress pictures (front/side/back - relaxed and flexed) weekly

3. Body weight - In this “recomp” phase we want to keep the weight somewhat the same - if you are higher bodyweight some loss will happen. 

4. Track calories - this will be a good tool to adjust if things above are not changing in the direction we want them to. 

5. MEASUREMENTS - this may be annoying, but if body weight is not changing this is going to show you major results - measure waist, arms, thighs, chest, lats.

If Gym performance x visuals keep improving we are golden. Dont stress.

Others you can start to dive into

1. Sleep - Can be a good recovery metric / tool

2. Steps

3. Cardio HR 

4. Resting Heart rate - as a overall health metric improvement 

7. MUSCLE BUILDING MINDSET 

First off if you made it this far. I appreciate you deeply and I really do hope this helps you MAXIMIZE YOUR MUSCLE GAINS BOI

Just one major tip as you continue or even begin your Muscle building journey. - This game is never ending and it takes a while to see results. However, one of the best things you can do is focus on what you can CONTROL and commit to those INPUTS EVERY DAY. Then you can detach from the outcome. 

• Control the training

• Control the diet

• Control the sleep

• Control the mind

• Most importantly - do this EVERYDAY for a LONG TIME, find a way to LOVE the process and lifestyle. Or it will always feel like a “Chore”

My goal is to always think about the jacked version of yourself, how confident you will feel, how strong you will feel. Visualize the GAINS. 
And eventually you'll get pretty jacked and may even start inspiring 

Plug - the tryna get jacked app has 15+ programs based on all different goals, lifestyles, physiques. Check it out there -> https://www.trynagetjacked.com/community  or Book a 1 on 1 call here