These are the only 4 ways to build muscle faster – anything else is peanuts compared to what you can/have to do.

Building muscle can often feel like an excruciatingly slow journey, but there are scientifically backed methods to accelerate this process. And no, we’re not delving into the murky waters of dubious gym lore or so-called “secret tips.” Instead, we’re focusing on four straightforward, effective, and proven strategies to build muscle more efficiently.

While we strongly advise against using steroids, we will delve into this topic more earnestly later. The common misconception is that muscle growth primarily occurs in the gym, but that’s only half the truth. While workouts undoubtedly damage muscles, prompting them to grow stronger and larger, the real magic happens during recovery. Enhancing your recovery is one of the simplest yet most underappreciated ways to foster muscle growth.

The information used for this article is largely based on a video shared by Jeremy Ethier. Jeremy Ethier is a kinesiologist and fitness trainer, co-founder of Built With Science. His YouTube channel has over 6.5 million subscribers and he delivers clear information with sound background research.

So let’s check out the only 4 ways to build muscle faster according to him – and science.

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The Only 4 Ways to Build Muscle Faster

1. Focus on Recovery

Recovery isn’t just about taking a day off from the gym; it’s a comprehensive approach that includes nutrition, sleep, and stress management, each contributing significantly to your muscle growth and overall well-being.

Nutritional Recovery: Fueling Muscle Growth

Nutrition plays a pivotal role in recovery. Jeremy Ethier emphasizes this, stating, “Your body needs enough energy to perform well in the gym but it also needs the resources to grow bigger and stronger afterwards.” This highlights the necessity of a balanced diet that supports both workout performance and muscle repair. Consuming sufficient calories to maintain or slightly increase your weight facilitates an anabolic environment conducive to muscle growth.

Protein intake is another cornerstone of nutritional recovery. Ethier advises, “Based on the current research I personally take my body weight in pounds and multiply it by 0.8. That number is the minimum Target I aim for every day.” Ensuring adequate protein consumption supports the repair and growth of muscle fibres damaged during exercise.

Sleep: The Unsung Hero of Muscle Recovery

Sleep is an often overlooked aspect of recovery. Yet, its impact on muscle growth is profound. Ethier highlights the importance of sleep by referencing research: “One study published back in 2010 found that dieters sleeping just 5 hours per night lost 55% less fat and 60% more muscle compared to those getting 8 hours of sleep.” This underlines that adequate, quality sleep is crucial for not only preserving muscle mass but also for optimizing the body’s recovery processes.

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Stress Management: Balancing the Internal Environment

The body’s response to stress can significantly affect recovery. High stress levels can impede muscle repair and growth. Ethier shares his personal experience: “I’ve noticed that when I’m super stressed out, I just can’t recover very well, and my workouts just aren’t very good.” This underscores the importance of incorporating stress-reducing activities into your routine, whether through meditation, hobbies, or spending time with loved ones, to enhance recovery and muscle growth.

2. Workout Smarter, Not Harder

The importance of strategic, intelligent training over mere brute force or volume cannot be overstated. It’s about leveraging the right techniques and exercises to maximise muscle growth efficiently.

Training Technique: The Art of Lifting

Precision in how you perform each exercise can significantly impact your muscle-building results. Jeremy Ethier highlights the importance of this aspect: “They found that to maximize muscle growth in each set you should control the weight taking around 2 to 8 seconds to perform each rep and use a full range of motion.” This advice underscores the value of not just moving weights but doing so with intention and control, focusing on the muscle being worked to ensure its optimal engagement and growth.

Moreover, Ethier points out the importance of the stretch phase in exercises: “But specifically during the stretch part of each exercise, so for example it’s fine not to go all the way up during the dumbbell press, but you should go as far down as you can to fully stretch your chest.” This approach maximises muscle fibre recruitment, potentially leading to better muscle growth over time.

Exercise Selection: Choosing the Right Movements

Not all exercises are created equal when it comes to muscle building. Some movements provide a greater stretch or challenge the muscle more effectively, leading to superior gains. Ethier suggests incorporating exercises that maximise the muscle’s stretch position: “Exercises that challenge your muscles more in their stretch position tend to lead to more growth.” This involves selecting exercises that not only target the desired muscle groups but do so in a way that maximises their range of motion and the tension experienced during the stretch phase.

Incorporating these principles into your training routine doesn’t mean you have to spend more hours in the gym. Instead, it’s about making each minute count by performing each rep and exercise with the utmost precision and effectiveness. By focusing on the quality of your workouts, you can achieve more substantial muscle growth without necessarily increasing the quantity of your training. This smarter approach not only fosters better results but can also reduce the risk of injury, making your muscle-building journey both more effective and sustainable.

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3. Increasing Training Intensity and Volume

The concept of increasing training intensity and volume is pivotal in muscle building, focusing on progressively challenging your muscles to foster growth. This progression can be achieved by adjusting how much and how hard you train.

Increasing Training Volume

Training volume, or the total amount of work done, is a key factor in muscle hypertrophy. Jeremy Ethier provides insight into the effectiveness of increasing volume: “Highlighting the effectiveness of this method is a 2017 meta-analysis by Dr. Brad Schoenfeld, he found there was about 30% faster growth when doing more than 10 weekly sets per muscle compared to doing only 5 to 9 weekly sets.” This suggests a clear correlation between a greater training volume and enhanced muscle growth, up to a point.

However, it’s crucial to find the sweet spot in training volume. Overdoing it can lead to overtraining and hamper growth. Ethier notes, “For example, a later study published in 2022 found that once you start doing more than about 20 weekly sets for a given muscle, it becomes less likely that you’ll be able to further speed up your gains.” Therefore, while increasing volume can be beneficial, it must be done judiciously to avoid diminishing returns or negative impacts on recovery.

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Increasing Training Intensity

Intensity in training refers to how close you are to reaching muscular failure within a given set. Pushing your muscles closer to their limits can significantly impact their growth. Ethier explains, “Stopping your sets around five reps short of failure gets you about 75% of your maximum growth potential, but every additional rep you do would get you about 5% more growth.” This illustrates the direct relationship between training intensity and muscle hypertrophy.

Ethier further shares a personal anecdote to emphasize the impact of intensity: “When I first met my fiancée T, she didn’t like being in the gym for very long and doing a crazy amount of sets, so I told her to train with fewer sets but take them to all-out failure or at least very close to that point to get the same results.” This approach allows for efficient workouts that are shorter in duration but high in intensity, offering an alternative for those pressed for time or preferring less frequent gym visits.

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4. Steroids

The discussion of steroids in the context of muscle building is a delicate yet essential one, given their significant impact on muscle growth and the associated risks. Steroids can dramatically enhance muscle size and strength, but they come with a host of potential side effects and legal implications.

Steroids, or anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS), are synthetic variations of the male sex hormone testosterone. They’re known for their potent effects on muscle growth, recovery, and performance enhancement. However, their use is fraught with controversy, primarily due to health risks and ethical concerns surrounding their use in sports and fitness.

Jeremy Ethier provides a balanced perspective, acknowledging the effectiveness of steroids while cautioning against their use: “Steroids are truly the quickest and most effective way of gaining muscle, one really interesting study found that individuals taking steroids and not exercising ended up gaining more muscle than those who were exercising but didn’t take any steroids.” This highlights the potent nature of steroids in stimulating muscle growth, even surpassing the natural effects of exercise alone.

Despite their effectiveness, the use of steroids without medical supervision can lead to severe health consequences, including hormonal imbalances, cardiovascular issues, liver damage, and psychological effects like aggression and depression. Moreover, the ethical considerations cannot be overlooked, as steroid use undermines the principles of fair competition and can lead to long-term health issues.

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In the context of muscle building, the allure of rapid gains can be tempting, but it’s crucial to weigh the potential short-term benefits against the long-term health risks. Ethier’s stance is clear: while acknowledging the potency of steroids in muscle growth, he advocates for natural methods, emphasizing the rewards of achieving muscle gains through dedication, smart training, and proper nutrition.

In conclusion, while building muscle is inherently a gradual process, focusing on recovery, smart training techniques, and appropriate adjustments in training volume and intensity can significantly expedite your progress. While the allure of quick fixes like steroids exists, the rewards of patience and persistence in natural muscle building are far more gratifying and sustainable.

Watch the video for more information.

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