In this guide, we’ll provide step-by-step instruction that will help you start building muscle immediately! Like, today!

That may seem like a lot of topics to cover. DON’T PANIC!

Because gaining muscle and strength really comes down to three things.

If you’re looking to start building muscle, getting bigger, and becoming stronger, these are the things you need to do:

  1. Lift heavy things
  2. Eat a diet based on your goals
  3. Get enough rest

I realize doing those three things is much easier said than done – I struggled with progress for a decade and know exactly what you’re going through if you’re feeling unsure.

You probably don’t have years to make the mistakes that I did, and you just want to start getting results today. In addition to the free resources below, we also offer 1-on-1 Online Coaching, where you’ll get personalized instruction for your body type and goals, and professional accountability from a Coach on Team Nerd Fitness!

But enough of that, let’s get into the nitty-gritty of how to get started with strength training!

How do you build muscle and Strength? Lift Heavy Things

If you are going to build muscle, you’re going to need to lift heavy things.

This means you’ll most likely need access to a gym with a great free-weight section.

Bodyweight exercises can be fantastic for weight loss and keeping the muscle you already have, but if you’re serious about weight training you’ll need a gym with a squat rack, bench, barbells, and a spot to do pull-ups, chin-ups, and dips to be most efficient.

Got access to a decent gym? If so, good, it’ll help us get started.

Gym closed because of COVID? No problem, here’s how to build a gym in your own home.

Because we’re looking to create functional strength and size, we’ll be doing lots of full-body routines with compound exercises that train multiple muscle groups at once.

They’re more efficient, they create solid growth and stimulation, and they will keep you safe.

Why is that?

Well, when you spend all of your time doing stupid isolation exercises on weight machines (ugh), you’re only working those specific muscles and not working any of your stabilizer muscles (because the machine is doing all of the stabilization work).

On the other hand, when you do compound exercises like barbell squats, you work pretty much EVERY muscle in your body, setting yourself up to be strong and injury-free.

Stay away from machines if you can and focus on dumbbells and barbell exercises.

If you’re going to do a full-body routine each workout (which is what I would recommend for ANY beginner), each routine can have one leg exercise, push exercise, pull exercise, and a core exercise:

  1. Leg Exercises: Squats, Deadlifts, or Lunges
  2. Push Exercises: Bench Press, Overhead Press, or Dips
  3. Pull Exercises: Inverted Rows, Pull-Ups, or Chin Ups
  4. Core Exercises: Reverse Crunches, Hanging Knee Raises, or Planks

That’s IT. Don’t worry about adding in any ridiculous machine shoulder shrugs, iso-chest flys, preacher bicep curls, calf-raises, whatever.

Learn these few exercises, get really good at them, and your entire body will get stronger and bigger. Focus each week on adding more weight to each exercise.

For example, from one week to the next you could do:

  • Week 1 Barbell Squat: 3 sets of 5 at 150 lbs.
  • Week 2 Barbell Squat: 3 sets of 5 at 155 lbs.

If you do that, you’ve gotten stronger. Then, repeat next week. Eat right, and you’ll get bigger too.