3 Keys to Solid Dense Muscle

The key to a Dapper Fit body is to have lean, dense muscle! Yes, there may be better ways to gain more mass but that’s not the purpose of Dapper Fitness now is it? The goal is to be lean, hard, and dense. Below I list three key elements when building muscle, but specifically, building lean dense muscle.

There are THREE main elements involved in stimulating skeletal muscle hypertrophy (aka muscle growth). These include:

  1. Frequency
  2. Intensity/mechanical tension
  3. Volume

When designing a program with the intent of increasing your muscle mass and strength, it is important that all three of these factors are addressed! The vast majority of you are probably on a program that looks like this:

chest, back, shoulders, arms, legs, rest

But for us natural guys, the above is not optimal for a number of reasons. Muscle protein synthesis only lasts for 24-72 hours max after training a given muscle group. That means it’s just sitting there not growing for six days while you wait to hit that muscle again. This addresses the “frequency” portion of hypertrophy. Muscles should be trained around 2-3 times per week to keep protein synthesis elevated throughout the week. I personally feel two times a week is perfect. I like to have a two day split (Workout A & B) and alternate them.  That way each muscle get enough frequency. I will post an article soon on my workout split.

In terms of intensity, your training program must have some sort of progression scheme built in. You must be getting STRONGER over time. A stronger muscle is a bigger muscle. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, if they do they’re being a fool! Always strive to add weight or reps as often as possible. This is where tracking workouts is imperative.  There are several ways to manipulate your intensity, but until you are freakishly strong, tracking your strength every work out and continuing to get one more rep, or adding weight will take care of your intensity needs.

Lastly, progression in terms of volume is fairly simple. You can stimulate overload by increasing the amount of workload you perform. That is, increasing the amount of sets and reps you do. Most, however, will not need to worry about high volume training until they have built up a respectable level of strength! And with the goal of Dapper Fitness, the lean, GQ, Hollywood look, we won’t need a lot of volume. Building relative strength is the KEY.

In a future article I will cover why building relative strength is the key to a Dapper Fit body. Until then, apply the above principles, dress sharp, and look amazing.

Be Fit. Dress Great!

 

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