Our Training Philosophy: Training For Building Muscle

Whether you’re striving for a specific athletic goal, like building muscle, or aiming to become a versatile all-rounder, capable of engaging in a diverse array of physical activities, our mission at Common Purpose is to unlock your full potential and help you achieve your performance goals through our One to One PT and Semi Private PT offerings.

We design our training programmes using evidence-based methods, ensuring they meet our members’ needs and goals. With our experienced and motivating personal trainers, our members benefit from the latest training techniques to become the fittest, strongest, and most athletic version of themselves.

Building muscle involves more than just hitting the gym—it requires a thoughtful and strategic approach that incorporates realistic goal setting, personalised nutrition, effective training, and continuous support. In this guide, we’ll outline our holistic approach to muscle gain, designed to help you achieve lasting results while prioritising your overall health.

1. Understanding Muscle Growth: The Science Behind Building Muscle

Before setting goals and crafting a plan, it’s important to understand the biology of muscle growth. Knowing how muscle development works can help you appreciate why muscle gain hinges on the interplay between training, nutrition, and recovery.

The Physiology of Muscle Growth

Muscle growth, or hypertrophy, happens when you subject your muscles to resistance training, which causes small tears in the muscle fibres. The body repairs and strengthens these fibres through protein synthesis, leading to muscle size and strength increases. This process is supported by key factors such as hormone levels (e.g., testosterone and growth hormone) and the availability of amino acids from dietary protein.

When you engage in resistance exercises, your muscles endure stress that initiates muscle hypertrophy mechanisms. The body responds by synthesising proteins to repair and strengthen the muscles, making them larger and better equipped to handle future challenges. Adequate protein intake and a slight calorie surplus are crucial in providing the building blocks and energy needed for this process.

Muscle Growth as an Adaptive Process

From an evolutionary perspective, muscle growth is an adaptation to physical demands. Our ancestors needed strength for survival tasks like hunting and gathering. In today’s world, while the survival pressures have shifted, our bodies still respond to physical stress by building muscle to better handle these challenges.

This adaptive process highlights the importance of progressively increasing the demands on your muscles, known as progressive overload, to stimulate continued growth. Just as our ancestors adapted to their environment, your body adapts to the stress you place on it, making consistent and progressively challenging training essential for muscle growth.

2. Setting Realistic Muscle Gain Goals

The cornerstone of a successful muscle-building journey is setting clear, attainable goals. Understanding how quickly you can build muscle helps manage expectations and prevents frustration. 

Here’s how we categorise muscle gain rates:

• • Beginners (<1 year of consistent, progressive training): 
    • Males: 1-1.5% body weight per month
    • Females: 0.5-0.75% body weight per month

• Intermediate (1-5 years of consistent, progressive training):

• • • Males: 0.5-0.75% of body weight per month
    • Females: 0.35-0.5% of body weight per month

• Advanced (>5 years of consistent, progressive training):

• • Males: 0.25-0.35% of body weight per month
  • Females: 0.15-0.25% of body weight per month

Factors such as your starting point, training experience, and genetics play significant roles in determining your muscle gain rate. Beginners often experience faster progress due to the new training stimulus, while seasoned lifters may see slower but more refined gains.

It’s also crucial to recognize the commitment muscle gain requires. Building muscle involves consistent and intense training, as well as maintaining a caloric surplus, which can sometimes be challenging. Understanding these commitments allows you to set realistic muscle-building goals and make informed decisions about your fitness journey.

To keep your progress on track, we recommend setting goals quarterly (approximately every 12 weeks). This timeframe is long enough to see meaningful progress while keeping motivation high. Goals can be outcome-focused, such as gaining a specific amount of muscle or strength, or process-oriented, like training consistently and ensuring adequate protein intake. Combining both types of goals often yields the best results, as process goals are the stepping stones to achieving your desired outcomes.

3. Monitoring and Tracking Progress

Tracking your progress is essential to evaluate the effectiveness of your approach and make necessary adjustments. We offer a variety of tools tailored to individual needs and preferences:

• Weekly Weigh-Ins: Regular weigh-ins help ensure you’re maintaining a caloric surplus necessary for muscle growth.
• Body Composition Analysis: Bi-weekly scans assess changes in muscle mass, fat mass, and overall body composition.
• Strength Tracking: Regularly monitoring performance in key exercises ensures you’re achieving progressive overload and strength gains.
• Circumference Measurements: Regular measurements track muscle growth in specific areas like the arms, chest, and legs.

By consistently using these tools, we can build a clear picture of your progress and make informed, data-driven decisions to keep you on track.

4. Nutrition: Laying the Groundwork for Muscle Gain

Nutrition is a cornerstone of muscle gain, and our approach is designed to be flexible and adaptable, meeting you where you are in terms of knowledge, readiness, and ability to change. We envision our nutrition strategy as a pyramid, with each level building upon the foundation below it.

1. Basic Nutrition Foundations:

• Emphasise Whole Foods: Focus on nutrient-dense, minimally processed foods to ensure you get the essential vitamins and minerals.
• Stay Hydrated: Maintain proper hydration to support muscle function and recovery.
• Limit Alcohol: Reduce alcohol consumption to avoid hindering muscle recovery and protein synthesis.
• Prioritise Protein: Ensure sufficient protein intake to support muscle repair and growth.

2. Goal-Specific Eating:

• Maintain a Caloric Surplus: Consume more calories than your body burns to fuel muscle growth.
• Track Macronutrients: Monitor your intake of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats to align with your muscle gain goals.
• Optimise Nutrient Timing: Timing protein and carbohydrate intake around your workouts to enhance recovery and muscle protein synthesis.
• Keep a Food Journal: Log your daily intake to ensure you’re consistently meeting your nutritional goals.

3. Advanced Nutrition Strategies:

• Blood Testing: Use blood tests to tailor nutrition and supplementation for optimal muscle growth and health.
• Supplement Strategically: Incorporate supplements like protein powders, creatine, and essential fatty acids to support muscle gain and fill nutritional gaps.

By progressing through these levels, you can enhance your nutrition gradually, starting with the basics and moving toward more advanced strategies as you gain confidence and knowledge.

5. A Balanced Training Approach

Training is a key component of muscle gain, and we advocate for a balanced regimen that includes resistance training, cardiovascular activity, and proper recovery. Here’s why this approach is effective:

• Resistance Training: The primary driver of muscle growth, focusing on progressively increasing the resistance to continually challenge your muscles.
• Cardiovascular Exercise: Supports cardiovascular health and helps manage body fat, ensuring that weight gain is primarily lean muscle.
• Active Recovery: Incorporate light activities or mobility work on rest days to promote recovery and prevent injury.

These elements work together to support sustained muscle growth, improve body composition, and enhance overall physical health. Resistance training, in particular, is critical for ensuring that your weight gain results in increased muscle mass rather than fat.

6. Continuous Coaching and Support

The journey to muscle gain is rarely straightforward; it’s filled with fluctuations and plateaus. Life—whether through family commitments, social engagements, or stress—can often disrupt your progress. That’s why continuous coaching and regular check-ins are essential to our approach.

Rather than dictating your every move, we act as your guides, providing support, accountability, and adjustments as needed. Whether you’re facing a plateau, losing motivation, or just need encouragement, we’re here to help you navigate these challenges and stay on course.

Conclusion

Achieving and maintaining muscle gain requires a comprehensive approach that balances goal setting, progress tracking, personalised nutrition, effective training, and ongoing support. By setting realistic expectations, building a strong nutritional foundation, engaging in a balanced training regimen, and benefiting from continuous coaching, you can not only reach your muscle gain goals but also sustain them long-term. Remember, the journey is about progress, not perfection—celebrate every achievement, no matter how small, and keep pushing forward.

Want to start your muscle building journey with one of our expert trainers today? Get in touch.

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