Setting Realistic Objectives For Growth
What are realistic objectives for growth?
There is a fine line between success and failure, setting realistic goals allows you to make small triumphs on a regular basis which will result in a happier outlook and enhance your chances of reaching your end goal.
I would use the following as a guideline:
- Get your diet in order before attempting a growth phase.
- Set up a meal plan of 6-7 meals each day and focus on Protein. Don’t scrimp on Fats or Carbs.
- Know your food groups; know what to eat and when to eat it. E.g. Carbs pre, intra and post workout.
- Count calories and know you need to consistently eat more calories than your body requires for growth.
- Know that as your body grows you will need to up your calorie intake to keep up the calorie surplus environment.
- Know that you need to eat 300-500 more calories than your body requires each day to grow.
- A realistic target for a natural body builder would be 1-2lb of lean muscle each week.
- Eating too much even clean foods will result in fat gains (see points 1,2,3 above).
- Set yourself target in the gym. If in week 1 you benched 60kg then in week 3 I would expect 65kg if you're eating right. More weight pushed correctly, under full control and using a full Range of Movement (ROM), the more pressure you put on your muscles to grow.
- Know your exercise for mass – big compound moves.
- Know your rep ranges – 8-12 for muscle growth.
- Know that you grow outside the gym whilst eating and resting.
- Rome was not built in a day. Consistency is key with your training, diet and rest phases.
- You will not turn in to Mr Olympia in a month or even a year, however you can put on at least 10kg of Lean Body Mass (LBM) each year if you stick to your goals and targets.
By Mark Marcou
