{"id":23112,"date":"2026-06-23T16:13:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T16:13:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=23112"},"modified":"2026-06-23T16:13:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T16:13:27","slug":"how-to-actually-build-muscle-when-you-work-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=23112","title":{"rendered":"How to Actually Build Muscle When You Work Out"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><em>This story is from Manual,<\/em> GQ\u2019<em>s flagship newsletter offering useful advice on style, health, and more, four days a week. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gq.com\/newsletter\/manual\" class=\"text link\">Sign up here to get it in your inbox<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Despite what many <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gq.com\/story\/best-home-gym-equipment\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"text link\">workout equipment<\/a> manufacturers, TV fitness personalities, and calloused gym bros might have you believe, building muscle is actually an inherently straightforward thing to do. Packing on size has got nothing to do with four sets of 10, tempo reps\u2014or even specific exercises, for that matter. In fact, gaining muscle is not so much about what you do, but rather how you do it.<\/p>\n<p>The first thing to understand is that gaining size and gaining strength are two distinctly different things. Yes, lifting for muscle growth\u2014or hypertrophy, to use the scientific term\u2014will yield some strength gains along the way, and vice-versa, but the way you work out will primarily move you closer toward one goal or the other. Put another way, you could use the same exercise to either pack on muscle or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gq.com\/story\/how-to-get-stronger-so-you-can-live-a-long-healthy-life\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"text link\">get stronger<\/a>, depending on your approach.<\/p>\n<p>Consider the difference between bodybuilders and powerlifters\u2014two groups that rely heavily on the bench press in their training. \u201cA powerlifter is trying to lift as much weight as possible, whereas bodybuilders are trying to increase the size of their muscles.\u201d says Mathew Welch, MS, CSCS, ATC, USAW-1, an exercise physiologist at <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/www.hss.edu\/\" class=\"external-link text link\" data-event-click=\"{&quot;element&quot;:&quot;ExternalLink&quot;,&quot;outgoingURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.hss.edu\/&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hss.edu\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">HSS<\/a>. \u201cDon&#8217;t get me wrong, the bodybuilders are going to get strong, but they&#8217;re not necessarily going to have the same strength as a powerlifter, and that\u2019s because the qualities that they&#8217;re training are very different.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe big take-home message here is that there&#8217;s no magical exercise for hypertrophy,\u201d says Luke Carlson, founder and CEO of <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/www.discoverstrength.com\/\" class=\"external-link text link\" data-event-click=\"{&quot;element&quot;:&quot;ExternalLink&quot;,&quot;outgoingURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.discoverstrength.com\/&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverstrength.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Discover Strength<\/a>. Instead, what we do have is a handful of research-backed principles that you can use to optimize your existing workout for muscle growth.<\/p>\n<p>Ready to lock in your strategy for massive muscle gains once and for all? Here\u2019s everything you need to know.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Hard reps equal hard muscle<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>\u201cThe biggest scientific discovery in strength training of the last 15 years is that we sure don&#8217;t need very much of it if you want to add muscle,\u201d says Carlson. \u201cBut we\u2019ve got to do it harder than we ever thought.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/259390281_Evidence-Based_Resistance_Training_Recommendations_for_Muscular_Hypertrophy\" class=\"text link\">Research<\/a> shows us that muscle growth is driven by mechanical tension. Unlike time under tension\u2014the amount of time a muscle spends under load, which actually does nothing for hypertrophy\u2014mechanical tension kicks in the moment your reps begin to naturally slow down as you approach <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gq.com\/story\/how-bts-got-so-swole-according-to-an-expert-trainer\" class=\"text link\">muscle failure<\/a>. Trainers call these \u201ceffective reps.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEffective reps are defined as the last five or so repetitions in a set that brings the muscle to failure, and these reps are believed to provide the most stimulus for hypertrophy due to the mechanical tension being experienced by the active fibers,\u201d says Welch.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe closer you get to failure, the more motor units and muscle fibers you recruit, and the greater chance you have to increase the size of your muscle,\u201d says Carlson. \u201cThe most important element is whether you\u2019re getting close to muscle failure\u2014more important than how many sets you do or how many days a week you work out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This means that the weight you lift is essentially <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/27480764\/\" class=\"text link\">irrelevant<\/a>, as long as you push yourself towards muscle failure\u2014useful knowledge for the next time you find yourself at a hotel gym with nothing more than a pair of 20-pound dumbbells. (However, as we\u2019ll explain below, high-rep sets with lighter weights may not be the most efficient way to pack on size.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gq.com\/story\/how-to-build-muscle-when-working-out-2\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This story is from Manual, GQ\u2019s flagship newsletter offering useful advice on style, health, and more, four days a week. Sign up here to get it in your inbox. Despite what many workout equipment manufacturers, TV fitness personalities, and calloused gym bros might have you believe, building muscle is actually an inherently straightforward thing to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":23113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How to Actually Build Muscle When You Work Out - World Bodybuilding News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=23112\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Actually Build Muscle When You Work Out - World Bodybuilding News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This story is from Manual, GQ\u2019s flagship newsletter offering useful advice on style, health, and more, four days a week. 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