How I Gained Over 40 Pounds of Muscle

My training and diet, and the science behind it.

It isn't easy to try and achieve our dream physique.

We go to the gym with good intentions. But for a lot of us, it's not a priority.

We get busy. Or, we get bad advice.

The wider fitness industry has fallen victim to misinformation and snakeskin salespeople trying to sell us the latest superfood or supplement.

Fitness marketing usually sells people unattainable dreams of what kind of physique they can achieve.

The old "chicken, broccoli and rice"… But, this isn’t about that!

This article explores how I have gained over 40 pounds of muscle during 15 years of consistent training. I also discuss the science behind my training and nutrition.

This article should be helpful to anybody starting their health and fitness journey, thinking about starting it or just frustrated with a lack of progress.

My Transformation

From Zack de la Rocha dreadlocks to locker room selfies.

If I gave you a precise number for how much muscle I have gained, I'd be lying. It would be an educated guess at best. I don't know my body fat level in my late teens, and I don't remember my exact weight.

But I do remember that I was barely 140 pounds (65 kg) until my 20s. I use this number to say with nearly 100% confidence that I have gained over 40 pounds of muscle as an adult.

To provide context for my body transformation, I'll now talk briefly about my childhood to early adult years.

My childhood

Born in 1985, I was a 90s kid. We always had huge backyards, and I was very active. I often kicked the rugby ball around or played backyard cricket with my dad.

I played many sports, and I was always very competitive. I was never the best at anything in school, but I was above average in everything. I was in several finals on school athletics day for track and field events.

The problem was that I didn't stick with anything. Being very active laid the perfect foundation for building muscle later.

Late teens and early adult years

I started working full-time at 17 — I didn't go to university right away.

Part of my job was lifting heavy pieces of steel around, and I often would lift steel around that most people would use the equipment for. I guess that challenging myself with lifting things was something instilled inside me.

As you can see below, before I started in the gym, I began to add muscle to my frame.

Having a job that required a lot of physical energy, I ate a lot of food and it was mostly whole foods with a lot of meat and therefore protein. Eating a lot of calories and having a job requiring physical effort to lift heavy steel helped me grow.

Then, I started going to the gym when I started University at 21 years old. I'd split with my partner and quit my job to look after our son full-time.

You can read more about that story below.

The adult years — 25 to 36

I started going to the gym as an adult in 2007 when I started my degree. I had a break where I didn't train regularly in around 2009. But from 2010 onwards, I have been very consistent and disciplined.

Below is how my physique has changed after my mid-20s.

In 2012, I got a little bit 'chunky' with my bulk to gain size and strength. We've probably all seen unflattering photos of ourselves, which can be quite a shock — I had one of these moments.

It was time for a change.

Around this point, my friend talked me into playing hockey. I had played for two years in school, around 20 years prior. I didn't have the skill, so I wanted speed and fitness to be my edge.

By 2013, I lost over 15 kg to lean at around 8–10% body fat, and I stayed very lean for about a year.

Then, my focus shifted to Powerlifting.

A big part of getting stronger is eating to perform, so you have to think about gaining some fat as part of the process.

I quite enjoy indulging as much as I want. I have a sweet tooth — eating a whole block of chocolate isn't unusual, and I have a soft spot for cheeseburgers.

However, sometimes you lose sight of how much body fat you have gained. If you go overboard, it just leaves you with more fat to lose. Such as my 2015 photo above — nearly 25kg heavier in two years! At over 90 kg, it was by far the heaviest I have ever been.

I then cut down in size again, and in 2019, I probably had my peak physique, very lean at 78 kg. Below are more pictures of my body over the past few years.

That's my transformation. Now, here's how I did it — I'll talk about how I train and my diet.

How I train

How do you build more muscle?

The first stop is the gym. I train for around 1.5 hours a day, six days a week. I have done so for over ten years.

My training regime follows a Push, Pull, and Leg split, twice a week. Monday is push exercises such as presses, Tuesday is pull movements such as a row, and Wednesday is for leg exercises such as squatting.

I repeat Thursday through Saturday, taking Sunday off lifting.

Below is a rough plan of what a workout might look like.

I have been following roughly the same workout plan for seven or eight years.

For each workout, I aim for 20–30 total sets.

Each workout begins with two strength exercises in the 1 to 6 rep range when I'm at my strongest. These are the main compound lifts. Following this, exercises will be 8–10 repetitions (reps) and ending with 12 -15 reps.

For the last one or two exercises, I'll do pyramid sets or drop sets to train closer to failure and fatigue the muscle more.

I'll often do some light cardio like a long walk or play basketball with my son on my rest day. I try to do 2 hours a week of cardio.

That's a summary of my training. I will now give you the reasoning behind it.

The science of gaining muscle

I follow a training methodology called Powerbuilding. It uses the combined method of bodybuilding and strength training methodology.

Many people assume that getting stronger means building more muscle, and vice versa. You will, but it's not optimal — a bodybuilder trains differently from a strength athlete.

Exercising for muscle growth is called hypertrophy. A minimum of 10 to 20 sets per week per muscle group is required to optimise growth. See this study and this study for evidence.

It is unclear exactly where the upper limit is for too much volume. But if you're sore and can't train and your average intensity, these are telltale signs of overtraining.

We need to damage our muscle fibres, so they come back stronger — but not overdo it so we cannot recover properly.

8 to 15 reps per set are optimal to stimulate muscle growth best.

Strength training involves low reps (1 to 6) at a high percentage (60–90%) of your one-rep max (1RM).

Progressive overload

We're continuously putting our muscle fibre under stress to recover stronger by progressively increasing how much we lift. This process is called progressive overload.

We do this by either adding slightly more weight for the same number of reps or increasing how many reps we do of the same weight.

For the best results, following the same plan, each week is advised. A minor variation on the odd exercise is acceptable if it keeps training interesting. However, changing exercises and rep ranges too often makes it too hard to measure and track strength progress objectively.

You will often hear from old-school lifters regularly changing routines and exercises to 'shock' our muscles in growth. This theory isn't how it works, despite what the gym-bro tells you.

Quick tips to maximise your performance

This article could go on all day, so I'll keep it very simple here.

Food fuels performance. Have a small meal around 1 hour before your workout. You want to have enough energy, but you also don't want your body to be digesting a meal at the same time as you're working out. More on food next.

One of the essential things in the gym is pushing as hard as possible. Rest long enough between sets, so you're not fatigued when you train. But not too long — to burn calories, you need an increased heart rate—1 to 3 minutes.

Consistency can be the difference between reaching your goals or not. 4 days a week in the gym could yield results for many, but diet needs to be on every day. That's where the 80/20 rule makes it more bearable.

Track your progress. Use a diary to write it down or an app such as My Fitness Pal, which allows you to follow your progress objectively. The same with food — have an idea of your macronutrients and whether you're gaining or losing weight.

Sleep is when you recover. Very few might be able to train hard and recover consistently on 6 hours of sleep, but 8–10 hours is optimum. Sleeping is when we recover. If we can't recover sufficiently, we eventually break down.

What I eat

If I told you I had set meals that I eat all the time, dieting looks pretty dull. And, I'd be lying.

Many people have a perception that with healthy eating, you can only eat certain foods. But this isn't the reality.

The best thing about food is that you don't have to eat anything you don't enjoy. A significant influence on our diet should be what foods we want.

I aim to eat 3–4 meals and snacks 2–3 times a day. I go to the gym around midday, so my breakfast is also my pre-gym meal. Below are examples of what my day of eating might look like.

I have provided the food energy — the calories for each meal and the total macronutrients. Macronutrients are Protein, Carbs and Fat.

I have also included fibre, a carbohydrate that the body cannot process, so it passes through. It is excellent for our digestive system, and we should consume 25–30 grams a day.

You should note that I'm on a calorie deficit to lose fat right now. I would usually eat around 3000 calories in a day.

My ratio of macronutrients is 48% carbs, 22% fat, and 30% protein.

According to Healthline:

The acceptable macronutrient distribution ranges are 45–65% of your daily calories from carbs, 20–35% from fats and 10–35% from protein.

Protein helps us build muscle, and keeps us satiated, which means we feel fuller for longer, so we are less likely to overeat.

Protein is abundant in meat, of which I have a serving 2 or 3 times a day — chicken breast, steak, lamb, ham, and ground beef would be my primary sources. I don't eat much fish, but I'll have prawns or whitefish about once a fortnight.

The recommendation is 1.3 to 1.8 grams per kg of body weight for athletes. I try to eat at least 20g of protein at every meal and 150g+ a day.

A few years ago, I went through a stage of eating canned tuna, sometimes with baked beans. It didn't smell great…

I have always eaten a lot of bread. It's fast, easy and filling, and the calories are pretty good. I always eat wholegrain bread with lots of seeds in it, as I prefer the taste and it has more fibre than regular white bread.

I'll have at least 4–5 servings of fruit most days.

I commonly eat fruit and vegetables: examples are potatoes/sweet potato, carrot, spinach, broccoli, corn, peas, watermelon, peaches, nectarines, grapes, oranges, bananas, strawberries, and kiwifruit.

Fruit is full of fibre vitamins, and minerals, which of course, is excellent for us. Fruit also has a lot of sugar, which is a carbohydrate. Sugar is often unfairly demonised, but there's nothing inherently wrong with sugar. The problem is overeating.

We gain fat from overeating anything, regardless of whether it's calories from junk food or healthy food.

Don't diet — make better lifestyle choices

I have an opinion about diets. 'Diets' set people up for failure.

Dieting is a short-term solution and does not teach us how to make better choices. It just tells us that "this" is bad — whether it's a vegan diet, paleo or keto.

Short-term goals are not inherently a bad thing; they helps us achieve something. But once we reach that diet goal, people often revert to old habits. Their old habits are the reasons we are overweight in the first place.

Diets restrict us to certain foods.

It doesn't mean we cannot eat those things ever again. But, many people believe this. Certain foods are demonised when in reality, no food is inherently wrong for you as a part of a balanced diet.

Restricting ourselves from things we enjoy will only last so long. It makes dieting too hard — but it shouldn't be.

People should think of diets as a set of recommendations rather than set rules. It doesn't matter if you eat pasta, rice, potato or bread — an apple, orange, banana or grapes. What matters is the total number of calories you eat.

The 80/20 rule of sustainability

It's hard to be perfect. Especially with diet. Dinner with friends, office drinks, family parties… We often find ourselves in situations when we want to "cheat" on our diets.

These situations are where the 80/20 rule of diet comes in.

If we make good choices 80% of the time, the other 20% doesn't matter so much. I thought I had made it up; after a Google search, I found there is a heap of articles and even a book about it.

According to Virtua Health,

“Eating 80/20 is more “real-life” and easier to follow than other diet plans because it allows you to enjoy your favourite foods in moderation while eating healthy at the same time.”

You can still enjoy your favourite foods and not stress.

80/20 might become 60/40, 90/10 or 95/5 — depending on whether the aim is maintenance, muscle gain or weight loss.

Maintenance is how much we eat to stay the same weight.

Each person's maintenance number of calories depends on genetics, activity, and current body weight.

The bigger and harder we work, the more fuel we need. Think of it as a Toyota Corolla cruising down the highway as opposed to a freight truck with a full load. Which one do you think requires the most fuel?

Supplementation

Finally, I'll get to my supplementation.

I've tried many in my time. I was even part of a now-defunct supplement review forum, where we got sent samples to try.

There was always some new supplement or special ingredient to help you train harder or make more 'gains' (slang for progress).

I've learned something that probably isn't news to you — many supplements are a waste of money. There's no scientific evidence they have any real benefit. Often, they're just a marketing ploy.

I take very few supplements these days.

However, I recommend five supplements, although none are essential.

• Protein — Purchasing protein supplements in bulk is a cost-effective and convenient way to increase your intake. Whey protein is most peoples' go-to supplement, but I now use bulk egg whites and pea protein. I have learned too much dairy gives me mucus.
• Creatine — Supplementing creatine helps to saturate our phosphocreatine stores to produce ATP. ATP is the principal molecule for storing and transferring energy in our cells and is depleted during high-intensity exercise. Supplementation can delay fatigue.
• Caffeine-based supplements — Fat burners and/or pre-workout. Pre-workouts help you train with more focus and intensity, and fat burners keep you mentally alert and energised, and suppress your appetite. Caffeine is often a key ingredient and has some science behind it.
• Fish oil — Omega-3 fatty acids have several potential benefits for our health, including reducing inflammation, which can help sore joints. The problem is, that we don't eat enough oily fish, which is the best source of omega fats. Hence, the supplement Fish Oil.
• Vitamin D/Multivitamin — We get Vitamin D from the sun. In winter, we might not get so much sun. Vitamin D helps our body absorb calcium and phosphorus, critical for strong bones. We should be getting enough vitamins and minerals from eating fruit and vegetables. The problem is, that many people don't. Hence, supplementation may be beneficial for general health.

Examine is an excellent source of independent nutrition and supplementation research if you ever want to research a supplement or ingredient.

Individual influences

Every person has unique circumstances influencing their ability to build muscle and/or lose fat. Two crucial factors are motivation and genetics.

Motivation

A big part of my transformation comes down to motivation to improve.

Improve at sport and look better. I'm also highly competitive at anything physical. When it comes to strength, once I saw what other people were lifting, it gave me an idea of what should be achievable. But if I were not consistent, I would not reach my goals.

There needs to be a specific long-term goal. Losing weight or looking "better" will only motivate for so long. With fitness, you need to be a little selfish and self-driven.

Sometimes, you have to work out instead of hanging out with friends or work colleagues.

Genetics

Your genetics play a huge role in what type of physique is attainable.

Some people will find it easier to gain muscle but struggle with fat loss. Some people are naturally lean with 6–pack abs but will struggle to put on much muscle.

Some people don't have genetics conducive to that "beach body" look. It's that much harder for somebody born with a more oversized frame, holding more fat.

I'm not saying that to be a dick, and I'm not trying to be discouraging. But it's the reality. Some people will have it a little easier.

Below are photos of when I was growing up. On the left, I'm around three years old; on the right, I'm around 12.

There are three Somatotypes to classify a general body shape.

Endomorphs have a rounder physique with a slower metabolism, a muscular and athletic mesomorph, and ectomorphs have a long thin frame.

I sit somewhere between an ectomorph and a mesomorph.

My physique looked very much like an ectomorph as a teenager, with a slim build and small bone structure. However, I was also quite athletic and strong for my size.

As soon as I hit my 20s, my physique changed quite quickly, resembling more mesomorph. I gained muscle quickly and fat more rapidly than the typical ectomorph.

Final Thoughts

One of the best things we can do is learn about food and nutrition proactively. Read labels and use Google. The better we understand food, the better our decision-making becomes.

YouTube is an excellent resource for nutrition and training advice. When I started working out, quality information and knowledge were scarce — the odd website and bodybuilding forum. A lot of the advice was terrible.

Part of the Instagram fitness revolution has meant more good knowledge in the mainstream. Several YouTubers are putting great advice out there.

Three YouTube channels I recommend for gym & fitness content are Jeff Nippard, Omar Isuf and Greg Doucette. They cover a lot of nutrition and training methodology.

In conclusion, this article has explored how I have built over 40 pounds of muscle. I provided examples of my diet and the exercises I do in the gym.

I have provided the reasoning for my training with examples from the literature.

If you often ponder about getting stronger or more muscular, I hope this article inspires you to build a physique that you’re more proud of.

You might never look like The Rock, but that does not mean you can’t have a more "fit" physique than you do now.

Hopefully,

Thank you for reading.

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If you enjoyed the article, you might be interested in reading about how much protein is required to optimise building muscle.