6 Priorities for Building Muscle

Want to build muscle? Easy. Just train chest on Monday, back on Tuesday, legs on Friday (if you can be bothered), eat everything in sight and hope for the best. Once you’ve gained enough weight, you can always starve yourself to get rid of the unwanted fat.

Sound familiar? It’s the old-school approach to building muscle, and despite everything we’ve learnt about training and nutrition, plenty of people are still following it.

Building muscle doesn’t need to involve endless hours in the gym, complicated meal plans or eating six chicken breasts a day. It does, however, require the right training stimulus, sufficient nutrition and enough recovery to allow your body to adapt.

At Foundry, we believe in getting the fundamentals right before worrying about the finer details. Whether you’re looking to gain muscle, improve your body composition or become stronger, there are six priorities worth getting right.

The 6 Priorities for Building Muscle

Building muscle, or hypertrophy if we’re being technical, is the process of increasing the size of your muscle fibres in response to resistance training.

Your body needs a reason to build muscle, the resources to support that growth and sufficient time to recover. Get those three things working together consistently, and you’re heading in the right direction.

There’s a hierarchy to the process, although the priorities overlap. Training provides the stimulus, nutrition supports the adaptation, and recovery allows you to keep progressing.

Priority 1: Training Stimulus

You could have the perfect diet, consume exactly the right amount of protein and take every supplement on the market. But if you’re not providing your muscles with an appropriate training stimulus, you’re unlikely to see much growth.

Muscles adapt when they’re challenged. Resistance training creates mechanical tension within muscle fibres, triggering a series of processes that can lead to increased muscle size over time.

The important factors include:

Training intensity: Using weights that challenge your muscles sufficiently.
Training volume: Performing enough quality sets and repetitions to stimulate growth.
Progressive overload: Gradually increasing the demands placed on your muscles as you become stronger.
Exercise selection: Choosing movements that train the major muscle groups effectively.
Training frequency: Stimulating each muscle group regularly enough to support progress.
Technique: Performing exercises with control and an appropriate range of movement.

You don’t need to lift the heaviest weights in the gym to build muscle. Moderate loads can be just as effective as heavier weights when sets are performed with sufficient effort.

Equally, you don’t need to train to absolute failure on every set. Finishing most working sets with approximately one to three good repetitions left in reserve can provide an effective stimulus without creating unnecessary fatigue.

Getting stronger isn’t simply about adding more weight every session. Effective strength training progression can also involve improving technique, increasing repetitions or developing the capacity to perform more quality work.

Full-Body Training Versus Split Routines

The traditional bodybuilding split, where you train chest on Monday, back on Tuesday and legs whenever you remember, isn’t necessarily the most practical approach for someone training two or three times per week.

Split routines can work very well, particularly for experienced lifters training frequently. However, the important factor is getting sufficient weekly training volume rather than following a particular split.

For most people balancing work, family and other commitments, full-body workouts offer an efficient way to train each major muscle group several times throughout the week.

At Foundry, our programmes are designed around progressive strength training, with exercises selected and adjusted to suit your experience, ability and goals.

Rather than chasing exhaustion or constantly changing exercises, we focus on developing good movement patterns, gradually increasing the amount of quality work you can perform and making every session count.

Priority 2: Protein Intake

Once your training is providing the right stimulus, protein becomes a major nutritional priority.

Protein supplies the amino acids your body needs to repair and build muscle tissue. Resistance training stimulates muscle protein synthesis (MPS), the process through which your body produces new muscle proteins.

However, this doesn’t mean that eating enormous amounts of protein automatically leads to bigger muscles. There is a point where additional protein offers little extra benefit.

Daily Protein Requirements

For most healthy adults undertaking regular resistance training, a daily intake of approximately 1.6 to 2.2g of protein per kilogram of body weight is a useful target for supporting muscle growth.

For example:

Body Weight	Protein at 1.6g/kg	Protein at 2.2g/kg
60kg	96g	132g
70kg	112g	154g
80kg	128g	176g
90kg	144g	198g
100kg	160g	220g

These figures are guidelines rather than rigid requirements. Your training experience, age, energy intake and individual circumstances can influence your needs.

Someone weighing 80kg could start by aiming for approximately 130 to 160g of protein per day, then adjust if necessary. Your ideal daily protein intake will depend on your body weight, activity levels and whether you’re looking to gain muscle, maintain your current physique or lose body fat.

You can obtain this from foods such as chicken, fish, eggs, lean meat, Greek yoghurt, cottage cheese, tofu, tempeh and other protein-rich plant foods.

There’s no need to live on chicken breasts and protein shakes.

Protein Timing and Distribution

Total daily protein intake is more important than precisely when you eat it. However, distributing protein across several meals can help support muscle protein synthesis throughout the day.

A practical approach is to include approximately 25 to 40g of protein in each of three or four meals, with larger individuals sometimes benefiting from bigger portions.

One reason for this is leucine, an essential amino acid that plays an important role in signalling muscle protein synthesis. Protein-rich foods generally provide leucine alongside the other amino acids required to build muscle.

You don’t need to obsess over leucine thresholds or set an alarm to eat every four hours. Focus on getting enough protein throughout the day, ideally across regular meals.

Protein before bed can also be useful, particularly if you struggle to meet your daily target. Casein-rich foods such as Greek yoghurt or cottage cheese provide a convenient option, but a specialist nighttime protein shake isn’t essential.

Priority 3: Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates have had a rough time in the fitness industry. Depending on which diet trend you’re following, they’re either the secret to performance or the reason you’re not losing body fat.

For building muscle, carbohydrates are a useful source of fuel.

During resistance training, your muscles use stored glycogen, which is produced from carbohydrates, to help supply energy. Training sessions involving multiple sets, moderate to high repetitions and relatively short rest periods can place considerable demands on these stores.

If you’re regularly training hard while eating very little carbohydrate, you may find that your performance suffers.

And when training performance suffers, maintaining the quality and volume of work needed to build muscle becomes more difficult.

Carbohydrate Requirements for Muscle Growth

There isn’t one carbohydrate target that works for everyone. Your requirements depend on training frequency, session intensity, body weight, total calorie intake and personal preferences.

For someone undertaking regular resistance training, approximately 3 to 5g of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight per day can be a useful starting range. However, some people will need less and others more.

An 80kg individual might therefore consume somewhere between 240 and 400g per day, depending on their activity levels and overall nutrition plan.

Good carbohydrate sources include potatoes, rice, oats, pasta, whole grains, fruit, beans and other starchy foods.

There’s also no need to rush for sugary foods immediately after every workout. Rapid glycogen replenishment becomes more important when you have another demanding training session within a short period, rather than when you’re training once a day or several times per week.

For most people, eating a balanced meal containing protein and carbohydrates within a few hours of training is perfectly adequate. Getting your training and nutrition working together is far more useful than worrying about the perfect post-workout snack.

The aim is to consume enough carbohydrates to train effectively, recover properly and maintain the energy needed for consistent progress.

Priority 4: Total Calories and Dietary Fats

Building muscle requires energy. Your body needs enough calories to support everyday functions, fuel training and carry out the processes involved in repairing and developing muscle tissue.

However, this doesn’t mean you need to eat everything in sight.

The traditional bulking approach often involves consuming a huge calorie surplus in the hope that more food automatically means more muscle.

Unfortunately, your body’s ability to build muscle is limited. Eating significantly more calories than you need won’t force muscle growth to happen faster. Much of that additional energy is likely to be stored as body fat.

Finding the Right Calorie Intake

For many people looking to maximise muscle gain while limiting unnecessary fat gain, a modest calorie surplus of approximately 5 to 10% above maintenance requirements is a sensible starting point.

For someone maintaining their weight on 2,500 calories per day, this could mean increasing their intake to around 2,625 to 2,750 calories.

These figures are estimates. Your actual requirements will depend on body size, activity levels, training experience and individual energy expenditure.

Importantly, a calorie surplus isn’t always essential for muscle growth.

People who are new to resistance training, returning after a long break or carrying higher levels of body fat may be able to gain muscle while maintaining their weight or even losing some body fat. This is commonly referred to as body recomposition.

For experienced lifters who are already relatively lean, a small surplus is generally more useful.

Don’t Forget Dietary Fats

While protein and carbohydrates tend to receive most of the attention, dietary fats are essential for normal physiological function.

They support hormone production, cell membranes and the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, among other important processes.

An intake of approximately 0.6 to 1g of fat per kilogram of body weight is a practical range for many active adults, provided it fits within their overall calorie requirements.

Include foods such as olive oil, nuts, seeds, avocado, eggs and oily fish as part of a balanced diet.

At Foundry, we encourage people to establish good nutritional habits before becoming overly concerned with tracking every gram. Getting enough protein, eating plenty of vegetables, choosing nutritious foods, and managing portion sizes provide a solid foundation.

As your goals become more specific, tracking calories and macronutrients can help fine-tune your approach. But the best nutrition plan is still one you can follow consistently.

Priority 5: Supplements

Walk into any supplement shop, and you’d be forgiven for thinking building muscle is impossible without a cupboard full of powders, pills and brightly coloured drinks.

The reality is rather less exciting.

Most supplements provide little additional benefit when your training, nutrition and recovery are already in place. It’s another example of why getting the basics right first matters more than chasing small improvements before you’ve established the fundamentals.

There are, however, two options particularly worth discussing.

Protein Supplements

Protein powders are convenient, but they’re not essential.

Whey, casein, soy and other quality protein powders can help you meet your daily requirements when eating enough protein through regular meals becomes difficult.

For example, if you’re aiming for 150g of protein per day and consistently reaching only 120g, a shake providing another 25 to 30g could help close the gap.

There’s nothing particularly magical about protein powder. It’s simply another way of consuming protein.

Creatine Monohydrate

Creatine is one of the most extensively researched sports supplements and has consistently demonstrated benefits for strength, high-intensity exercise performance and muscle development when combined with resistance training.

It works by increasing muscle creatine stores, helping your body regenerate ATP, the energy molecule used during short bursts of intense activity.

In practical terms, this may allow you to perform an extra repetition or maintain better performance across repeated sets. Over time, that additional training capacity can contribute to muscle growth.

For most healthy adults, taking 3 to 5g of creatine monohydrate daily is sufficient.

A loading phase of approximately 20g per day, divided into smaller doses for five to seven days, can saturate muscle stores more quickly. However, it isn’t necessary. Taking 3 to 5g daily will generally achieve similar saturation over several weeks.

You don’t need to take creatine immediately after training, mix it with large quantities of carbohydrates or purchase an expensive alternative formulation.

Plain creatine monohydrate does the job.

Creatine can also cause a modest increase in body weight through additional water stored within muscle tissue. This is normal and shouldn’t be confused with gaining body fat.

If you have an existing medical condition, particularly involving kidney function, seek appropriate medical advice before supplementing.

The main point remains the same: supplements should support a good training and nutrition programme, not replace one.

Priority 6: Rest and Recovery

Training provides the stimulus for muscle growth, but your body needs time and resources to adapt.

This is where recovery becomes important.

You might be doing everything right in the gym. Still, if you’re constantly exhausted, sleeping poorly and never allowing your body to recover, your progress is likely to suffer.

Muscle protein synthesis increases following resistance training and can remain elevated for a day or two, sometimes longer depending on training experience and the session performed.

However, muscle growth is a cumulative process that takes place over weeks and months, not simply during a 48-hour window.

Sleep and Muscle Growth

For most adults, approximately seven to nine hours of sleep per night is a sensible target.

Sleep supports numerous processes involved in recovery, including hormonal regulation, tissue repair, energy management and cognitive performance.

Poor sleep can affect your motivation, concentration and ability to perform challenging training sessions. Over time, consistently inadequate sleep may also interfere with muscle development.

You can improve your chances of getting better quality sleep by maintaining a regular sleep schedule, limiting caffeine late in the day and creating a suitable sleeping environment.

Managing Training Fatigue

Recovery doesn’t necessarily mean sitting on the sofa doing absolutely nothing.

Walking, gentle cycling and other low-intensity activities can help you stay active between strength sessions without placing excessive demands on your muscles.

The important thing is managing your overall training load.

If you’re constantly sore, your performance is declining, and you’re struggling to recover between sessions, you may need to reduce training volume, improve sleep or review your nutrition.

Conversely, being slightly sore after training doesn’t automatically mean you need several days off. Effective recovery and regeneration involve balancing training demands with the time and resources your body needs to adapt.

At Foundry, we don’t judge a successful session by how exhausted you feel afterwards. We judge it by whether the work contributes towards your longer-term goals.

Putting the Six Priorities Together

Understanding the individual priorities is useful, but the real benefit comes from making them work together.

Let’s look at two examples of how someone might structure their nutrition when their goal is to build muscle.

These are illustrative starting points, not personalised prescriptions. Calorie needs vary considerably depending on daily movement, occupation, training intensity, body composition and other factors.

Example 1: Male, 45 Years Old, 80kg

Our first example is a 45-year-old man, 175cm tall and weighing 80kg, who undertakes three strength training sessions per week.

Using a standard predictive equation, his estimated resting metabolic rate is approximately 1,680 calories per day. This is the energy required to support basic bodily functions at rest, not the number of calories he needs to maintain his weight.

Once daily activity and exercise are accounted for, his estimated maintenance requirement might be around 2,400 to 2,600 calories.

If his goal is to gain muscle gradually, an initial target of approximately 2,700 calories could be reasonable, subject to monitoring his progress.

Nutrient	Daily Target	Calories
Protein	160g	640
Carbohydrates	335g	1,340
Fats	80g	720
Total		2,700

This provides 2g of protein per kilogram of body weight, sufficient dietary fats and a substantial carbohydrate intake to support training performance.

It isn’t necessary to hit these figures perfectly every day. Maintaining a suitable overall calorie intake and consistently meeting protein requirements are more important than achieving an exact carbohydrate-to-fat ratio.

Example 2: Female, 45 Years Old, 65kg

Our second example is a 45-year-old woman, 165cm tall and weighing 65kg, who also trains three times per week.

Her estimated resting metabolic rate is approximately 1,300 calories per day, while her maintenance calorie requirement might be around 1,850 to 2,050 calories depending on activity levels.

An initial target of approximately 2,100 calories could provide a modest surplus if her maintenance intake is towards the upper end of that range. Her weight trend and training performance would help establish whether an adjustment is needed.

Nutrient	Daily Target	Calories
Protein	130g	520
Carbohydrates	250g	1,000
Fats	65g	585
Total		2,105

This provides 2g of protein per kilogram of body weight, with carbohydrates and fats distributed to support training, recovery and general health.

Again, these are starting figures rather than fixed requirements. Some people will gain muscle effectively with fewer calories, while others may need more.

The important thing is using the numbers as a framework and adjusting them based on actual progress.

Measuring Muscle Growth and Tracking Progress

One of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to build muscle is judging progress entirely by the number on the bathroom scale.

Body weight tells you how much you weigh, but it doesn’t tell you whether changes are coming from muscle, fat, water or other factors.

For example, someone could maintain the same body weight while gaining muscle and losing body fat. Equally, a rapid increase in weight during a bulking phase doesn’t necessarily mean you’re building muscle quickly.

A more useful approach is to monitor several measurements over time.

Strength and Training Performance

If you’re progressively lifting heavier weights, performing more repetitions or completing a greater amount of quality work with good technique, that’s a positive sign.

Strength improvements aren’t always directly proportional to muscle growth, particularly when you’re relatively new to training, but they provide valuable information about your progress.

Body Weight and Measurements

Tracking average body weight over several weeks can help identify whether your calorie intake is appropriate.

Waist, chest, arm and thigh measurements can provide additional context, particularly when combined with progress photographs taken under consistent conditions.

For someone deliberately gaining weight, a slow, controlled increase is generally preferable to rapid weight gain.

Body Composition Assessments

At Foundry, we use InBody body composition assessments to help members monitor changes in skeletal muscle mass, body fat and other measurements.

These assessments can be useful for identifying longer-term trends, but they aren’t perfect. Hydration, food intake, recent exercise and other factors can influence the results.

That’s why we encourage consistent testing conditions and looking at trends rather than becoming fixated on individual readings.

Monthly assessments, combined with training records and regular reviews, provide a more complete picture of progress.

If your strength is improving, muscle measurements are moving in the right direction and body fat is remaining relatively stable, there’s a good chance your approach is working.

If not, we can review the variables and make appropriate adjustments.

Muscle Building Mistakes

Even with the six priorities in place, there are a few common habits that can slow your progress.

Changing your programme too frequently. Muscle growth requires progressive training over time. Constantly switching exercises makes it difficult to measure improvements and develop the strength needed to increase training demands.

Eating far more than you need. A large calorie surplus doesn’t guarantee faster muscle growth. It often means gaining additional body fat that you’ll eventually want to lose.

Focusing on supplements before food. Creatine and protein powder can be useful, but they won’t compensate for consistently inadequate nutrition.

Training hard without progressing. Working up a sweat and feeling exhausted aren’t reliable indicators of muscle growth. You need a programme that gradually challenges your muscles as they adapt.

Expecting immediate results. Building noticeable muscle takes time. Beginners may experience relatively rapid improvements, but meaningful changes in muscle size generally require months of consistent training.

Ignoring recovery. More training isn’t always better. Your programme needs to account for the demands of your job, family life, sleep and other physical activities.

Perhaps the biggest mistake is trying to optimise everything at once.

If you’re currently training inconsistently, eating very little protein and sleeping five hours a night, worrying about the perfect post-workout carbohydrate source probably isn’t your biggest priority.

Get the basics right first.

Building Muscle With Foundry Personal Training

Building muscle isn’t complicated, but that doesn’t mean it’s always easy.

You need to train consistently, challenge your muscles appropriately, eat enough to support your goals and allow your body sufficient time to recover.

You also need a programme that fits around your life.

Our personal training programmes at Foundry are designed to take the guesswork out of the process. We provide structured strength training, coaching, nutritional guidance and regular progress reviews to help you make measurable improvements.

Whether you’re completely new to strength training, returning after a break or looking to take your results further, we’ll help you establish the right priorities and build from there.

You don’t need to spend six days a week in the gym or follow a restrictive bodybuilding diet. You need an effective plan, the willingness to put in the work and the consistency to stick with it.

If you’re ready to get started, join us for a 7 day trial and see how a structured approach to training can help you build strength and muscle.

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