Get strong.
As a natural, muscle is the byproduct of strength development. The only reason the body has to gain muscle mass is in response to the demand of needing to exert high amounts of force in order to lift heavy loads. If you place this kind of stress on the body and force it to adapt to it over time, muscle tissue will be its response. It’s a simple equation.
More strength = more muscle
If you want a body that looks good, this is the key thing you need to realise: there is no way to directly just improve “aesthetics”. It’s not a thing. There is muscle mass, and there is fat mass. And the amount of the former that you carry on your frame is merely a byproduct of your strength levels.
By focusing on getting as strong as you possibly can, and progressively improving this over time, you guarantee continual improvements in how you look, by default. There is never any need to worry about whether you’re making gains or getting smaller; if you are always slowly getting stronger, you know you are moving in the right direction.
If performance is your primary concern, then there is no downside to the fact that the more your strength improves, the better your body will look. Gaining strength really is a win-win. That’s why I love it.
So, how do we apply this knowledge and get on the path to strength and muscle gain?
In order to build the musculature of your entire body together, all you need to do is ensure you build strength in the major planes of motion. Pick a strength goal each for horizontal pushing & pulling, vertical pushing & pulling, and a lower body compound movement (i.e., a squat).
In my training system we use the planche push-up, one-arm chin-up, handstand push-up, front lever row and weighted pistol squat as our guiding goals. But you could equally use something like a 1.5x bodyweight bench press, 70% bodyweight weighted chin-up, 1x bodyweight overhead press, 1.5x bodyweight barbell row and 2x bodyweight back squat as your goals. Basically, choose a set of end results that excite you the most to work towards (within the framework of those five planes of motion) and commit to pursuing them long-term.
Once you have your goals clear, everything becomes quite straightforward: You just work to progressively build your strength towards these goals. The details of doing this effectively require more explanation, but ultimately it’s not complicated. You know the specific outcome you are working for, so as long as your ability to do progressions towards those movements is improving, you are on track, and you need not worry about anything else. The muscle, the ability and the aesthetics will all come. Just keep taking one step closer to that goal strength, week by week.
To learn how to nail strength training to progress towards these goals, click here.