Frequent Questions

Where do I begin if I’ve never strength trained before?

Hire a personal trainer, join Gyroscope Max, or just follow this guide with one of our beginner programs. YouTube has plenty of videos on common exercises — watch those early to learn proper form.

It is never too late to start. Everyone began at the beginning.

Can I build muscle training just once or twice a week?

Maybe, if intensity is high and other factors are dialed in. For optimal growth, we recommend at least 3 workouts a week, with 48 hours rest per muscle group.

How many days a week should I train to build muscle?

3 workouts a week is enough for most people, but 4, 5 or 6 days is possible. The more days you train, the more intricate the program needs to be to give each muscle group adequate rest.

Can I strength train 7 days a week?

Not recommended for most people. Training 4 or 5 days a week for a full year beats overcommitting to every day and burning out after a few weeks. That said, with smart programming and a heavy emphasis on low-intensity days and mobility, 7 days is possible if you really enjoy it.

What is the best training program for me?

The best program is the one you can stick to. If you only have 3 days a week, don’t start a program that asks for 5. Frequency and consistency drive results.

And you can’t just find the perfect workout and repeat it forever. As your body adapts, so must your workouts — keep applying progressive overload.

What is Progressive Overload?

The continuous increase in stress on the CNS and musculoskeletal system, through gradually harder training.

Each workout, try to best your previous performance: an extra rep or two, a bit more weight, less rest, slower tempo — anything that pushes intensity. Keep some ‘gas in the tank’ instead of working to failure every set, so you always have room to grow next time.

Are rest days really important?

Yes! You actually get stronger while resting — that’s when your CNS and muscles rebuild from the stress so you can handle more next time. Skip this recovery and you risk reduced gains or injury.

Is diet important?

Yes! Building muscle is calorie-intensive, so you must eat enough. Adequate protein is essential for growth and repair, and data also shows carbs matter for muscle protein synthesis. You’ll need a slight calorie surplus — a different strategy than weight-loss habits.

Focus on whole foods: lean complete proteins, complex fibrous carbs, polyunsaturated fats and plenty of vegetables, so you gain muscle rather than just bodyfat.

Can I just work out harder to burn calories?

Don’t treat exercise as a license to eat anything. You always need to be aware of what’s in your food. Aim for about 110% of your daily expenditure and don’t go far beyond it — you can’t out-train a diet of pizza.

Can I build muscle and lose fat at the same time?

Possible, especially for beginners, but not as optimal as doing one at a time. Building muscle is an anabolic process maximized with a slight (about 10%) surplus, while burning fat is catabolic and requires a deficit.

Keep protein high, training intensity high, and the deficit small, and you may gain lean muscle while losing fat. But for optimal progress, switch between bulking and cutting phases every few months.

The same core habits apply to both — high protein, resistance training, good sleep. The difference is training intensity and total intake (about 90% of TDEE to lose fat, 110% to grow muscle). In neither case should you eat unhealthily or stop training.

How much protein should I eat for optimal muscle growth?

Eat at least 1.6-2 grams per kg of body weight (0.8-1 gram per pound) daily. Pushing to 2-2.2 g/kg (1-1.2 g/lb) helps maximize muscle protein synthesis. More isn’t harmful but shows diminishing returns, and too much can cause bloating and gas.

So if you’re about 150 pounds (68 kg), aim for roughly 150 grams of protein per day.

What are the best supplements for building muscle?

First optimize the basics: training frequency and consistency, progressive overload, diet and sleep. Nail these before even thinking about supplements.

Then a few can help. Protein powder is a convenient way to hit targets you can’t reach with food. Creatine is extremely well-proven for strength and power, though it works for only about 7 in 10 people.

Beyond that, returns get negligible. Citrulline Malate / L-Citrulline, HMB and Beta-Alanine may offer some benefit, but the data is mixed.

How long should a bulking phase be?

It depends on two factors: how much weight you want to gain, and how long you’ve been training. Unfortunately, the more experienced you are, the longer new muscle takes.

A good rule of thumb is at least 8-12 weeks bulking, then back to maintenance or a slight deficit to reduce bodyfat.

How can I bulk without putting on too much body fat?

This is a “lean bulk,” our recommended approach — it emphasizes food quality while limiting excess fat gain.

• Eat slightly more calories than you burn (around 110% of our TDEE) on a daily basis
• Eat at least 0.8-1 gram of protein per pound of body weight every day (around 20-40% of daily calories)
• Eat 2-3 grams of carbs per pound of body weight every day to keep glycogen levels up (around 40-60% of daily calories)
• Eat foods you enjoy, but avoid “cheat days”
• Focus your training primarily on big, compound lifts
• Pay special attention to progressive overload
• Get plenty of sleep and make your rest days count

How long should a cutting phase be?

For people with moderate to low body fat (men 10-15%, women 20-25%), use a bulk-to-cut ratio of 3:1 — bulk 12 weeks, cut 4. If you have more fat to lose, spend longer cutting before focusing on muscle.

How do I avoid losing muscle in a cut?

Keep your deficit conservative (10-15%, or 300-500 calories max), protein high (0.8-1 gram per kg) and progressive overload going. Even when you’re not focused on building, keep up resistance training to preserve the muscle you worked so hard for.

How long would it take to go from an average body to looking like a superhero? How is that done?

Expect noticeable changes after 2-3 months of consistent training, bigger changes in 4-6 months, and incredible transformations after about a year — all built on being consistent with training and diet. The people who do this for Hollywood or bodybuilding competitions are professionals with coaches, teams and hours a day devoted to it.

For a “superhero” physique, achieving it isn’t even the hard part — maintaining it is. It’s doable, but takes focus and sacrifice that may not suit your long-term lifestyle.

We recommend focusing on enjoying the process — building muscle, gaining strength, losing fat — and celebrating wins big and small. Take photos every 4-6 weeks; notice how your clothes fit differently, how your posture and confidence improve, how stairs get easier; work on cool movements like pull-ups and muscle-ups; push your squats and deadlifts. Explore your potential and looking like a superhero becomes a by-product of your lifestyle.

How much should my calorie surplus be to build muscle?

Aim for around 110% of your TDEE — if your TDEE is 2500 calories, that’s 2750 total. You could push to 120%, but keep protein and training intensity high. There are diminishing returns, so more calories doesn’t simply mean more muscle. If your training drops, drop your food to match.

What if I am vegetarian or vegan?

Vegetarians who tolerate dairy will get most of their protein there. Whey is a good supplement for easily digestible, complete protein, and eggs make a great staple too.

Vegans can get complete amino acids from foods like quinoa, or combinations like rice + beans.

How quickly can I expect to gain muscle?

Beginners consistent with training and diet can build a fair bit in the first 4-6 months — around 2-3 lbs of muscle per month. Don’t expect dramatic changes in a week or two; patience and long-term thinking are key.

After about 6 months, this drops to roughly 1-2 lbs per month. After a year, an experienced lifter is lucky to hit half a pound a month.

Myths & Misconceptions to reset

Before the plan for what to do, let’s review what not to do. There are many widespread myths about muscle you should clear from memory.

“Muscle is all about genetics” — Wrong!

Your number of Type 2 muscle fibers is partly genetic, so some people start with more or add muscle a little easier. But if you put in the work and control the right variables, genetics won’t hold you back — you’re guaranteed to add muscle.

If you’ve struggled to gain muscle before, it’s far more likely you missed a step in the Muscle Pyramid than that your genetics make it impossible.

“Lifting heavy weights can make you too bulky” — Wrong!

This is a common concern for women, but many men avoid heavy training too, or train at low intensity believing lighter weights and higher reps burn more fat and “tone” while heavy weights make you explode in size.

In reality, getting magazine-cover “big” takes years of work — it won’t happen overnight from lifting a few weights. The calories, protein, supplements, training and sacrifice required are beyond what most people will ever apply. And even if you did, you’d have plenty of time to slow down once you noticed it happening.

Lifting heavy (around 0-3 reps from failure) on a well-structured program builds lean muscle and is optimal. Combined with fat loss, it gives most people the sought-after “toned” look. From there you could train for more size if you like. Significantly light weights only really belong in de-loading, rehab, warm-ups or endurance training.

“Lifting weights will stunt or inhibit growth” — Wrong!

There’s no evidence for this. More and more young people lift, and studies like this one show real benefits:

• Increasing strength and bone strength index (BSI)

• Decreasing fracture risk and sports-related injury

The concern comes from the idea that too much weight could damage growth plates in immature bones. When that happens, it’s down to bad form, excess load or bad programming — not resistance training itself. And remember, ALL sports carry injury risk; around 15-30% of childhood fractures involve growth plates.

“Lifting weights is bad for your back” — Wrong!

With proper form, lifting can be good for your back. Movements like the deadlift build a strong posterior chain — all the muscles down the back of your body — unlike anything else. The stronger it is, the more supported you are for life.

Lifting incorrectly, however, can hurt your back and should be avoided at all costs.

“Squats are bad for your knees” — Wrong!

Squats can be good for your knees, unless you already have knee issues. Squatting badly or with weights that are too heavy is what causes trouble — avoid that.

Never attempt any weighted movement until you can do the bodyweight version for many reps, pain free. Then progressively overload at a sensible pace and you’ll be fine. This applies to squats and every other exercise.

“When you squat, your knees must stay behind your toes” — Wrong!

To squat to depth, your knees need to pass your toes — just like walking up stairs, doing lunges or sissy squats. This myth likely came from misreading one study where keeping the tibia vertical (knees behind toes) reduced knee shear. But that stress has to go somewhere — further research showed it shifts to the hips and lower back, with its own problems.

The more your knees travel forward, the more stress on them, and knees are a sensitive joint, so build up to it. But the whole point of training is to apply stress, rest, and get stronger. With caution and careful progression, your knees can pass your toes without concern.

“You can’t do resistance training two days in a row” — Wrong!

You could train every day if you like — just rest each muscle group 48-72 hours between sessions. Work one group Monday, another Tuesday, another Wednesday, and so on. Training 5+ days a week, vary intensity too so you’re not maxing out daily. Planning these splits correctly is exactly why a proper program matters.

“Training to failure every time will stimulate extra growth” — Wrong!

Training to failure does stimulate the most response, but it leaves no room to grow and is extremely taxing on the nervous system. Staying 1-3 reps from failure and adding a little each workout or week is more effective at avoiding plateaus, fatigue and injuries.

“If you eat more than 30 grams of protein in one sitting, your body can’t absorb it” — Wrong!

Almost everything you eat gets absorbed — your digestive system is very efficient at extracting and using macronutrients.

Setting aside that protein does a lot more than just build muscle, this myth came from a couple of places.

First, muscle protein synthesis (MPS) after a meal doesn’t increase beyond about 30-40 grams of protein, or 0.4 g/kg per meal. Second, some studies found that above 30 grams, urinary nitrogen rose sharply, and protein is the only macro containing nitrogen. But nitrogen has no calories, and protein also supplies carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and other elements your body can use for protein synthesis later.

A simple plan

We’ve covered the why, the training, the nutrition and the recovery. Now let’s bring it together into a simple roadmap to get you started.

STEP 1

Set your “Why” and clarify your goals. Mindset and goal-setting come first — without direction, you’ll give up when things get tough.

• Long term, what do you want to achieve?
• Where would you like to be next year? Why is that non-negotiable for you?
• Short term, what mini goals do you have? What can you do in a few weeks?
• Why do you want to do all this? Which benefits are most important?
• And why is that benefit important to you? Keep going deeper...

Read the free “Finding your Why” guide in the Academy section of the app for more guidance. Write your answers in your notes, your daily Gyroscope Journal, or store them on the Goals page in app.

STEP 2

Set up your new workout program.

• How many days do you have to train a week? Be realistic!
• What is the absolute minimum time you could commit to?
• Do you have equipment to use, a gym, or bodyweight only?

Add it to your calendar and protect that time so you always get the workout in. No gym? Plenty can be done with bodyweight alone. Too busy? Anyone can find 10-15 minutes. Lack of equipment or time is not an excuse.

Choose from our selection of workouts in the app — we have something for almost every situation, equipment type or experience level. There are also hundreds of other apps that you can use which will provide various types of workouts. If you use these, you can export your workout into Apple Health to have it appear in Gyroscope automatically.

STEP 3

Calculate your macros and make a rough nutrition plan.

• Write down some staple meals that you can eat regularly or batch cook. Optimize for nutrient and protein density, avoiding processed foods or sugar
• Figure out how you will be able to hit your protein and calorie targets on a daily basis
• Go shopping and try to always be prepared for at least a week in advance

Use the formulas from Chapter 3 to come up with your own targets. You can write those down somewhere for future reference, or enter them into the Metabolic Coach of the app to set goals within Gyroscope. If you live with other people, get everyone involved. Without their help and support, it will be hard to reach your goals and easy to end up eating whatever everyone else is having.

If you don’t know enough about nutrition to do these calculations, or plan your meals yourself, we recommend Gyroscope Coach to have an expert do this for you.

STEP 4

Set a start date. Take frequent photos and measurements of everything you want to improve!

• Take some before photos: front, side and back wearing minimal clothing with good lighting
• Take your weight and body measurements, if this is something you want to do
• Make sure your latest metrics are in Gyroscope so you can monitor your data as you go
• Set up your Health Score to keep your sleep, activity, productivity & other parts monitored

Tracking your progress is one of the best ways to make sure you stay on track and stay motivated along the long journey. As you start to plateau, adjustments in your workout routine to increase progressive overload, or continuing to optimize your diet may be necessary to keep making progress. The trends in Gyroscope should help you understand what parts need more attention and help you keep everything balanced.