Ways Athletes Build Muscle: Brief Overview
Athletes are experts at building muscle because they approach training with purpose and a focus on results. The ways athletes build muscle involve training smarter (not just harder), and balancing performance and progression over the long term.
Many people attribute much of an athlete’s success to genetics, and while genetics do play a role, they are only part of the equation. What often gets overlooked are the exact methods, mindset, and discipline that athletes bring to their training. These factors can lead to life-changing results for anyone willing to put in the work.
Whether you’re just getting started with building muscle, an athlete looking to build muscle, or a normal gym goer, this article is for you. We’ll explore the key strategies athletes use to build muscle effectively—and how you can apply them to your own routine. From my own time as a competitive tennis player, I’ve learned that these principles work. With that being said, let’s dive into it.
1. Athletes Master Training Fundamentals
Many people get defensive at the idea that they might be doing some of the basics wrong, but mastering the fundamentals one of the primary ways athletes build muscle. Even if you think you have a solid foundation, it’s always worth double-checking to make sure you’ve nailed the essentials.
What sets athletes apart is their understanding that the majority of their success comes from perfecting these basics. When it comes to building muscle, 80% of your progress comes from the following key principles.
Increasing Strength on Basic Compound Movements
Athletes prioritize basic lifts like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, and pull-ups as the foundation of their training plan. This is because these compound exercises recruit multiple muscle groups at once, creating the greatest stimulus for muscle growth. They provide a solid foundation of strength and functionality, which not only makes you stronger but also improves your ability to perform more advanced or sport-specific exercises later on.
The reason these exercises make up the majority of your initial progress is simple: they allow you to target the most muscles in the least amount of time. If you tried to target every muscle group individually, your workouts would never end. Compound movements allow athletes to progressively get stronger with heavier weights over time.
A great example of a good compound movement is the barbell squat. This movement doesn’t just strengthen your legs—it also builds core stability, strengthens your lower back, and improves your overall power. Similarly, deadlifts target your entire posterior chain, which is critical for building strength and athletic performance. These exercises create a ripple effect, where improvements in one area translate into gains across your entire body.
Progressive Overload
Athletes know that progressive overload is the most important principle for building muscle and improving strength. It’s the idea that in order to continue making progress, you must gradually increase the demands placed on your body. This can be done by increasing the weight you lift, the number of reps or sets, or by reducing rest time between sets.
Athletes understand that without progressive overload, their muscles won’t be challenged enough to grow or adapt. It’s not about going all out every workout, but rather making small, consistent adjustments over time. This steady progression is what drives long-term results and prevents plateaus.
2. Athletes Understand Building Muscle is a Lifestyle
Athletes Compete Against Each Other
Athletes understand that they are competing against other athletes. They realize that if any aspect of their training plan is lacking, they will simply get outworked. This fundamentally separates athletes from casual gym goers. You will never find a competitive athlete that is content with their current level. They are constantly working to optimize every area of their training routine.
For athletes, a muscle building routine is no different. They know that competition never stops, so they constantly look for ways to optimize their training. Unlike casual gym-goers, they never settle for their current level. They might just be making small adjustments, like adjusting rest intervals, refining warm-ups, or trying new exercises. These minor changes add up, ensuring continuous progress.
Synergy of a Muscle Building Routine
Athletes understand that excelling in just one area isn’t enough; everything has to work in harmony. At first, you might see progress even if parts of your routine aren’t on point. But as you advance, your training plan needs to be more refined to keep making gains.
Training hard won’t yield results if your diet is off, just like eating well won’t matter if you’re neglecting recovery or not getting enough sleep. It’s like a high-performance car with a failing engine—no matter how polished it looks, it won’t run properly until every part is in sync.
My Experience as an Athlete
In my earlier years as a competitive tennis player, I was able to move up through the ranks pretty quickly. I trained hard and stuck to a solid routine, but I knew there were small gaps in my approach that were holding me back from reaching my full potential. I’d often get 7 hours of sleep instead of the recommended 8, which slowed down my recovery and left me feeling a step behind.
Some days, I simply didn’t push myself as hard as I could. While my recovery was decent, it wasn’t optimized—I wasn’t fully focused on muscle repair, stretching, or fueling my body right after intense matches. These small factors added up, and I could feel the difference when I faced opponents who had their training and recovery dialed in.
This experience taught me that building muscle isn’t just about hitting the big lifts or workouts—it’s about mastering the small details, too. One of the ways athletes build muscle comes from understanding that success comes from treating every part of their routine as a crucial piece of the puzzle. They ensure everything works together for maximum performance and muscle growth.
3. Athletes Focus on One Area at a Time
You Will Not Excel at Everything
Athletes understand that you can’t specialize in everything. People who try to specialize in everything will specialize in nothing. If you try to focus on maximizing endurance, agility, muscle hypertrophy, and other skills all at once, you won’t actually master any of them. This is because there will always be others who are dedicating more time and energy to mastering each individual skill, and they’ll outwork you.
Instead, athletes focus their limited time on learning and mastering one skill at a time until it’s fully developed. Once that skill is maxed out, they can shift their focus to another. The best part? When they come back to the first skill, muscle memory kicks in, making it much easier to pick up again. The main takeaway is that you will never have every skill mastered at the same time, and that is perfectly fine.
When I decided to shift my focus and dedicate most of my time to building muscle, I knew I had to scale back on tennis in order to prioritize strength training. I put my skills on hold for a while, focusing entirely on gaining size and power. After 6 months of training, I finally returned to tennis. After a month, most of my skills came back relatively quickly. However, the real difference was in my strength. Being stronger not only improved my performance, but it also helped me take my game to the next level.
How This Looks in Application
Focusing on one area at a time is key for long-term muscle growth. Athletes dedicate their energy to specific muscle groups based on the demands of their sport. For example, a sprinter might spend several weeks focusing on building explosive power in their legs, specifically their hamstrings and calves, to improve their speed. Once that strength is developed, they can shift their focus to enhancing their upper body for better arm drive and posture during sprints. Instead of trying to improve everything at once, they focus on what will make the biggest difference in their performance.
Training smart is one of the best ways athletes build muscle. They ensure they don’t overextend themselves and can continue making steady progress. This approach helps them avoid plateaus, as each phase of their training builds on the last. The result is a body that’s specifically conditioned for their sport, with muscles optimized for the demands they face.
4. Athletes Modify Their Plan to Best Suit Their Sport
Athletes are masters at adapting their training to fit the specific demands of their sport. Whether it’s strength, speed, endurance, or agility, they understand that different sports require different skill sets. A one-size-fits-all approach simply doesn’t work for athletes. By tailoring their workouts to the unique needs of their sport, they maximize their performance and ensure their training is as effective as possible.
Power Sports: Football & Basketball
In power sports like football and basketball, athletes focus on building raw strength, explosiveness, and power. These sports require athletes to perform quick, high-intensity movements like sprinting, jumping, and tackling, all of which demand strength and speed.
Football players, for example, spend a significant amount of time on heavy compound lifts—squats, deadlifts, and bench presses. Their training often revolves around building strength in the lower body and core, as these areas are crucial for explosive movements.
Similarly, basketball players concentrate on developing explosive leg power for jumping, quick footwork for agility, and upper-body strength to box out opponents or finish at the rim.
In these sports, athletes don’t focus as much on cardiovascular endurance or long-duration aerobic conditioning since the demands of the game are more about quick bursts of intensity. Extensive endurance training can take a backseat to strength-building exercises and explosive power.
Endurance Sports: Soccer & Swimming
In endurance sports like soccer and swimming, athletes emphasize cardiovascular conditioning, muscular endurance, and overall stamina. These sports demand sustained energy output over longer periods. As a result, athletes focus on building the ability to maintain a high level of performance without fatiguing quickly.
For example, soccer players focus on building leg endurance through running, interval training, and agility drills. Their training is a combination of aerobic and anaerobic conditioning. This allows them to sustain high-intensity sprints while also being able to recover quickly.
Swimming, on the other hand, requires athletes to maintain efficiency in the water while simultaneously building upper and lower body strength for powerful strokes. Swimmers often train with a mix of long-distance swims for endurance and high-intensity sprints to develop speed. If you’re curious about how swimming contributes to muscle building, check out our article on swimming and building muscle.
Endurance sports like soccer and swimming don’t place as much emphasis on heavy strength training or maximal power exercises. While strength is still important for these athletes, the priority is placed on stamina, aerobic capacity, and muscular endurance. These help them maintain performance over extended periods.
5. Athletes Regulate Intensity
Athletes Limit How Hard They Train
One of the key reasons athletes are able to build muscle and perform at their best is their ability to regulate the intensity of their training. Building muscle is a long-term process that takes months and years of consistent effort. As a result, athletes focus on what will have the highest total benefit over time.
For example, training to muscular failure on every set of your workout would actually produce more short-term muscle growth. However, it would lead to excessive muscle damage and longer recovery. Ultimately, this would slowdown muscle growth in the long run.
Athletes Still Train Hard
Make no mistake, you must train hard to see results. In most muscle building sessions, athletes aim for a level of intensity that provides a solid muscle-building stimulus and can be sustained over time.
When building muscle, athletes typically train 1-2 reps shy of muscular failure on most sets. However, many people misunderstand what true muscular failure really is. Muscular failure occurs when a muscle reaches its mechanical limit, meaning it physically can’t complete another rep, no matter what. For example, if you hit muscular failure after 8 reps of a bench press and someone offered you a million dollars to do one more, you still wouldn’t be able to complete another rep.
Training 1-2 reps short of failure means you’re working hard enough to stimulate muscle growth without completely exhausting yourself or risking injury. By finding that balance, they ensure consistent progress while minimizing the risk of burnout or injury.
Proper Intensity Depends on the Person
Quite simply, there is no perfect amount of intensity for everyone. Some athletes can perform with higher intensity and push their muscle building limits. These people may feel energized and recover quickly, allowing them to handle greater stress in their training.
On the other hand, others might find that too much volume or intensity leads to burnout or injury, requiring them to back off and focus on more moderate training to see progress. Understanding your body’s unique response to different training intensities is essential to finding the right balance for optimal muscle growth.
6. Athletes Track Progress
This is easily the most underrated aspect of building muscle. Athletes understand that they will not immediately see physical changes within weeks of training. They know that they must track the smaller changes in performance to determine if they are on the right track. Here are a few ways they go about this.
They Log Workouts
Personally, I can guarantee that you will not remember the exact of amount of weight you lifted from week to week. You must log your workouts from week to week. In general, I recommend tracking at least the weight and reps you do per exercise each week. However, it’s impressive to see how some athletes take it to the next level by tracking things like exact recovery times per set, hydration, joint pain, form, and more.
In addition, logging workouts allows you to see if you are off track relatively quickly. If an athlete sees their strength not progressing from week to week, they know they are doing something wrong. If you only rely on physical appearance, it may be weeks or months before you realize you are off track.
Progress Photos
While not as precise, athletes often track body composition through progress photos, tape measurements, or body fat assessments. Strength improvements, endurance levels, and recovery times are also indicators that their training is on track. If you are applying progressive overload and you are slowly getting stronger overtime, your physique will change as a result. There’s simply no way around it.
Observe Trends
Importantly, athletes focus on meaningful metrics rather than obsessing over every small fluctuation. They understand that muscle-building progress is rarely linear and that consistency over months and years is what truly matters. Athletes track as much of their training program as possible. The more data they have, the easier it will be to identify trends.
A great example for me was when I started tracking my recovery times between sets. I realized I was only giving myself 90 seconds, which wasn’t enough for my muscles to fully recover. Once I increased my rest to 3 minutes, my strength improved significantly.
7. Athletes Regularly Deload
Many people have an irrational fear of deloading, for reasons I can’t quite explain. They believe that deloading will undo all of their hard work and that all their gains will disappear. However, athletes understand that deloading is an essential part of a well structured routine.
What is De-loading
De-loading is the practice of temporarily reducing the intensity and volume of workouts, typically every 4-6 weeks. If you are truly training at a proper intensity, your muscles absolutely need a break for at least a week. During a deload, you reduce the total amount of weights, sets, and reps to give your muscles, joints, and nervous system a break. This practice is essential for athletes to avoid overtraining and to ensure long-term muscle growth.
Why De-loading Matters
Athletes incorporate de-loading to prevent burnout and reduce the risk of injury. Constant high-intensity training can lead to plateaus or overuse injuries. By reducing intensity, athletes allow muscles to repair and rebuild, which helps maintain progress. De-loading ensures that when athletes return to their regular routine, they’re refreshed, stronger, and ready to continue their muscle-building journey.
Midway through my senior tennis season in high school, I trained in the gym nonstop for an entire year without taking a break. I was terrified to take even a week off, worried that all my progress would disappear. But my muscles desperately needed a deload, and when I returned after the break, I was stronger than before.
How Athletes De-load
Athletes often de-load by reducing workout volume by 30-50%, or cutting back on weight to 60-70% of their usual load. For example, a weightlifter might switch from heavy barbell squats to lighter dumbbell squats, or a sprinter might reduce their sprint intervals and focus on technique and mobility.
In sports like football, athletes might cut back on high-impact drills while focusing on stretching and recovery work. These strategies help maintain muscle memory, prevent burnout, and ensure peak performance when they start training again. Regular de-loads allow athletes to continue progressing without risking overtraining.
8. Athletes Recover Properly
People trying to build muscle need to understand that recovery doesn’t just play a role in building muscle, it actually plays a really important role. As you will see below, recovery is just as important as a solid training plan and diet.
Recovery Techniques
Athletes understand that the foundation for muscle recovery involves proper sleep, stretching, and nutrition. Stretching helps prevent injury and improves flexibility. To implement this, dedicate 5-10 minutes after each workout to stretch the muscles you’ve worked. Focus on both static stretches and dynamic movements.
Sleep is crucial for muscle repair and hormone production. Aim for 7-9 hours of quality sleep each night. Make sure your sleep environment is dark, cool, and quiet to optimize rest.
Nutrition plays a key role in recovery, providing the building blocks needed for muscle growth. Eat a balanced meal within an hour after your workout, combining protein, carbohydrates, and healthy fats. This will maximize muscle repair and replenish glycogen stores.
The Role of Recovery in Muscle Growth
Recovery is often the missing link for many gym-goers who experience stalled progress. Without proper recovery, muscles don’t have the chance to rebuild and grow stronger. This leads to accumulated fatigue, overtraining, and ultimately a plateau in performance.
On the flip side, effective recovery creates a positive feedback loop: the better you recover, the more effectively you train, and the stronger you become with each session. Recovery allows athletes to consistently perform at their best and continue making gains over time.
Recovery is a Lifestyle
Athletes understand recovery is a 24/7 lifestyle, not just cooldowns or sleep. They prioritize habits like hydration, balanced nutrition, and stress management. They also incorporate regular stretching, foam rolling, and mindful mobility work. Post-workout meals with protein and carbs aid recovery, while mental practices like meditation keep them sharp.
The average person may only focus on basic recovery like sleep and stretching. Athletes, however, go the extra mile by making recovery a comprehensive part of their lifestyle.
9. Athletes Understand Nutrition Essentials
The ways athletes build muscle extend beyond just lifting weights—they also include smart rest periods and nutrition.
Calories
Athletes understand that they burn more calories than the average person due to their increased activity levels. As a result, their calorie maintenance is naturally higher. To build muscle, they eat slightly above this maintenance level to create a calorie surplus. This ensures they have enough energy to repair and grow muscle after intense training sessions.
The best way to determine your calorie maintenance level is to track how many calories you typically consume in a week. Use a food tracking app or journal, and then average your weekly intake. This will give you a more accurate estimate of your maintenance level than a calorie maintenance calculator, which can only provide a rough estimate.
Protein
Regardless of the sport, athletes make sure to get adequate protein in their diet. Typically, 0.8-1 gram of protein per pound of body weight is enough to maximize muscle growth. This macronutrient is essential for muscle repair and growth. Athletes know the importance of consistent protein intake to support their demanding training schedules and help their muscles recover efficiently.
In addition, it is best to not consume all your protein at once. This is because there is a limit to how much protein your body can utilize in a single feeding. In general, I recommend at least three separate protein feedings to maximize muscle growth.
Meal Timing
Athletes often time their meals to optimize their training and recovery. For example, they may consume a pre workout snack shortly after a workout to promote muscle repair. Some also eat a balanced meal 1-2 hours before training to fuel their body with energy, while others prefer smaller meals throughout the day to maintain a steady supply of nutrients for muscle growth.
Before every match, I eat a banana, honey, and peanut butter about an hour ahead. The banana gives me quick-digesting carbs for energy, while the honey adds an extra burst of natural sugar. The peanut butter provides healthy fats and protein to keep me feeling full and steady throughout the match. It’s a simple, balanced snack that supports my performance and helps me avoid any energy dips during the game.
10. Athletes Include Aerobic Fitness
I can already hear some of you nerds rushing to the comment section, saying that you don’t care about aerobic fitness and just want to build muscle. Trust me, I understand. But take a minute to hear me out, and you’ll start to see why this matters for your gains.
Why All Athletes Prioritize it
While strength training is the main focus for muscle building, aerobic fitness is an essential, yet overlooked aspect of overall conditioning. It is true that some sports require more aerobic conditioning than others, and it is not equally important to everyone. However, regardless of the sport, athletes recognize the importance of maintaining cardiovascular health for long-term performance and muscle growth.
Aerobic conditioning doesn’t have to be extreme to be effective. You don’t need to run marathons or spend hours on a treadmill to improve your conditioning. Simple, consistent activities can make a big difference. For example cycling at a moderate pace or incorporating a light jog into your warm-up or cooldown can make a big difference over the long term.
How Aerobic Fitness Enhances Performance
Aerobic conditioning is especially crucial for endurance-based sports. For example, soccer players rely heavily on aerobic fitness to maintain a high work rate throughout a game. Swimmers use steady-state swimming and interval training to improve lung capacity and stamina.
On the other hand, athletes in power-based sports, like football or basketball, may focus on shorter, high-intensity aerobic activities. Some of these may include sprints or interval training to build the stamina needed for repeated bursts of effort.
Regardless of the sport, some form of aerobic conditioning is key to healthy, sustainable training. It ensures better overall fitness, promotes faster recovery between sets, and helps athletes avoid fatigue.
Aerobic Fitness Makes Building Muscle Easier
Aerobic conditioning isn’t one of the primary ways athletes build muscle, but it plays a crucial supporting role in the muscle-building process. By improving cardiovascular health and stamina, aerobic fitness enhances recovery times between workouts. This allows athletes to train harder and more frequently. It also helps maintain overall conditioning, reducing the risk of injury and fatigue, which can hinder progress.
With better endurance, athletes can push through more intense sessions and sustain high performance. This makes the muscle-building process more efficient in the long run. Essentially, while aerobic conditioning isn’t the primary driver of muscle growth, it creates a more favorable environment for building muscle.
11. Athletes Focus on Plyometric Training
What is Plyometric Training
Plyometric training is one of the specialized ways athletes build muscle. It is a method that athletes use to develop explosive power, improve performance, and enhance overall athleticism. Unlike traditional strength training, plyometrics emphasizes quick, explosive movements that train the muscles to generate force rapidly.
Plyometric training can vary depending on the sport, but athletes generally use it to improve their speed, agility, and overall performance. This especially in sports that require quick bursts of energy, like basketball and football.
Plyometric Training in Power Sports
For athletes in power-based sports, like football and basketball, plyometric exercises are critical for improving strength and explosiveness. These sports rely on short bursts of intense effort—whether it’s sprinting, jumping, or changing direction quickly.
Plyometric exercises like box jumps, broad jumps, and depth jumps help athletes develop the fast-twitch muscle fibers needed for explosive movements. These exercises not only enhance power but also improve coordination and agility. This enables athletes to perform at their best during high-intensity moments.
Plyometric Training in Endurance Sports
While plyometrics are often associated with power sports, endurance athletes can also benefit from these exercises by improving their speed and efficiency over long distances. For example, soccer players and long-distance runners can use plyometric exercises like skipping drills, bounding, and lunge jumps to enhance their ability to generate force with each stride.
I used single-legged squats for plyometric training in tennis to improve my unilateral strength, stability, and explosive power. These are essential for the quick lateral movements and sudden directional changes required on the court.
These exercises help build the strength and endurance necessary for sustained power output, especially during prolonged periods of activity. Plyometric training in endurance sports is about improving efficiency, reducing fatigue, and increasing overall athleticism without sacrificing endurance.
Plyometric Training and Muscle Growth
While plyometric training isn’t the main driver of muscle growth, it can still play a role by helping you build explosive power and recruit more fast-twitch muscle fibers. These can improve your overall strength and performance in your hypertrophy workouts. For example, adding exercises like jump squats or box jumps can help your legs become more explosive, making your heavy squat sessions more effective.
It’s important to remember that plyometrics should be used as a supplement to your training plan, not the main focus. If your goal is to maximize muscle size. It can be useful in building power or improving athletic performance. However, the bulk of your training should still be geared toward progressive overload through weight training.
12. Athletes Include Cross Training
Cross-training isn’t just about improving overall athletic performance; it’s also a powerful tool for building muscle. Athletes include different forms of training, athletes can target underdeveloped muscles and avoid plateaus. It can also enhance recovery, which we’ve already discussed as one of the best ways athletes build muscle. Let’s look at how cross-training helps athletes in specific sports maximize their muscle-building potential.
Muscle-Building Role of Cross-Training
For athletes in both power and endurance sports, cross-training introduces a variety of stimuli that support muscle growth. It is especially effective for addressing muscle imbalances, activating underutilized fibers, and improving overall recovery. As a whole, cross-training ensures that no area is left underdeveloped.
It complements the primary training regimen, allowing athletes to build muscle more efficiently and sustainably. In the long term, this well-rounded approach helps athletes achieve peak performance while maintaining a balanced and strong physique.
For Power Sports
Power sports like football, basketball, and tennis are all about explosive movements, strength, and agility. Cross-training for these athletes often involves activities that activate stabilizing muscles and enhance functional strength, both of which are critical for building muscle.
For example, swimming can be an effective low-impact option for football players and basketball players, providing a full-body workout that strengthens the shoulders, back, and core. These muscles are essential for maintaining balance and controlling heavy lifts during strength training. Similarly, yoga or mobility-focused training helps loosen tight muscles, improve flexibility, and activate smaller stabilizing muscle groups. This is great for reducing injury risk long term.
For Endurance Sports
Endurance sports primarily rely on sustained effort. Cross-training offers these athletes a chance to focus on strength and power, which are sometimes underdeveloped in their primary routines. For these athletes, the right cross-training methods can directly enhance muscle growth.
Strength training is the primary way athletes build muscle, especially for endurance sports. Compound lifts like squats, deadlifts, and pull-ups help these athletes build foundational strength in their legs, back, and core. This supports muscle development that enhances both performance and physique. These exercises also target slow-twitch muscle fibers, improving stamina while contributing to hypertrophy over time.
13. Athletes are Always Learning
You Will Never Know it All
One of the key traits that separates athletes from the average gym-goer is their mindset of continuous improvement. Athletes understand that no matter how much they know or how successful they’ve been, there’s always more to learn. This mindset drives them to constantly seek out new knowledge, refine their techniques, and adapt their training methods to stay ahead of the competition.
Whether it’s through working with coaches, utilizing cutting-edge technology, or staying updated on the latest research in building muscle, athletes never stop looking for ways to optimize their performance.
How This Applies to Building Muscle
When it comes to building muscle, athletes apply this mindset by constantly refining their approach. They don’t just stick to the same routine because it worked in the past; they’re always looking for ways to optimize their training for better results. For example, they might tweak their rep ranges, adjust rest periods, or experiment with different training splits based on new insights.
Nutrition and recovery strategies are also areas where athletes continue to evolve. They understand that muscle growth isn’t just about lifting heavy, it’s about learning how to fuel and recover more effectively.
Competitors Never Stop Learning
As a fitness enthusiast or athlete, adopting this mindset is crucial for sustained progress. Your top competitors are constantly learning, refining their approach, and staying ahead. The second you think you have it all figured out is when everyone else catches up—and surpasses you. Instead of settling into a routine or thinking you have all the answers, approach your training with the attitude that there’s always room for growth.
Keep seeking out new information, test different methods, and never stop refining your approach. The athletes who excel are the ones who embrace continuous learning and use it as a tool to push past plateaus and achieve new levels of muscle growth.
14. Athletes Limit Their Inputs
One thing that is hardly talked about in the fitness industry is limiting your inputs. There is an endless supply of information on the internet which can lead you to believe that you need all of it. As a result, a common mistake people make is constantly changing their workout routine.
Constantly changing your workout routine can hinder progress because your body needs consistency to adapt and grow stronger. Without giving your muscles enough time to adjust to a specific stimulus, you’re not allowing for the progressive overload necessary to build muscle and strength.
Building Muscle is Relatively Simple
When it comes to building muscle, athletes prioritize the principles that have been proven effective and discard the noise. They understand that building muscle isn’t as complicated as it’s often made out to be. Athletes know that the key to muscle growth lies in consistency, progressive overload, and a solid foundation of nutrition and recovery.
Athletes limit their inputs by trusting credible sources like experienced coaches, evidence-based research, and their own trial and error over time. By doing so, they avoid wasting time on ineffective methods and stay focused on what truly works.
15. Athletes Often Have Pre Workout Rituals
Athletes understand that their training sessions are more than just a series of exercises—they are a focused opportunity to optimize performance and push boundaries. One way they do this is by establishing pre-workout rituals that help prepare both their body and mind for the session ahead. These rituals are not just about the physical warm-up; they are a strategic approach to getting in the right mindset, enhancing performance, and ensuring they’re ready to train at their best.
The Mental Edge
For athletes, mental preparation is just as important as physical readiness. Pre-workout rituals help them mentally transition from the distractions of everyday life into a focused state of mind. Whether it’s listening to a specific playlist, visualizing success, or taking a few minutes for deep breathing, these rituals prime the brain for intense focus and determination.
This mental clarity allows athletes to give 100% effort throughout their workout, without being distracted or fatigued by outside thoughts. After you do the same pre workout ritual consistently, your brain will automatically switch to the proper mindset.
My Pre Workout Ritual
Before every workout, I stuck to the same pre-workout ritual. I’d start with my playlist—nothing too crazy, just songs that put me in the zone. Then, I’d eat my go-to snack, like a banana with peanut butter, and watch Roger Federer highlights.
When I got to the facility, I’d run two laps around the area to loosen up, then go straight into my warm-up stretches and resistance band exercises, always in the same order. It wasn’t about superstition—it was about creating a routine that mentally and physically prepared me for the session ahead. This consistency helped me stay focused and perform at my best every time.
16. Advanced Techniques Some Athletes Use
While the basics of muscle building—progressive overload, recovery, and proper nutrition—are the foundation of an athlete’s success, there are a few “bonus” techniques that some athletes use to potentially gain an edge. These methods are supplementary, not essential, and largely a matter of personal preference. They’re not required for success, but they can complement your training if they align with your goals and lifestyle. Here’s a look at a few of them:
Cold Exposure
Cold exposure, like ice baths or cold showers, is a recovery method that some athletes swear by for reducing muscle soreness and inflammation after intense training sessions. The idea is that cold temperatures help constrict blood vessels, reducing swelling and flushing out metabolic waste. After the cold exposure ends, blood flow increases, helping to deliver nutrients to muscles for recovery.
While it can be beneficial for recovery, cold exposure is not necessary for muscle growth. If you’re someone who feels good after a cold plunge and it helps you recover faster, it might be worth incorporating. However, if you don’t enjoy it or don’t see a noticeable improvement in your recovery, it’s okay to skip this technique.
Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting (IF( is a dietary approach where you cycle between periods of eating and fasting. Some athletes use IF to manage body composition, improve insulin sensitivity, and regulate hunger. This makes it easier to stay in a calorie surplus or deficit depending on their goals. The most common method is the 16:8 approach—fasting for 16 hours and eating within an 8-hour window.
Intermittent fasting isn’t necessary for building muscle, but it can help some athletes control their eating habits or optimize fat loss while maintaining muscle. If you find that fasting improves your focus or helps you regulate your eating without feeling overly restrictive, give it a try. If it feels difficult or doesn’t fit into your lifestyle, there’s no need to force it.
Hyperoxic Training
Hyperoxic training involves breathing in air with a higher concentration of oxygen than normal (often through a mask). The idea is that it helps improve endurance, recovery, and overall performance by increasing oxygen delivery to muscles during workouts. Some athletes use it as a way to enhance recovery or speed up adaptation to intense training.
While hyperoxic training has potential benefits for performance, it’s not necessary for building muscle. If you’re a performance-driven athlete and curious about improving endurance or training in a higher-oxygen environment, hyperoxic training might be worth considering. But if you’re primarily focused on building muscle and you don’t feel it adds value to your recovery or workouts, it may not be worth the effort.
FAQs For How Athletes Build Muscle
How do athletes gain muscle so fast?
Athletes gain muscle quickly through a combination of consistent, intense training, proper nutrition, and recovery. They often follow periodized training programs to maximize muscle growth while using progressive overload to continually challenge their muscles.
What do athletes use to build muscle?
Athletes build muscle through a mix of resistance training, adequate protein intake, and strategic supplementation like creatine, protein powder, and a multivitamin. They also prioritize rest and recovery to allow muscles to grow and repair.
How to get athletically jacked?
o get athletically jacked, focus on compound movements like squats, deadlifts, and bench presses, combined with a clean diet that supports muscle growth. Consistent training, progressively increasing weight, and getting enough sleep for recovery are essential to achieving a strong, muscular physique.
Why Athletes Are Exceptional at Building Muscle
It’s easy to look at athletes and assume their ability to build muscle comes down to genetics. While genetics can play a role in factors like muscle shape, recovery rate, or natural athleticism, they are only one piece of the puzzle. The truth is, what sets athletes apart isn’t just their biology—it’s their relentless dedication to the process.
Athletes excel because they prioritize the fundamentals: progressive overload, strategic recovery, tailored nutrition, and consistency over years of hard work. They understand that muscle growth isn’t about shortcuts or trends; it’s about doing the right things day in and day out. They embrace a mindset of constant improvement, always seeking ways to refine their approach and adapt to challenges.
What truly separates athletes from the rest is how they create systems that work in harmony. From mastering the basics to incorporating advanced techniques when necessary, they build their entire lifestyle around achieving their goals. If you want to achieve similar results, don’t just admire their genetics—adopt their strategies, commitment, and mindset. Success in building muscle, like anything worth achieving, is earned through dedication, discipline, and a willingness to keep learning.
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