help me understand lifting

[siddhant]

So I use to lift but did it with a trainer and just did whatever he told me.

Now If I do just bicep curls every time I hit the gym 3x8. Just that and calorie surplus. Will the hit muscle grow?

Im just asking this for information on how muscle grows. I will try and follow a proper routine.

 

[mike8675309]

Muscles grow, bone density increases, flexibility increases all come from adaptive response. For muscles to gain in size, you have to do something that indicates to your body that you need more muscle. Without that signal the body will only maintain what it already has. To give that signal you need to use the idea of progressive overload of your muscles. Ideally you will try to lift the heaviest single lift you can do. That will be your 1 rep max. Take that number and do work for one week on that same movement with no less than 60% of that 1RM weight. Pick a weight and do enough reps with the weight to be near failure. Do that 3 or 4 times.
After a week of doing that you should find your 1RM weight went up or the max reps you can do go up. So either do more reps or pick a slightly heavier weight and start all over.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_overload

 

[HutchinsonJC]

Muscle growth, as above stated, is a response to your activity. If that activity is accompanied by good sleep and nutrition, the results will be that much better.

People like to focus on Protein for the obvious effects, but sometimes people can neglect other angles of their nutrition. Example being like how B6 helps your body use the protein. Do some digging around; I'm sure you can find all sorts of videos explaining work out nutrition.

Everyone's body and motivation levels are different. If your motivation levels are high and you're wanting to really push forward, pay attention to what your body is saying. It may scream and shout at you that it needs recovery time. And I'm not talking just about muscle burn/fatigue.

Oh, and don't go full retard mode on protein powders. You most likely do not need a shake in the AM, a shake at lunch, and a shake at dinner if you're eating anything halfway normal/healthy. Not saying protein supplement is wrong or bad, but some people do over do it for their current muscle mass and work out routine... and it's a chore on your kidneys.