How To Build Muscle If You Have A Desk Job Or Corporate Life?

The principles of muscle gain apply to everyone, but the details of how you apply them should be tweaked based on your situation.⁣

Photo by Anastase Maragos on Unsplash

Here are some approaches for muscle gain if you have a desk job.⁣

1. Your energy expenditure is probably quite low because you are sitting down most of the day. As a result, you might not need to eat quite so much to gain weight. I suggest you try 16 x your weight in pounds and then adjust from there based on results.⁣
2. Set yourself up for success by prepping meals in advance and putting them in the fridge at work. Doing this means you can hit your calorie and macronutrient needs and are less likely to reach for junk from the vending machine or ZOMATO.⁣
3. Hitting your protein needs is often an issue for office workers who are stuck in meetings. If you aren’t comfortable sitting there with a shaker bottle, try mixing a shakeup in one and then pouring it into a takeaway coffee cup. None of the other people in the meeting will be any the wiser and they won’t judge you for having a coffee (they’re probably mainlining caffeine themselves!).⁣
4. Manage your training diary just like your work diary. Schedule sessions in. Bosses don’t cancel on themselves!⁣
5. Have a stock of high protein, high-calorie snacks in a drawer at your desk. Then when you get super busy and can’t make it away from the desk you can still hit your nutrition needs.⁣
6. Keep your meal frequency low (3–4meals and each meal with protein source foods) and run on caffeine.
7. Train progressively for 3–4x/ week, it will help you to recover, grow your muscles and will allow you to spend some quality time with friends and family.
8. Focus more on sleep and try to get a minimum 7hrs daily.