The goal of a weight gain program is to gain lean muscle mass with little or no increase in body fat. Most people understand this, but become flustered with how they’re going to go about it and become frustrated or quit when their weight loss or strength gains stall. A lot of people don’t understand that it takes a couple of months minimum to see real results. In fact, most health clubs make their money from cancelled three month memberships, and they offer a three month membership for exactly that reason (ever notice that?). They want you to quit. Building muscle is a daunting task for a lot of people, and I hope to help you out a little bit with this article.
Most people wonder if it is possible to gain lean muscle mass while losing body fat at the same time. The short answer is yes, but it’s a little more tricky than that. It takes careful diet and exercise, and when I say careful, I mean really careful. In my opinion, it is much easier to do your muscle building routine in cycles. For example, you would overeat and lift heavy for 6 weeks, and then dial back the calories and increase cardio for 4 weeks. In this way you would be gaining muscle for 6 weeks, and burning fat for 4 weeks. These cycles are referred to as bulking and cutting cycles, respectively. This is a well accepted methods among athletes, powerlifters, and bodybuilders to gain muscle and burn fat.
When discussing how to gain lean muscle, you should ask yourself if you would mind gaining a little fat. If you are willing to gain a little fat, your muscle building goal will be easier to reach. If you aren’t willing to gain any fat, it will be more difficult. You must eat 100%, and be very disciplined. But you should reward yourself with a cheat meal once a week to keep your sanity.
Speaking of nutrition, it will be flat out impossible to gain lean muscle without proper nutrition. For starters, you should find your basal metabolic rate (BMR). The BMR is the amount of calories your body burns per day just keeping your body alive. A quick way to calculate your BMR is as follows:
Fat loss = 12-13 calories X,22 bodyweight in pounds
Maintenance = 15-16 calories X bodyweight in pounds
Weight gain = 18-19 calories X bodyweight in pounds
Depending on your goal, you would use the corresponding formula. For example, I weigh about 200 pounds. If my goal was fat loss, I would consume 2400-2600 calories a day. If my goal was to maintain my weight, I would consume 3000-3200 calories per day. If I wanted to gain weight, I would eat 3600-3800 calories per day. Finding BMR is obviously more complex than this, and there are many factors that determine your BMR. This is good for a ballpark estimate, though.
To gain lean muscle, you would consume the calories prescribed in the “weight gain” section of the table. These must be healthy foods unless you want to gain fat. I recommend eating 1-2 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight, per day. This may seem difficult, but if you eat 6 meals a day, with 30 grams of protein in every meal (which isn’t hard), that is 180 grams right there.
Depending on your goals, your carbohydrate intake would vary greatly. If you want to build muscle, you would eat a lot of carbs every day. You should fill up on the carbs. They will give you energy for your next workout, and are important in building muscle. If you want to lose fat, though, I would only eat carbs before and immediately after my workout. This is to give you energy for your workout, and to refill your glycogen stores (fuel used by the body that is broken down into glucose, a sugar). Eating carbs post-workout also increases your insulin sensitivity. Insulin is a very powerful chemical in fat loss. I could write a whole article on insulin, so I won’t elaborate too much. Trust me when I say insulin timing is incredibly important in fat loss.
To gain lean muscle you have to be willing to work hard. You have to exercise and diet effectively. Also, when your progress stalls, you have to be able to switch it up. Your body is very good at adapting to stress or stimulus. If you eat 500 calories less than your BMR, and you lose weight for 2 weeks, and then your progress stalls, you can bet that your body has adapted. You need to either increase the intensity in the weight room, increase the cardio, or eat less. The same is true for weight gain. Eventually, you will have to eat more and workout harder than you are currently working out. When just starting a weight gain or fat loss program, slowly increase or decrease calorie intake, depending on your goal. If you start immediately eating 1500 calories a day, and after two weeks you stop losing fat, you’re screwed. Patience is key. I hope this article has been helpful, and I wish you the best of luck.
The best way to gain lean muscle is one of the most deceptively tricky parts to a fitness endeavor. Regardless of your goal, you must train with weights if you want to see results. If you are serious about training for muscle gain, or want free tips and strategies, I have a newsletter and blog with tons of great information. Stop getting average gains and start to gain lean muscle fast.
