How to gain lean Mass?

[Sarbeland]

A cdeffjdjdj

 

[cmitch]

Dtp trainer on bodybuilding.com did wonders for a buddy of mine. The diet on there is pretty straightforward and solid. Also I'd recommend not eating cereal bars and pop tarts. Stick to eggs and whole wheat bread. Not subway.

 

[Jiigzz]

The number one thing is to figure out how much you are eating. What is your TDEE? The food list is ok, but doesn't really give much information. Use MyFitnessPal.com and use a TDEE calculator and build a diet around that. As it is just a computer equation it will only give you a very rough outline but it does open you up to understanding how much you need to eat in order to meet your goals.

Weigh yourself, eat to the TDEE outlined. Ideally you want to make weight gain as slow a process as possible. At least, this is what I personally advocate for. So I tend to say eat about 250kcals above maintainence daily. This should yield a gain of 1/2 lb per week but this doesn't take into account water retention, normal weight fluctuations and so on so I always recommend following a set diet for a minimum of 2 weeks (unless you notice drastic, unwanted results) just to see where your weight settles. In any given day I can wake up at 207lbs and weigh 215 by the end of it only to be back to 207 the next. Weight fluctuates so make your weigh in sessions consistant at the same time and the same day of the week.

 

[TexasGuy]

Muscle confusion has its place but most people, especially beginners, are better suited to picking a tried and true routine for their goal and sticking to it. All the dieting strategies in the world wont put muscle on your frame if you aren't creating the proper environment. TDEE is a helpful tool but not all metabolisms are alike. Once you get your training in check, find your alleged TDEE and start making adjustments as necessary.

You may want to quantify a "lot" of fat too. A few pounds on a bulk won't kill you, especially if you're rapidly gaining muscle. You can strip fat faster than you can build muscle in my experience. Don't feel self-conscious about a "blurry" tummy if you're packing muscle on. You'll strip it off.

 

[fueledpassion]

Here are my suggestions but certainly not the only approach:

1) keep carb to protein ratio @ 1:1 or 1.5:1 since you tend to add fat easily.
2) Have a portion of each macro at each meal. Keep fiber content present in each meal as well. This will do wonders in preventing fat storage.
3) Figure out your approx maintenance calories and eat 250-500kcals over it each day.
4) Avoid processed foods. And if you really want to avoid any fat gain- also avoid lactose, sucrose (like OJ) and limit your fructose as well.

Again, I'm not saying this is the only way to do it --> there is more than one way to skin a cat. However, I have had experience with this diet and if the calories are there, you'll pack on good dry, hard weight. Granted, most will not attempt this diet but not because of its effectiveness (or lack thereof) - in all honesty, the best diets for quality mass are also the hardest ones to follow. This one in particular is very hard to hit your caloric needs and takes dedication and practice to do it without ruining the macros. Most people opt for other diets like extremely high fat diets, with low to moderate carbs and moderate protein levels. That works too but not to the same degree or in the same fashion.

---OR---

You could eat lots of everything and just modulate fat gain with a blend of high and low intensity cardio sessions (up to 5 sessions a week).

Early AM cardio is ideal for targeting fat loss so long as it is of moderate intensity. I cant say sprints will have the same effect although I am sure some fat burning would take place. Another consideration is cardio after weights, when the glycogen is again depleted.

Make sure you drink or take plenty of BCAA's when implementing cardio. Heck, u need BCAA's period for muscle growth so take em anyways.

 

[EasyEJL]

I know that I need to balance good fat/carbs/protein. I tried this before and used one of those fitness tracker apps to keep count of my macros but somehow I would still gain a lot of unwanted fat and muscle too but quite a bit of fat with it. I don't get what I'm doing wrong.

Just do this again, but with 200-300 less calories a day. The best way to gain lean mass with minimal to no fat is to gain it slowly.

 

[Mitko]

you have to figure you daily caloric needs first.You can do that by going to google and write calorie calculator and just go through 2-3 calculators and you will have an idea of how much calories you need.Then divide them in percents. 40/40/20-P/C/F.Let me count it for you:
you need around 2150 calories to maintain you weight.Then add 350 and you got 2500 calories. now divide them
P-1000:4=250 gr protein
C-1000:4=250 gr carbs
F-500:9=55 gr fat

These number you can transfer but keep in mind that 1gr Fat is 2gr of C or P. Then you get a piece of paper and write down those numbers and you start counting your macros by subtracting the macros you have eaten.You can see them on the label of the food or search on google.
I have to say the diet you have written down is pretty bad for bulking. I would go with more carbs while bulking cause thats the main source of energy you will have. Anyway it is up to you.Find what works best for your body and metabolism. Best of luck
-M

 

[EllFitness]

Work out your macros, there are plenty of calculators you can use online to give you a ruff idea of what you need. Use something like fitness pal to help track (makes life so much easier) then see where that takes you, if your not gaining weight eat more.. And then if your still not gaining weight eat even more. You have to learn your body and its needs, working out your macros is just the start. There are so many different ways of doing it, just need to find what works best for you.

 

[Mulerider17]

Thanks for asking this! I've been wondering the same!

 

[Mulerider17]

And thanks for all the responses too haha