- Oct 5, 2013
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Like most of the other skinny hardgainers, you may also want to gain weight, but you want this weight to be muscle mass and not fat. How do you go about doing this?
Let's be honest here and tell you the goals of gaining muscle weight and gaining no fat at all is not practicable. You will always gain some fat while bulking up to gain weight and muscles.
Why is this so? You see, to gain muscle size, you must take in excess of calories to support protein synthesis. However, there is no way to divert 100% of this excess calories towards muscle growth. Some of these calories will always end up as stored body fat.
On the other hand, if you want to lose body fat, you must burn more calories than you take in so that your body can burn off extra body fat as fuel for its tissues. Did you notice the contrast now in two goals of gaining muscle weight and losing fat?
So what's the best approach to gain Muscle Mass without gaining fat? The fact is that you will need to keep a tight balance in the amount of calories you take to gain weight and the muscle building exercises you do. If you take too much calories and do not train enough, you will end up gaining some muscles but a lot of body fat. On the other hand, if you train too hard but don't take enough calories, you will not be able to gain enough muscles.
By keeping the balance between calories in take and the muscle building exercises you will be able to add muscles while gaining as little fat as much possible in the bulking phase. The goal during the bulking phase should be simple: build as much muscle size as possible while lessening body fat gains. Your goal is never to LOSE body fat but its only to gain as little as possible during the bulking phase.
Here are few recommendations for gaining LEAN body weight without gaining body fat:
Eat Just Enough Calories
Daily caloric needs depend on how many calories you burn. You need less calories if you have a desk job than if you have a physical job. But avoid under eating (muscle loss) as much as overeating (weight gain). A caloric surplus is needed to fuel muscle growth, but haphazardly stuffing more food in your belly beyond what is necessary to build muscle tissue will simply cause you to gain more fat.
As a general rule, keep your extra caloric consumption to about 250 to 500 calories so that you will put on mostly muscle mass instead of too much body fat. You will also need to keep track of your current body fat level. If you see that too much of your weight gain is coming from putting on fat, then you will also need to reduce your calorie consumption slightly.
Eat Clean and Quality Food
Most of your food intake should be coming from lean, high quality proteins, natural fibre carbohydrates and healthy fats. This is important because you can reduce the fat gain by eating as clean as possible. Try these food choices
* Protein: 1g/lbs daily: steak, chicken breast, tuna, mackerel, eggs, etc.
* Whole Grain Carbs: Avoid white carbs. Eat brown rice, pasta, oats, etc.
* Healthy Fats: Olive oil, flax seeds, fish oil, etc.
Time Your Meals
If you want to build muscles without gaining fat, then make sure to pay attention to the timing of your meals.
Consuming protein and carbohydrate immediately before, and just after exercise, could significantly speed up muscle growth. Research has shown that the muscle growth can be boosted by 300% when the protein and carbohydrates are taken immediately after exercise, compared to when they are taken 3 hours later.
Taking protein and carbohydrates just before exercise is even more important and is proven to more effective than it is taken after the exercise. This is because the flow of blood around your body is greater during exercise than it is after, so the protein consumed before you train is delivered more quickly to your muscles.
Cardio Sessions
You can burn the fat during bulking cycle by doing 10-20 minutes cardio sessions 2-3 times during the week. Stick to moderate intensity (duration) cardio sessions as these types of sessions do not cause the same degree of muscle loss as longer duration (high intensity) forms do.
Keep in mind that you don't necessarily need these cardio sessions if you eat clean, train hard, Squat and don't increase your calorie intake too fast. This way you'll gain weight without gaining too much fat and thus won't need cardio.
That's it - if you follow the recommendations above and adopt a slower careful approach when next time you decide you are going to do a "bulking" phase, there is no reason you can't gain muscle weight without gaining body fat.
Let's be honest here and tell you the goals of gaining muscle weight and gaining no fat at all is not practicable. You will always gain some fat while bulking up to gain weight and muscles.
Why is this so? You see, to gain muscle size, you must take in excess of calories to support protein synthesis. However, there is no way to divert 100% of this excess calories towards muscle growth. Some of these calories will always end up as stored body fat.
On the other hand, if you want to lose body fat, you must burn more calories than you take in so that your body can burn off extra body fat as fuel for its tissues. Did you notice the contrast now in two goals of gaining muscle weight and losing fat?
So what's the best approach to gain Muscle Mass without gaining fat? The fact is that you will need to keep a tight balance in the amount of calories you take to gain weight and the muscle building exercises you do. If you take too much calories and do not train enough, you will end up gaining some muscles but a lot of body fat. On the other hand, if you train too hard but don't take enough calories, you will not be able to gain enough muscles.
By keeping the balance between calories in take and the muscle building exercises you will be able to add muscles while gaining as little fat as much possible in the bulking phase. The goal during the bulking phase should be simple: build as much muscle size as possible while lessening body fat gains. Your goal is never to LOSE body fat but its only to gain as little as possible during the bulking phase.
Here are few recommendations for gaining LEAN body weight without gaining body fat:
Eat Just Enough Calories
Daily caloric needs depend on how many calories you burn. You need less calories if you have a desk job than if you have a physical job. But avoid under eating (muscle loss) as much as overeating (weight gain). A caloric surplus is needed to fuel muscle growth, but haphazardly stuffing more food in your belly beyond what is necessary to build muscle tissue will simply cause you to gain more fat.
As a general rule, keep your extra caloric consumption to about 250 to 500 calories so that you will put on mostly muscle mass instead of too much body fat. You will also need to keep track of your current body fat level. If you see that too much of your weight gain is coming from putting on fat, then you will also need to reduce your calorie consumption slightly.
Eat Clean and Quality Food
Most of your food intake should be coming from lean, high quality proteins, natural fibre carbohydrates and healthy fats. This is important because you can reduce the fat gain by eating as clean as possible. Try these food choices
* Protein: 1g/lbs daily: steak, chicken breast, tuna, mackerel, eggs, etc.
* Whole Grain Carbs: Avoid white carbs. Eat brown rice, pasta, oats, etc.
* Healthy Fats: Olive oil, flax seeds, fish oil, etc.
Time Your Meals
If you want to build muscles without gaining fat, then make sure to pay attention to the timing of your meals.
Consuming protein and carbohydrate immediately before, and just after exercise, could significantly speed up muscle growth. Research has shown that the muscle growth can be boosted by 300% when the protein and carbohydrates are taken immediately after exercise, compared to when they are taken 3 hours later.
Taking protein and carbohydrates just before exercise is even more important and is proven to more effective than it is taken after the exercise. This is because the flow of blood around your body is greater during exercise than it is after, so the protein consumed before you train is delivered more quickly to your muscles.
Cardio Sessions
You can burn the fat during bulking cycle by doing 10-20 minutes cardio sessions 2-3 times during the week. Stick to moderate intensity (duration) cardio sessions as these types of sessions do not cause the same degree of muscle loss as longer duration (high intensity) forms do.
Keep in mind that you don't necessarily need these cardio sessions if you eat clean, train hard, Squat and don't increase your calorie intake too fast. This way you'll gain weight without gaining too much fat and thus won't need cardio.
That's it - if you follow the recommendations above and adopt a slower careful approach when next time you decide you are going to do a "bulking" phase, there is no reason you can't gain muscle weight without gaining body fat.