Can You Gain Muscle Weight Without Getting Fat
By VINCE DELMONTE
Two common fitness goals are at opposite ends of the spectrum:
gaining muscle mass
losing body fat
Unfortunately the two
goals are going to require you to take in
a surplus of calories, because you can't build muscle out of
nothing (unless of course you have some chemical help going
on).
Losing fat mass is
going to require you to be in a negative calorie
balance. This is what will get your body burning
off additional body fat as fuel for its tissues. Striving to accomplish both goals at the same time is rarely a good
approach. You will just end up spinning your wheels .
Most weight
lifters will have to accept some fat gain when they are looking to gain weight. How
much fat gain they need
is questionable. It is this
variable that we are hoping to influence. For a complete course in drug free bodybuilding CLICK ON
No Nonsense Musclebuilding by Vince Delmonte.
Can you really gain
weight without getting fat?
When adding muscle
mass, there are two approaches you can take.
Some just eat as much food as they can possibly cram
into themselves. Their life becomes one long 24-hour
buffet. In their quest for muscle mass, they think the more food that goes in, the
more muscle synthesis occurs.
This thinking is heavily flawed. The body can
only assimilate so much muscle tissue at once. After it has done so, any remaining calories are going to be stored as
body fat. You, my friend, are no exception to the rule.
For those guys who are taking
in five thousand or more calories per day, this is going to
be more than they need. The
result is a considerable amount of unwanted fat weight, over a period of three to six months (how long most people 'bulk'
for).
The second option is to adopt a more moderate approach. Only eat
additional calories needed to support muscle
growth, and that's it. This will allow you to get as
much lean tissue gain as possible, without a monstrous increase in body fat.
So that leads us to the next question. How much muscle can you
build? How many calories over maintenance should you be eating?
You've probably
heard of the guy who claims he's added 20 pounds of muscle in the short time
of six weeks. This may be a
rare occurrence among an individual who is brand new to weight
lifting, has insanely good genetics, and utilized an
excellent training and nutritional
program. Most guys are not going to come close to adding this much
muscle tissue.
A natural
trained individual can hope to achieve about half a pound to one pound of muscle per week - if he's doing everything
correctly. If he doesn't have the greatest genetics, or isn't feeding
himself optimally, this decreases further. At a measly two to four
pounds of muscle growth per month, you aren't going to need insanely
high calorie intakes.
The higher your
intake, the more you risk putting on additional body fat. As a general rule, keep it to
about 250 to 500 calories above maintenance, to put on muscle without much body
fat. Keep track of your body fat levels and appearance. If you see that too much of your weight gain
is fat mass, reduce your
calorie intake slightly.
It is best to go by REAL
WORLD results, since you are in the real world after all. You
can read as much as you like about how many
calories you should be eating. This does not mean that's going
to be the exact number that will produce results. Different people's metabolisms respond to an increase in
calories in various ways. As you go about your bulk, adjust according to your results.
The more patient you are with your muscle gains, and the slower you go, the more time
you can spend adding muscle mass. You'll spend less
time dieting off the additional fat you gained - which as I'm
sure many of you know, is not a pleasant experience.
Next time you decide to do a 'bulking' phase, take a slower approach. Not only
are you more likely to maintain a favourable
appearance, but your mind will thank you as well.
Nothing kills confidence levels faster than seeing all muscle
definition go out the window in a matter of weeks, so keep the
weight gain under control, and you won't have to deal with this.
For a complete course in drug free natural bodybuilding CLICK ON
Non Nonsense Musclebuilding by Vince Delmonte.
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