Tips to build lean muscle needed

jamest817

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for tips to get lean muscle. I currently weigh around 72kg and am 5ft 9. I have pretty defined muscles at the moment but I want to increase the size of my muscles but not gain fat. If you need my body fat percentage I can work it out. I don't want to lose my abs as I put weight on.

I'm just looking for tips to increase the size of my muscles, without putting fat on.

My diet is pretty good, I eat very healthy. I eat a lot of fruit veg, I mix up carbs and protein sources. I eat nuts for snacks etc.... Although, I'm now aiming for 2600 calories a day, increasing my carb intake and protein intake. I'm trying to limit my fat intake also but this is proving to be pretty hard. Only supplements I am now taking is protein powder, amino acids and Creatine.

I need advice on the following points mainly.

- exercise tips, what specific type of training should I be doing? (I work out around 4-5 days a week. I do a mixture of cardio and weights)

- diet / nutrition tips

- anything else you guys think I may have missed

Regards,

galgenstrick

jamest817 wrote: »

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for tips to get lean muscle. I currently weigh around 72kg and am 5ft 9. I have pretty defined muscles at the moment but I want to increase the size of my muscles but not gain fat. If you need my body fat percentage I can work it out. I don't want to lose my abs as I put weight on.

I'm just looking for tips to increase the size of my muscles, without putting fat on.

My diet is pretty good, I eat very healthy. I eat a lot of fruit veg, I mix up carbs and protein sources. I eat nuts for snacks etc.... Although, I'm now aiming for 2600 calories a day, increasing my carb intake and protein intake. I'm trying to limit my fat intake also but this is proving to be pretty hard. Only supplements I am now taking is protein powder, amino acids and Creatine.

I need advice on the following points mainly.

- exercise tips, what specific type of training should I be doing? (I work out around 4-5 days a week. I do a mixture of cardio and weights)

- diet / nutrition tips

- anything else you guys think I may have missed

Regards,

You won't be successful with this attitude. You're going to have to gain a little fat and likely lose your abs for a while if you want to but on muscle.

jamest817

Fair point. I'm not on any particular time frame so I can put the weight on slower if that would help. Either way, if I do put fat on. Then I can always lose it a couple of months down the line.

SideSteel

Key points to consider:

• If you're consuming adequate protein throughout the day and you're not training in a completely fasted state, you aren't likely benefiting from the additional amino acids. I mention this because it could save you money.
• Eat enough calories to gain bodyweight slowly. 1-2lbs/month will likely be a good slot to land it. The FASTER you gain, the more fat you're likely gaining. At some point if you gain too slowly you may be reducing rate of muscle growth. If someone is more concerned with mitigating fat accumulation vs maximizing rate of muscle growth then gain a bit slower. And if you're less concerned with fat gain and more concerned with optimizing rate of muscle growth, gain a bit faster -- just be aware that you can only gain so much muscle, and any extra fat that wasn't necessary means more dieting later, which is potentially counterproductive.
• Get in adequate protein. Ideally I'd space these out so that you're getting in 3-5 servings of protein daily. In a caloric surplus I think 1.8g/kg bodyweight or 1g/lb lbm are both fine approximations.
• For training, get on a structured program and don't design your own unless you know what you're doing, and the overwhelming majority of people think they know what they are doing and in fact don't. Your program should have adequate training volume, you should be training your entire body at least 2 times per week as a minimum frequency per bodypart, and your program should have you progressing over time (training performance should go up). Lyle's Generic Bulking Routine (GBR) is something you can google as a good program to run. There's also a thread in the forums with a huge library of programs.

jamest817

Those were good tips. Thank you.

psuLemon

I also want to add, that you don't have to limit your fat intake. Fat helps regulate hormones. If you cut it too much, you will reduce testosterone which will impair muscle growth. Typically, you should aim for .35-.6g per lb of lbm.

jamest817

Hey psulemon,

Thanks for the tip. I didn't know that. Appreciate it. I'm not sure what you mean though by .35-6g per lb of lbm?


How many grams in total of fat do you think I need to aim for a day if there is a number? I weight 158lbs currently and am trying to get to 176lbs

BrianKMcFalls

I'm not psulemon, but lbm means lean body mass, which is body weight minus body fat weight. So estimating that your somewhere between 15 and 20 percent body fat. 158 pounds minus 17.5% bf (28 pounds). LBM is 130 pounds, so eat between 45.5 and 78 grams of fat daily.

psuLemon

BrianKMcFalls wrote: »

I'm not psulemon, but lbm means lean body mass, which is body weight minus body fat weight. So estimating that your somewhere between 15 and 20 percent body fat. 158 pounds minus 17.5% bf (28 pounds). LBM is 130 pounds, so eat between 45.5 and 78 grams of fat daily.

Pretty much this.

jamest817

Thanks for the tips guys!