Gaining Muscle to take me from just being lean muscular

shepdog53

Hi,
I regularly strength train and watch what I eat, however this confuses me what I have to do to gain further muscle in my legs and upper body, however not my waist. I take protein, eat very healthy and we exercise a lot during our job. I sort of understand you need carbs and protein to build up but how much do I eat and when, only more food on gym days or all the time. I have been training for over a year and are lean thin but muscular but I stay pretty much the same. Will this app help me with my food counting to gain muscle.
Thanks.

TavistockToad

A surplus of 250 cals per day plus a progressive overload lifting routine

shepdog53

Hi,
So will this app do all of the counting for me and give me a target to aim for? I currently weigh about 156 pounds and have been around this weight for ages. I am 6 foot tall so I look skinny and just want to be a bit more muscular.
Cheers

TavistockToad

shepdog53 wrote: »

Hi,
So will this app do all of the counting for me and give me a target to aim for? I currently weigh about 156 pounds and have been around this weight for ages. I am 6 foot tall so I look skinny and just want to be a bit more muscular.
Cheers

yep, set it to gain 0.5lb per week, tweak after 4-6 weeks based on results

shepdog53

Thanks mate.

Wheelhouse15

You're looking for a clean bulk, but you will gain some weight around your waist as well as put on muscle, that's just the way things work. What does your diet and workout program look like now?

shepdog53

I am eating lots of protein lean meats, fish etc, but probably not eating enough carbs or food in general as I get a lot of exercise without going to the gym. I do strength workout s 3 times a week upping my weights gradually.

brendanwhite84

Wheelhouse15 wrote: »

You're looking for a clean bulk, but you will gain some weight around your waist as well as put on muscle, that's just the way things work. What does your diet and workout program look like now?

Correct. I put on several pounds of body fat during my last clean bulk, although the ratio was still happily skewed toward muscle gain. I was pleased with how my abs started to show again after a quick 2-week cut at -1000 calories a day while continuing to lift heavy. Starting another slow, clean bulk again soon.

Wheelhouse15

Sounds like a good plan so far. Just make sure you are in a surplus, but not too large. You can gain about a 1/2lb of muscle per week but will need to add a similar amount of fat generally. Generally recommendations for a man on a first bulk are 500cal/day surplus aiming for 4lbs per month gained with 2lbs of that muscle and 2lbs fat. YMMV but it's a good general rule of thumb.

TayteHansen1992

Building muscle is a combination of proper training and proper nutrition.

Either or could be the culprit for you, or both. Most people think their workouts are adequate or even 100% optimal. Unfortunately, almost all of those people are wrong. I’d take a look at how you are training. Do some research online. There are endless stores of information to help you on your journey to building muscle. Form over weight lifted always. I’m a big believer in working to failure always. With added training techniques such as supersets, forced reps, negatives, cluster sets, drop sets, ectera. I also find tempo to be crucial. Explosive yet controlled positives, extremely controlled and slow negatives, squeezing the muscles after either the concentric or eccentric.... And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. And yes, as other have mentioned, look up progressive overload. Unless you got dealt a nice hand of genetics, building muscle isn’t easy.

For nutrition it depends a lot on your body type (ectomoroh, mesomorph, endomorph). But a good rule of thumb is 1 gram of protein a day per pound of body weight. So if you weigh 155 lbs, aim to eat 155 grams of protein a day. The rest of your foods should have a good mixture of carbs and fats. Ideally healthy carbs and fats. Complex carbs over simple carbs. Aim to be in a 500 calorie or so surplus per day. See how your body responds to that. Take note and make adjustments once per week if required.

Just a heads up, there really is no such thing as building purely muscle without putting on any fat whatsoever. They come together. It’s a sacrifice you will have to make. Unless you want to take gear (steroids) and even then it’s gonna be pretty damn hard to make that happen. FYI, I’m just making a point, steroids aren’t the answer. You will be able to make some progress if you are willing to put in the work without gear

shepdog53

Thanks very much for the advice everyone