How to Gain Muscle Without Gaining Fat
Posted by Brad Campbell
23
Jun, 2010
TopFatLossTrainer Q&A–How to Gain Muscle Without Gaining Fat…by Brad Campbell
Howdy. I wanted to use that horrible word because I can’t stand opening up blog posts with the same greeting. Cool, now that I got that out of the way, let’s get down to brass tacks (also a phrase I’d never use).
I was just finishing up my responses for the day and I thought I should go ‘head with my bad self and just post the answer to this particular question via blog post, for everyone to see.
Here’s the question…
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Hey Dr. Brad,
Thanks for all the information. I’m okay with my training its just my eating i have battles with. I would like to know how to build muscle and not take fat with me? What would you advise?
Leo
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I figured Leo probably isn’t the only one wondering how to achieve this feat. My advice in response to this question is probably a little more cautious than the average trainer, simply because I’m strongly biased towards a body type that is lean and ripped and therefore very low in body fat percentage.
Because of this preference, combined with the fact that fat loss is such a pain in the ‘trunk,’ I advise anyone in search of building more muscle mass to do so without taking their diet off the hinges. In other words, even if Leo was asking how to put on muscle as fast as humanly possible, my recommendations would not have changed much, if at all.
I rambled way too much already, so here are my suggestions on how to gain muscle without gaining fat:
1) Take your body weight in pounds and multiply by a factor of 17. If you’re measuring in kilograms, take that number times 2.2 and then times 17. For example, a 79 kg male would need: 79kg x 2.2 x 17 = 2,955 calories per day. This is a starting point for anyone wanting to build lean muscle without adding fat.
I realize there are much more fancy and complicated equations that claim to be ‘the most accurate,’ but the bottom line is they all yield a result very similar to this and you must realize this is simply a starting point that will probably need to be adjusted slightly based on weekly results.
2) Males can expect to gain roughly 1/2 lb (0.22 kg) of lean muscle mass per week and females should expect only 50-60% of that (about 1/4 lb or 0.11 kg). This ends up being roughly 13 to 26 pounds (5.91 to 11.82 kg) per year.
You need to be monitoring your results carefully–I suggest tracking body weight, body fat percentage and girth measurements at preset intervals. If you’re gaining much more than 1/2 lb (0.22 kg) per week and/or if your waist is increasing in size, it’s pretty obvious you’re gaining fat along with muscle.
3) Adjust your diet based on results from step deuce. Bump your daily caloric intake up or down slightly, depending on what your monitoring is revealing about changes in body composition. Alternatively, you can adjust your cheat day and fast day to produce better results.
4) Go heavy. Even skinny guys and gals who want the lean body type need to slang some big weights or perform very challenging body weight workouts (example: Tacfit Commando) that cause fatigue in the lower rep ranges. Not only is this a necessity for muscle building, but the hormonal response can be quite favorable for fat loss as well (neato, huh?).
That’s pretty much how I’d pick it up and lay it down. Again, no need to stress about ridiculously long and complicated equations (I dealt with enough of those in pharmacy school)–the simple one I gave you will be right on the money (or at least fairly close) for anyone who wants to add muscle and not get fat in the process.
Remember, this is NOT the fastest way [at all] for packing on the beef, but it is a moderate approach that minimizes your chances of expanding the ‘ole waistline in the process. Hope this gave everyone some easy-to-follow guidelines for achieving this common question.
Make sure you peep this dynamite guest post, if you haven’t already: Target heart rate for weight loss. As always, further comments, questions, updates and straight up shout-outs are encouraged below.
Your Coach,
Brad Campbell
PS – I just showed you how to gain muscle without gaining fat. But, what if you need to GAIN muscle and LOSE fat at the SAME time? Take a look at these muscle building programs: Workout Routines To Build Muscle…
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