Lean Muscle Gain: A Myth Or Can We Gain Lean Muscle?
It used to be common to split into accurate mass and diet phases in bodybuilding. During the bulk phase, it was necessary to train hard and put on a lot of bulk. This mass, of course, consisted not only of muscle but also to a large extent of fat and water. After the bulk phase was completed, one then went into the definition phase. The excess fat has now been melted away employing a diet and a change in training, and the muscle mass that has been built up to date has been preserved in the best possible way.
The result was a perfectly defined and muscular body – the beach body. The bulk phase was mainly carried out over the winter. The direction of summer was then slowly but surely defined to cut a significant figure in the swimming pool or on the beach. Nowadays, you could think that these old-school mass phases are slowly becoming extinct! Almost everywhere, you only hear about fat-free muscle building.
People want to be super-defined all year round. In this article, we will take a closer look at the pros and cons of lean muscle gain. Furthermore, we will show you the limits of this approach and introduce a completely new method of targeting the perfect intersection of the two extremes.
Build Muscle Fat-Free. Is That Even Possible?
It is entirely possible to gain muscle fat-free, but it has to be said straight away: Only with restrictions and not for everyone. To shed some light on this, we have to go back further and talk about the point of this approach. A fat-free structure is possible if everything is perfectly coordinated. This means that both your training and your lifestyle (stress, etc.) must be balanced and timed correctly. The diet must be consumed in a highly targeted manner.
You should cover your calorie requirement precisely. If you consume too few calories, you may fall into a deficit. A decent build-up is no longer possible here. If you consume too many calories, you will find yourself in a calorie surplus, which leads to muscle build-up and fat build-up. Of course, the amount of protein supplied also has to be correct.
This approach becomes all the more complicated, the more you tend towards the hard gainer. As you can see, this method is very complicated. If everything is not 100% right here, then in the worst case, you will step on the spot and have no success, but you will have lost a lot of time. This cannot be the goal.
If we take a closer look at the two methods, we find that there are two opposite extremes:
- Bulky phase: people eat a lot here, and a considerable accumulation of fat is accepted
- Fat-free structure: Here, the diet is designed precisely. In the worst case, I suppose you might be easily wrong and therefore only step on the spot. In the following, we would like to introduce you to a simple, ingenious, and very individual method to find out your calorie requirement regardless of your body type. The dream of a perfect and unique nutrition plan is now possible for everyone within a few weeks.
This Is How Lean Muscle Building Works For Every Metabolic Type
Which body type do you belong to? Please find out more about your body type and find out more about its properties. These two questions tell you how much you should be careful with carbohydrates in the future. The one extreme would be the absolute hard gainer who hardly accumulates fat and must consume lots of carbohydrates. The other extreme would be the soft gainer, already putting on fat while “looking” at the carbohydrates.
In general, you should consume up to 2g protein per kg of body weight to build muscle. Foods that contain a lot of protein are, for example, meat, fish, eggs, and cottage cheese, which you get with protein Powder. You should also consume around 1g of fat per kg of body weight. The rest is absorbed through the carbohydrates. Here, however, it is essential to play now.
On the one hand, you have to see how many calories you can tolerate in total without building up too much fat, and on the other hand, you have to play with the nutrients. If you are extremely sensitive to carbohydrates, swap them out for protein, so you consume more protein and fewer carbohydrates to reach your target calorie intake. In general, we recommend combining a balanced and varied diet with a healthy lifestyle.
Also Read: WATER IS ESSENTIAL FOR MUSCLE BUILDING AND FITNESS
The Nutrient Density Of The Individual Macronutrients:
The following rounded numbers are recommended for the calculation:
1g of protein contains approx. 4 calories
1g of carbohydrates contains around four calories
1g of fat contains approximately nine calories
You should calculate your calorie requirement at the beginning. Usually, this is between 2,500 – 3,500 calories in the build-up phase. Using our overview above, you can now easily calculate how many calories you have consumed.
The method now works as follows:
For example, we have an 80kg bodybuilder who classifies himself as a hard gainer and is not very sensitive to carbohydrates. He estimates his initial requirement at around 3000 calories. He now builds his nutrition plan as follows:
Calculation:
2.5g protein x 80kg x 4 calories = 800 calories
1g fat x 80kg x 9 calories = 720 calories
3000 calories – 1520 calories already ingested = 1480 calories remaining
1480 calories remaining / 4 calories (carbohydrates) = 370 grams of carbohydrates
So at the beginning of the phase, the athlete consumes 200 grams of protein, 80 grams of fat, and 370 grams of carbohydrates to build up. This corresponds to about 3,000 calories, which he estimated beforehand!
Now the athlete has to weigh himself daily. After 3-4 days, he noticed that he was losing weight continuously, slowly but surely. For him, this means that he urgently needs to consume more calories. After he has adjusted the number of calories by 300 calories upwards, the build-up suddenly works.
The nice thing about the method is that you can quickly feel your calorie requirements yourself. In addition, you quickly notice whether you should rather avoid too many carbohydrates or not. The method itself is pretty straightforward. You start with an estimated calorie value and use the scales or a regular body fat measurement to see whether you are in a deficit and need to consume more calories or whether you have already chosen too many calories and are putting on fat too quickly.
This particular method is ideally suited to the optimal intersection of an old-fashioned bulk phase and a heavy lean muscle building. In a pendulum diet, the calorie intake increases according to a particular system on some days and then decreases again.
Conclusion: This Is How You Can Build Lean Muscles
Yes, lean building muscles is possible. BUT, it takes a lot of diet and exercise discipline and a certain amount of experience. The first thing to find out is how high the daily calorie requirement is to keep body weight constant. The above formula helps to adjust the number of calories precisely.
Once the calorie requirement has been determined, increasing this amount of calories by 300kcal per day while observing your weight and body fat percentage is necessary. If the weight increases slowly and evenly, lean muscle building if the body fat percentage remains constant. If the body fat percentage increases, the selected calories were too high and should be corrected.
