Bulking Up and Gaining Muscle

There are thousands of products, newsletters, and books out there that promise to show you the secret of how to "gain muscle fast" and they ALL want your money but I'll give you the secret for free - lift weights and eat right!  Gaining mass, is really simple but it takes a LOT of work.  Later I will tell you about how to eat right and lifting weights but first, lets talk about expectations.

There is a LOT of bad information out there and people have a very warped view of what are reasonable expectations for putting on muscle thru weightlifting.  Lets talk about teens and growth first, during the ages 16-22, teens are growing fast.  In this time they are getting taller, adding body mass, and getting stronger all as part of the normal growth process without lifting a single weight.  The reason this is important is that many times you hear anecdotes of teens who add 20lbs in one year lifting weights, well the truth is that they would have added 15lbs anyway thru the normal growth process, only the last 5lbs was actually muscle was actually added thru the weightlifting. 

So what is a reasonable expectation for how much muscle you can add in a year thru weightlifting?  Well if you lift with intensity 5 days a week for an hour a day all year long AND have proper nutrition (more on that later), you can expect to add 5lbs muscle per year if you are a hard gainer and 10lbs muscle if you are one of the gifted few.  Doesn't sound like a lot you can do this year after year and slowly those slowly 5lb gains really add up.  Picture yourself a decade later with 50lbs muscle on! 

OK, now lets discuss how to gain muscle, as I said before you need to lift weights and have proper nutrition.   Lets talk about resistance training first.  You have to lift weights to get stronger and gain muscle.  Mass follows strength, you cant get bigger without getting stronger.  Here are workout plans for beginner, intermediate or advanced bodybuilders.   Now lets talk about the dedication required.  You cant add muscle by flitting around the gym now and then.  Remember I said that you could expect to add 5lbs muscle (10 if you are lucky) if you worked really hard?  Well this is the "work really hard part" - it means 5 days a week of intense lifting.  Just being IN a gym an hour a day does nothing, chatting your buddies while standing near weights doesnt make your muscles grow - you need intense, focused workout sessions.  Check out my section on "Focus" to see what I mean by that.

Believe it or not, lifting weights is the EASY part of gaining muscle, nutrition is the hard part.   The #1 reason  bodybuilders have poor results is not because they dont work out hard enough but because their nutrition sucks.   It can take up to FIVE days for the muscles to rebuild after a workout and during that time you need a constant intake of protein.  Your body can't store protein up so just having a huge steak with dinner will not work if you want to gain muscle, you need to take your protein in 6 small, even doses spread evenly through out the day to insure your recovering muscles always have the amino acids they need to rebuild.  Nobody said bodybuilding was easy.  The first thing you need to know about nutrition are some numbers.  How many calories do you need in each meal and how many grams of protein do you need in each meal, the below chart shows this:

Gain Muscle and Maintain Bodyfat Level
Current Weight	Calories	Protein
280lbs (127kg)	700cals x 6 meals = 4200	46g x 6 meals= 280g protein
260 lbs (118kg)	650cals x 6 meals = 3900	43g x 6 meals= 260g protein
240 lbs (109kg)	600cals x 6 meals = 3600	40g x 6 meals= 240g protein
220 lbs (100kg)	550cals x 6 meals = 3300	36g x 6 meals= 220g protein
200 lbs (91kg)	500cals x 6 meals = 3000	33g x 6 meals= 200g protein
180 lbs (81kg)	450cals x 6 meals = 2700	30g x 6 meals= 180g protein
160 lbs (72kg)	400cals x 6 meals = 2400	26g x 6 meals= 160g protein
140 lbs (63kg)	350cals x 6 meals = 2100	23g x 6 meals= 140g protein

Eating more than this will not make your muscles grow faster, you will just get fat!!!  This is really important so I'm going to say this gain.  Eating more than what this chart shows will NOT make you stronger or give you bigger muscles, it will just make you FAT.  This is the bulking myth - you dont need to get fat to get strong.  As long as you are getting your six evenly spaced doses of protein as shown my this chart, your muscles will have the building blocks they need to grow bigger and stronger-- eating more will not help. 

Lets take a quick look at what happens if you are not careful with your diet and eat junk food.  Our 140 hypothetical BBer needs 23g protein six times a day.  Lets say that for each of his meals he eats a big mac which has 24g protein.  Each burger has 24g protein so his muscles will grow well but man-o-man look at the calories!  Remember I said that this 140lb BBer needs six 350 cal meals, well the Big Mac is 590 calories, almost 200% too much.  What this means is that our 140lb BBer would gain 3lbs fat per week or 12lbs of fat per month!  Can you say sumo wrestler!  You really need to watch what you eat!  Here are the most common nutrition mistakes made by bodybuilders:

• they get enough protein so their muscles grow but they eat too many calories so they get really fat

• they eat the proper number of calories but dont get enough protein so their muscles dont grow much

• they get enough protein and the proper number of calories but dont distribute their protein intake into 6 evenly spaced small doses so their muscles dont grow much

Dont let this happen to you!  If you are going to all the work of lifting weighs 5 days a week, make sure you give your nutrition the same effort so your muscles can grow.

If you have the time and devotion, you can gain muscle AND lose fat at the same time but its REALLY hard!  Your protein requirements remain the same but the number of calories per meal drops so its even harder to find acceptable meals.  Lets look at the numbers for those wanting to gain muscle and lose fat.  The below chart shows the nutritional requirements if you want to gain muscle and LOSE 1 lb fat per week:

Gain Muscle and Lose Fat (1lb/week)
Current Weight	Calories	Protein
280lbs (127kg)	610cals x 6 meals = 3700 cals	46g x 6 meals= 280g protein
260 lbs (118kg)	560 cals x 6 meals = 3400 cals	43g x 6 meals= 260g protein
240 lbs (109kg)	510 cals x 6 meals = 3100 cals	40g x 6 meals= 240g protein
220 lbs (100kg)	460 cals x 6 meals = 2800 cals	36g x 6 meals= 220g protein
200 lbs (91kg)	410 cals x 6 meals = 2500 cals	33g x 6 meals= 200g protein
180 lbs (81kg)	360 cals x 6 meals = 2200 cals	30g x 6 meals= 180g protein
160 lbs (72kg)	310 cals x 6 meals = 1900 cals	26g x 6 meals= 160g protein
140 lbs (63kg)	265 cals x 6 meals = 1600 cals	23g x 6 meals= 140g protein

To get meals with this much protein and this small number of calories, the meals need to be virtually nonfat.  Its virtually impossible to buy anything at a fast food restaurant or in TV dinner form which satisfies these requirements - you need to cook your own meals.  For some meal suggestions, please check here.

So remember that to gain muscle requires TWO things: 

1. You have to lift weights consistently, with intensity and focus. 

2. You have to eat 6 small meals each with a good dose of protein.