Here’s What You Need To Know To Build Lean Muscle:
- If you believe that there are shortcuts to adding lean muscle mass and shedding those unwanted layers of fat, then I’m sorry to say, but my friend you are heading towards an entirely wrong direction.
- Sadly, you can’t be on the same bulking routine anymore. You need to regulate your carbs now to gain lean muscle.
- Consume more fat to develop lean muscle. YES, you read that right. Read further and you will know why.
- When trying to build lean muscle, you should try to substitute the maximum amount of fruits with veggies.
- Too often people trying to gain lean muscle fast give their best shot in training but care little less on the recovery part. You won’t believe but getting enough recovery can alone get you very close to lean muscle.
- High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) sessions are the epitome of how to build lean muscle, but that does not mean you do away with weight training, bodybuilding, resistance training, and strength plus conditioning.
The truth is adding lean muscle mass is no child’s play. It’s hard, and it takes time, and more importantly, it takes persistent efforts to attain the ultimate glory. Here are the smartest ways for both men and women to build lean muscle quickly and keep it for good. Let’s get going –
Nutrition Tips To Gain Lean Muscle –
1. Cut Down the Carb Intake but don’t Eliminate them Completely
Before you drop the carbs down, you first need to know how much of them you actually need in a day; which makes it very important to have a food log to note down the amount of carbs, protein, and fat you consume throughout the day.
For Women: Consume 1 – 1.25 grams of carb per pound of bodyweight; that’s 125-160 grams of carb for a 125-pound woman.
And on Cheat Days: Increase carb intake to 1.5-2 grams per pound of bodyweight.
For Men: On low carb day eat only 1-1.2 gm of carb per pound of bodyweight for at least 3-4 days and during the high carb day aka cheat day, consume 2-2.4 gm per pound of bodyweight for next two days. So, if you weigh 175 lbs, eat 175-190 gm of carbs on low carb day and doubling them on high carb day.
MyFitFuel Tip: Cheating is okay but only if you do it ONCE IN A WHILE.
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2. Regulate your Carbs before it gets too Late
Ever since you have been on a bulking diet, you have been eating everything that is served to you. But when you are trying to add lean muscle mass this season, it’s very necessary to understand that things need to change, and you need to build a top class carb strategy.
However, don’t get confused between regulating carbs and restricting them completely. If you completely shut down carb intake, your muscles, brain and hence the body will suffer severely.
MyFitFuel Tip: Taper your carb intake as your day progresses; consume most of the carbs in the breakfast and gradually decrease them throughout the day.
3. There’s nothing to fear about Fats as Fats not necessarily make a Person Fat
Yes, you read it correct – Fat does not make you fat but too many calories will. And now that you have reduced your carb intake, consuming more fat will help you get through carb cravings.
For both Men and Women: Consume at least 20-25% fat of total calorie intake of the day on training days while on rest days eat 30-35% fat of total daily calorie intake.
MyFitFuel Tip: Get most of your daily fat intake from sources like nuts, fish, olive oil, avocados, and seeds; high fat intake on rest days will keep your joints strong.
4. Fruits are all Full of Sugar (consider: carbs) and when consumed too much, Fruits can Pose many Hindrances for Building Lean Muscle
So, what to do? How could you stay on top of your lean muscle program? The answer is simple– Vegetables; swap in vegetables for fruits. By this, you will be able to take advantage of nutrients and antioxidants that veggies carry along with reducing your gross carb intake.
MyFitFuel Tip: If it’s difficult for you to do away with your love for fruits, you should try to consume most of your fruit intake in early morning breakfast combined with slow digesting carbs like oats and a rich protein source like eggs. You can also add whey protein shake to your morning breakfast along with a couple of bananas or berries to kickstart your day.
Training Tips on How to Have Lean Muscle Body for Women
1. Resistance Training is your New Best Friend
Yes ladies, unlike popular belief, resistance training will NOT bulk you up. Only eating more gets you bigger. If you eat right, do resistance training and get ample amount of sleep, then there’s no way you will not get lean muscle and healthier this summer.
Following are the proven benefits of Resistance Training:
- Reduced body fat percentage
- Boost metabolism
- Better sleep cycle
- Better weight management
- Leaner muscle and improved core strength
- Improved posture and mobility
- Improved day-to- day task performance
MyFitFuel Tip: Even with resistance training, you need to keep a close watch on your diet habits as well. You should not ruin your efforts in the gym by having cheat meals now and then.
2. Don’t go way too much with Cardio or HIIT Sessions
It’s in the nature of a human to overdo things that show early results. Excessive cardio or HIIT (meaning more than 30-40 minutes) is quite much for an average person. It is a double whammy for the body – Firstly, after 30 minutes of HIIT, your body will turn to catabolic state; it will now eat muscle for fuel instead of fat stores in the body.
Secondly, catabolic state further decreases your metabolism rate and hence you will carry more fat than before.
MyFitFuel Tip: Cardio, Resistance Training, Nutrition, and Rest are all equally important for building lean muscle; neglecting any of them will never take you to the next level.
Training Tips on to Add Lean Muscle Mass for Men
1. Improvise your Training Routine
By now you have probably figured out how gaining lean muscle mass isn’t something that you can accomplish with your current workout routine. So for a change, here’s what you can include in your workout routine for building lean muscle –
- Run sprints at the track
- Find a hill and do sprints
- Get a sledgehammer and try to hit as hard and as fast to an old tire.
- Push a prowler or pull a sledge
- Strongman’s favorite – Farmer’s walk
MyFitFuel Tip: Training outdoors is a great way to build serious strength along with burn extra calories. Also, including other activities and outdoor recreational sports can improve the overall conditioning of the body.
Get your free copy of MyFitFuel Workout Routines ebook – A detailed guide to different workout routines plus what it takes to build a superhero physique. Click here to download the free ebook.
2. Include Both: Heavy Compound Movements as well as Isolation Exercises in your Training Routine
Heavy lifts such as squats, deadlifts, presses, and pull-ups use more than one muscle and as you can load in more weights with these exercises, which ensures you get maximum muscle building benefits efficiently. However, compound movements should not be an excuse for not hitting the isolation exercises. Not only do isolation movements help in speeding up the growth of lagging body part but also add necessary volume to your training.
MyFitFuel Tip: Make sure that your training routine has both heavy lifts along with isolation movements; compound lifts will give you strength while isolation will target specific muscle group without training another.
3. Add more variety to your Workout Routine to overcome Muscle Plateau and Develop Lean Muscle Growth
All this time you had been training in 8-12 rep range but over the period of time, your body adapts to the workload and hence it is required to incorporate few changes to shock muscles. Switch up the rep range for 20-25 reps per set for next 4-6 weeks of training along with super-sets, drop-sets, and many other training methods.
MyFitFuel Tip: Adding supersets, rest-pause, drop sets and various other techniques are great to give a shock to stubborn muscles.
However, when you do them more often then they will no longer give the same benefit as they did first up.
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Also published on Medium.
