Tips For Bodybuilders: How To Gain Muscle While Avoiding Fat
For most of the bodybuilding population, the eventual goal is nothing less than a strong, muscular physique with impressive, razor-sharp definition.
You want to be huge, and you want to be shredded as well. Because of the strong desire for this "ideal body", most people eagerly dive into their programs headfirst. Everyone is motivated to bulk up, but at the same time are afraid of putting on excess body fat.
To significantly gain muscle - and to add as much of it to your frame in as swift a period of time as possible - there is always the fact that you'll inevitably gain some extra body fat to go with it.
This is simply the nature of the entire process and if you really want to travel a significant way in the "bulking" direction, you have to be willing to accept this.
In order to increase the amount of muscle gain, you have to consume a large amount of calories in order to support the protein synthesis your body is going through. There is simply no way that every single calorie will go to muscle gain. Some if it will always end up as body fat.
You first goal is for the most dramatic gain in the shortest time. To that end it's always better to focus first on muscle gain over a set period of time, followed by another period of time concentrating on losing the unwanted body fat.
Based on what we've covered so far, the goal of a bulking phase is simple: build as much muscle size as possible while minimizing body fat gains. Your goal during a bulking phase is never to LOSE body fat; it's only to gain as little as possible.
There are three main tips to accomplish this:
1) Use your caloric surplus wisely. A caloric surplus is when you gain more calories than you burn. This is required for muscle growth, but simply gorging on food without a plan or exercise will simply earn you more body fat.
Generally speaking, the caloric surplus necessary for supporting muscle growth is approximately 15-20% more calories than you'd eat to maintain your current weight. If you're already at that level of consumption, you don't need to go any higher.
2) Pay attention to your food choices. The vast majority of your food intake should be coming from lean, high quality proteins, natural/high fiber carbohydrates and healthy/unsaturated fats.
Don't just eat anything and everything; make sure you're concentrating on proteins, especially lean proteins, and keep an eye on your blood sugar. Also, avoid all those saturated fats.
3) Implement cardio sessions. While you don't have to push yourself too hard, having a few cardio sessions during the week is a good way to minimize fat gains during a bulking cycle.
Stick to exercises of 10-20 minutes of high intensity, as they have less likelihood of muscle loss compared to the longer forms.
Once you're at a size you're happy with and the muscle gain you want, you can focus your attention on losing that body fat. However, you want to keep working to avoid losing the muscle you've just gained. And remember that while bulking up, you're going to gain body fat. There's simply no way around it.
The trick is to minimize it rather than try to totally avoid it, and you can do this with a reasonable diet and sensible exercise.
You want to be huge, and you want to be shredded as well. Because of the strong desire for this "ideal body", most people eagerly dive into their programs headfirst. Everyone is motivated to bulk up, but at the same time are afraid of putting on excess body fat.
To significantly gain muscle - and to add as much of it to your frame in as swift a period of time as possible - there is always the fact that you'll inevitably gain some extra body fat to go with it.
This is simply the nature of the entire process and if you really want to travel a significant way in the "bulking" direction, you have to be willing to accept this.
In order to increase the amount of muscle gain, you have to consume a large amount of calories in order to support the protein synthesis your body is going through. There is simply no way that every single calorie will go to muscle gain. Some if it will always end up as body fat.
You first goal is for the most dramatic gain in the shortest time. To that end it's always better to focus first on muscle gain over a set period of time, followed by another period of time concentrating on losing the unwanted body fat.
Based on what we've covered so far, the goal of a bulking phase is simple: build as much muscle size as possible while minimizing body fat gains. Your goal during a bulking phase is never to LOSE body fat; it's only to gain as little as possible.
There are three main tips to accomplish this:
1) Use your caloric surplus wisely. A caloric surplus is when you gain more calories than you burn. This is required for muscle growth, but simply gorging on food without a plan or exercise will simply earn you more body fat.
Generally speaking, the caloric surplus necessary for supporting muscle growth is approximately 15-20% more calories than you'd eat to maintain your current weight. If you're already at that level of consumption, you don't need to go any higher.
2) Pay attention to your food choices. The vast majority of your food intake should be coming from lean, high quality proteins, natural/high fiber carbohydrates and healthy/unsaturated fats.
Don't just eat anything and everything; make sure you're concentrating on proteins, especially lean proteins, and keep an eye on your blood sugar. Also, avoid all those saturated fats.
3) Implement cardio sessions. While you don't have to push yourself too hard, having a few cardio sessions during the week is a good way to minimize fat gains during a bulking cycle.
Stick to exercises of 10-20 minutes of high intensity, as they have less likelihood of muscle loss compared to the longer forms.
Once you're at a size you're happy with and the muscle gain you want, you can focus your attention on losing that body fat. However, you want to keep working to avoid losing the muscle you've just gained. And remember that while bulking up, you're going to gain body fat. There's simply no way around it.
The trick is to minimize it rather than try to totally avoid it, and you can do this with a reasonable diet and sensible exercise.
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