Bulking Up To Look Great Naked

Image Credit:  d_vdm

Last week I tweeted a question on what my fellow tweeple would like me to write about for the next article. I got a private message that read:

I’d like to read how to gain 5-10 lbs bodyweight in 4 weeks. perhaps a post about gaining weight in general? Cheers, Marc

This is a great topic that has been discussed ad nauseum on many fitness and bodybuilding forums. However there seems to be some confusion about the process, especially the right and wrong way to gain weight(ideally muscle mass). When you look at the process of gaining weight, purely from a physiological standpoint, a surplus of kcals rules out indefinitely.

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Since those of you reading this are most likely interested in looking great naked, I think it’s safe to say you would like to gain the most lean muscle mass possible with the least amount of fat. Yea, I know, this would be ideal and if we lived in a perfect world, we would not even have to work out to look great in the nude.

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In this article I will discuss a few methods for gaining lean body mass as well as what I feel is the best approach for newbies and experienced lifters alike.

The Approaches

In general there are a few ways we can go about this. We have the GFH approach, the moderate approach and the non-linear intake approach that is more commonly known in the fitness circle as a recomposition.

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GFH – Stands for Get F*cking Huge. This is a method made popular by bodybuilders and powerlifters alike. If you take this route to packing on some mass you are literally eating everything in sight and probably gaining more than 1lb of bodyweight per week.

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Moderate Approach – This method is exactly what it’s called: moderate. The people on this plan are generally monitoring their intake and ensuring they hit a certain amount of kcals daily. They usually aim to gain about .5-1lb per week.

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Recomposition – The recomp is sort of a blurry subject when it comes to the actual approach/method. There are a few ways to go about this: a staggered intake, culking* and every other day refeeds.

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Due to the complexity of the recomp, I will likely write an article completely devoted to recomposition.

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*Culking is a phrase coined by Alan Aragon. Either I or a colleague of mine will discuss this approach in a future article. By the way, Alan’s Research Review is one of the most awesome resources on training and diet I have ever found. He puts so much into each review and I am kicking myself for not subscribing months ago. Check it out.

So Which Approach Is Best?

This, my friends is a loaded question. The answer is “it just depends.”

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According to Lyle’s model in his article What’s My Genetic Muscular Potential?, during your first year of proper training and eating one can gain anywhere from 20-25lbs of muscle per year. The second year can yield 10-12lbs, the third 5-6lbs and the fourth year about 2-3lbs. As you can see, just within a few years of doing the right things, one can advance fairly quickly.

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The level of trainee will determine the approach.

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Newbies

If you are a pure newbie(less than 6 months of proper training and general lack of strength/muscle mass), the GFH approach will likely work well for you. This approach works especially well for those skinny guys who are longing to get big. These are the guys who are 6 foot tall and weigh 140lbs soaking wet. If I just so happen to be advising them, the suggestions usually goes as follows: Lift heavy things 3x per week and eat yourself out of house and home. This surplus is needed to support the 1-2lbs of muscle gain per week.

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If you are a fatter newbie(like I was) a more moderate surplus will be a better option. However most newbies will experience the wonderful phenomenon of losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time, so I am not too worried about drastically monitoring the surplus as long as it’s not thousands of kcals over maintenance.

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Intermediates

Once you get about 1 year of solid training under your belt and have gained a decent amount of muscle mass, you start to enter the wonderful world of being an intermediate. Yay! You are now experiencing some strength and progression plateaus. It takes longer to recover and you are not growing like a weed as you did the previous year. I know it may be depressing but hey, you probably look better than you did a year ago.

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The surplus of calories at this stage in the game needs to be reduced a bit. This is where you will need to cut back on the food somewhat to prevent unnecessary fat gain. So if you were eating a 1000 kcal surplus before and gaining 2lbs of muscle per week but now are only able to gain 1lb of muscle per week, what happens to the excess energy? It will likely be stored as fat because you can only synthesize so much muscle at a time.

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The approach you may use here is the moderate surplus of 300-500 kcals over maintenance daily or my personal favorite of the non-linear intake of 500 over maintenance on training days only and maintenance or slightly under maintenance (-100 kcal deficit) on off days.

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Advanced Trainees

Oh boy, the dreaded level of experience every person aspiring to max out their genetic potential fears to approach. I do not mean dreaded in the sense of accomplishment but dreaded in the sense that your days of making steady progress are likely over.

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Once you reach the advanced status and can only gain 3-4lbs of muscle per year, it’s time to do away with the large energy surpluses and get used to maintenance eating. The only way to add that last bit of muscle during this stage of the game is to keep a light surplus of kcals present on your training days. Perhaps 200-300 would be best here as much more will likely be store as adipose tissue.

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Of course all of these rules change once ergogenic aids enter the mix but since we are talking about the genetic potential of naturals, we will leave it at that.

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I should also note that the suggestions for calorie totals should be cut in half for females as their genetic muscular potential is about half of their counterparts.

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So how about you? Where are you at currently in your training level/experience? What approach do you find works best for you? For me personally, my days of stuffing myself silly are over. I have learned this the hard way but I have faced the facts: a non-linear approach is the best for me at my current level of development.

Tagged as: Muscle Gain, Readers Questions