3 Step Plan To Build Muscle, Not Fat
Building muscle without building a ton of excess fat IS possible with this:
3 Step Plan To Gain Muscle Without Gaining Fat (Lean Bulking)
The following article contains the notes from our podcast episode on Lean Bulking. If you’d prefer to watch on YouTube, click HERE. You can also listen on APPLE or SPOTIFY.
What you want: Most people want above-average muscle and below-average fat. They want to look like they work out.
Why are we talking about this now: Perfect for the holiday season when extra food is common and it's easy to gain weight unintentionally.
Body Types that Benefit The Most From This Information (Lean Bulking)
Untrained Skinny Person: Low muscle mass, low body fat (ectomorphs).
Lean, Slightly Muscular Exerciser: Exercises regularly, not overweight, but lacks muscle size and definition.
Skinny Fat Person: Not much muscle, average fat levels.
3 Steps To Gain Muscle Without Gaining Much Fat (Lean Bulking)
Step 1: Establishing Your Muscle-Building Calories and Macros
Two approaches based on your preference:
Simple Less Accurate Way: Use a calorie calculator for lean bulking. Here is ours: https://www.digitalbarbell.com/calorieandmacronutrientcalculator
More Tedious More Accurate Way: Track food intake for 1-2 weeks - Calculate you average calories, protein, carbs, and fat for those days. Don’t change what you’ve been doing!
Set up a 10% calorie surplus for muscle building with minimal fat gain by multiplying your calories by 1.1 - That surplus is going to become your new gains!
It’s a conservative surplus because larger surplus means more fat not just more muscle.
Setting up your macronutrients for lean bulking:
Protein: Set at body weight in grams. Try to get within 20g of that daily.
Carbs and Fats: Multiply your protein goal by 4, and subtract that number from your total calories. Distribute your remaining calories between carbs and fats. Keep Fat to ~50-70g per day to optimize body composition.
A large calorie surplus (Dirty Bulking) leads to excessive and unnecessary fat gain, the overdo it / restrict cycle, unhealthy processed food, makes you feel gross and have less productive workouts.
Step 2: Setting Up Your Lean Bulking Training
Shift your focus: You are now a strength and muscle-building athlete.
Prioritize progressive overload rather than just burning calories, getting tired, working in heart rate zone. Rest enough between sets.
Breakdown of a 4-day weekly training routine:
Day 1: Squat 5 rep, bench 5 rep, dumbbell bench 8-15, tricep pushdown 8-15, push-ups.
Day 2: Deadlift 5 rep, dumbbell rows 8-15, lat pull downs 8-15, face pulls.
Rest
Day 3: Squat 5 rep, overhead press 5 rep, Romanian deadlift, 8-15 calf raises, abs.
Day 4: Close-grip bench 8 -15, barbell curl 8-15, tricep extensions 8-15, hammer curls 8-15, abs.
Emphasize rest and recovery as part of the process.
Strength training isn’t about how much you can lift now, it’s about gradual progress.
Should you do cardio? Sure, but lower volume steady state a few times per week. You don’t want to erase your calorie surplus and rob recovery resources.
Step 3: Tracking Your Progress and Making Adjustments While Lean Bulking
FOR TRAINING
Invest in a strength program, don’t wing it.
Use an app like TrueCoach to track each exercise. How many reps and sets you do… What weight you use…
Gradual progression: Small increments (5 lbs) make a big difference. Don’t get greedy and try to make big jumps that lead to stalls.
What to do if lifts stall: Check your nutrition, and sleep first. Then, back off weight by 10% on the stalled lift.
If those are on point, take a deload week where you volume down, but keep the intensity high.
FOR NUTRITION
Track your daily weight and calculate your avg weight and measurements (hips, thighs, waist, biceps).
Take front, side, and back progress photos monthly
Take waist, hip, thigh, and bicep measurements monthly
Aim for .5 and 1% weight gain per month. If you’re 130lbs that’s about .65 and 1.3 pounds per month, 165lbs - .82 and 1.65 per month
If your weight isn’t going up, remeasure and see if you’re recomping (losing fat and building muscle simultaneously)
Make a progress pic side by side and see if your body comp is changing.
If none of those have changed, make sure you’re not skipping meals or haven’t added extra activity.
THEN, add 5% to your calories and see if your weight starts to go back up in the next 2 weeks.
Take monthly progress pics and measurements either way.
If you need help putting this information into place, we can help. Click the button below and we’ll be in touch.