How To Gain Lean Muscle Without Turning Into a Tub of Lard

QUESTION:Hi Tom. I have your BURN THE FAT ebook; it’s great thanks, but now that I’m lean enough my aim is bodybuilding and muscle gain. I read your information on body types in chapter 5 of your book and it was very interesting. I am definitely an ectomorph body type. I am getting good results gaining about a pound and sometimes 2 pounds a week, but I’m pretty skinny so it’s going to take a while to get where I really want to be, but that’s fine, I’m patient and determined. My question is, can I use all the guidelines in your BURN THE FAT ebook for gaining muscle mass?

Martin

ANSWER: It’s true that BURN THE FAT, FEED THE MUSCLE is primarily a fat burning program and as you’re reading through the book, you’ll see that the entire manual is written with references to getting leaner.

However, with a few simple tweaks, the program can definitely be used for gaining muscle. The primary adjustment would be an increase in the calories.

To gain lean body mass, you need a calorie surplus. The biggest dietary reason most people fail to gain lean muscle is that they’re simply not eating enough. Many times when they come off a fat loss program, they are completely paranoid about “losing their abs.”

Of course, that’s a legitimate concern because it’s VERY easy to lose your abs if you get lazy with your diet or you think that a muscle gaining diet means eating everything in site. To gain muscle and stay lean it takes continued discipline and dietary restraint, but the fact is, you just can’t gain any muscle if you’re afraid to eat more.

The trick in gaining lean muscle without fat gain is to select a small calorie surplus. Overeating, even on clean, bodybuilding foods is going to make you gain fat along with the muscle.

Gaining fat and muscle weight at the same time is commonly known as “bulking up” and that’s the old school approach to building muscle. We don’t want to do that. The whole idea is to Feed The Muscle and build Lean body mass only.

Although BFFM is written with a fat loss slant, all the calorie formulas are included in chapter 6, so you can figure out exactly how many you need to lose, maintain, OR gain weight.

A typical male maintains on about 2700 calories per day and a typical female at about 2100 calories, but it’s good to plug your stats into the formulas to individualize, and you need to recalibrate calories anyways after you come off a long fat loss phase.

What I would recommend for lean gains is to add a 10-15% calorie surplus on top of your maintenance level as your starting point. You will probably need a second increase in calories after a few months or after you’ve begun to add some lean mass in order to keep the lean gains coming.

The only other major adjustments for gaining lean mass would be the protein-carb-fat ratios (covered in detail in chapter 8) and of course, the amount of cardio.

Weight gain programs require more carbs in the macronutrient mix and less cardio. Endomorph types may need to keep 3 days of cardio in the mix to avoid losing their abs. In some cases for ectomorph “hard-gainer” body types, they should cut the cardio completely during the muscle gain phase.

For the endomorph body type who tends to gain fat easily, I recommend continuing to use a carb or calorie cycling method even for the muscle gaining phase. The difference is in the number of calories.

For fat loss, I typically recommend a carb cycle with a 20-30% caloric deficit for 3 days, followed by one full day at maintenance or even maintenance + 5-10%, with ALL the caloric increase coming from carbs.

For lean muscle gain with out fat gain, I’d recommend a cycle with 3 days at a 15% surplus, followed by 3 days at maintenance or a small caloric deficit of 5-10% below maintenance.

These are just guidelines. They are not written in stone. I have seen all types of calorie cycling variations work for different people. Any non-linear calorie approach is superior, in my opinion, for keeping the gains lean.

All the other principles in BFFM, such as eating the “foods that burn” fat and avoiding the “foods that turn to fat” apply as equally to weight gain programs as they do to fat loss programs.

In fact, many BFFM “graduates” quickly reached their fat loss goal using these techniques, and then with a few simple adjustments, shifted into a “muscle-gaining phase.” Same program, 1 change in calorie levels.

Using the BFFM techniques for muscle mass gains, most people can expect to gain 1/2 pound to 1 pound per week of lean body mass with no increase in body fat, (1/2 to 3/4 of that for women).

It’s not that hard to put on the first 10-12 pounds of lean muscle. After that, gains tend to slow down a bit.

These types of gains can be achieved completely natural - and in fact, natural is the only way I’d ever recommend you do muscle gaining programs.

Train hard and expect success, Tom Venuto, fat loss coach

PS related articles:

Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle information main page:
www.burnthefat.com

Endomorph body type diet secrets:
http://www.burnthefat.com/endomorph_body_type.html

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READER FEEDBACK & SUCCESS STORIES
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Tom,

I don’t know if this will ever reach you personally as I know you are a very busy man and good for you you should be. You have so much to offer anyone who is willing to listen, get off their butt and “burn the fat”.

For years I did exactly as you warned us not to do - trying fad diets over and over, and losing weight fast - and losing fast was never a problem for me as I was a wrestler who “sucked” huge amounts of weight over short periods). Of course, I never kept it off.

As I grew older the weight just kept piling up. I am 6 feet tall with the build of a natural athlete and topped off at an unhealthy 315 pounds. I would set early year goals only to have them fall apart by March.

There have been years when I would lose 30-40 lbs using my wrestler “suck the weight” mentality, but as I said, it would not stay off and when it came back it would bring “friends.”

I am 52 and still very much involved in trying to be an athlete. My current form of competition is golf - a sport which I can still compete at at a very high level.

At the end of last year I realized with a shock that I was losing body functionality. All these years, I rode the wave of my natural physical ability. But here I was at age 52 and at 310 pounds and I would end a day’s round of golf (I always walk—I hate carts), completely exhausted and hurting.

I would stagger to my car or to the bar and instead of going to the gym I would do the easier 12 ounces curls, used to wash down a few dozen wings and of course some pizza pie.

I was, to say the least, disgusted with myself. So here I was, again, late last year making more New Years resolutions when I had the great good fortune to come across your “burn the fat, feed the muscle” e-book.

I bought it and without the least hesitation I can say it changed my life and probably saved it as well. I know that sounds a little over the top, but all I can say is if anyone doubts what I am saying-buy the book, live it even for three to four months and then YOU make your own call.

For sure the book contains tons of useful information but it’s Tom’s ongoing support that keeps you going.

It is Tom’s refreshing attitude that, hey—if you want to get thin it is NOT an easy task it takes real work.

I know that is not what most of us want to hear—we want to hear about a magic pill that we take and POOF we are thin and in shape, however what Tom says is the truth. The pill pushers are lying.

What I can tell you is that I have been back in the gym now for the first time in over 20 years and have changed my eating habits to reflect Tom’s suggestions and as they say the proof is in the pudding..

I am already down to 260 lbs and on my way to 200—my ultimate goal.

I am in better physical shape then I have been in in over 20 years and feel fantastic, at least most of the time. Not all the time to be sure.

There are days when I go to the gym and say, “what the heck am I doing here, this is crazy, this hurts, I do not want to do this.”

However, instead of like the past when I would slowly quit, this time with Tom’s encouragement I have worked through these tough times and the end result, while certainly NOT easy getting there, has been nothing short of incredible.

Could I have done this without Tom’s help? Truthfully, yes, but the fact is, for over 20years, I didn’t. Tom gave me the push I needed.

It is not only what Tom has to say that is important. It is the person that Tom is that has even longer lasting value.

For sure, I do not know him personally, except for sharing emails, but his words have lifted me out of a fat-creating life into a lean muscle-building life with realistic attitude of being in it for the long haul, and for that I will be forever grateful.

THANK YOU TOM.

Steve English
USA

Learn more about the Burn The Fat Program at:
www.burnthefat.com

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HOW TO SEND IN YOUR BURN THE FAT QUESTIONS, SUCCESS STORIES, OR BEFORE/AFTER PHOTOS:
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I’ve really been ejoying answering all the reader questions lately and catching up on e-mail finally. I have a lot more Q & A’s coming, and if you want to send in a question for the Q & A column or if you have been using the Burn The Fat diet program and you’d like to send in a Burn The Fat Success Story, please follow these guidelines:

1) My staff or I will read every email we receive and I’ll answer as many as I can (I probably can’t get to all of them since there are some months when we get between 20,000 and 30,000 emails! Every week we will select questions for publication in this ezine or on the blog.

2) Please keep questions brief and to the point.

3) If your success story is featured in a Burn The Fat E-zine, you will receive a month’s complimentary membership to our Burn The Fat inner circle community. If you are selected for one of our audio or before and after photo success stories, you could win a one year membership to our inner circle.

4) All questions submitted become property of Burn The Fat and may be reprinted in the Burn The Newsletter or website(s).

5) Be sure to mention what part of the world you’re from.

6) Send your message to me at:
href=”http://www.burnthefat.com/contact/contact.php

My very best to you,
Tom Venuto, Fat Loss Coach

12 September, 2008 posted in Reader Q & A