Whats up guys. I have a question that has been giving me alot of trouble over the past couple of weeks. My diet over the last 6 months has been very disciplined and I have lost around 18 pounds in 3 months. I have preety extensive knowledge of nutrition and what food is good to loose weight the healthy way. But i am somewhat confused on what I should do to gain pure muscle mass. I want to put on 5 or 6 pounds of muscle but I want to do this without putting on any body fat. Does this mean that I should eat more protein or eat more calories. I was thinking that if I ate more calories I would gain weight but it would be fat. So what is the correct way to gain muscle mass. My diet right now is consisting of protein bars, shakes, fish, chicken, fruits and veggies, and some whole wheat carbs in the morning. I am guessing that the best way will not be for me to stuff myself with junk food so please help me out.

Hello mate,

No matter what any supplement add or magazine says, you can't "convert" it or build muscle and lose fat at the same time, absolute beginners can but that phase only lasts for 4-6 weeks (and thats being generous) and I guess you have been weight and fitness training for some time...

Building muscle is all about being in a calorie surplus as you probably know, a good rule of the thumb is to be 500+ calories over your daily maintenance calories.

So, you have to workout your RMR (basic metabolic rate) to get the amount of calories you use waking up in the morning, showering, moving around, general living crap, then also your 'activity factor' calories, these are the calories used when at work, performing your workout etc etc, then you have your maintenance calorites, so add 500 to that to put you in a calorie surplus.

Here's the links:
RMR calculator - http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/
Activity Factor - http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/

(remember, what you have from those results are maintenance calories, add 500 to put you in calorie surplus)

Yes, you will gain a little bit of body fat, but it all depends on what kinds of food you eat. A calorie is not a calorie, for example you'd get real fat quick if the calories you took in were big mac's from mcdonnalds, so you want your calories to be whole foods, proteins, carbs and good fats (i.e - not saturated ****).

Hope that helps...

Good luck mate,
SpeedBall

This thread is quite ironic to the normal bull**** that's posted in here... Normally people are asking whether they can lift weights and box at the same time, and immediately there are 3-5 people flying off the handle,saying "no, you'll get big and musclebound in no time." Since there are millions of people asking on Bodybuilding websites, and now here, how you increase musclemass, it would seem that it is something that most people who try find quite hard to do. I guess the answer quite simply is: Stoptrying to gain muscle, just lift heavy and box at the same time, and you'll be competing in mr. Olympia in no time :D

Whats up guys. I have a question that has been giving me alot of trouble over the past couple of weeks. My diet over the last 6 months has been very disciplined and I have lost around 18 pounds in 3 months. I have preety extensive knowledge of nutrition and what food is good to loose weight the healthy way. But i am somewhat confused on what I should do to gain pure muscle mass. I want to put on 5 or 6 pounds of muscle but I want to do this without putting on any body fat. Does this mean that I should eat more protein or eat more calories. I was thinking that if I ate more calories I would gain weight but it would be fat. So what is the correct way to gain muscle mass. My diet right now is consisting of protein bars, shakes, fish, chicken, fruits and veggies, and some whole wheat carbs in the morning. I am guessing that the best way will not be for me to stuff myself with junk food so please help me out.

Man that's funny! Do you really have extensive knowledge of nutrition? I only ask because you wouldn't even need to mention the junk food piece if you did.

read: http://www.rosstraining.com/articles/hardcore.html

I am not gaining muscle mass for any looks. I am moving up a weight class. I also do not lift any weights.

I also do not lift any weights.

Then I'd suggest you start if you want to gain weight that isn't just flabby fat

I am doing plyometrics, calisthenics, body weight exercies, etc. I do not lift weights for boxing. Would you guys suggest that I lift until i gain the extra 5 pounds I want and then go back to doing my body weight exercises?


Also

So its saying my BMR is 1760. And then when i multiply it times 1.65 for my activity factor it comes out to 3000 something calories. Now what foods can I eat that will give me that many calories but also put on muscle. I know i could do it by eating **** all the time but I am having a hard time finding good quality protein and other foods that will give me that many calories. Please give me some help.

Eat, eat, eat, train hard, and rest

gaining weight is one of the hardest things to do to be honest.. i was 147 lbs, and gained 13 lbs.. some muscle, some fat.. i grew love handles.. i felt like ****, i was ****ting everywhere from all the protein and **** i was eating.. shakes, tuna, all that nasty ****.. what a waist man.. disgusting ****..

check out that ross article.. but bodybuilding and boxing dont mix.. i know u know that..

you don't need to bodybuild to gain weight. Eat a lot of food (clean is still best). Ways to add a couple calories: add some olive oil with food, grains, grass-fed beef (MUCH lower in sat. fat than regular beef), eggs, protein shakes can be a good way to add more calories if you choose.

Then you need to get your resistance exercises in. It doesn't matter if it's being done with weights or not. I'm not a master on hypertrophy or anything, but resistance is resistance whether it comes from weights or not. Personally, some of my favorite resistance exercises are done with a sandbag, cheap and very effective...