How to build muscle without increasing fat mass

Date: August 03rd, 2020

How to build muscle without increasing fat mass

 

To build muscle, you need to consume more calories to nourish the muscles you pump. The problem with enhanced nutrition is that it is rather difficult to avoid a simultaneous increase in fat mass. Fortunately, you can build muscle without fat, if you arrange yourself proper nutrition and proper regime of strength training.

 

Method 1. Muscle Growth Nutrition

 

1

Calculate the optimal number of calories you need to consume per day in order to build muscle. To increase muscle mass, you should consume enough calories daily. Very active men, for example, bodybuilders and other athletes, require 2500-3000 calories per day, depending on age and a specific level of physical activity. Very active women may require 2200-2400 calories per day.

  • If you want to determine the specific number of calories that you need based on your weight, height and level of activity, use a special calculator.

2

Correctly distribute calories by type. If you need to build muscle without increasing fat mass, you should consume 30–40% of calories in the form of protein, another 30–40% in the form of high-quality carbohydrates, and the last 20–30% in the form of healthy fats.

  • Calculate the number of calories for each group of foods by multiplying the total number of calories by the percentage corresponding to a particular group (30–40% for proteins and carbohydrates and 20–30% for fats), and then divide the result by 100%.
  • If you take as an example a man weighing 80 kg, who needs 3000 calories per day, then every day he needs to consume 900-1200 calories in the form of proteins, 900-1200 calories in the form of carbohydrates and 600-800 calories in the form of healthy fats.
  • Calorie calculation for the above example is as follows: 3000 x 30% / 100% = 900 (calories) or 3000 x 40% / 100% = 1200 (calories).
  • Another example is an active woman weighing 60 kg, who needs 2000 calories per day. The total calories should be divided into 600-800 calories in the form of proteins, the same for carbohydrates and 400-600 calories in the form of healthy fats.

3

Eat more protein daily. Protein helps muscle tissue recover and grow. To make your muscles bigger, eat more protein. And it is especially important to consume protein immediately after strength training.

  • When you are trying to build muscle, try to consume about 2 grams of protein per kilogram of your weight daily.
  • Healthy sources of protein include lean meat, fish, milk, eggs, soy and beans.

4

Muscle Growth

Include the right carbohydrates in your diet. Quality sources of carbohydrates are rich in fiber and nutrients that play an important role in a balanced diet. They are especially important for building muscle, as carbohydrates are the main source of energy for the body. They will constantly supply you with energy during training.

  • Sources of quality carbohydrates include unpurified and unprocessed foods that contain a lot of nutrients.
  • Examples of good sources of carbohydrates are sweet potato, oats, chickpeas, brown rice, blueberries and bananas.
  • Avoid low-quality carbohydrates found in processed foods, such as white flour or refined sugars, including glucose-fructose syrups.
  • Examples of low-quality carbohydrates are breakfast cereals, bagels, donuts, most cookies and crackers, and most types of baked goods.
  • A lack of carbohydrates in food can lead to catabolism when your body begins to convert muscle tissue into energy sources. In this case, the body will burn muscle, not fat.

5

Remember to include healthy fats in your diet. Fats are great for promoting growth when it comes to building muscle. It is only necessary to use healthy fats, not harmful ones.

  • Examples of healthy fats sources are avocados, nuts, extra virgin olive oil, natural nut pastas, and fish like salmon and tuna.
  • Examples of unhealthy fats that should be excluded from nutrition include trans fats found in margarine, deep-fried foods, and highly processed foods, including cakes, donuts, and crackers. You should also limit the intake of saturated fats found in meat and dairy products to 10% of the total number of calories per day.
  • Fats contain about 9 calories per gram, while proteins and carbohydrates give only 4 calories per gram.
  • Eat foods that are sources of healthy fats, but limit them to 20-30% of your daily calorie needs.

6

Drink plenty of water throughout the day. Daily water intake plays an important role in muscle development. It is water that delivers nutrients to muscle tissue, as well as to the rest of your body.

  • When you strive to build muscle, you need more water than the average person. You need to replenish the fluid that your body loses with sweat during training. A muscle builder should drink at least 16 glasses (4 liters) of water daily. A muscle-building woman can drink about 12–16 glasses (3-4 liters) of water daily.

7

Use quality nutritional supplements if you wish. Despite the fact that it is not necessary to use nutritional supplements to build lean muscle mass (without fat), many people claim that they help them build muscle faster.

  • The most important supplements for lean muscle growth are multivitamin supplements, which include a mixture of amino acids, protein powders (but low-carb supplements and weight gain powders should be avoided), as well as creatine.
  • Additional supplements that can also be beneficial for muscle growth are L-carnitine and L-arginine. Both are amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins.

Increase Muscle Mass

Method 2 Proper Training Technique for Increasing Muscle Mass

1

Resort to strength training. If you want to build muscle, you must include power loads in your training regimen. To build muscle it will be enough to carry out exercises for lifting heavy weight 3-4 days a week. No need for daily strength training. Muscles need time to rest and recover.

  • The key exercises that should be included in your regime of strength training include bench press lying on a bench, bench press standing, deadlift and squats.
  • When working with scales, concentrate the load on 1-2 zones. For example, on one day, work out your chest and back, on the other - legs and buttocks, and on the third - triceps biceps and shoulders.

2

Limit cardio training. A few cardio exercises will prevent the accumulation of fat in the body while you are building muscle, but too much exercise can inhibit muscle growth.

  • If you want to build muscle, limit your cardio to one or two days a week.
  • It will also be wise to carry out cardio workouts on separate days, free from weight training. Combining both cardio exercises and power loads at once can put your body in a catabolic state, when it starts to burn muscles, not fats, for energy.
  • To take care of the health of the cardiovascular system, 75 minutes of intensive or 150 moderate cardio loads are required weekly.

3

Do not over-exert yourself and allow your muscles to rest in between workouts. Be sure to allow the muscles to recover after each workout. For example, if you pumped your chest and back in one day, you need to wait a few days before using the same muscle group again. Muscles need time to rest and recover so that they can continue to grow.

  • Overloading can reduce your muscle's ability to recover, which prevents them from growing. This will not help you build muscle.

4

Provide a daily eight-hour night's sleep. A sufficient amount of night sleep is very important in order to build clean muscle mass. Muscle tissue grows and regenerates during a night's sleep. On the other hand, lack of sleep can lead to unhealthy weight gain. Sleep deficiency has a productive effect on the growth of pure muscle tissue (without increasing the fat component).

Method 3 Exercises to Increase Muscle Mass

1

To build muscle, work with free weights. There are many different exercises that allow you to develop triceps and biceps to pump up your arms. Working with free weights is preferable to using simulators, since in this case the hands are forced to do all the work on their own. With exercise equipment, usually a stronger hand compensates for the load of a weaker hand.

  • Biceps exercises include lifting the barbell to the biceps while sitting, lifting the dumbbells to the biceps and hammer lifting the dumbbells.
  • Triceps exercises include lifting the dumbbell to the triceps from behind the head while sitting, lifting the dumbbells to the triceps in the supine position and extending the arms in an inclined position. All these exercises are performed with dumbbells.
  • Choose at least three exercises for biceps and triceps. Perform 3–6 sets of 6–10 repetitions of each exercise.
  • The weight with which you work must be very heavy so that it is simply impossible to complete 10 repetitions of the exercise at once. As the strength develops, gradually increase the weight load so that the muscles continue to grow.

2

Once a week with targeted exercises, pump your chest. The pectoral muscles can be pumped up both with the help of weight equipment, and without it.

  • Push-ups are an excellent exercise for lifting your own body weight, which allows you to pump up your chest muscles without weights.
  • The standard bench press barbell or dumbbell is considered a classic exercise for the development of chest muscles. Perform 3–6 sets of 6–10 repetitions of the exercise. Lift the weight that you can lift without blots at least six times. But if you can do more than 10 repetitions at once, increase the load.
  • Reaching arms with dumbbells lying down is also an excellent exercise for the muscles of the chest. Perform 3–6 sets of 6–10 reps of this exercise with maximum load.
  • The dumbbell bench press in a slope also allows you to pump the upper chest. Do 3–6 sets of 6–10 reps of this exercise. If you manage to do more repetitions, do not forget to increase the weight load.

3

Strengthen your back muscles once a week. When developing the muscles of the chest, one should not forget about the back. Strong back muscles will help maintain a balanced appearance of your body. There are three exercises to strengthen your back: bench press on a cable simulator, deadlift with a barbell and bench press with one hand in a cable simulator. Perform 3–6 sets of 6–10 reps for each exercise.

  • Remember that all exercises must be performed with a serious weight load. As your own strength increases, increase the weight you work with. With the right load, you simply will not be able to complete more than 10 repetitions of the exercise at once.

4

Pump legs and buttocks with a combination of exercises in simulators and with free weights. There are many exercises for the buttocks and other muscle groups on the legs. To build these muscles, exercises should be performed in 3–6 sets of 6–10 repetitions. The weight load should be such that you simply were not able to perform more than 10 repetitions of the exercise at once.

  • Squats, leg presses and even walking lunges are classic exercises for the development of gluteal muscles.
  • Excellent exercises for the development of quadriceps include straightening the legs in the simulator while sitting, climbing a bench with dumbbells and lunges.
  • The hamstrings can be strengthened by bending the legs in the simulator while sitting or standing, lunges and the Romanian deadlift with a barbell.
  • To pump up your ankles, do the lifting on dumbbell socks or a similar exercise in the simulator.

5

Strengthen your torso and abdominal muscles without additional load. A strong torso will allow you to stabilize the body at the time of lifting a lot of weight in exercises for the development of other muscle groups. The abdominal and torso muscles can be easily strengthened by exercises with lifting the weight of one's own body. Try to get into the classic bar, side bar, perform torso lifting, press legs up, take Superman pose, yoga cobra pose and do alternative abs torsions (when you reach with your elbow to the opposite knee), which will allow you to work out the oblique muscles of the abdomen.

Tips

  • Stick to a healthy diet - consume high-quality proteins, fiber-rich carbohydrates and healthy fats.
  • Strength training is important for muscle development, but as you build muscle, cardio workouts should be limited to 1-2 days per week.
  • Drink more water all day.
  • Provide a daily eight-hour night's sleep.