Gaining lean muscle requires the unique combination of training, maintaining a consistent well-balanced diet, timing your calorie intake, staying hydrated, and getting plenty of sleep! The key to gaining lean muscle is to maintain a caloric intake slightly above your daily recommended requirements. For example, when combined with the right training and sleeping regime, a 500 calorie a day increase can convert to roughly one pound of lean muscle growth per week.
Everyone’s daily caloric intake is different, so it’s best you consult a nutritionist or for a slightly less accurate figure, use an online macronutrient calculator. Once you have your caloric intake, what’s next? Well for starters, forget diets- they don’t work. Focus on eating consistently with a varied selection of proteins (beef/chicken/fish/pork/lamb), fats (meats/olive & coconut oil, seeds, nuts), and carbohydrates (both high & low availability types including fresh vegetables & pasta/rice/True Instant Oats/True Organic Chia Seeds/bread respectively) within your feeding guideline. The use of supplements is absolutely fine and often allows a degree of convenience for those who simply struggle with time constraints due to work and/or family commitments.
Once you’ve got your nutrition down pat, you need to ensure you’re training the right way. Everyone’s body is different so the right way will often be different for each individual. It’s worth consulting a personal trainer to get a training plan set up and to add some structure to your training. However there is some advice we can offer that applies to all. Consistency is key. Additionally, a program that has you lifting at least three times per week over a period of between four to six weeks would be a good start for anyone. Consider using big compound movements such as deadlifts, squats, bench press, lunges, chin ups for each of those days rather than isolated exercises such as bicep curls, tricep rope push downs. If you do want to do these, at least save them until the end of your session. You will get much better gains from a program designed around this type of training. Variations in sets and repetitions throughout the week to include strength, power, endurance and hypertrophy (growth) will allow you to make serious improvements to your body. For a more in depth look at how to gain lean muscle, check out our blogs below!
