A scientific approach to gain muscle and stay lean!
Joseph Fernando
Who really wants to be 200 lbs with no ab definition and a high body fat? Sure you are strong but why not be 180lbs with solid abs and a lean body. I started working out many years ago and all I ever wanted was to look like the guys on the magazines. My last year in high school, after months of cardio I weighed 148 lbs, looked very lean but lacked muscle mass. And so I decided to ‘bulk up’, as they call it. I didn’t know where to begin and after years of trial and error, knowledge and a university degree in kinesiology and health science I’ve learned the best way to pack on the quality mass you’re longing to pack on.
First things first, eating anything you see is NOT the answer. This will only lead to excess fat gain and lowering of your metabolism. So, NO the answer isn’t eating anything in sight in the hopes of packing on muscle. I am now going to tell you how you can add mass and muscle AND keep your abs in check. The simple trick is counting numbers but before you count you need to know what your numbers will be. Confused? Let me explain.
Gaining weight is dependent on you achieving a calorie surplus at the end of the day. You all agree with me on that, right? Now, the trick is making sure these numbers add up at the end of week to help you gain 1 lb of weight and nothing more. It’s as simple as that. But wait! What are these numbers and how do I calculate them?
Before we begin we need to understand two important concepts. BMR and calories required to gain weight. The latter is simple; understand that you need roughly 3500 calories to gain a pound. Now BMR is an acronym for basal metabolic rate. This refers to how many calories we burn at rest doing nothing. Now keeping in mind you need to surplus 3500 calories overall to gain weight, spread these 300 calories over a week and add it on top of your BMR. You have now gained 1 pound of muscle. But these are a lot of numbers to remember and calculate so here’s a fool proof simple equation for you in the off season to find how many calories you need per day. Take your weight in pounds and multiply it by 15. This gives you a rough estimate of how many calories you need to gain just about 1 pound a week.
So lets do an example, 150 lbs x 15 = 2250 calories per day. Now let’s add on to this, with these 2250 calories you need to split it 50 % carbs, 30% protein and 20% protein. Fats have 9 calories PER GRAM and Carbs and protein both have 4 calories each PER gram. With that being said, here’s the equation.
Carbs
2250 x .4 = 900 (we are finding 40% of 2250)
900/4 = 225 grams of carbs
Protien
2250 x .4 = 900
900/4 = 225 grams of carbs
Fats
2250 x .2 = 450
450 /9 = 50 grams of fat per day.
So there it is, the secret and scientific approach to count calories and gain weight. You have the calories now just eat what you want just make it fit these numbers and you will be gold. One thing to note, if you have a very fast metolism you might want to take your bodyweight and multiply by 17. Just play around with the numbers.
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