Gaining Lean Body Mass 101, Part 1

Have you been trying to add muscle for some time with no results? It could be that your not eating enough quality nutrients or your programming isn't up to par. Although I'm against counting calories all the time it's not a bad idea to know how many you're consuming during the day. I suggest signing up for a free account on www.fitday.com, www.dailyburn.com or www.calorieking.com and tracking a few days of normal eating to see where you stand. Calorie needs are obviously very individual but most peoples maintenance calories will fall somewhere between 14 -17 kcal per pound of lean body mass. So if you are 200lbs and 15%bf your lean body mass is 170lbs. Your maintenance calories are most likely somewhere in the 2380 to 2890 range. If you want to gain muscle you need to be eating above your maintenance levels. So for our example he would need to be somewhere in the 3000-3500 range. You also need to be eating more than your lean body mass in protein every single day. Preferably spread over 5-8 meals. Make protein the basis of your meals and you'll be heading in the right direction. The rest of this list will all help build a stronger, bigger body.

1. Choose exercises that recruit the most muscle mass. Duh! Squats, deadlifts, chinups, overhead presses = much more effective than leg extensions, bicep curls, chest flys and whatever other dumb isolation exercise you are doing. This does not mean bicep curls are useless but if you can't do 10 chinups with body weight you shouldn't be wasting your time with them.
2. Cycle through 8 weeks of strength programs with 8 weeks of hypertrophy(size) programs. There are a million variations you can do but lifting in the strength range(1-6) reps and then in the hypertrophy range(6-12) will give you a nice switch up and faster gains. Changing rep ranges will allow you to recruit different muscle fiber types. In general you will have longer rest periods(2-3min) during the strength phase and shorter(45-90seconds)in the size phase. After 3-4 weeks you are gonna need to switch the exercises/grip/stance or some other variable because our bodies adapt very quickly to the same thing over and over.
3. Spending no longer than 1 hour on your workout. Just because Arnold spent 3 hours in the gym everyday and supplemented with a bucket of injectables doesn't mean you can. Your CNS(central nervous system) will be burnt out so fast it will make your head spin. Testosterone starts to decrease somewhere around the 45min mark since your first rep so get out and take your post workout shake.
4. Use progression. You need to write down what you are doing. If you bench press 185lbs for 5 reps and in 6 months you are still bench pressing 185 for 5 reps your chest is exactly the same size. Use a 1 to 2% progression for advanced lifters and 5% for beginners. Each week try to add some more weight to the bar or more reps with the same weight.
5. Stop program jumping. Just because you read something cool in Men's Health this month doesn't mean you should stop the program you started last week and do this one. You need to progress using the same exercises and when you plateau you can switch some variables and continue.
6. Take a post workout shake. If you get fat from looking at carbs use a combination of 40-60 grams of whey powder, 10-20 grams of glutamine and 2-15 grams of glycine. If you are fairly lean and handle carbs well take 150-200grams carbs(I use carb powder and grape/apple juice), 40-60grams whey. This should be taken within ten minutes of the end of your lift. Those numbers are dependent on lean body mass.
7. Have a splurge day once a week, if you are really skinny once every 5 days. This means eating 150%-200% of the normal calories you consume. Say you are gaining consistent weight eating 3500 calories a day, you need to jump that up to 5200-7000 once a week, works like a charm. This doesn't mean eat 7000 calories of crap but doing something easy like hitting a buffet for lunch will make up the difference.
8. Get enough sleep. Before I corrected my sleeping problems I was having serious problems making gains in the gym. Sleep is crucial for recovery and one of the most anabolic things you can do.
9. Lift legs twice a week. If you've been lifting legs never or once a week this will do wonders for putting on mass. Easiest way is to break it up into a quad dominant day(most squat and lunge variations) and hip dominant(deadlift variations, hamstring work) day. I also seem to end up back at this split because it makes the most sense with all factors included. Monday-upper body, Tuesday-quad dominant legs, Wednesday-off day, Thursday-upper body, Friday or Saturday-Hip dominant.
10. Work harder. This might seem simple but its amazing how many people cruise through their workouts when they easily could have given a better effort or gotten more reps. No supplement, food or training program can take the place of working harder in the hour you have in the gym. This also applies in the kitchen, just because you are "bulking" it doesn't mean you can eat shit all the time and expect the same results.
11. Get Lean first. If you can get yourself down to 10% body fat for men and 15% for women your insulin sensitivity will be greatly improved and this will be huge for gaining size with minimal fat gain.