When it comes to building muscle, there are multiple factors that come into play. Yet one factor overrules them all. It’s simple, easily applied, and yet surprisingly overlooked a lot of the time. What am I going on about? The latest supplement, exercise or protein shake? No, no, no. It’s much more simple and effective. What is it? Caloric surplus.
And just know this: Without it, building a tone of muscle naturally just is not going to happen.
How can it be? ‘Healthy eating’ stopping muscle gains? NO WAY!
Well, I’m here to tell you that it can, but the issue isn’t so much the healthy food itself. Rather, it is the lack of calories it provides which can cause a major problem. Calories are one of the biggest players in the muscle gain business.
There are multiple things to consider, but today we’re going to tackle the importance of calories so that you can get back to building the muscle. Building muscle can be made simple. So for today let’s keep it that way. Lift some weights, eat some food, sit back, rest and watch the magic happen. This works, and why wouldn’t it? Our first few KGs of muscle happened this way. So why not the rest… right?
After some time, we’re no longer beginners and the beginner methods stop working. We search for the latest and greatest muscle building exercises, research the top 10 muscle building foods and, unfortunately, people still fall short of their goal. I hate to break it to you, but there is no secret exercise or foods. That initial 3 step process I mentioned still works…it just needs a little tweaking.
OK, so that initial 3 step process was: Lift, Eat and Sleep.
Let’s tweak it.
- Lift the right amount of weights, through various movements to ensure overload.
- Eat the right amount of foods to create an environment for growth and reach a caloric surplus.
- Sleep enough to ensure you’re allowing for recovery and adaptation to occur.
Abra kadabra, you now have an environment for muscle gains!
Let’s take a look at the second step:
Eat the right amount of foods to create an environment for growth.
The right amount =
- Having enough protein for recovery and protein synthesis aka growing muscle.
- Having enough carbohydrates to fuel workouts and aid in glycogen replenishment and recovery.
- Having enough fats to ensure hormones are at optimal levels.
- Most importantly having enough excess calories to support building new tissue.
As I’m sure you can quickly see, salads, green smoothies and a sugar free, low fat diet or what some would consider a “healthy diet” is not ticking any of these 4 boxes. Yes, you can certainly tick them all with healthy foods, but are you?
Muscle building might be sounding a bit more complex than you may have previously thought. It can become confusing pretty quickly. So how much Protein, carbs, fats and calories do you need? For those who are interested here is a break-down! For those who want the quick answer, feel free to scroll on to the simplified version.
Break-down of the Macronutrients
Obviously, it’s different for everyone. So, let’s start with the basics and learn what’s right for you.
Calories = BMR x The Harris Benedict equation
Protein = 1 – 1.5g per kg of lean body weight that would mean a 100kg individual would have 200 – 250g of protein per day.
Carbohydrates = 3g – 4g per kg of lean body weight.
Fats = Remainder of caloric intake
OK…OK…I said I was going to keep it simple and I will. Above is a perfect case scenario that’s super effective but can be timely. I’ve tracked my fair share of macros and I can totally understand that it can become a pain when you have a busy lifestyle. So, let’s look at the tools that can provide us with some great feedback to ensure we’re making gains.
A simple way to keep track of your gains
- The scale – This one’s obvious. If the scales are going down you’re certainly not gaining muscle…unless you’re a genetic freak or you’re on drugs. So, make sure the scale is going up. 100 – 200g a week. No more or you’re heading for Christmas ham status.
- Your workouts – Are you lifting more weight? Do you feel recovered? If not, increase your carbohydrates and protein.
- How’s your drive both in and out of the gym? Feeling flat? Maybe look to increasing your intake of healthy fats to ensure your hormones are firing.
So building muscle can be Easy, Simple and as straightforward as you make it.