When someone wish to have more weight, it obvious that this weight shall not be due to more fats instead more muscles. The first important reason is that fats might be linked to inflammation and chronic diseases, the second one is purely aesthetic.
The basic rules for increasing lean mass are:
1. be in a positive energy balance, meaning consuming more than what we need;
2. exercising by lifting weights;
3. sleep well and include resting time in your weekly schedule;
4. reduce at the minimum stress.
Let´s deep dive into each of those rules!
Positive Energy Balance
Step one to increase lean mass, is to increase your calories intake! Yes, you need to eat more than what you consume! The point is exactly how much and what to eat!
First of all you should increase your calories intake by at least 20%! If your optimal calculated calories intake is for example 2700 kcal, then you should bring it to at least 3240 kcal. The usage of MyFitnessPal or any tracking food tool is helpful to see if you are on track!
Those extra calories should come mainly from carbohydrates, better if whole grain. This is also because, during training with heavy weights, main source of energy will be glycogen stocked in your muscles and you will need a lot! You also want to protect muscles, we need to prevent body to start demolishing proteins in order to keep up with the workout! So here my advice:
· in days of medium-low intensity training, consume 5-7g carbs for each kg of body weight;
· in days of endurance and high intensity training, consume 7-10g carbs for each kg of body weight.
Those amounts, will be then increased by 20%
Proteins intake shall remain, for strength workouts, around 1,4-1,7g for each kg of body weight: more it does not help so much.
Fats will be then covering the rest of your total calories intake! Which should be anyway no more 35 % and no less than 20 %.
Final tips:
· eat every 3 (maximum 4) hours during the day: this reduce demolishing of proteins and stimulates glycogen stock;
· consume a snack post workout made by proteins and carbs: it creates the right hormonal environment to build muscles and accumulate glycogen!
Exercise
Best exercise to increase lean mass is definitely weights lifting. When we are lifting heavier loads than those that the muscles are able to tolerate, that causes stress on muscle tissues, creating micro-fractures on muscle fibers. To avoid suffering this trauma another time, a super-compensation reaction is initiated to repair damaged muscle fibers. The muscle will create new connections between fibers and will become larger and stronger, to better resist the next workout.
During training muscle loses strength and volume, muscles grow only when we rest and recover. Recovery is therefore just as important as training!
I divided the entire training program into 3 general phases. Remember that results come only if you combine training, rest and a good nutrition plan.
Phase 1 is building strength:
Rule number 1: slowly increase the load till you have reached almost the maximum you can lift performing perfectly the exercise
Rule number 2 : go for 3 to max 6 repetitions
Rule number 3 : select exercises involving more muscles like deadlifts, power snatch, squats and push press.
Phase 2 is building lean mass:
Rule number 1 : slowly increase the repetitions to 8 maximum 12
Rule number 2 : execute exercises slowly (2 second push and 2 second release)
Rule number 3 : everything for about 3-4 sets
Phase 3 is resistance to strength:
Rule number 1 : slowly decrease the load
Rule number 2 : increase the repetitions to 15-20
Importance of sleep, rest and reducing stress
Rest is a key element for building muscle and benefit from your effort during training! If you do not schedule a resting period in your weekly training plan, consequences might be: reduction of anabolic hormones, increasing of catabolic ones (cortisol), weak immune system, losing of lean mass, higher probability of infections and injuries. Rest means also good sleep! You can decide to sleep less hours, but time for sleeping shall be of high quality! No interruptions and deep sleep!
Symptoms of overtraining are:
· depression and quick changes of mood
· chronic tiredness
· lack of hunger
· losing weight
· pain (tendons and joints)
· insomnia
· gastro-enteric issues
· accelerated heartbeat during rest
· lack of motivation
If you notice one or more of those symptoms and you train on a regular basis with high intensity, take a rest for some days!
Stress is a huge enemy of our health, wellness and fitness! In a stressful moment, our body constantly release cortisol which is also called “stress hormone”. This hormone promotes: utilization of fat from adipocytes to get energy, catabolism of proteins and consequently destruction of lean mass, increased emission of glucose in blood. It also obstacles releasing of growth hormone and reduce functionality of immune system.
Practicing physical activity is recommended in situations of stress but at one condition: physical activity should not be constantly at high intensity and there should be sufficient resting time! Here again importance of rest
Last consideration: rest shall not be laying on a couch for the entire day. Instead it means doing something which is relaxing your mind and your body .. if walking, biking, reading, stretching, meditation, cooking, gardening is relaxing for you, just go ahead
There is much more behind the topic of increasing lean mass and changing in body composition! If you are curious to know more about it or you want to share your specific case, just contact us and we will get back to you.
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