Let’s first establish that muscle growth comes from strength training, eating in a calorie surplus while also keeping protein intake relatively moderate to high. Let’s break this down further.
Strength Training
The base for building muscle and strength comes from strength training. It’s your ability to add weights to the bar overtime. The question now lies in how many days a week is ideal. Your lifestyle and schedule are important determining factors, a general recommendation of at least three days a week of forty-five minute is more than enough. However, some of you might be tight on time and maybe two days a week is all you can do. A two-day workout split might not be the “best” optimal approach, but it can still be as effective in gaining muscle and getting stronger especially if you are new to training. Here is a basic strength training program that can help you get started.
Eating In a Calorie Surplus
Much like how eating in a deficit is necessary to lose weight, eating in a surplus is an integral part of gaining muscle, alongside strength training and eating relatively moderate to high proteins. You might be asking yourself; how exactly do I know if I am in a surplus? chances are if you need to lose weight, you’ve been eating in a surplus. The difference this time around is making better quality food choices, incorporating a vast majority of your diet with nutrient dense foods as oppose to process. It’s the difference between looking like him vs him.
Non-Nutrient Dense Foods vs Nutrient Dense Foods
Side note: This isn’t a this or that food choice scenario. You most certainly can incorporate foods you enjoy as well in your diet (ice-cream, skittles, pizza, etc.). Balance your diet with nutrient dense food as well as foods you enjoy, you’ll be amazed on how well your body respond.
Calories are king and they matter a whole lot be it for weight loss or muscle growth. FYI, I haven’t forgotten your question. Here are two easy steps you can use to put yourself in a calorie surplus, you know the right way.
2 Easy Steps to Calculate for Caloric Surplus
Step #1:
You need to identify what your maintenance calories are, that’s the number of calories needed to maintain your weight. You do that by multiplying your current weight by 15. It will look like this.
Ex. I weigh 180lbs.
180lbs x 15 = 2700 calories (number of calories I need to eat consistently to maintain my weight)
Step #2:
Once you’ve identified your maintenance calories, you now to figure out how many calories to place yourself in a surplus to actually start gaining weight as well as muscle. I would recommend a surplus between 10 to 13%. There are a few things you need to consider:
- Being in a calorie surplus are for those who wants to add size and muscle to their frame. You should not be in a surplus if you have fat to lose, you’re better of being in a deficit first. I would recommend losing the weight first before placing yourself in a surplus.
- Your caloric surplus range between 10 to 13% will be predicated on how much fat you are ok gaining along the way. If you choose to be on the lower end, chances are you wouldn’t gain much fat. More than not, the quality of your food choices will be the main driving force in determining how much fat in comparison to muscle you gain. If the majority of your foods derive from process, lots of fat with very little proteins and carbohydrate then you’ll likely add more fat than muscle. Keep that in mind as you undertake your fitness journey.
Where was I again?
Oh yes, figuring a calorie surplus you are comfortable with
Let’s use me as an example once more.
My Weight: 180lbs.
Maintenance Calorie: 2700
Caloric Surplus Range: 10 to 13%
Use a calorie surplus range you are comfortable with
2700 calories x 12% (calorie surplus range) = 324 calories
2700 calories + 324 = 3024 calories (number of calories I would need to eat to gain muscle)
Number of Proteins You Need to Gain or Maintain Muscle
Sorry I made you take this long to get to the portion of the article you most cared about. You know what scratch that, I am not that sorry. I think it was important for me to illustrate several key points in the beginning of this article as foundational pillars for those who may not be familiar on how muscles are gained. I needed to lay that out first, before trickling down to this part. If that made sense, great, if not, oh well. Having said that, let’s dive to proteins.
I am sure you’ve heard the common phrase “to figure how much proteins you need, multiply your body weight by 1 gram.” I don’t agree with that approach, I just don’t think it makes sense to a lot of people.
Imagine Sally at 5’4 who weighs 200lbs at 40% body fat comes to you as her coach and asks you
Hey Romiko, how much proteins should I be eating?
And my answer is 200 grams. The following few things should happen to me:
- She should fire me as a coach that second
- I should start contemplating on a different career path
I know I am being a bit extreme here, but, common sense should take precedent. How in the world can I expect a client who is new to fitness and nutrition to all of a sudden start eating 200 grams of proteins when she could barely even consume 100 grams prior. If you can’t tell yet, I am not a big fan of using body weight as a perquisite to determine your protein intake.
You might be asking yourself, well what should I use then?
Lean body mass. It’s much more practical.
Let’s use Sally as an example. I don’t think she’ll mind.
Sally’s Body Weight = 200lbs
Sally’s Body Fat % = 40% (estimate)
Lean Body Mass = Body Weight x Body Fat %
Lean Body Mass = 200lbs x 40% = 80
Lean Body Mass = 200lbs – 80 = 120lbs
Sally’s Lean Body Mass: 120lbs
Now we can use her lean body mass to figure out how much protein to eat at. The recommended average protein intake is anywhere between 0.8 to 1.1 per gram of lean body mass. If you happen to be someone who has a difficult time getting their proteins, then I would recommend to be on the lower end of the range. Play with what you are most comfortable with, something you can adhere to long-term.
We can now use Sally’s lean body mass and multiply that by the protein range she finds herself most comfortable with. It will look like this:
Sally’s Lean Body mass: 120lbs
Protein Range: 0.8 to 1.1 gram
Sally’s Protein Choice: 1 gram
Protein = Lean Body Mass x Protein Range
Protein = 120lbs x 1 gram = 120 grams of protein
Sally’s Protein: 120 grams
Sally eating 120 grams of protein is much more practical then if she were eating at 200 grams and this is a primary reason why you should use lean body mass instead of body weight when figuring out how much protein you should eat to gain or maintain muscle.
Hopefully this helped, thank you so much for reading
Bye