Gaining Mass With Little Fat Gain?

Training Beginners
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Hi, I'm new to the site, but not to fitness and working out.  I've been reading up on a lot of the articles and I'm trying to find a good one for gaining lean mass with little to no fat gain, or even fat loss.  Is there one out there?  I know trying to keep fat low and raise lean mass probably takes longer than just bulking, but I just have a hard time eating 20%+ more calories, sometimes have a hard time eating what my bmi + activity level recommend.

I’ve recently (1-2 weeks), started trying to make carb cycling my choice method of eating. Other than eating clean and following a structure for carbs/fats/proteins and just making sure you have intense workouts, is there anything else I can do, is set amount of cardio I should strive for?

I usually lift 4-5 days and cardio 2-3+ days depending, and I also can’t stand to be still in the weight room, so I normally will perform a set and either do ab exercises in between or to 2 body parts.

thanks.

ps, which chest exercise(s), do you consider the best or money exercises because I’ve done most all types but my chest is an area I’d like to improve upon. thanks again.

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[quote]petiot wrote:
Hi, I’m new to the site, but not to fitness and working out. I’ve been reading up on a lot of the articles and I’m trying to find a good one for gaining lean mass with little to no fat gain, or even fat loss. Is there one out there? I know trying to keep fat low and raise lean mass probably takes longer than just bulking, but I just have a hard time eating 20%+ more calories, sometimes have a hard time eating what my bmi + activity level recommend. I’ve recently (1-2 weeks), started trying to make carb cycling my choice method of eating. Other than eating clean and following a structure for carbs/fats/proteins and just making sure you have intense workouts, is there anything else I can do, is set amount of cardio I should strive for?

I usually lift 4-5 days and cardio 2-3+ days depending, and I also can’t stand to be still in the weight room, so I normally will perform a set and either do ab exercises in between or to 2 body parts.

thanks.

ps, which chest exercise(s), do you consider the best or money exercises. thanks again. [/quote]

You seem to have a pretty good grasp on the concept. Eat clean, stay away from carbs unless they are from veggies and fruits, and don’t be afraid of fat. Problem may be in your calorie intake. You need to eat more calories then you burn in order to bulk.

As long as those calories are from the right types of food you’ll gain mostly lean mass. Make sure your PWO supplement is good, and maybe cut down a little bit on your cardio. Read the stickies at the top of the beginners forum, they got good info for nutrition and workouts.

Benchpress.

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Congrats for not making an asshole out of yourself right away. You seem to have a good idea on what’s going on. Post your diet, weight, height, bodyfat, and maxes so people can help more.

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if you dont eat above what you burn you’ll only gain mass the first couple months and only post workout if i were to guess how the body would work.

eat more.

do 2-3 sets of 8-12 reps . depending on your current lifts and recovery rate will depend on how often each body part.

otherwise its fine. lifting 4-5 times should be fine. 2-3 times cardio is pretty good if you burn fat during it.

just eat more to go above maintenance and post your workout/diet.

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5’11.5, approx 6ft i guess.

182-187lbs, fluctuates almost daily it seems, water weight i presume.

when i graduated highschool, i was a stocky 205-210, then did some military/bootcamp etc, and got down to 165 or so mainly from military workout/diet which was lots of running/marches and pushup/situps, not much muscular definintion, since then i’ve just tried to stay consistent with going to the gym and doing some form of cardio a couple times or more per week, and that’s pretty much been the routine for the past 4-5 years, with some periods of inconsistency in terms of making sure i lifted 3-4 times a week and such, and how strict i was on diet and suppliments.

I’ve never had my bf checked, but i’ve been lean enough to see upper abs, and i usually stay about like that…if i had ot guess, it’d be 15% +/- a couple percent. I"m going to try to get some pictures up soon.

i’ve been weight training somewhat regularly for 4 years or so, but like most regular gym rats, something in either my diet or workout routine or intensity is holding me back

Diet is normally healthy, didn’t count exact carbs/fats/protiens/calories, but i usually ate 5-6 meals that usually consisted of, oatmeal, fruits, chicken, fish, lean beef, wheat bread or bagles, green veggies, potatoes, natural peanut butter…

but i’d eat “cheat” type meals 2-4 times a week and i’d keep junk food at the house which I’d graze on throughout the week which are both counter-productive to my goal i guess, and my carb intake was probably too high over all because i’d eat oatmeal for breakfast, a bagel or english muffin for a meal/snack and/or banana, and maybe brown rice or potatoes at dinner.

i’ve since decided to try the carb cycling, but i’m still a little confused on what percentage i need to use for carbs, 1.5 on heavy days, more/less…etc. but that’s my goal for now.

maxes, haven’t actually maxed in a year or 2, but it’s likely around
benchpress - 275, normally i use 205(8-10 reps) or 225(6-8) and i’ve been stuck here for almost 2 years.

straightbar curl - 135-145, i normally use 115 (6-8) reps

squat - i don’t go much over 225 sets, my form suffers greatly and legs are probably my least trained area and probably biggest area to improve.

back- never done weighted wide grips, but i usually do 40-50 total on days i do them, i just do as many sets as it takes, dorian rows(if that’s what they are called), i use 185 for sets of 8.

shoulder press standing - i do sets with 115 or 135, usually 6-8 reps, never tried to max sitting or standing, so i have no idea what my max would be, but i have an unstable shoulder which prevents me from trying too much weight cause i’m scared of injury.

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couple more

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and.

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i’d love to stay around 185-195 with a low bf, i’ve seen a few members here with amazing physiques, exile_swede for example, and others. my end goal would be for a build like that…before finding this site, i didn’t really understand anything more than, train hard + eat healthier = results, but i’m seeing that it’s a little more complex if you want great results.

thanks again for advice, and/or criticism, it’s all welcome as i’m looking to improve and find a routine and diet that will work for me.

and my face really is blurry like that :frowning:

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your physique is pretty good by itself, i dont know your somatotype, but it looks like you’ve got everything going, try eating a shitload more and if you gain too much fat cut down,

as for “money” chest exercises: flat and incline bench are probably the best

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would carb cycling and using the method described by CT’s redefined physique guide yield results like i’m looking for?

in short, i want to lower my bf to the point of a nice much leaner appearing physique, maintain as much muscle mass in the process and eventually hit a point or during the routine where I’d start to gain LBM without gaining fat.

Also, how much cardio, and intensity should i strive for? I don’t want to do too much to negatively affect my results. His guide recommends 2 lactate sessions followed by 30 min low intensity sessions of cardio, but I also train grappling/jiu-jitsu 2-3 times per week, and to me it feels like a intense cardio, not really low intensity…at least feels that way to me.

thanks again for the advice.

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I’m going to get some measurements up soon, as well as a more detailed workout routine that I’ve used over the years. I see a lot of people ask what the goals are in other threads and all i’ve said is get a lower bf and gain mass at the same time, maybe that’s a bit too vague.

My weaknesses are that I don’t train with intensity each and ever workout and I will not train each area equally through the week if I don’t feel like it, specifically legs which can go weeks without me doing a leg exercise outside of basketball or cardio. I’d also just go into the gym thinking, “today i’m going to train chest, so i’ll do bench, incline, flys, etc…” or some variant, but no structure other than, here’s what I’m training so I’ll do x and x exercises and do whatever weight keeps me at 6-10 reps. Just from a week or 2 reading different routines and workout plans here, I see so many more options out there, and variety.

Also, I have never been able to stick with a good/healthy eating routine as well. I have usually tried to eat good and frequently, or what I though was good before finding this site, but I’d eat junk too often and drink a little much on weekends and I never counted calories or anything, I just ate when I felt like it or was hungry.

My goal(s), are to find a great diet or eating regiment that will aid best in getting the specific physique I’m after and that I can follow pretty without having to alter it drastically every few months, and the same goes for my lifting routine. I’ve read so many routines that seems great on here, but trying to pick one that I will use for a few months or longer is what seems difficult to me, so that’s pretty much the exact advice I’m looking for and I know people on these board have to have some good experience trying to do exactly what I want, or know of a great diet/routine to use, or have used themselves.

I’ve included a picture of the physique that is the one I’d consider my “perfect” goal. A natural looking, very lean and muscular build. Picture is of member exile_swede, and after reading his post, he says he follows CT’s carb cycling, eats clean and supplement wise doesn’t use much outside of whey/creatine. And does a workout similar to Arnold S. and has pretty much followed for the 2 years leading up to his competition pic.

Just wanted to point out, I don’t expect this change to be very fast like some newbs migh, I’m thinking to start resembling would take months and to actually get very close will be a year or 2+. I’m just wanting to find best/correct way to get there, and I’d like to do it naturally with only supplements being whey/oils/vitamins/creatine/glutimene(sp)

thanks again, especially if you took the time to read all that.

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exile_swede

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exile_swede 2

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exile_swede 3

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*** Edit: after reading some of the post made by Professor X, I’ve decided that asking for a diet/routine is stupid cause even though I’m not new to lifting or anything, it just makes me realize that I’ll get out what I put in, regardless of what diet(although healthier is better), or what workout/routine, so changing to someone else’s routine isn’t going to magically work wonders,

I’ve just got to focus harder in the gym and watch my diet more closely cause those are my biggest problems I feel…gotta stay more intense in the gym and push myself whenever I can and make sure i eat right, thank again for anyone that read and replied!!