How To Build Lean Muscle
Building lean muscle is based on one simple fact: how much protein and calories you take in everyday. It’s a known fact that you need protein to grow muscles and that when you weight-train, you build lean muscle at the expense of fatty tissue.
You have to eat smart to cut your body fat and increase your protein consumption. But here’s something else to consider, if you’re not eating right, then you have no reason to be in the gym; you’re actually harming your body if you do.
So, if you want to understand how to build lean muscle, you will need to do a few things — one is to keep a food journal for about two weeks in which you record all the food you eat, how many calories you get for each meal and how much protein you are consuming each day.
Then, start a strategy that will intensify the amount of your muscle mass while consequently burning off fat. Finding out how much protein consumption you will need is another vital part of building lean muscles.
If you weigh 165 lbs, and you want to weigh 185 lbs, then you need to eat like someone who weighs 185 lbs, and the key to that is consuming 1.5 your body weight (or goal body weight) in grams of protein.
So the guy who weighs 165 lbs, but who wants to weigh 185 lbs needs to consume 225 g A DAY to reach that weight and build that lean muscle mass.
225 g of protein is a lot, but not if you’re used to eating that much food. If you eat 5 to 6 meals a day and take in 45 grams of protein in each one, you’ll get to your goal. And you need to maintain eating at that level to maintain the weight. Once you’re eating right, you‘ll need to establish a weight-training routine that gradually builds as you graduate up the scales.
Of course, eating right also means eating smart and by this, we mean selecting menu items that are high in protein, vitamins & minerals, especially Omega-3s (good fat) and low in bad fat. To get the required dosage every day, you might want to try taking a quality protein shake although chicken, tuna and other fishes are also good options.
Carbs, you can take in all the carbs you want just as long as you’re getting the protein that you need, because you’ll be burning lots of carb calories during the workouts which requires an intense cardio routine.
There are lots of healthy carbs on the grocery store shelves, like fruit, vegetables, nuts, and grains, so don’t think that carbs are solely from fastfood. Keep away from junk food carbs and instead, get yours through natural fruits and vegetables, especially fibrous vegetables.
You can consume good fats and carbs as you like as long as you have eaten your protein requirement, however, try to remember that junk foods are not recommended because they have no protein value.
Now you know the key factors involved in how to build lean muscle mass, don’t forget to take a multi-vitamin every day while you’re working out. This will help you push yourself forward by refilling all the minerals and nutrients you’ve used.
