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Bodybuilding: Muscle Gain and Body Fat
If you're like 99% of the bodybuilding population out there, your ultimate goal is simple: an impressively muscular physique with razor-sharp definition to match.
You want to be huge, and you want to be shredded as well. Because of the strong desire for this "ideal body", most people eagerly dive into their programs headfirst. Everyone is motivated to bulk up, but at the same time are afraid of putting on excess body fat.
If you want to add a significant amount of muscle to your frame over as short a period of time as you can, you will always end up gaining some extra body fat along with it.
Unfortunately, that is just the way the body works, and if you want to get bigger, you're going to have to accept the fact that body fat will come along with the muscle gain.
In order to increase the amount of muscle gain, you have to consume a large amount of calories in order to support the protein synthesis your body is going through. There is simply no way that every single calorie will go to muscle gain. Some if it will always end up as body fat.
You first goal is for the most dramatic gain in the shortest time. To that end it's always better to focus first on muscle gain over a set period of time, followed by another period of time concentrating on losing the unwanted body fat.
Based on what we've covered so far, the goal of a bulking phase is simple: build as much muscle size as possible while minimizing body fat gains. Your goal during a bulking phase is never to LOSE body fat; it's only to gain as little as possible.
There are three primary ways to accomplish this:
1) Use your caloric surplus wisely. A caloric surplus is when you gain more calories than you burn. This is required for muscle growth, but simply gorging on food without a plan or exercise will simply earn you more body fat.
The general rule of thumb for muscle gain is to take 15-20% more calories than you need to keep your weight. If you are already within this range, there's no need for you to add more.
2) Watch what you eat. You should be concentrating your diet on lean, high quality proteins, high fiber carbohydrates, and unsaturated, healthy fats.
Rather than aimlessly chowing down on every food item in sight, make sure that you're sticking to lean protein sources, keeping blood sugar levels stable through proper carbohydrate choices, and avoiding high amounts of saturated fats.
3) Don't forget the cardio. You don't have to go wild, but a good, solid 2 to 3 sessions of cardio workouts during the week will help keep your body on track, and cut back on the body fat.
Stick to high intensity/low duration forms in the range of 10-20 minutes, as these types of sessions do not cause the same degree of muscle loss as longer duration forms do.
Once you're at a size you're happy with and the muscle gain you want, you can focus your attention on losing that body fat. However, you want to keep working to avoid losing the muscle you've just gained. And remember that while bulking up, you're going to gain body fat. There's simply no way around it.
Simply remember that while bulking up, gaining at least some body fat is unavoidable. With this in mind, the key to keeping body fat down is to minimize the gain rather than trying to avoid it altogether, which is impossible. Focusing first on bulking up and only then on fat loss is the way to gain muscle quickly and effectively.
About the Author Don't waste your time, effort and money on B.S. "Miracle Programs" that don't deliver results! Learn the honest truth revealed by a real Body Building expert and at last start noticing the gains you want. Visit us to read more Muscle Building Articles
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