Building muscle and getting lean first involves adding muscle and fat, then changing your workout and diet to maintain muscle and lose fat. Doing this requires strict adherence to a plan, as well as an understanding that this is a process that takes time and effort to achieve. The most effective way to gain weight and then get lean is to add muscle first by eating and strength training, and then lose excess fat by dieting and adding cardio workouts to your exercise plan.
Eat to Gain Muscle
You can spend all the time in the gym that you want, but muscle cannot be built without adding extra calories to your diet. It takes 3,500 calories more than you burn to gain 1 lb of muscle; add 500 calories extra a day to your diet to start gaining weight. The key to gaining healthy weight is to eat foods that will stimulate muscle growth. Protein builds muscle. Carbohydrates provide your muscles the energy needed to grow. Your diet needs to focus on foods high in both to ensure healthy weight gain. Healthy fat is an important part of your diet, but it needs to be consumed in moderation. Protein is the building block of muscle; you need to eat around 1 g protein per pound of bodyweight. When you are eating to gain, eat protein from sources such as eggs, lean meat, poultry and fish. Fresh fruits and vegetables, whole wheat pasta and oatmeal provide carbohydrates for needed energy.
Strength Training
Strength training builds muscle; lifting heavy weights build big muscle. In addition to building muscle, it also shapes and strengthens your body. As you add lean muscle, your body begins to burn more calories. Strength-training exercises that demonstrate muscle-building results include squats, bench pressing, pull-ups and pushups. In addition to traditional strength-training exercises, isometric training, interval training and Pilates also build lean muscle. When strength training to gain weight, lift heavy weights and strive for three sets of four to six repetitions.
Reduce Calories to Lose Fat
Perhaps the most important requirement of building lean, toned muscle is a healthy diet. Just the opposite of gaining weight, losing it requires burning 3,500 more calories than consumed. To keep muscle gains, your diet must maintain high amounts of protein while carbohydrates provide your body with the energy required to fuel the muscles and to lose fat you will want to reduce the amount of calories that come from carbohydrates and fat. To start the weight-loss program, trim 500 calories diet per day.
Adding Cardiovascular Exercise
To show off your toned, lean muscles, you need to do cardio to burn the fat that covers them. The most common forms of calorie-burning cardiovascular exercise are jogging and biking. However, many forms of exercises burn the calories and fat needed to show off a toned, lean physic. Alternatives to traditional methods of cardio include circuit training, plyometric training, super-sets and sprinting. All these exercises burn calories and speed the heart rate, resulting in excess fat being burned. In addition to the cardio, continue to lift weights to maintain added muscle. Transition from a high-weight, low-repetition training program to one that uses weight that allow for 10 to 12 repetitions per set.
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