How to Gain Muscle? You must know!

Consult the Expert!

Life consulted two experts for this story: Douglas S. Kalman, Ph.D., R.D., director of nutrition research at QPS-MRA, sports nutritionist for Florida International University, and co-founder of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, and strength and conditioning expert Tony Gentilcore, CSCS, co-founder Cressey Sports Performance. Gentilcore and Kalman agree that putting on size is a matter of finessing your lifestyle — eating enough of the right stuff, working out properly, making sure you're fueled for workouts, recovering from exercise, sleeping well, and most importantly, adhering to your training plan. We get into how to do all of it below.

Here's what they say you should keep in mind.

1. First things first: You're going to have to eat more food. Maybe a lot more.

No matter what you call it — bulking up, getting swole, putting on size, gaining muscle mass — getting bigger than you currently are meant taking in more calories so you can gain weight.

Kalman explains that how much more you need to eat will vary depending on a bunch of things, like your goals, your metabolism, and your current size. But to get a general sense of how many calories you should eat in order to gain weight, Kalman recommends starting with these equations:

• For women: 12 to 15 calories per pound of bodyweight times 1.3 to 1.5 if you're active*

• For men: 15 to 20 calories per pound of bodyweight times 1.2 to 1.5 if you're active*

These are general guidelines to follow — you can try them for a couple of weeks and tweak accordingly depending on how you feel and what results you're getting. You can also use the calculators here to figure out how many calories you need based on your resting metabolic rate and tweak to fit your goals.

*Active in this case means that you exercise about four times per week, which, if you follow the guidelines in this article, should be about right.

2. But you don't want to eat just anything.

Even though it seems like eating anything and everything might be the most efficient way to gain mass, Kalman explains that you don't want to gain just any weight. You want to gain mostly muscle (not only is having too much fat unhealthy, but it's also a tissue that doesn't do anything for your goal of muscle growth or workout recovery, says Kalman). In order to do this, you need to be sure you're eating the right kinds of calories at the proper times.

Kalman recommends a diet that's about 50% carbs, 25% fat, and 25% protein, but you might need to adjust based on how you feel (throughout the day and during workouts) and the results you're getting (both in terms of performance and aesthetics).

To play around with macronutrient ratios — how many carbs, fat, and protein you're eating each day — just use an online macronutrient calculator.

3. Prioritize clean protein and complex carbs.

Getting enough protein is essential for muscle growth. Protein is the macronutrient that helps our muscles repair and grows after we lift weights. Kalman recommends eating clean protein — basically any source of lean protein that isn't prepared with stuff you don't want to be taking in. Skip anything that's deep-fried, prepared with all kinds of greases and fats, smothered in cheese, etc.

When it comes to carbohydrates, Kalman recommends eating mostly complex carbs — the kind of carbohydrates your body absorbs and digests slowly — like starchy vegetables, whole grains, and legumes. They keep you fuller longer, are better for body composition, and keep blood sugar levels even.

4. But have simple carbs before and after workouts.

A diet heavy in simple sugars and refined carbs isn't optimal no matter what your health goals are. But, Kalman says, because simple carbs are absorbed and digested quickly, they provide the body with energy right away, making them the perfect thing to eat right before a workout when you need a quick boost or right after you exercise when you need to replenish your carbohydrate stores.

And by the way, even though candy and desserts are simple carbs, they're high in added sugar, which won't help you reach your goals. Also, sugar is just not healthy. Stick with fruit, the healthiest simple carb around.

5. And make sure your post-exercise snack includes protein.

As mentioned above, simple carbs before and after a workout will give you the energy you need and then help replenish the energy you lost. Kalman says you should also have some protein after your workout. If you've just finished a workout of about an hour or an hour and 15 minutes, a snack or drink with a 4-to-1 ratio of carbs to protein is perfect. If you've just finished a short or not very intense workout — say around 30 to 40 minutes long — something with a 1-to-1 ratio of carbs to protein is adequate.

Some examples of snacks with about a 4-to-1 carb to protein ratio:

• A banana and a cup of milk or unsweetened soy milk

• A medium-sized apple and a ¼ cup of almonds

• A ½ cup of dry oatmeal and 2 tablespoons of peanut butter

6. And if you're having trouble getting all those calories in, consider shakes and smoothies.

Depending on your size and goals, gaining mass might just mean having an extra half-sandwich, a piece of fruit, and serving of nuts each day. But for other people, it might mean an extra several hundred calories. Gentilcore says that increases that big can make you feel pretty full — sometimes to the point of discomfort — until your body adapts. He says that one way around this is drinking your calories instead of trying to eat them all.

A delicious, easy way to consume, say, about 500 calories of protein, carbs, and fat is this smoothie:

• 1 banana (about 100 calories)

• One scoop chocolate protein powder (about 120 calories)

• 1½ cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk (about 45 calories)

• 2 tablespoon almond butter (about 190 calories)

• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder (about 20 calories)

• A handful of kale (about 15 calories)

7. Work up to heavy deadlifts, squats, and presses.

If you want to get bigger, you're going to need to lift and lift heavy. Gentilcore recommends focusing on the "big three" movements of powerlifting: deadlifting, squatting and pressing. These multijoint movements call on the largest muscle groups in your body so they allow you to move the most amount of weight, which leads to gaining more muscle and size.

Gentilcore says to stay in the three-to-five-rep range, doing three to five sets of each movement. Keeping the reps lower means that you should be working with heavier weights. Aim to spend three to four days lifting per week.

To learn more about how to deadlift, squat, and press, Gentilcore recommends Starting Strength. With a chapter devoted to each lift, Gentilcore says it's the bible of strength training and learning how to do the lifts correctly.

8. And also lift some lighter weights!

Of course, in order to lift those heavy weights, you need to get stronger all over. To do this, Gentilcore recommends lifts that strengthen the muscles that support the big lifts. This is called accessory, or assistance, — and it includes stuff like goblet squats, kettlebell swings, good mornings, dumbbell rows, and much more. Because these are lighter-weight lifts, you can do more in a row of them: say 8 to 12 per set. They will help you get stronger, which means more weight moved all around, which means more muscle amassed!

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