Gaining Muscle Mass

As a husband and father of two who has recently re-enlisted into the Army after three years of veteran status, I have found that my fitness level was not quite up to par as what it was when I was a young single Marine living on the beaches of San Diego. Although I had already had lost the 25 pounds (plus) I needed to make the requirements for re-enlisting, I realized that type of activities I would be performing in my new job as a Fire Support Specialist would probably be somewhat more demanding than sitting at a desk during the day and chasing a toddler around at night.

The strenuous cardio activity I did for several months paid off for my short term goal at that time, but my new healthy lifestyle and strength training activities have not only kept the weight off, but has been causing weight to drop even more ever so slightly. In a job where I will be going on week long excursions through the desert, keeping lean may not be the best for keeping up with the big dogs, so a new goal of gaining more muscle mass has to be set. Doing that can be tricky as it is very easy to put weight on (as most Americans can vouch for) while strictly adding muscle mass to your body can be more difficult.

In order to learn what I need to do, a quick search on the internet gave me some fairly straight forward yet general information. Besides the internet, I went back into a great book I have been following for my workout routines called The Alpha Male Challenge (Villepigue, 09) which not only details an entire 90 day fitness program, but also clearly identifies key components to weight loss as well as muscle gains. Another avenue of knowledge that I knew would be helpful was fitness magazines such as Muscle and Fitness, and Men’s Health.

From the internet searches, I learned that I needed to do several things, including; Eat more, perform less cardio, and do less (reps) (Cosgrove, N.D.). While some of the suggestions I found seemed counter productive, most sounded pretty straight forward and simple. So the simple question is, what do I need to eat and do in order to gain muscle mass, while still losing (or not gaining) some of that fat I still have on me. I know that I am already defining the muscles I have with exercise I am already doing, but my original goal of losing weight had me seriously watching what I eat with only 1900 – 2000 calories a day. To start adding more weight, I need to eat more. In the November 2009 Issue of Muscle and Fitness (AKA: The Alpha Male Issue), dietitian Sara Polston paints an excellent picture of not only how to gain muscle through diet, but why eating more will give your body more muscle (Polston, 09).

For unfamiliar readers, keep in mind when I unveil my new caloric needs, that I am also doing a 30 minute cardio activity five days a week, weight training three days a week, and taking Kung Fu two days a week. Exercise is just as important (if not more so now) for this diet, as the food is merely fuel for my muscle growth, and without it I would only gain fat. According to Polston, I must now consume more calories than I expend at approximately 18 – 20 calories per pound of body weight, or 3,096 – 3,440 calories per day. She notes how this is important to follow as eating too much can lead to the production of estrogen and fat, instead of testosterone and muscle, which is the main goal here.

Polston also specifically notes that an individual looking to build muscle should also be looking to consume 1 to 1.5 grams per pound of body weight of protein. As most body builders can tell you, protein is essential to muscle growth and the best source for testosterone boosting nutrients. To my surprise (and probably to many others) the intake of carbohydrates needs to increase up to twice your weight in grams, where my carb goals for weight loss were a third of that amount. A very important note there is that higher fiber may lead to lower testosterone. Also on the diet plan you will find positive sources of cholesterol in the form of eggs, dairy, red meat and shellfish.

Besides eating to raise the muscle growing testosterone levels in my body, the same issue of the Muscle and Fitness has a hard to ignore article written by a doctor on how to increase it through different routines. First and foremost, he states the obvious as his first rule, and that is to train heavy. Studies showed that performing at 100% of their ten repetition maximum (10RM), or the most amount of weight they could put on the barbell and get ten reps, that the bodies natural production of testosterone increased by 10%. Some other rules include training multiple muscle groups per workout, decrease weight for big sets, and take shorter rest periods to keep that blood pumping (Stroppani, 09).

For the most part, my exercise plan that I have pulled from The Alpha Male Challenge very much falls in line with those rules from Muscle and Fitness, but my diet will have to change drastically. The diet from TAMC is very much focused on individuals wanting to lose weight and define the muscle that they already have, whereas my goal is to bulk up with new muscle while staying lean. With the tips I have gathered online and in magazines, the advise on a new diet, and with the exercise plans I already have in place, I should be able to achieve my goal in no time at all.

References:

Cosgrove CSCS, Rachele (No Date) – 10 Ways to Gain Muscle

Retrieved November 19th 2009 from http://www.mensfitness.com/fitness/beginner_weight_training/185

Polston RD, Sara (November 2009) – The Alpha Male Diet

Muscle and Fitness 123 – 130

Stroppani PhD, Jim & Thorpe, Mark (November 2009) – Training for Mr. T

Muscle and Fitness 98 – 112

Villepigue CSCS, James & Collins CSCS, Rick (September 2009) – The Alpha Male Challenge

Rodale Books; 1st edition