Tips for building lean muscle?

SeymourCake

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You won't get huge like The Rock unless you take steroids.
 

MattTheW

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So when you say lean you want bf around 10%

What are we working with here?
Weight, height and bf?

You want to be on a calorie deficit but make sure you're getting enough protein
Shift to a tht program train 3-5 tones a week 8-12 reps

Most of it is calorie intake I reckon
Get your diet in check
 

Tomo

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The first few months of lifting see mainly improvements due to better neural coordination. It's from then on if you continue to lift that the mass can be gained. But then you don't want to and only want to get lean. That means you have to start hitting the cardio i.e. going for runs or swims. If you combine that with weights training, that will help in the physical aspects of things.

But exercise is only 40% of training. The other 60% is your diet. I don't advocate diets. I think it's simply silly and stupid. I am big on cutting out useless calories i.e. soft drinks, chips, fatty foods, junk etc. At the same time, make up for that hunger but eating wholesome healthy meals in veges and good meats.

The thing with training as I've realised is while you see so many at the gym, only a few have that drive to actually get to the goals they achieve. It is hard to follow a program and stay healthy in the modern day but it is a reward that is worth your life if you follow through with it.
 

Thatdude8708

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I HATE when people say "I wanna gain muscle, but dont wanna get big"....Dude its gonna take you YEARSSSSSS to look like the rock unless you hop on illegal steroids! The inevitable is that you are going to have to gain weight in order to gain "lean" muscle.....people get in confused and think that you can gain muscle while losing fat at the same time and it really doesn't work that way. You will have to build muscle by gaining weight and then when you're satisfied you diet and cut the fat off so the muscle will show
 

Spence

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PeasantPlayer said:
Thing is I don't want to gain mass, I want to get that lean look, not muscular and big like The Rock. Kettlebell is cool dude, its from Russia the manly country on Earth hahahahaha. I want a slender lean muscular look
Well you have to do intensity training, preferably with your own body weight. You are aiming for 15 reps and 10 second breaks, roughly 30-45 minutes.

Weight lifting is not going to make you burn fat but when the muscles are big they do use more calories, then it depends on your diet. With intensity training you still have to watch your diet but you don't have to watch your diet so much + you will notice your appetite get less as you train. Start eating good proteins, don't cut out carbs heavily, I personally would reduce fat instead (or put it another way never do fat with carbs keep those two seperate), but there are many ways around this and different diets, protein is the most important. I am starting a diet based on brown rice, protein, vegetables, fruits as well as some fats sparingly.

I've said it before Gymnastics conditioning is the way forward. Check my post.

http://www.sosuave.net/forum/showpost.php?p=2172093&postcount=3

I HATE when people say "I wanna gain muscle, but dont wanna get big"....Dude its gonna take you YEARSSSSSS to look like the rock unless you hop on illegal steroids! The inevitable is that you are going to have to gain weight in order to gain "lean" muscle.....people get in confused and think that you can gain muscle while losing fat at the same time and it really doesn't work that way. You will have to build muscle by gaining weight and then when you're satisfied you diet and cut the fat off so the muscle will show
I don't want to get into an argument but this is incorrect. Read overcoming gravity which is a comprehensive book on the biology and physiology of exercising and different muscle types and how to build them.

Without going into details, white muscle takes the longest to develop and is not one you should be too concerned about. You can look like a God with an 8 pack and do straight extended planches in 6 months if you keep at it, even if you are a fat crap. How do I know? I did it after a long illness.. I went from a 90kg bed ridden fat weak vegetable to 69kg (5'10") of ripped pure agile muscle in 6 months doing Gymnastics and conditioning, I had no diet just ate light during the day and had a large meal once daily in the evenings.
 

Thatdude8708

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Spence said:
Well you have to do intensity training, preferably with your own body weight. You are aiming for 15 reps and 10 second breaks, roughly 30-45 minutes.

Weight lifting is not going to make you burn fat but when the muscles are big they do use more calories, then it depends on your diet. With intensity training you still have to watch your diet but you don't have to watch your diet so much + you will notice your appetite get less as you train. Start eating good proteins, don't cut out carbs heavily, I personally would reduce fat instead (or put it another way never do fat with carbs keep those two seperate), but there are many ways around this and different diets, protein is the most important. I am starting a diet based on brown rice, protein, vegetables, fruits as well as some fats sparingly.

I've said it before Gymnastics conditioning is the way forward. Check my post.

http://www.sosuave.net/forum/showpost.php?p=2172093&postcount=3



I don't want to get into an argument but this is incorrect. Read overcoming gravity which is a comprehensive book on the biology and physiology of exercising and different muscle types and how to build them.

Without going into details, white muscle takes the longest to develop and is not one you should be too concerned about. You can look like a God with an 8 pack and do straight extended planches in 6 months if you keep at it, even if you are a fat crap. How do I know? I did it after a long illness.. I went from a 90kg bed ridden fat weak vegetable to 69kg (5'10") of ripped pure agile muscle in 6 months doing Gymnastics and conditioning, I had no diet just ate light during the day and had a large meal once daily in the evenings.
technically you're right bruh and Thats all fine if you want to be skinny ripped like Floyd Mayweather! But for OP to get the size of the guy in the pic that he posted then yeah, he's gonna have to get on a good bulk program there's no way around it....
 
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Spence

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Thatdude8708 said:
technically you're right bruh and Thats all fine if you want to be skinny ripped like Floyd Mayweather! But for OP to get the size of the guy in the pic that he posted then yeah, he's gonna have to get on a good bulk program there's no way around it....
I was anything but skinny. If you want the kind of body below and useable strength it will take you a good year of solid training. 6 months if you really push, but you are probably going to need outside help for that if you don't know what you are doing (I mean the technical gymnastic part) and no you won't be doing pummel horse in a year :)

https://thenextmoment.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/male-gymnast-body.jpg

You are right the photo he has taken is body building territory, that will require 2 years solid weight work probably.
 

PeasantPlayer

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I might have to halt weightlifting.....I have a pinched nerve from lifting weights....god damn it. Looks like cardio and yoga it is
 

Spence

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PeasantPlayer said:
I might have to halt weightlifting.....I have a pinched nerve from lifting weights....god damn it. Looks like cardio and yoga it is
Don't say I didn't tell you so, I mentioned weight lifting and injuries in that other post... :rolleyes:

Been there done it, wouldn't want to go back to weight lifting, makes you slow, out of breath and lumpy like a fat man, but each to their own.

This is what you should aim for:

https://thenextmoment.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/male-gymnast-body.jpg
 

PeasantPlayer

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Thanks spence I never liked weightlifting I just want to get toned up. Thanks for the drop
 

backbreaker

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compund exercises

you could do much worse than just doing thse exercises only for a year


Bench Press
Squats
Romanian Deadlift
Military Press
Dips
Barbell Curl
Planks


that's gonna hit every muscle i your body. once you start to build some muscle and you can then see what is lagging behind, then you can create a specific workout plan with iso workouts, etc.
 

Ronaldo7

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Bodybuilding.com

You are welcome.
 

Spence

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PeasantPlayer said:
Thanks spence I never liked weightlifting I just want to get toned up. Thanks for the drop
You got any youtube videos or examples of the exercises to do?
The Hard and cheap way... get and study the book Overcoming Gravity, it has all the examples you need. This will mean you need to make up your own routines etc. this is the hard way you will need to study and motivate hard. You can supplement this book with Never Gymless by Ross Enamait (or just do Never Gymless). Never Gymless is very good but tough and requires much motivation, it also requires you read through a book half of which is bunk and motivational. Never Gymless is not gymnastics orientated.

or... the Easy way:-

Get a Gymnastics home video conditioning course, I have a 6 month program called Gymabstics it is a crap production, really corny but the routines are good, it is more for core conditioning than anything else, if you can progress as quickly as you can to Month 4 (i.e. do 3 months in 2 or 1.5) this is when it becomes intense.

Supplement this with upper body exercises, or just start Gold Medal Bodies Floor 1. http://goldmedalbodies.com/

If you can find a Gymnastics centre near you they will sort you out. Use the combination of the home fitness (5 times a week every morning), GMB and/or the Gymnastics centre (3 times a week evenings) and you will be well on your way, you rest on the weekends. Preferably do not exercise after 8pm you will not get to sleep at night.

BTW, you don't have to do Gymnastics if you don't like it, and unlike other sports all the conditioning you do here will be directly applicable to anything you want to do, be that boxing, kick boxing, capoeira whatever... and you won't get those silly injuries when you are too bulky from weight lifting and moved too fast and something went pop..
 

CrimsonPanther

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every muscle is lean muscle, so you are building muscles by lifting. the lean part comes from cardio and proper diet. what worked for me like crazy, i was not eating ANYTHING after 4pm, and eating normal before that (NO OVEREATING). i didn't cut the carbs, if i did it would have been even more effective.
 

Spence

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CrimsonPanther said:
every muscle is lean muscle, so you are building muscles by lifting. the lean part comes from cardio and proper diet. what worked for me like crazy, i was not eating ANYTHING after 4pm, and eating normal before that (NO OVEREATING). i didn't cut the carbs, if i did it would have been even more effective.
Erm yes and no.. Different training produces different muscles, more sarcoplasm less sarcoplasm etc. all covered in the book Overcoming gravity.

Weight lifting generally produces low quality, disordered muscles with bad neural automation, it just makes you big and twitchy. Ever seen a body builder doing plyometrics? No, because they can't hack it and would tear up those tight and overinflated muscle groups.

My definition of lean is useable strength, i.e.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Planche.jpg
 

AttackFormation

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Spence said:
Weight lifting generally produces low quality, disordered muscles with bad neural automation, it just makes you big and twitchy. Ever seen a body builder doing plyometrics? No, because they can't hack it and would tear up those tight and overinflated muscle groups.

My definition of lean is useable strength, i.e.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Planche.jpg
That's not because he has some kind of super muscles, it's mostly because he's trained to execute that and now his CNS knows the proper motor pattern for it. His muscles just help him do that but if his CNS doesn't know how to do it then he can't. Muscles are usable/functional by definition, they're just not everything there is to it but don't say that weight lifting produces "low quality" muscles, that's twisting facts.

What you should've said is something like "don't forget resistance training is only one part of an able body and do your research about what it takes to get one"
 

Spence

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AttackFormation said:
That's not because he has some kind of super muscles, it's mostly because he's trained to execute that and now his CNS knows the proper motor pattern for it. His muscles just help him do that but if his CNS doesn't know how to do it then he can't. Muscles are usable/functional by definition, they're just not everything there is to it but don't say that weight lifting produces "low quality" muscles, that's twisting facts.

What you should've said is something like "don't forget resistance training is only one part of an able body and do your research about what it takes to get one"
It's not twisting facts... read some actual physiology and studies on it. Again Overcoming Gravity is very comprehensive about all of this.

Have you ever seen a Gymnast have shaking hands? I haven't, plenty of gorilla body builders do.

Go to your local Gymnastic centre, see the guys there, see their power, then tell them what you've just said above and see what their answer is.

It's not just Gymnasts who know this, it's known in boxing as well, where strength, speed and co-ordination is more valuable than the ability to slowly pick up massive weights with no other muscular control than the target muscular group.
 
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