“(so sugars, breads, pasta or processed carbs) ”

You meant to write ‘no’ rather than ‘so’, right?

Mike,

On the subject of building muscle, I thought you might be interested in this link to a video discussing myostatin. It’s family/work safe:

http://videos.howstuffworks.com/sciencentral/2698-myostatin-and-muscle-growth-video.htm

Thomas

Tanya – Opps, Yes…typo there, it is supposed to be “No”. I’ll fix it.

Jason – Good question. You do need enough protein to support the muscle turnover and rebuilding needs. It depends also on your activity level. Some may do well on 0.6-0.8 g/lb of bw…others may need it around 1g/lb of bw. If you are doing 2-3 good workouts a week, I would say aim for 0.8-1g/lb of bw. As for fat, those % again can vary but again it does come down to a total cal intake question of needs as well. If you are more concerned about staying lean, then the carbs would be the thing to keep an eye on. You need some but not a ton of them to replenish glycogen. Everyone responds a little differently due to individualistic insulin resistance factors. On non-workout days you would need less carbs, on workout days you could add some in (whole food sources) pwo. In summation…start with your protein needs first at 0.8-1 g/lb of bw (which is alot!), then add in carbs to maintain muscle but not gain fat (this could be anywhere from 50g-150/day) and then get plenty of healthy fats. Your fats could end up anywhere from 40%-60%. Go by how you feel and if you are seeing gains. Total calories are a factor, as well as how “fat adapted” your metabolism is…as some do better on high fat, while others need some extra carbs.

Thomas – Thanks for the link…I’ll check it out.

Ben – You will always have things geared toward more strength…or more muscle size (hypertrophy)…and all arguments in between. If you are training for strength only, people will say that you need 2-3 minutes to rest for max efforts. However if you are training for muscle hypertrophy, using little rest helps to break down the muscles quicker even though the weights are lower. Also you get a good T-boost from both going heavy and high intensity(shorter rests). A good overall program will cover both ends of those training philosophies. Also people’s builds (muscle fiber makeup) may dictate which they respond better to…as some do better with heavy weights and grow…and others need the higher volume to grow. Like I said…a good overall program should cycle between 5×5 and 3×10 for max strength and size gains. (as someone I know that has trained at Westside BB has said that they do sets of 5×5 for 30sec rest as well (same weight all sets)…and they make some strong people there so there is something to be said for that). Me personally…I like the total workouts to be short and intense as I have other stuff to do and don’t want to live in a gym (granted I am no competitive powerlifter or bodybuilder too)…so 30-60sec rests are what I like. Unless you are a competitive powerlifter or going only for maximum strength/exposiveness in all out efforts….keep your rest periods short (60sec max) for muscle gain.

In the end, what you eat is still going to be where 85-90% of your muscle gains come from….so a person doing a simple short and quick 3×10 workout with great nutrition will get better gains than someone with the most perfectly planned workout and half assed nutritional effort. Get your protein in and then eat more healthy calories till you see the gains starting

Ben – Interesting point. But is the whole instinctive preset for the body to really “eat to get bigger muscles?”…or does it just want you to eat to recover? There’s a difference there. Also…I can’t eat right after a workout…as my stomach would not be happy with a big meal at that point…has something to do with high GH levels which I believe DeVany hinted at one time. (kind of like why you want to puke, and some do, after doing many consecutive sets of squats). But I have plenty an appetite later on…and can usually eat alot…so it’s never really been a problem to eat (but I need to pile in the food to start gaining consistently). I found your body will always have a nice set area (+ or – 10lbs) in which is can easily exist…trying to get out of that comfort zone and pack on more lbs is a challenge for some and does require extra effort. As for the workouts, try the 30 sec rest tempos. The weights may go down for the workouts but you may find an increase in overall strength. Like I said..I got that from someone who trained at Westside BB, so if they do it…it must work to some degree. (has something to do with the theory of being able to create deeper muscle tears and increase blood flow for more muscle regeneration that full rest periods do not do) Something tells me you will still get plenty strong and be able to build more “sizable” muscle gains on shorter rests. (again hypertrophy vs pure strength training concepts)

@Mike & Ben:

I struggled for awhile to gain weight on an IF/Evolutionary fitness plan, but to gain weight I did exactly what Ben mentioned: I simply lifted heavier and let my appetite follow the lift.

I’ve been doing interesting set combos lately, with powerlifting moves. I’ll do 3×5, 5×3, then 5×1 with a <1 minute rest between sets, except for the 5x1s, where I use only a 5-10 second rest between each rep. That’s 35 reps total for each lift, which supposedly puts you in the strength/hypertrophy optimal range.

I’ll start a workout with either DLs or Squats, then do incline press or weighted dips, then weighted pullups or standing pulldowns. During and after all of this, I’ll do explosive bodyweight exercises. For these, I’ll do pullups where I try to get as much air as possible on the top of the pullup and catch the bar on the way down (I can get a good 6″ consistently!) or dips where I launch myself backwards off of the dip bars and land in a squat. I’ll also do box jumps, one-armed pullup negatives, and a few shoulder moves for my messed up shoulder cuffs (4 years of competitive swimming).

I’ll fuel these workouts with unlimited amounts of clean, paleo food, respecting my 8 hour eating window.

I’ve put on a pretty clean 6-8lbs in the past few months by doing this. It’s the first time I’ve been able to gain weight since eating low-carb/paleo.

Mike,

Just wondering if you can give me some advice here:

Currently I’m 5′ 8″, 137lbs, around 7-8 percent BF. My diet is 95% Paleo, very low carb, moderate protein, and high fat (usually the ratio is around 10% carb, 25% protein, 65% fat, averaging around 2300 calories). I also have been doing IF for the past 3 months.

I’ve been doing crossfit for a year but recently decided that it’s time to try to put on some good weight. So, on the workout end, I’ve decided to do Rippetoe’s Starting Strength Program and just concentrate on getting basic slow lifts for awhile.

However, the eating part is where I am kind of stumped. Obviously since I am eating paleo, Rippetoe’s “gallon of milk a day idea” is out ,but I know I need more calories. So:

(1) How much more calories do I need but I am not sure how much more.

(2) I know I nned to eat more protein but after that, what else should I eat to add calorie? More Fat (fat is around 150-170g rught now) or more carb (carb is around 60-70g a day right now)?

(2) What about PWO? What kind of “paleo carb” is good to consume after a workout and how much of it should I eat?

Thanks

Thanks, Mike! Great Advice as always. Reading your post made me realize that I’m actually not getting 3 meals in my eating window. I usually break fast around 11:00. Snack, eat lunch a hour later, and then snack my way through the afternoon and then have dinner at 7:00. That’s probably why I was having a hard time eating more than 2,500 calories a day. I will give the whole milk idea a try. I’m determined to gain more weight this time. More than anything I just want to get better “leverage” when lifting, since you can imagine how much fun doing something like Fran or Elizabeth is when you barely weigh 135# yourself!

One last question: from what you wrote to me and elsewhere, I gather that it is possible to “bulk” (hate that word!) while eating a low carb diet? Now I don’t have a problem upping my protein or fat (love fat!), but I am really wary of upping my carb intake too much. In the past, whenever I’ve done that, I would “bulked” up but not in a good way! But then again, I was not eating Paleo before, so maybe better carb selection would make a difference?

The reason I asked is because from you and crossfit I got the idea that a low carb/moderate protein/high fat diet is fantastic for shedding BF and getting very lean (and it definitely worked for me) but I was wondering if a high cal version of that would work for gaining mass?

Hi Mike,

Great post! I’ve been lurking around here for quite a while (directed from the fitnessblackbook).

When you say “Keep your carbs in check” in the above reply, are you referring to carbohydrates in general or just “bad” refined carbohydrates like breads, pasta, etc. If it is in general, wouldn’t this violate the idea of “eating as much healthy food as you like” like you mention in the IF report.?

IE: When monitoring my carbs, should I take low-GI wholefood carbohydrates into account..like an apple or other fruit/veggies? Can excessive fruit/veggies contribute to the “glycogen spill over” effect you mentioned above or does this ownly apply to carbohydrates that cause insulin spikes?

Maybe you can shed some light on this for me…

Thanks!

Scott

Have you seen Dr Berstein’s Diabetes Solution book? He has a wonderful section on how to exercise. Basic strategy is to start as hard as you can, then back off as your muscles get tired, minimize reps. Do the reps slowly, so your muscles get tired. The book also has a lot of good information about insulin, diet, etc whether or not you are diabetic.

Jenny Ruhl’s book, Blood Sugar 101, is also excellent in terms of metabolism information, diet help, whether or not you are diabetic.

When you start to gain weight, it is as you say, because you have higher insulin levels. These higher insulin levels typically go along with damange to your pancreas. When people are diagnosed as diabetic, they have lost 50% to 80% of their pancreatic function . When you are prediabetic with tummy fat, you have probably lost 20-30% of your pancreatic function. Once you start to lose pancreatic function, you are on a spiral to more and faster loss, so it is critical to start working on it early. Your blog is right on in terms of diet, omega-3s, exercise. Good stuff, thanks!

is it alright to eat before going to sleep, wouldn’t spike in insulin mess up with HGH release during sleep time?

what a great site.

i have been doing fred hahn’s slow burn for 11 months, and work extremly hard with it-follow it to a tee. 2 workouts per week and about 9 excersizes each time–all compound). sprints 1 or 2 times a week. i have never gained alot of muscle-i’m getting toned but no bulk.–i eat very healthy low carb, basically like you do. would i bulk up more if i lifted like you do.
im 6’3″ and 190 and 44 years old–i have lost 25 pounds in a year

i also cant get rid of the last of my belly maybe 2-3 lbs

thanks for all the great work you put into this site

john-sorry for spelling

John – gaining muscle comes down to creating enough progressive lifting with your muscles (to signal muscle growth) as well as eating enough. I really don’t eat “low” carb all the time (well compared to bodybuilders maybe). I use carbs when I need them (timing) and the best time is pwo when I can get more stored as muscle glycogen. Try having more carb+lean protein after your lifting workouts, then plenty of protein/lower carbs/healthy fats otherwise. The stubborn fat (last 2-3 lbs) is always…stubborn and usually takes some extra effort with dialing in the eating and adding a bit more slower lifestyle cardio (walking, etc). You will not most people who are very lean also have a high activity lifestyle factor (not going 100% all the time, but just keeping active with slower paced stuff). It’s always good to switch up your workouts. You can try splitting up your lifts and adding more sets per exercise like bench/squat/chins one day and OHpress/Deadlift/Bentrows another. Shoot for about 3 sets (not including warmups) of 6-8 reps of the same weight. When you can do 3 sets all with 8 reps, up the weight for the next time. Progressively getting stronger and creating more muscle in the process. That’s just one of many ways, but keep it simple and progressive….along with eating enough and you will put on muscle.

Spencer – read this article on MIchael Phelps and muscle. http://theiflife.com/fitness/2008/08/26/the-michael-phelps-diet-and-gaining-muscle/
Basically….you are expending a ton of energy, so will need to eat a ton inorder for you to start gaining more weight. Try adding more calories with things like milk + protein powder (with each meal). You need to get the calories in on way or another, plain and simple.

Spencer – I always say real foods come first, but do what you need to do to get those calories in. Also skip things like chicken (that is too lean) and go more for protein with additional fats (and calories) like eggs and steak.

Andrew – choose “Paleo” type whole foods…meats, veggies, fruit., nuts, etc. Every meal should have protein esp if you are wanting to gain muscle. Just go for whole food proteins and whole food carbs pwo….like chicken and sweet potato.

The PWO drink and soy milk is just too much sugar…..dump it and eat more healthy proteins, fats and WHOLE food carbs like sweet potatoes. I’m sure you will see better results with whole foods….as people usually just put on fat with too much sugar (esp when in pwo drinks)

I am in a bit of a quandry here. I love running but I appreciate the value of strength training to weight loss and overall health. I am a 140lb female and wish to get down to about 135lbs with a body fat % of about 17. My overall muscle tone is poor and I really want to improve it. I want to loose fat as well as build lean muscle. My question here is simply, how do I balance building muscle ( eating plenty) with Intermittent Feeding( weight loss)?