When fitness training first piqued my interest as a teenager, the conventional narrative was to spend half of your time ‘bulking’ and the other half ‘cutting’. We really didn’t pay too much mind to the quality of mass gain we were putting on, so long as we were getting bigger. We gave ourselves a licence to eat thousands of calories and almost snarked at cardio, thinking that it would impede our ‘gains’.

Unfortunately this led to a lot of unwanted body fat being accumulated alongside the lean muscle we were working so hard for, which in turn meant really long cuts where we would lose some of that hard earned mass as we dropped body fat. It was a vicious circle.

Nowadays, we focus a lot more on clean eating and techniques that will allow us to be far more precise in the weight we gain, we’ve even reached the point where – if we’re willing to be dedicated enough – we can achieve ‘recomposition’ or gaining muscle at the same time as losing body fat. Back in the early nineties the understanding was that it just wasn’t possible to achieve this naturally, but with advancements in nutrition and sports science, this has all changed.

Progression 

In order to gain muscle mass you need to keep asking more of your body and strength levels than you have previously, as this demand continually sends signals to the body that you need to get stronger. 

The workouts 

Starting out of the block, I would suggest three total body workouts per week, using a rep range of about 10 reps per set. Continue to vary your training after each six-week training phase by varying your volume, exercise selection, rep ranges or rest times in order to keep offering your body a fresh stimulus.

Caloric numbers 

In order to gain lean muscle mass I would suggest maintaining on average a 10% caloric surplus over the course of the week. To determine your required caloric intake the Harris-Benedict Equation is the most accurate for males. For females, the Cunningham Equation is most accurate.