Peple who train and want to gain weight face a situation when the weight grows, but not the muscles. You keep training and get more calories and see yourself just getting fatter. Let’s understand the reasons for that and find the ways to avoid that.
How muscles grow?
The reason for the increase in excessive fat is obvious – the consumption of too many calories. But muscles need extra calories to grow? Right. The problem of “mass growing” people is that they do not quite understand how much energy the muscles need to grow.
For the synthesis of 1 gr. of muscle tissue, approximately 20-22 kilocalories are required. The growth of a kilo of muscle will require about 20,000 calories. This is a lot, so why does so much fat build up, since the requirements are so high?
Because muscles grow very slowly, and increased calorie intake does not affect the speed of muscle growth in any way.
If you are a beginner, you have the highest potential for muscle growth. But 5-6 kg of muscle per year is a good indicator for good genetics. Most can count on 3-4 kg.
Let’s calculate: 5 kg of muscle is 100 000 kcal. For a year. Divide by 365 = 274 kcal per day. Total! How much do you eat extra?
Anything eaten beyond that will go into fat. And these are numbers for beginners. For people experienced in training, the potential for muscle growth is even lower. If your experience is 5+ years of training, you can count on a kilo of muscle per year, maximum. This is an additional 20,000 kcal per year. 50-70 kcal per day extra.
The connection between fat, muscles and calorie intake
So, if you have a large amount of fat (more than 20% for men and more than 30-35% for women), and you want to build muscle, do not try to “sit on the mass”. Reduce your calorie intake by 15%, and exercise actively, increase your protein intake.
If you have been training for a long time, your fat percentage is about 15% (for men), or about 20-30% (for women), you also do not need to “sit on the mass” to build muscle. You need up to 100 kcal per day extra for your muscles to grow.
If you notice that a sharp weight gain begins, this is a sign to reduce the calories intake.
The only case when it is necessary to decently increase the caloric content of food for muscle growth is when the percentage of fat is very low. Less than 10-12% for men and 15% for women.