Thread: HIT the way to go for lifting?

A variety of training modalities exist that will effectively allow you to gain muscle mass.

However, the common limiting factor with many (probably most) individuals who struggle to gain mass is their diet --- people simply aren't eating enough. What does your diet look like?

Agreed.

Muscle takes a long time to develop. As m11 said the problem is usually diet.

I'd post your stats and diet into the diet and nutrition section and go from there.

My diet usually consisted of

-chicken,pork tend.
-seafood
-almonds
-milk,diary
-vegatables
-fruits
-yogurt

Wheat was totally taken out of the picture.

I'll cut to the chase:

Read the link in my signature. In there, it'll explain how to set up a diet. I'd recommend following the instructions and set up the diet so that you are in a caloric surplus. Any logical training modality is acceptable. In addition to the diet and training, google 'foam rolling' and do that as well as some dynamic stretching before you train. Information for dynamic stretching is available in the stickies. You can also do a bit of static stretching after you train -- static stretching while your tissues are still cold isn't advised.

Give it some time and consistency and you'll be en route to reaching your goals.

Feel free to ask any questions in the meantime.

Originally Posted by m11

I'll cut to the chase:

Read the link in my signature. In there, it'll explain how to set up a diet. I'd recommend following the instructions and set up the diet so that you are in a caloric surplus. Any logical training modality is acceptable. In addition to the diet and training, google 'foam rolling' and do that as well as some dynamic stretching before you train. Information for dynamic stretching is available in the stickies. You can also do a bit of static stretching after you train -- static stretching while your tissues are still cold isn't advised.

Give it some time and consistency and you'll be en route to reaching your goals.

Feel free to ask any questions in the meantime.

That says it all. When someone comes up to me in the gym and asks me how to build mass or get more definition, the first question I ask is, "What's your nutrition /diet look like?"

You can bust your ass in the gym everyday, but without a proper diet you won't see any substantial results.

Well, I need readjust my new plan. For last year I was doing HIT like crazy. I think I was overdoing it. I had the 6 pack, 10% body fat but could not get it down to 5%.

I was doing doing HIT for lifting, and sprinting every other day. But could not build muscle mass, it was more stalemate. I was doing more like Maintenance on my body.

How can you gain muscle mass, but keeping you fat down to 10% - 5%?

Also the diet I listed above anything wrong with it?

Then winter came, and I guess I let it go...

Oh, gotcha.

As you lean out, it'll be tougher to get even leaner. Protocols such as the Ultimate Diet 2.0 by Lyle McDonald might be worthy reads for yourself. Additionally, values such as "5%" are almost impossible to hold indefinitely. You may be able to hold it for a bit, perhaps for a contest or a photoshoot, but it isn't going to last.

In order to put on mass you need to be in a caloric surplus and being in a caloric surplus will invariably put on some fat. However, with that fat comes muscle. After you've gained the mass, you can always go back into a deficit and diet off the fat. As long as you increase the deficit slowly (500 calories over maintenance), you'll be able to control how much fat comes on you. You don't have to actually get fat in the process --- you can maintain your leanness year round.

Originally Posted by m11

Oh, gotcha.

As you lean out, it'll be tougher to get even leaner. Protocols such as the Ultimate Diet 2.0 by Lyle McDonald might be worthy reads for yourself. Additionally, values such as "5%" are almost impossible to hold indefinitely. You may be able to hold it for a bit, perhaps for a contest or a photoshoot, but it isn't going to last.

In order to put on mass you need to be in a caloric surplus and being in a caloric surplus will invariably put on some fat. However, with that fat comes muscle. After you've gained the mass, you can always go back into a deficit and diet off the fat. As long as you increase the deficit slowly (500 calories over maintenance), you'll be able to control how much fat comes on you. You don't have to actually get fat in the process --- you can maintain your leanness year round.

Awwww, alright so basically so in order to build muscle, its like taking a loan from the bank. Go in debt a little with fat, and when you profit building muscle, then you slowly pay off the fat debt over time.

Then you repeat the process. People just kept telling me you have to eat more to build muscle, but I couldn't let go of being extremely lean, wanted to go for 5%. Your right, it's impossible to keep.

I'm guessing during winter is when you pack the pounds to gain muscle, then during summer you go extremely lean to burn off excess correct?