I thought you might enjoy the conversation I had over the holidays. Great questions from Andrew who really helped me spell out my theories on muscle building.
BP
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Hey Brad, I’m a big lover of Eat Stop Eat, and a massive proponent of many of your thoughts and theories, so don’t take any of this as confrontational or second guessing in nature, I just wondered which variables you would manipulate in order to gain LBM most effectively whilst following the ESE lifestyle?
Correct me if I’m wrong but I’m sure I’ve seen you comment that you don’t believe eating much above your BMR is necessary, neither is excessive protein intake or mega dosing your peri-workout nutrition. So I guess my real question is, if you HAD TO gain say 5-10lbs of skeletal muscle as quickly as possible, naturally, and assuming you’re already training using a program with built in progressive overload, which nutritional variables would you tweak? Would love to know exactly how you would go about it. Thanks for reading, and have a great New Year!
Great Question! If I had to gain 5-10 pounds of Skeletal muscle as quickly as possible, I’d be screwed. I’m 32 and have been training for over 15 years. Without drugs, I’m not putting on another ten pounds of skeletal muscle. Another ten pounds would put me well above the normal range for my height. Now, I can put on 10 pounds of lean mass…I could do that in an hour or two…add ten pounds to my bench/squat/deadlift/clean…I could do that too..maybe over the course of a year, but ten pounds of actual muscle, not happening.
B
OK, apologies. Allow me to rephrase the question if you will. What if you were 21, 180 lbs @ 5′9” and had all the time in the world to eat, sleep and train? How would you then optimally add actual muscle, whilst adhering (possibly the wrong word, I don’t even see ESE as something you need to adhere to, it’s so easy!) to Eat Stop Eat?
Ah…Ok that’s way more fun.
I’d do stuff you can do for high volume, that is taxing on the big muscles and that doesn’t break you down. I would workout in the gym 2-3 times a week working the muscles but not blowing myself apart. But that wouldn’t be the big stuff, the big stuff would be 2 times a week outside with a couple of buddies doing a combination of sled dragging and farmers walks. Each session would be two to three hours long. The goal wouldn’t be to burn out, or to be a sweaty mess, but just to do lots of work.
At 21 I wouldn’t rule out ‘eating big’ since their is probably still some juvenile muscle growth going on…but I would still ‘temper’ it with Eat Stop Eat.
I’m still not convinced that a 5?9? frame can add 10 more pounds of straight muscle (depending on how long you’ve been training for), but based on my experience this would be how I’d try to get there.
Thanks for the response. Great advice, much appreciated!
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Hi Brad,
What is your reasoning for the inclusion of the high volume ‘labor’ intensive stuff like Farmer’s Walks?
Just curious.
Al
From my experience, they seem to be the exercises that allow for the most ’stress’ with the least amount of ‘breakdown’…
At least on my body anways.
In otherwords, my hips, knees, lower back can handle more sled pulling then it can say high rep or heavy squats on a weekly basis.
B
Hi Brad,
Brad people publish things like gain 30-40 pounds of muscle in a week then how come you say that its not possible for you to put 10 pounds of muscle ! Well i am beginner at muscle gaining, so just curious to know about it.
Thanks
Hey Brad, since high volume is a subjective word, can you give us more insight into the types of exercises and a more specific number range? How about for someone older who hasn’t maxed out their muscular potential?
Thanks!
Basically, it’s because I’m not an advertiser marketing a product that says you gain 40 pounds, so I have no reason to make up stories.
B
I’d just start with what I can do then move up from there.
it’s vague, but I don’t think i could pin actual numbers to it…just start, then get better. It totally depends on your specific starting point.
B
Brad,
The fact that Andrew even wants to put on 10lbs of muscle speaks to our society’s obsession with weight. We either want to gain it (muscle) or lose it (fat) but we never seem to feel just right. I’m curious to see just how big Andrew is, being 180lbs at 5′9″? I’m just under 6′ and I weigh about 186lbs and I want to lose another 10? Sure I’d like more muscle but I think low body fat is where it’s at!
I’ve been thinking about this…and yeah, we are very obsessed with muscle..gaining it, not losing it…we’ve also been led to believe that it seems to be the end all be all of health.
Something I will looker more closely at in the future.
B
I know this is a bit off topic but I need your help with my current situation. I am 5′10″, 24 years old, and I weigh 225 lb (not much of that is muscle if you know what I mean). My ultimate goal is to one day see my abs (v-cut, striations, all of it). That means I will probably need to get down in the 160’s.
Please correct me if I’m wrong: ESE + at least 3 resistence workout per week = desired goal.
My problem is still the other stuff. I still eat too much when I don’t fast. More importantly I still do not trust my diet enough to get the results I want. I always feel that there is a better diet that can get me better results (Paleo, zero-carb, etc…). How can I trust that what I am doing will get me results. Thanks!
With all due respect, it looks like you dodged the question. The question was on nutritional factors that you’d tweek to get the most muscle gain, not on routine.
Brad, I weigh 127lbs (light, I know) and am looking to gain lean weight (aiming for about 140-145lbs. I’m working out right and everything, but I was wondering: How much should I be consuming daily? Many sites recommend bulking but I was wondering if there is a way to build lean mass without getting fat. If anyone knows it’s you haha. Thanks
Derrick,
The issue at hand is I do not believe such nutritional factors exist.
B
Hi Owen,
Actually there are probably many people who are more qualified to answer this than I am. The trick is in your workouts, and I am no exercise physiologist.
I can tell you that there is nothing more depressing than looking at the before and after pictures of guys who have attempted to bulkup naturally by overfeeding. Never a pretty site.
It really depends on your age, height, weight, lean body mass, training status, genetics, etc. There is no one answer for everyone at every age and every experience level.
B
“The trick is in your workouts….”
I’m sorry Brad, I don’t want to turn this into a debate, but the trick isn’t just in your workouts. Somebody isn’t going to magically synthesize new tissue, lean or adipose without taking in more energy. Training certainly matters, but if it was all in your workouts we wouldn’t see the 10×3, HIT, 5×5 etc. proponents. They all work, only in the presence of enough food.
Hey Chris, just a quick note, I don’t want to gain ten pounds at all, and I never stress/obsess over my weight. I love training and I enjoy the cosmetic benefits it brings, but even if I knew I would never gain/lose a single pound from this day forward, I would still continue to workout. The question was merely hypothetical as I wanted to hear Brad’s opinion on the matter. I totally agree with your opinion mind you, the second thing I’m asked by any one I haven’t seen in a while is “How much do you weigh now then?” (the first being “how much do you bench?”) The stats I used were mine, but again the question was just hypothetical. Thanks again for your thoughts Brad!
Oh, and on another note, the actual style of training you suggest is pretty similar to what I already do, lots of strongman style circuits outside of my regular programmed training. For anybody who doesn’t have access to Farmers walk equipment or heavy dumbells, one thing I discovered a while back was the deadlift walk, load up a bar with around 60-80% of your max, deadlift it and take it for a walk… after around 20-30ft drop the bar, hop over it and repeat back to your starting point. I find this actually improves my strength on the farmers and is a good conditioning tool.
That would absolutely fry my grip!
Sorry Derek,
I thought you were alluding to things like macro nutrient timing or ratios etc.
When I started out training, my then boss/gym proprietor was a competitive strongman, and the use of lifting straps was always frowned upon, as such my grip was forced to get better or I’d never get stronger! I train in Judo and have never had my grip broken from someone’s Gi, see any correlation there? haha.
Brad,
Thanks for the honesty. Plenty of marketers out there will do the old 40 pounds of muscle routine when in fact it’s more like 10 pounds of muscle and 30 pounds of fat!
P.S. Farmer walks are hell;)
Andrew,
Ha! Forgive me, I ASSUMED… and in doing so made an ass….out of me! It sounds like we’re pretty much on the same page.
Hey, I was wondering how you feel about post/pre workout nutrition. I noticed you said you don’t spend any money on supplements, although, I thought it was strange you don’t take creatine. Also when does juvenile muscle start to decrease? One last question, I am currently losing weight using ESE, and wonder if there’s a specific formula to how low my weight will have to be to see my abs etc. I am 6′2, 184 lbs and not there yet.