Muscle Building Tips

Alright guys, I want to switch gear for a minute away from PFS since this is primarily a body building forum, I want some tips on how to build some quality muscle.

I've been in the gym for probably about 6 years, and I have a lot of muscle built up and have good strength but I've never been able to really get where I want to be. I want to build some muscle but lean muscle, and have kind of that shredded look.

Strength has never been an issue for my size, I stand 5'5 and weigh about 145, my all time maxes with the big 3 are as follows-

Bench - 265
Squat - 315
Deadlift - 420

I think my issue has always been with diet, I just don't really understand it. Stuff like "eat x grams of protein a day" confuses me because I don't know to count calories or what grams look like when it comes to food. One thing for sure is I don't think I am eating enough to be where I want to be, my diet is paleo, mostly fruits and meats, with a serving or two of veggies a day, plus a ton of ice cream during back loads. There's definitely a science to building muscle as far as which lifts to do, when and how much to eat for your size, etc.

Anyone have tips on how to build lean muscle? Diet tips such as how to count macros or protein/fat ratios to be aware of?

I would also like to know the best way to healthily gain some weight back. I don't count anything but I am more jacked now than I have ever been just being on the protocol. I wish I could gain a little weight back from when I crashed I was 210 and went down to 187. Im back to 193-195 now and have been holding steady here for about a year. I think with the paleo diet I just cant seem to get a caloric surplus.

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Originally Posted by alphacfi

I would also like to know the best way to healthily gain some weight back. I don't count anything but I am more jacked now than I have ever been just being on the protocol. I wish I could gain a little weight back from when I crashed I was 210 and went down to 187. Im back to 193-195 now and have been holding steady here for about a year. I think with the paleo diet I just cant seem to get a caloric surplus.

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Agreed. I got an app that counts calories and I used it the past 2 days and I was about 1000 calories short for my target caloric intake haha. Kept trying to add more food but everything we eat is low calorie

Nuts,olive oil extra on everything and for exapmle you can make a paleo shake with almond butter eggs coconut milk olive oil, frozen berries and avocado. This can easily get you past 1000 calories in one shake

Are you guys not backloading?

I know people hate to hear this, but sleep is huge in this too, besides just hitting your macros. I get the most "anabolic" sleep when I workout heavy and hard in the morning, and eat good quality high calorie foods during the day, and wind down before bed appropriately. I begin winding down around 8:30 (weekdays, and weekends if I'm not having some drinks with friends), with True Dark Twilight glasses (extreme junk light blocking, think blue blocking yellow glasses but red lenses), and putting my DAMN phone down. Turn that shit on airplane mode and plug it in next to you. Watch something easy/funny to watch on TV for about thirty minutes, and I'm asleep.

Wake up refreshed every damn morning ready to go again.

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Originally Posted by The whit wagon

Are you guys not backloading?

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I backload. The only time I don't is when I am feeling a little weaker than normal and need to do a workout, or if my HIIT day falls before a rest day I eat some oatmeal or something on my off day so I don't have to go like 2 or 3 straight days without carbs.

When you say olive oil, do you mean just adding more of it in the pan when you cook or do you mean just pouring it on your food? I've never been much of an olive oil guy.

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Originally Posted by The whit wagon

Are you guys not backloading?

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I backload. The only time I don't is when I am feeling a little weaker than normal and need to do a workout, or if my HIIT day falls before a rest day I eat some oatmeal or something on my off day so I don't have to go like 2 or 3 straight days without carbs.

When you say olive oil, do you mean just adding more of it in the pan when you cook or do you mean just pouring it on your food? I've never been much of an olive oil guy.

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Originally Posted by Maxout777

I know people hate to hear this, but sleep is huge in this too, besides just hitting your macros. I get the most "anabolic" sleep when I workout heavy and hard in the morning, and eat good quality high calorie foods during the day, and wind down before bed appropriately. I begin winding down around 8:30 (weekdays, and weekends if I'm not having some drinks with friends), with True Dark Twilight glasses (extreme junk light blocking, think blue blocking yellow glasses but red lenses), and putting my DAMN phone down. Turn that shit on airplane mode and plug it in next to you. Watch something easy/funny to watch on TV for about thirty minutes, and I'm asleep.

Wake up refreshed every damn morning ready to go again.

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Which foods would you consider high calorie on paleo? I eat 3 meals a day with a protein source each meal, with fruits and some nuts added in as snacks during the day but it's only coming out to about 1500-2000 calories for the day. I am aiming toward about 2600 I believe.

I agree sleep is huge, for some reason I've always been a night owl, it's like my body would never let me sleep before 2 am even before PFS. Once I do fall asleep I can sleep for 8-10 hours most days, and working out in the morning is especially important for me because if I workout any time past 3 pm I'll be up all night. I just set my iPhone to that setting where it turns to blue light blocking after a certain time at night, so I'm hoping that will help me avoid blue light, but I'll probably just stick to reading or TV until bed.

I also just ordered Albizia from LEH, excited to give it a try.

Pouring it on your food lad you barely taste it but making a 1000+ cal shake every day and just doing what you're doing with meals for gaining weight should be sound.

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Originally Posted by The whit wagon

Pouring it on your food lad you barely taste it but making a 1000+ cal shake every day and just doing what you're doing with meals for gaining weight should be sound.

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Thanks bro. Just made a green shake with plenty of spinach, lettuce, a variety of fruits and some organic protein powder. Tasted amazing, definitely going to keep doing this daily!

I really need to fix my sleep - pretty sure this is what is stopping me from really progressing to near 100%. It is definitely linked to my gut but can’t seem to figure out exactly what is wrong - but get major bloat in the night which usually wakes me after about 5 hours and then takes me an hour or more to get back to sleep.

The days I lift heavy, I seem to be pretty wired into the evening and this makes things worse, light sleep, lots of waking through the night.

Maybe I need to do a water fast...

Quick question geezers,

With what's going on with Covid and living with my parents I am wary of starting the gym at least for the foreseeable future and wanted some advice.

Currently I am eating paleo and rotating some calisthenics exercises but I feel that I am primed and ready to start lifting iron. Basically I wanted to know if instead of the gym (at least for the next 3 or so months) I could purchase a set of dumbells and a bar with weights I could add on similar to this https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01MQKG9..._1JDeFb0R55KWR (sorry I don't know how to hyperlink)

I want to follow tmo in regards to exercises and splits and understand for e.g. With back exercises it will be difficult to do without gym equipment but I have seen a decent regime using dumbells and a bar with weights on the Internet. So just wanted to know if this would be okay enough to raise testosterone enough to make progress.

Thanks Lads

There are programs that you can do with dumbbells - I have 2 x 2kg, 2 x 5kg, 2 x 10kg dumbbells and some resistance bands and a chin up bar at home. Can get a decent work out, but more 10 reps / hypertrophy program. It’s good enough for a stop gap until COVID passes - that said I am back in the gyms down here in Sydney. You can’t lift heavy at home without a full set up

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Originally Posted by Turnover25

Which foods would you consider high calorie on paleo? I eat 3 meals a day with a protein source each meal, with fruits and some nuts added in as snacks during the day but it's only coming out to about 1500-2000 calories for the day. I am aiming toward about 2600 I believe.

I agree sleep is huge, for some reason I've always been a night owl, it's like my body would never let me sleep before 2 am even before PFS. Once I do fall asleep I can sleep for 8-10 hours most days, and working out in the morning is especially important for me because if I workout any time past 3 pm I'll be up all night. I just set my iPhone to that setting where it turns to blue light blocking after a certain time at night, so I'm hoping that will help me avoid blue light, but I'll probably just stick to reading or TV until bed.

I also just ordered Albizia from LEH, excited to give it a try.

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Sorry I missed this in the commotion, but sounds like you’re moving forward in the right areas for sleep. I highly suggest a good pair of twilight blue blockers, they make a world of difference. As far as high calorie foods on paleo, just making shakes with high protein, and Zero Lauric acid MCT oil for “snacks” helped me a lot. Seems that you got the right idea from another poster though as well.