I've written a number of posts on going from skinny to muscled. I needed to round them all up for a client who is on that journey himself. So why not share out that round up with some additional advice?
There are three essential posts on this blog on the subject:
Three Easy Ways to Add Calories
Eating to Gain for Skinny Guys: Part I
Eating to Gain for Skinny Guys: Part II
Here is some more general advice that will help skinny guys.
Training Frequency and Intensity Errors
Don't do too little . . . or too much.
Too little means missing workouts. Skipping out on half of what you're supposed to do because you don't like that. Substituting things you like for things you hate. Rationalizing swaps ("The elliptical is legs, so I can do that instead of Bulgarian split-squats!) or skips ("I'm still tired from last workout.")
Too much is the opposite approach - adding in more and more reps, more and more exercises, more and more frequency. Doing "active recovery" that somehow involves 100 pushups and high-intensity cardio. Training every day, no matter what. Skipping sleep or meals to lift ("I need to lift and I can't eat right before I lift, so I won't eat!")
You want something in the optimal middle range for frequency and intensity. Ideally:
- You lift hard 3x a week. You can do as little as twice and as much as four times a week if you're going hard and have a program designed around it. But your goal is mass gain and strength gain over the maximum amount of time you can sustain it. Don't get hooked in by a high-frequency approach that's meant for short-term use (a squat-every-day program meant for a 3-4 week cycle, say) or for fat loss (heavy lifting combined with frequent low-intensity cardio and fast days, for example).
- You do your postural and mobility work frequently. Rehab/prehab exercises, pull-aparts, chin tucks, stretches, mobility drills - you almost certainly need these. This is the stuff you need to do often. Instead of sneaking in some extra biceps curls or pushups or a set on the leg press, sneak in hourly band pull-aparts or planks or glute activation drills. No client I've ever had broke down, stayed weak, or ruined their progress because they did too many deep-breathing exercises or scapular retraction drills on their off days. And all of that does add up to more strength and more muscle.
Eat a Baseline, not a Maximum
The most common error in skinny guys wanting to get muscled is not eating enough. That's hammered into the posts above. Eat, eat, eat. It's homework. It's a job. That food being outside of you instead of inside of you is the obstacle to success.
Track your food - for 3 days a week at least - with an app or a journal. Set a minimum and make sure you hit it. Try to exceed it with as much quality food as you can stand.
Especially if you use an app, expect to get nagged to stay under your calories. Consider the "attaboys" you get as black marks against you. When your app says, "Wow, you ate so little today! Congrats!" read it as "Wow, you've sabotaged all of the work you did! Why did you do that?"
One particular approach I used with success was to eat a minimum every day, and one day a week try to exceed that by as much as possible without getting sick. Packing in 4000 kcals a day? Try for 6000-8000+ one day (and I'd let the quality go a little on the extras).
Finally, be willing to adjust the number upward. If you set yourself at 2500 a day and gain, great. If you aren't putting on weight week to week, up to to 3500. Then 4500. Keep going until you gain. Yes, this is a lot of food. Yes, this is work.
People will say, "I wish I could eat all of that, it must be great!" or "That must be nice to be able to eat so much." They're wrong. It's work. It can be enjoyable work, but you have to eat even when you're not hungry and spend money on food even when money is tight. You have to shop even when you don't feel like it because you rip through a fridge worth of food in no time at all. Do it, and muscle awaits you.
Food Quality and Quantity
Think meats and fish and vegetables and fruits over sugar and sweets and things that in bags with serving sizes written on the labels. The advice I gave in those posts above is basically drink milk, eat a lot of meat (it could easily be fish), drink a quality protein powder - put good food in you.
If you have to choose between bad food and no food, eat the bad food. But endeavor to make it good food as much as possible. People have gotten bigger, stronger, and better on cruddy institutionalized food supplied by the lowest bidder - but I'd bet they didn't get healthier on it. Good food, in large quantities.
By all means live it up - now is the time to enjoy those treats, eat a piece of cake, have that breaded chicken in sauce from the buffet, etc. etc. You'll look back fondly on the time you could eat half of a pie as dessert because you needed it. But put that on top of the good foods you eat.
Sleep
You'll grow and gain when you rest, not when you train. Your training and eating is the stimulus for your body to grow and add muscle, but sleep is when you'll realize those gains. Sleep as much as you can.
Getting stronger, fitter, and healthier by sticking to the basics. It's not rocket science, it's doing the simple stuff the right way. Strength-Basics updates every Monday, plus extra posts during the week.
Showing posts with label mass gain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mass gain. Show all posts
Monday, January 30, 2017
Monday, May 9, 2016
Three Easy Ways to Add Calories (for skinny guys)
I'm a former skinny guy. I'm still tall and pretty lanky. You'd never mistake me for a football player. But I used to a skinny, lanky, tall guy. I weighed in at a pretty high body fat percentage but just around 170 pounds. Skinny-fat, weak, and for all of my lifting I didn't have all that much to show for it. I learned to eat more and train better, and it did wonders for my build.
If you're on the other end of the scale - eating comes easily, you need to lose pounds, and it's not a lack of muscle but too much body fat on top of the muscle that keeps you from looking and feeling your best - this isn't aimed at you. This is for the guy who says, "But I DO eat!" but just can't seem to pack on some size.
One of the big problems skinny guys - especially lanky lean guys - have is getting sufficient calories.
You're lean for a reason. It could be a natural tendency and your build. But it also reflects your habits and diet. You probably move a lot. You don't eat a lot - and if you do, it's not a calorically dense diet high in protein and micronutrients. You probably eat a lot some days, but then much less on subsequent days.
Add in hard training - especially hard weight training - and you're not going to get anywhere.
You might need 3000, 4000, even 5000 calories a day to gain muscle. You take in 6000 on that day you ate at the all-you-can-eat buffet, but then barely 1500 the next day and 2000 the day after. Instead of the 12,000 you needed over those three days to give your body the resources to gain, you've had 9,500.
Here are three easy ways to ensure you get in enough calories every day. All of these assume you are training hard, and training for strength and hypertrophy (muscle gain). They'll surely put weight on you even if you don't train, but no one is to blame but you if you do that and end up with more gut than glory.
GOMAD
A Gallon Of whole Milk A Day. On top of whatever you eat, drink a gallon of whole milk. Have a brand-new gallon jug waiting for you each day. Open it up in the morning, finish it before you go to bed. Repeat every day. Don't skip.
Calories: 2,342 kcals
Fat: 126.9 grams
Carbohydrates: 176.5 grams
Protein: 125.7 grams
And more than 4 grams of calcium and 5.5 grams of potassium.
If you add that on top of even a poor, low-calorie diet (say, 1200-1500 calories of other food per day), you will be getting in 3500-4000 calories a day and 125 grams of quality protein. It's even better on top of good quality real food in sufficient quantities. It's a simple plan to follow, too, and compliance is yes/no. Is there still milk in the jug? You didn't finish. Was it every day? If not, then you're off the plan. And I know from my own experience with weight gain, a skinny guy can find it depressingly easy to miss a day or two . . . and then the scale weight drops back down rapidly.
My personal experience: I tried this. It was my first sign that I had a milk allergy. On the plus side, it was easy to get in the calories. I know others who have tried this with a lot of success. If you have no issues with dairy, take a hard look at this. It's a good short-run gaining program, especially when coupled with a solid beginner routine.
A Pound of Ground Beef
This I got from Jim Wendler. The idea is simple - get a pound of relatively lean meat every day. Cook it, eat it. It's roughly 1000 calories in a raw pound, and about 85 grams of protein. Push that up to 1.5 pounds or 2 pounds. It's an easy to cook food, versatile, tasty, and effective. Like GOMAD, it's easy because you either did it or you didn't. You can't claim to have had enough food if there is still some of your pound of beef in the fridge.
It's harder to get down this food than drinking extra milk calories. But on the plus side, it's solid food and fewer people have beef issues than dairy issues.
My personal experience: I've done a variation with chicken. I would east an entire chicken breast - well in excess of a pound - every day. I'd pick up a family pack and cook and eat one every day. Not a little 6 oz half breast, either - a full meaty one. I used to take the skin off, but if I did it again I'd leave it on - why toss perfectly good calories, especially since fat is also important to the body's health? In my case, it worked - the extra protein and extra calories really helped me put on muscle.
A Shake Per Meal
This is an old one; I can't even remember where I first heard it. It's easily the most expensive since even cheap protein powder isn't that cheap compared to the same calories and protein in whole food.
But the idea is simple - wash down, or follow up, every meal with a 2-scoop protein shake. Something with about 50g of protein in total. Make sure you include some kind of fat (I used to blend in peanut butter) and some kind of carbs (I'd put in a banana). If you can handle dairy, base it on yogurt or whole milk. If not, water or almond or coconut milk will do.
Stock up on enough protein to go a few weeks, get some peanut butter, and clean out the bananas at the store. Freeze some if you need to ensure you have a supply on hand. 3-5 times a day when you eat, down that shake, too. Because it's liquid, it's easier to get in the calories.
Personal Experience: This probably worked the best for me. The time I was simultaneously the heaviest and the leanest of my life, I did this. I had two shakes a day, not three, but I put a lot into them. I had two extras on workout days - a during-workout and post-workout shake - because of the length and difficulty of my workouts. But day in, day out, I drank a protein/fat/carb shake with two of my meals and piled on extra food in general. The shakes made getting in the calories I needed easy. And if I was closing in on bed time and needed more calories, I'd just put in more carbs and more fat into the shake and drink it down. I ended up almost 10 pounds heavier than when I started, and significantly stronger.
I eventually dropped a lot of the weight I gained, but it was a good and positive experience for me. I know what my body's comfortable weight is now. Trying to push past it was very hard, but very enlightening. It let me get familiar with my body's fluctuations in way that just holding at my comfortable weight would never have done.
Tips from experience:
- Don't skip days.
- Train hard, and train for strength and size. Go with a good routine or a good trainer on board with your program.
- Don't cut back on other food on your non-training days. Recovery is when you grow, so don't stint.
- Don't add in extra cardio to avoid getting fat. You won't, generally, if you train hard. Don't worry about your abs when you're trying to get bigger legs, glutes, shoulders, etc. One thing at a time.
- Log your food. It's easy to think you ate more than you did. Especially skinny guys, who overestimate what they eat. It's a mirror of overeating, and fat loss, but the same tools work. Log, log, log.
- Stock up. You don't want to miss a day because you weren't ready. Your fridge should be stocked today for at least tomorrow's food. Two days is better.
- Set a time limit. Do one plan for 30 days and see how it goes. Ditch it if there are side effects (my GOMAD experience led me to my MD.) But otherwise, stick with it the whole time. Don't change your plan, don't deviate, and don't try to do "All of the above" - not milk today, beef tomorrow, shakes the day after. One plan, and keep at it.
- Talk to your doctor first, especially if you've got any history of allergy or intolerance issues with food. See above - I probably should have seen the signs of milk issues before I tried squats and milk to gain muscle. If I had, it would have saved me starting back over from scratch once my allergic reactions ended.
In short, to go from "skinny guy" to "built guy" takes consistent calories. I hope those three strategies above give you some idea of how to go about it in your own case. And don't forget to lift.
If you're on the other end of the scale - eating comes easily, you need to lose pounds, and it's not a lack of muscle but too much body fat on top of the muscle that keeps you from looking and feeling your best - this isn't aimed at you. This is for the guy who says, "But I DO eat!" but just can't seem to pack on some size.
One of the big problems skinny guys - especially lanky lean guys - have is getting sufficient calories.
You're lean for a reason. It could be a natural tendency and your build. But it also reflects your habits and diet. You probably move a lot. You don't eat a lot - and if you do, it's not a calorically dense diet high in protein and micronutrients. You probably eat a lot some days, but then much less on subsequent days.
Add in hard training - especially hard weight training - and you're not going to get anywhere.
You might need 3000, 4000, even 5000 calories a day to gain muscle. You take in 6000 on that day you ate at the all-you-can-eat buffet, but then barely 1500 the next day and 2000 the day after. Instead of the 12,000 you needed over those three days to give your body the resources to gain, you've had 9,500.
Here are three easy ways to ensure you get in enough calories every day. All of these assume you are training hard, and training for strength and hypertrophy (muscle gain). They'll surely put weight on you even if you don't train, but no one is to blame but you if you do that and end up with more gut than glory.
GOMAD
A Gallon Of whole Milk A Day. On top of whatever you eat, drink a gallon of whole milk. Have a brand-new gallon jug waiting for you each day. Open it up in the morning, finish it before you go to bed. Repeat every day. Don't skip.
Calories: 2,342 kcals
Fat: 126.9 grams
Carbohydrates: 176.5 grams
Protein: 125.7 grams
And more than 4 grams of calcium and 5.5 grams of potassium.
If you add that on top of even a poor, low-calorie diet (say, 1200-1500 calories of other food per day), you will be getting in 3500-4000 calories a day and 125 grams of quality protein. It's even better on top of good quality real food in sufficient quantities. It's a simple plan to follow, too, and compliance is yes/no. Is there still milk in the jug? You didn't finish. Was it every day? If not, then you're off the plan. And I know from my own experience with weight gain, a skinny guy can find it depressingly easy to miss a day or two . . . and then the scale weight drops back down rapidly.
My personal experience: I tried this. It was my first sign that I had a milk allergy. On the plus side, it was easy to get in the calories. I know others who have tried this with a lot of success. If you have no issues with dairy, take a hard look at this. It's a good short-run gaining program, especially when coupled with a solid beginner routine.
A Pound of Ground Beef
This I got from Jim Wendler. The idea is simple - get a pound of relatively lean meat every day. Cook it, eat it. It's roughly 1000 calories in a raw pound, and about 85 grams of protein. Push that up to 1.5 pounds or 2 pounds. It's an easy to cook food, versatile, tasty, and effective. Like GOMAD, it's easy because you either did it or you didn't. You can't claim to have had enough food if there is still some of your pound of beef in the fridge.
It's harder to get down this food than drinking extra milk calories. But on the plus side, it's solid food and fewer people have beef issues than dairy issues.
My personal experience: I've done a variation with chicken. I would east an entire chicken breast - well in excess of a pound - every day. I'd pick up a family pack and cook and eat one every day. Not a little 6 oz half breast, either - a full meaty one. I used to take the skin off, but if I did it again I'd leave it on - why toss perfectly good calories, especially since fat is also important to the body's health? In my case, it worked - the extra protein and extra calories really helped me put on muscle.
A Shake Per Meal
This is an old one; I can't even remember where I first heard it. It's easily the most expensive since even cheap protein powder isn't that cheap compared to the same calories and protein in whole food.
But the idea is simple - wash down, or follow up, every meal with a 2-scoop protein shake. Something with about 50g of protein in total. Make sure you include some kind of fat (I used to blend in peanut butter) and some kind of carbs (I'd put in a banana). If you can handle dairy, base it on yogurt or whole milk. If not, water or almond or coconut milk will do.
Stock up on enough protein to go a few weeks, get some peanut butter, and clean out the bananas at the store. Freeze some if you need to ensure you have a supply on hand. 3-5 times a day when you eat, down that shake, too. Because it's liquid, it's easier to get in the calories.
Personal Experience: This probably worked the best for me. The time I was simultaneously the heaviest and the leanest of my life, I did this. I had two shakes a day, not three, but I put a lot into them. I had two extras on workout days - a during-workout and post-workout shake - because of the length and difficulty of my workouts. But day in, day out, I drank a protein/fat/carb shake with two of my meals and piled on extra food in general. The shakes made getting in the calories I needed easy. And if I was closing in on bed time and needed more calories, I'd just put in more carbs and more fat into the shake and drink it down. I ended up almost 10 pounds heavier than when I started, and significantly stronger.
I eventually dropped a lot of the weight I gained, but it was a good and positive experience for me. I know what my body's comfortable weight is now. Trying to push past it was very hard, but very enlightening. It let me get familiar with my body's fluctuations in way that just holding at my comfortable weight would never have done.
Tips from experience:
- Don't skip days.
- Train hard, and train for strength and size. Go with a good routine or a good trainer on board with your program.
- Don't cut back on other food on your non-training days. Recovery is when you grow, so don't stint.
- Don't add in extra cardio to avoid getting fat. You won't, generally, if you train hard. Don't worry about your abs when you're trying to get bigger legs, glutes, shoulders, etc. One thing at a time.
- Log your food. It's easy to think you ate more than you did. Especially skinny guys, who overestimate what they eat. It's a mirror of overeating, and fat loss, but the same tools work. Log, log, log.
- Stock up. You don't want to miss a day because you weren't ready. Your fridge should be stocked today for at least tomorrow's food. Two days is better.
- Set a time limit. Do one plan for 30 days and see how it goes. Ditch it if there are side effects (my GOMAD experience led me to my MD.) But otherwise, stick with it the whole time. Don't change your plan, don't deviate, and don't try to do "All of the above" - not milk today, beef tomorrow, shakes the day after. One plan, and keep at it.
- Talk to your doctor first, especially if you've got any history of allergy or intolerance issues with food. See above - I probably should have seen the signs of milk issues before I tried squats and milk to gain muscle. If I had, it would have saved me starting back over from scratch once my allergic reactions ended.
In short, to go from "skinny guy" to "built guy" takes consistent calories. I hope those three strategies above give you some idea of how to go about it in your own case. And don't forget to lift.
Monday, March 14, 2016
Don't Eat at Cross Purposes to Your Goal
I see two common errors when people eat on workout days. One occurs with fat loss, the other with muscle gain.
Goal: Fat loss
On days when you train, don't eat any extra to make up for training.
Often I'll hear clients say they eat extra on training days because they don't want to "waste" the workout. Or, they'll say they eat extra to "maximize" the workout. That's well and good when you are trying to gain, but with fat loss, I find it's easier not to adjust. It's applying good information (that there is value in eating to maximize a workout's benefits) in a way that's counter to your goal (using more energy than you take in, through diet and exercise.)
First, part of the goal with fat loss is getting the body to use up some of its energy stores (aka, fat.) So if you work enough to use 20% more energy today and then add in 20% more energy through food, you're really just eating to maintain. You want the extra deficit.
Second, habit and routine plays a big part in steady, sustainable fat loss. Having two routines - a workout day routine and a non-workout day routine - is tougher than having one. It's much easier to build one habit at a time. So build an eating pattern that works towards your goal and sustain that day after day. Eating is homework - if you don't do it, you won't benefit as much from your efforts in the gym. Just don't adjust the amount based on the gym. Adjust it based on your results - if it's working, keep it up. If it's not, move the amount up or down and observe the results.
Goal: Muscle Gain
On days when you train, definitely eat more. But if you're having trouble putting on muscle, it's probably your off days that are doing you in. If you squat heavy and then eat heavy, then have a light day and eat light, you're eating to maintain, not gain. You want to eat more overall.
The comment about habit, above, still applies. You're better off eating one habitual way that leads to your goals than trying to build in multiple eating habits at once.
This doesn't mean workout nutrition doesn't play a role. If you're in the gym for 60-90 minutes and you're eating a light meal before and your next meal some 30-90 minutes after, you might be eating less overall than a non-workout day. You might be missing a chance to eat - instead of a hearty breakfast and a big lunch and a snack you're eating light, sipping some water at the gym, and then eating a big lunch . . . for less overall calories. That on a day where you absolutely don't want to eat less food. A solid workout shake and post-workout shake can fill in the calories you're not getting because you spent that time training, not eating. Make sure you aren't eating less on days you train.
The second issue is under-eating on off days. A lot of lean guys who want to become big guys make this mistake - eat heavy, then eat light, then eat heavy, etc. and get stuck. They'll hit the AYCE place and fill up, then skip breakfast and have a light lunch the next day. Eating is homework, get it done.
Short version: Don't eat at cross purposes to your goal.
Goal: Fat loss
On days when you train, don't eat any extra to make up for training.
Often I'll hear clients say they eat extra on training days because they don't want to "waste" the workout. Or, they'll say they eat extra to "maximize" the workout. That's well and good when you are trying to gain, but with fat loss, I find it's easier not to adjust. It's applying good information (that there is value in eating to maximize a workout's benefits) in a way that's counter to your goal (using more energy than you take in, through diet and exercise.)
First, part of the goal with fat loss is getting the body to use up some of its energy stores (aka, fat.) So if you work enough to use 20% more energy today and then add in 20% more energy through food, you're really just eating to maintain. You want the extra deficit.
Second, habit and routine plays a big part in steady, sustainable fat loss. Having two routines - a workout day routine and a non-workout day routine - is tougher than having one. It's much easier to build one habit at a time. So build an eating pattern that works towards your goal and sustain that day after day. Eating is homework - if you don't do it, you won't benefit as much from your efforts in the gym. Just don't adjust the amount based on the gym. Adjust it based on your results - if it's working, keep it up. If it's not, move the amount up or down and observe the results.
Goal: Muscle Gain
On days when you train, definitely eat more. But if you're having trouble putting on muscle, it's probably your off days that are doing you in. If you squat heavy and then eat heavy, then have a light day and eat light, you're eating to maintain, not gain. You want to eat more overall.
The comment about habit, above, still applies. You're better off eating one habitual way that leads to your goals than trying to build in multiple eating habits at once.
This doesn't mean workout nutrition doesn't play a role. If you're in the gym for 60-90 minutes and you're eating a light meal before and your next meal some 30-90 minutes after, you might be eating less overall than a non-workout day. You might be missing a chance to eat - instead of a hearty breakfast and a big lunch and a snack you're eating light, sipping some water at the gym, and then eating a big lunch . . . for less overall calories. That on a day where you absolutely don't want to eat less food. A solid workout shake and post-workout shake can fill in the calories you're not getting because you spent that time training, not eating. Make sure you aren't eating less on days you train.
The second issue is under-eating on off days. A lot of lean guys who want to become big guys make this mistake - eat heavy, then eat light, then eat heavy, etc. and get stuck. They'll hit the AYCE place and fill up, then skip breakfast and have a light lunch the next day. Eating is homework, get it done.
Short version: Don't eat at cross purposes to your goal.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Link Recommendation: German Volume Training
Henry Croft over at gym-talk.com let me know about an article he's written on German Volume Training. One of my friends (Pete the Fireman) was just asking about this a little while back, so I was really pleased to find a good review of the system.
In short, German Volume Training is 10 sets of 10 reps for major compound exercises. The goal is purely and simply muscle mass. Sets of 10 are considered by many to be the sweet spot of reps for mass gain, volume is critical for mass gain, and 10 sets is ensuring you get that volume.
Folks who have training 5/3/1 with Boring But Big (5 sets of 10) will have some idea of what 10 sets of 10 could be like. The weights seem low, but the sheer volume and short rests mean they need to stay low. But where volume will add mass, GVT will provide the volume.
The article is a really good one - it not only explains and outlines the program, but also provides personal feedback on what training GVT is like.
Here is the article:
German Volume Training Review
You might want to check out the rest of the site, too - there are some interesting interviews with personal trainers, lots of product reviews, and a nice guide to making shakes, too, which even talks about drinking raw eggs. I did that too when pressed for time - it's oddly watery with big lumps in it (the yolks).
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Weight Gain, Jem Finch style
This would absolutely work, if you did it often enough:
"Jem was worn out from a day's water-carrying. There were at least twelve banana peels on the floor by his bed, surrounding an empty milk bottle. "Whatcha stuffin' for?" I asked.
"Coach says if I can gain twenty-five pounds by year after next I can play [football], he said. "This is the quickest way."
- Jem and Scout Finch, in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Chapter 26.
Whole milk + lots of extra calories (healthy ones, even). Twenty five pounds in two years on a diet like that? No problem, even for a very active boy.
"Jem was worn out from a day's water-carrying. There were at least twelve banana peels on the floor by his bed, surrounding an empty milk bottle. "Whatcha stuffin' for?" I asked.
"Coach says if I can gain twenty-five pounds by year after next I can play [football], he said. "This is the quickest way."
- Jem and Scout Finch, in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Chapter 26.
Whole milk + lots of extra calories (healthy ones, even). Twenty five pounds in two years on a diet like that? No problem, even for a very active boy.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Gaining Weight
Over on the (extremely, thoroughly) NSFW blog Chaos & Pain, there are a pair of articles aimed at gaining weight.
For folks trying to lose weight, the very idea that it can be hard to gain weight sounds pretty crazy. Guys who can't gain weight? Lucky guys, right? Eat whatever they want and stay skinny?
That's only great if you want to stay skinny. It's actually a bit of a curse if you don't.
The human body craves homeostasis. Basically, it wants to remain as it is. You have to work hard in the gym to convince it to gain muscles, consistently eat right to either gain or lose weight, and put in the time for cardio work to gain heart and lung fitness. If you don't, or don't do it consistently, your body will not change.
For guys trying to gain weight, putting in that effort to change is key. And these two articles over on Chaos & Pain round up a few ways to put on weight. Some of them are flat-out crazy, but they all point in the direction you want to go - more reps of fork-to-mouth, consistently, and steadily. Eating like it's homework.
Part 1
Part 2
If you are trying to lose weight, the articles are still informative. If you daily diet looks more like these bulking plans than a lean protein + veggies + healthy mix of fats . . . you know what you need to fix!
Again, I'll reiterate the warning - there is an 18 & Up consent button to click for a reason on C&P. Expect gratuitous nudity and curse words all over the place. But the advice is smart and well supported.
For folks trying to lose weight, the very idea that it can be hard to gain weight sounds pretty crazy. Guys who can't gain weight? Lucky guys, right? Eat whatever they want and stay skinny?
That's only great if you want to stay skinny. It's actually a bit of a curse if you don't.
The human body craves homeostasis. Basically, it wants to remain as it is. You have to work hard in the gym to convince it to gain muscles, consistently eat right to either gain or lose weight, and put in the time for cardio work to gain heart and lung fitness. If you don't, or don't do it consistently, your body will not change.
For guys trying to gain weight, putting in that effort to change is key. And these two articles over on Chaos & Pain round up a few ways to put on weight. Some of them are flat-out crazy, but they all point in the direction you want to go - more reps of fork-to-mouth, consistently, and steadily. Eating like it's homework.
Part 1
Part 2
If you are trying to lose weight, the articles are still informative. If you daily diet looks more like these bulking plans than a lean protein + veggies + healthy mix of fats . . . you know what you need to fix!
Again, I'll reiterate the warning - there is an 18 & Up consent button to click for a reason on C&P. Expect gratuitous nudity and curse words all over the place. But the advice is smart and well supported.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Useless hypertrophy
I cannot prove this, but I think this is true.
I don't believe that sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is "useless" or "non-functional" hypertrophy.
First, what is hypertrophy, and sarcoplasmic hypertrophy? Look here first. Short version? Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is an increase in the "fluid" mass of your muscles, rather than an increase in the size of the muscle fibers themselves.
Why do I think this? My reasoning is simple - if it's useless, why does your body do it?
Think of it this way - your body generally has a good reason to act the way it does. Sometimes it does some entirely non-helpful things, like have allergic reactions or have your immune system overcompensate. But even then it's triggered by something, and the reaction makes sense even if it's not helpful. For example, muscle costs more energy to maintain, fat less. Therefore the body holds on to fat easily and sheds muscle mass easily. Keep doing the same motion over and over? Your body adjusts your posture to that position and becomes more and more efficient at using energy to do that motion - which is why 1 mile is hard to run de-trained but ultramarathon runners crank out 26.2 miles like it was a warmup. Lift a heavy weight? You adapt enough to lift that weight and a little bit more, but not more than that.
So, if what your body does is generally useful, and it's usually efficient. So why would it respond to weight training with non-functional muscle mass?
That muscle mass is metabolically costly to create.
The muscle mass is costly to maintain.
So, again, why would it do this if it was useless?
My belief is that this hypertrophy isn't useless; it's adjust adapted to how you train. This hypertrophy must serve a purpose - either as preparation for increased muscle fiber size, or increased fuel storage to do more reps, better leverage (which makes higher reps easier), etc. It may not be as useful for some purposes (such as explosive lifting, jumping, etc.) and may be contrary to your goals (extra size equals extra weight, which is bad in weight class sports). But it's not useless. I don't believe your body would spend so much energy creating and maintaining muscle of any kind if it was useless.
This muscle, by the way, is probably part of the origin of the "big bulk muscles" versus "lean, toned muscle" myth - it's easier to get sarcoplasmic hypertrophy with higher reps than with low reps or long, low-tension exercises. So people training for strength or endurance don't get so much of it, creating an association between the idea that big muscles aren't strong ones, or that weights always create that kind of muscle.
For more on this subject, check out this prior post: The Myth of Non-Functional Hypertrophy, where I discuss an article by Kelly Baggett.
I don't believe that sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is "useless" or "non-functional" hypertrophy.
First, what is hypertrophy, and sarcoplasmic hypertrophy? Look here first. Short version? Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is an increase in the "fluid" mass of your muscles, rather than an increase in the size of the muscle fibers themselves.
Why do I think this? My reasoning is simple - if it's useless, why does your body do it?
Think of it this way - your body generally has a good reason to act the way it does. Sometimes it does some entirely non-helpful things, like have allergic reactions or have your immune system overcompensate. But even then it's triggered by something, and the reaction makes sense even if it's not helpful. For example, muscle costs more energy to maintain, fat less. Therefore the body holds on to fat easily and sheds muscle mass easily. Keep doing the same motion over and over? Your body adjusts your posture to that position and becomes more and more efficient at using energy to do that motion - which is why 1 mile is hard to run de-trained but ultramarathon runners crank out 26.2 miles like it was a warmup. Lift a heavy weight? You adapt enough to lift that weight and a little bit more, but not more than that.
So, if what your body does is generally useful, and it's usually efficient. So why would it respond to weight training with non-functional muscle mass?
That muscle mass is metabolically costly to create.
The muscle mass is costly to maintain.
So, again, why would it do this if it was useless?
My belief is that this hypertrophy isn't useless; it's adjust adapted to how you train. This hypertrophy must serve a purpose - either as preparation for increased muscle fiber size, or increased fuel storage to do more reps, better leverage (which makes higher reps easier), etc. It may not be as useful for some purposes (such as explosive lifting, jumping, etc.) and may be contrary to your goals (extra size equals extra weight, which is bad in weight class sports). But it's not useless. I don't believe your body would spend so much energy creating and maintaining muscle of any kind if it was useless.
This muscle, by the way, is probably part of the origin of the "big bulk muscles" versus "lean, toned muscle" myth - it's easier to get sarcoplasmic hypertrophy with higher reps than with low reps or long, low-tension exercises. So people training for strength or endurance don't get so much of it, creating an association between the idea that big muscles aren't strong ones, or that weights always create that kind of muscle.
For more on this subject, check out this prior post: The Myth of Non-Functional Hypertrophy, where I discuss an article by Kelly Baggett.
Friday, May 6, 2011
2 Clean Bulking Foods
Here are some high-calorie solutions for skinny folks looking to pack on muscle. All of these are whole foods, most of them are pretty "clean" - no trans fats, little or no processing, etc. Note this isn't "low fat" or "low carb" and isn't intended to be. If you want to gain muscle, you have to take in a lot of calories. Here are some (easy) ways to do it.
Disclaimer - I eat most of these foods. I often eat a fair amount of them. I don't have a nice track record of sudden gains to show you; it took a long time and a lot of eating and lifting to get where I am. Finally, I spend at least 1/4 of any given year dieting down to compete, and probably another 1/4 to 1/2 eating at maintenance so I can stay within an easy cut of my weight class. But I love food, and I love a good excuse to pack in a lot of it without regretting a lot of processed crap the next day.
Dried Fruit: Dried fruit is a fat-loss no-no. Dehydrated fruit leaves all the sugars but reduces the overall volume of food. You could eat maybe 1-2 peaches before you feel like you've eaten enough, but you can knock off a dozen dried peaches without really filling up. A fat loss no-no equals a weight gain goldmine.
For example, a cup of raisins - pretty much two handfuls - is almost 115g of carbohydrates and over 400 kcals.
Dried fruit can be a bit too sweet by itself, though, so you can add some nuts.
Nuts: Mostly fat, these are extremely calorie-dense foods. Low volume, high calorie, easy to eat = easy way to get extra calories.
For example, a cup of almonds is 820 kcals, and has 30g of protein and almost 17g of fiber. Peanuts (not actually a nut, but still . . .) are almost 875 kcals for the same volume, with 40g of protein and almost 14g of fiber.
A cup is a lot of nuts for one sitting, but not over a day. Measure it out and add it in.
If you're trying to put on weight but can't seem to get in enough food, take a look at those two. Calorie-dense, easy to eat, portable, and great together or separately.
Disclaimer - I eat most of these foods. I often eat a fair amount of them. I don't have a nice track record of sudden gains to show you; it took a long time and a lot of eating and lifting to get where I am. Finally, I spend at least 1/4 of any given year dieting down to compete, and probably another 1/4 to 1/2 eating at maintenance so I can stay within an easy cut of my weight class. But I love food, and I love a good excuse to pack in a lot of it without regretting a lot of processed crap the next day.
Dried Fruit: Dried fruit is a fat-loss no-no. Dehydrated fruit leaves all the sugars but reduces the overall volume of food. You could eat maybe 1-2 peaches before you feel like you've eaten enough, but you can knock off a dozen dried peaches without really filling up. A fat loss no-no equals a weight gain goldmine.
For example, a cup of raisins - pretty much two handfuls - is almost 115g of carbohydrates and over 400 kcals.
Dried fruit can be a bit too sweet by itself, though, so you can add some nuts.
Nuts: Mostly fat, these are extremely calorie-dense foods. Low volume, high calorie, easy to eat = easy way to get extra calories.
For example, a cup of almonds is 820 kcals, and has 30g of protein and almost 17g of fiber. Peanuts (not actually a nut, but still . . .) are almost 875 kcals for the same volume, with 40g of protein and almost 14g of fiber.
A cup is a lot of nuts for one sitting, but not over a day. Measure it out and add it in.
If you're trying to put on weight but can't seem to get in enough food, take a look at those two. Calorie-dense, easy to eat, portable, and great together or separately.
Friday, February 18, 2011
I haven't had time to write any useful content recently, but I did have time to read some. I wanted to post this article link to ensure I didn't lose it.
A Cold Slap In the Newbie Face: Recover More Grow More by Mark Rippetoe
It's exactly what it is billed to be - a hard no-nonsense, deliberately vulgar and direct message to young trainees. Basically, no one cares about your abs when you're skinny, they care about them when you have actual size and strength and muscle. You need to forget about being "lean" and worry about getting big and strong first. It's not about being a pro bodybuilder, it's about getting big and strong when it's the easiest for you to do so, and then working on the details.
It's one of those things you wish you had someone tell you when you were younger, but recognize that you might have argued back instead of just shutting up and listening.
A Cold Slap In the Newbie Face: Recover More Grow More by Mark Rippetoe
It's exactly what it is billed to be - a hard no-nonsense, deliberately vulgar and direct message to young trainees. Basically, no one cares about your abs when you're skinny, they care about them when you have actual size and strength and muscle. You need to forget about being "lean" and worry about getting big and strong first. It's not about being a pro bodybuilder, it's about getting big and strong when it's the easiest for you to do so, and then working on the details.
It's one of those things you wish you had someone tell you when you were younger, but recognize that you might have argued back instead of just shutting up and listening.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Building Mass without getting fat
Building Mass and Strength Part 1
by Paul Carter
This is a great article about putting on some mass. It's not the usual "eat until you puke" approach, nor is it too complicated or too vague. It's got a good, simple, reasonable way for someone to start adding food to add some size.
by Paul Carter
This is a great article about putting on some mass. It's not the usual "eat until you puke" approach, nor is it too complicated or too vague. It's got a good, simple, reasonable way for someone to start adding food to add some size.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
GOMAD
GOMAD is an acronym for "A Gallon Of Milk A Day." Specifically, whole milk. 3.25% fat.
Do what? You read that right. You drink a gallon of milk a day, 7 days a week. It is a nutritional centerpiece of a few workouts. These famously include Starting Strength (frequently reference in this blog) and 20-Rep Squats and Randall Strossen's Super Squats. It'll work on any heavy training program, assuming it's built around basic, compound exercises. Squats, deadlifts, pullups, bench presses...not leg extensions, concentration curls, lat raises, and tricep pressdowns.
Who is this for? Basically, underweight trainees trying to gain weight. You drink a gallon of milk a day, on top of your other caloric intake. It's not a substitute for other foods, you add it. If you're trying to lose weight, if you're allergic to milk or opposed to drinking it for religious or because you're a vegetarian, or if you're lactose intolerant and can't abide the lactase pills...it's probably not for you. Some trainees have claimed they lean out on GOMAD.
So what's in a GOMAD? According to several online calorie counting sites, it has:
Calories: 2,342 kcals
Fat: 126.9 grams
Carbohydrates: 176.5 grams
Protein: 125.7 grams
And more than 4 grams of calcium and 5.5 grams of potassium.
It's also a whole food. Proponents claim it has more of a growth benefit than eating the same number of grams of protein, fats, and carbohydrates. Some other factor or combination of factors seems to make it especially effective when combined with a regular diet and heavy lifting.
What about you? My personal experience with GOMAD is limited. I'd tried it in the past, but only succeeded in discovering I got an allergic reaction. I tried smaller amounts of milk, but I got the same symptoms (minus the swelling) on a smaller scale. I finally gave up on dairy altogether, although I'll sometimes take the pain in order to have some cheese or a milk-based meal. So I can't personally attest to its value...but I'm happy to tell you about it. You can decide for yourself if it's worth trying.
Do what? You read that right. You drink a gallon of milk a day, 7 days a week. It is a nutritional centerpiece of a few workouts. These famously include Starting Strength (frequently reference in this blog) and 20-Rep Squats and Randall Strossen's Super Squats. It'll work on any heavy training program, assuming it's built around basic, compound exercises. Squats, deadlifts, pullups, bench presses...not leg extensions, concentration curls, lat raises, and tricep pressdowns.
Who is this for? Basically, underweight trainees trying to gain weight. You drink a gallon of milk a day, on top of your other caloric intake. It's not a substitute for other foods, you add it. If you're trying to lose weight, if you're allergic to milk or opposed to drinking it for religious or because you're a vegetarian, or if you're lactose intolerant and can't abide the lactase pills...it's probably not for you. Some trainees have claimed they lean out on GOMAD.
So what's in a GOMAD? According to several online calorie counting sites, it has:
Calories: 2,342 kcals
Fat: 126.9 grams
Carbohydrates: 176.5 grams
Protein: 125.7 grams
And more than 4 grams of calcium and 5.5 grams of potassium.
It's also a whole food. Proponents claim it has more of a growth benefit than eating the same number of grams of protein, fats, and carbohydrates. Some other factor or combination of factors seems to make it especially effective when combined with a regular diet and heavy lifting.
What about you? My personal experience with GOMAD is limited. I'd tried it in the past, but only succeeded in discovering I got an allergic reaction. I tried smaller amounts of milk, but I got the same symptoms (minus the swelling) on a smaller scale. I finally gave up on dairy altogether, although I'll sometimes take the pain in order to have some cheese or a milk-based meal. So I can't personally attest to its value...but I'm happy to tell you about it. You can decide for yourself if it's worth trying.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
What's the best routine for X?
The Best Routine
A very frequent post on any exercise forum will look like this:
"What's the best routine for gaining (muscle mass/strength/size)?"
The parenthesis can be filled with other, similar items. "Bigger arms." "Bigger shoulders." What it comes down to is getting bigger and stronger.
Other posts will say "I'm just starting out, what should I do?" or something similar. Again, it's bigger and stronger.
I've answered my fair share of these. Here is the ready-made answer for cut-and-paste:
To gain (muscle mass/strength/size), you have to lift heavy weights, eat a caloric surplus, and rest. You need all three. Lifting heavy weights provides your body with a growth stimulus. The caloric surplus provides your body with fuel to react to that stimulus. And your body grows when you rest after training, not while you're training. So basically you lift heavy, eat well and often, and then sleep deeply and long.
Onto the specifics.
Lift heavy. You've got a lot of choices. You could make your own routine, or follow a published one. Or you could get a good strength coach with a track record of strong clients. The easiest path is to follow a published routine. Fortunately, there are some really good ones available free. In no particular order, here are some I've seen recommended over and over.
Workout Less & Achieve More by Mike Mahler. This one combines a few basic lifts with some fat-burning Tabata intervals.
Starting Strength, by Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore. A famous routine with a long track record of success. It's based on three exercises a day, for heavy sets of 5 reps, done three times a week. You can read about it in its wiki, or just buy the book. You can read my review for more.
20 Rep Squats. An old routine, based on doing high-rep back squats with progressively heavier weight plus some extra exercises.
JV Askeem's Quality Series. A series of push/pull/squat routines. All very simple but excellent. No extraneous exercises, sets of 5 reps, and three days a week of lifting.
Stronglifts 5 x 5. This routine is based on squats, deadlifts, and presses. It's also available as a PDF and comes with its own diet suggestions. Also sets of 5 reps and three days a week of lifting.
Westside for Skinny Bastards 3. A template for athletes based on a famous powerlifting gym's workout principles. It mixes low-rep lifts for strength (sets of 3 to 5 reps) with medium reps (8-12 reps) and high reps (12-15 reps) for assistance exercises. It aims at building strength and size and strength-endurance all at once. The "washed-up meathead" template is especially good for non-athletes. If you simply must have curls in your workout, this is the one to do. Also available on PDF.
You can also buy a book with a routine - I'd recommend Nate Green's Built For Show, Eric Cressey's Maximum Strength, Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove's New Rules of Lifting, or John Berardi's Scrawny to Brawny, which also includes diet advice.
You'll notice all those routines have only a few exercises per day. That's a feature, not a bug. When in doubt, lift less rather than more. You don't need to pile on more and more exercises. If you squat heavy, deadlift heavy, do heavy chinups and bench presses...you'll grow. You don't need dozens of extra exercises...they'll just make you tired and add nothing to your growth.
You need to do these exercises correctly - regardless of what program you choose, find a good strength coach and learn the lifts. And buy Starting Strength and study its technique advice.
Now you could make your own routine, but if you really need to ask how to get bigger, you're admitting you don't know how. It's nothing to be embarrassed about. Just do a published routine written by someone who does know how, or find a strength coach. Not just a personal trainer at the local big-box chain gym, but a coach who has a track record of improving people's strength and fitness. It's better to look for a powerlifting gym, an athletic training center, or a private gym. Just call them and ask if they take non-athletes or non-competitive lifters; it doesn't hurt to ask and many of them are happy to take anyone who will work hard.
The only other critical factor is that you must log your workouts. Write it all down - what you lifted, how long you rested, how you felt. All of it. This isn't negotiable unless you don't really want to succeed.
Eat a caloric surplus. Again, you've got a lot of choices, but they all boil down to "eat a lot of food." You can't just eat anything, in any amount, whenever you want to. But you do need to eat. You need to take in lots of protein, at least 2g per kg of bodyweight, or more commonly 1g per pound of bodyweight. That's a very common recommendation...you'll see higher but not often see lower. You need a lot of quality protein to grow.
Do eat often - every 2-3 hours, have a meal with plenty of lean protein. After you workout, drink a protein shake.
Knowing what to eat is tough, and diet is always the hardest portion of training. Here are some places you can start:
Mark's Daily Apple's "Primal Eating Plan"
Dr. Berardi's The 7 Rules of Good Nutrition
Or check out this post
Maximum Strength and Stronglifts 5x5 come with specific eating advice. Starting Strength recommends GOMAD - A Gallon Of (Whole) Milk A Day, plus a full complement of 5-6 meals a day. So does the 20 Rep Squats program.
Stay away from any plans that call for steep caloric reduction and low-fat eating. You're trying to gain muscle and strength, not wither away! You'll need a big surplus on the days you train to encourage your body to grow.
Get your rest. You don't get bigger and stronger in the gym. You get weaker and tired in the gym, and you grow bigger and stronger while you sleep. Don't go lift extra weights on your days off, or run a few miles for bonus cardio. Get your sleep, at least 8 hours a night if at all possible. Take it easy on your days off. You grow when you rest, you recover when you rest. If you keep pushing hard between workouts, you'll slow down or stop your gains. You lift heavy enough to trigger an adaptation, eat enough to fuel the adaptation, and then when you sleep your body will make the most of those and supercompensate.
But what if I'm too big and want to get smaller?
If you're already big and want to lose weight, you can still follow the advice above - just ignore the "caloric surplus" and aim for a "caloric deficit." Read the same diet plans, just don't err on the side of too much food.
Really, that's it - lift heavy, eat a lot, and rest plenty. The specifics get tricky, but if you pick any of those workout plans and lift hard, and get your rest and eat your protein (or drink your milk, or both)...you'll have done all you really need to do to ensure growth. You don't need a lot of fancy supplements (aside from a good protein powder.) Save those for when simply eating and lifting won't do it.
A very frequent post on any exercise forum will look like this:
"What's the best routine for gaining (muscle mass/strength/size)?"
The parenthesis can be filled with other, similar items. "Bigger arms." "Bigger shoulders." What it comes down to is getting bigger and stronger.
Other posts will say "I'm just starting out, what should I do?" or something similar. Again, it's bigger and stronger.
I've answered my fair share of these. Here is the ready-made answer for cut-and-paste:
To gain (muscle mass/strength/size), you have to lift heavy weights, eat a caloric surplus, and rest. You need all three. Lifting heavy weights provides your body with a growth stimulus. The caloric surplus provides your body with fuel to react to that stimulus. And your body grows when you rest after training, not while you're training. So basically you lift heavy, eat well and often, and then sleep deeply and long.
Onto the specifics.
Lift heavy. You've got a lot of choices. You could make your own routine, or follow a published one. Or you could get a good strength coach with a track record of strong clients. The easiest path is to follow a published routine. Fortunately, there are some really good ones available free. In no particular order, here are some I've seen recommended over and over.
Workout Less & Achieve More by Mike Mahler. This one combines a few basic lifts with some fat-burning Tabata intervals.
Starting Strength, by Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore. A famous routine with a long track record of success. It's based on three exercises a day, for heavy sets of 5 reps, done three times a week. You can read about it in its wiki, or just buy the book. You can read my review for more.
20 Rep Squats. An old routine, based on doing high-rep back squats with progressively heavier weight plus some extra exercises.
JV Askeem's Quality Series. A series of push/pull/squat routines. All very simple but excellent. No extraneous exercises, sets of 5 reps, and three days a week of lifting.
Stronglifts 5 x 5. This routine is based on squats, deadlifts, and presses. It's also available as a PDF and comes with its own diet suggestions. Also sets of 5 reps and three days a week of lifting.
Westside for Skinny Bastards 3. A template for athletes based on a famous powerlifting gym's workout principles. It mixes low-rep lifts for strength (sets of 3 to 5 reps) with medium reps (8-12 reps) and high reps (12-15 reps) for assistance exercises. It aims at building strength and size and strength-endurance all at once. The "washed-up meathead" template is especially good for non-athletes. If you simply must have curls in your workout, this is the one to do. Also available on PDF.
You can also buy a book with a routine - I'd recommend Nate Green's Built For Show, Eric Cressey's Maximum Strength, Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove's New Rules of Lifting, or John Berardi's Scrawny to Brawny, which also includes diet advice.
You'll notice all those routines have only a few exercises per day. That's a feature, not a bug. When in doubt, lift less rather than more. You don't need to pile on more and more exercises. If you squat heavy, deadlift heavy, do heavy chinups and bench presses...you'll grow. You don't need dozens of extra exercises...they'll just make you tired and add nothing to your growth.
You need to do these exercises correctly - regardless of what program you choose, find a good strength coach and learn the lifts. And buy Starting Strength and study its technique advice.
Now you could make your own routine, but if you really need to ask how to get bigger, you're admitting you don't know how. It's nothing to be embarrassed about. Just do a published routine written by someone who does know how, or find a strength coach. Not just a personal trainer at the local big-box chain gym, but a coach who has a track record of improving people's strength and fitness. It's better to look for a powerlifting gym, an athletic training center, or a private gym. Just call them and ask if they take non-athletes or non-competitive lifters; it doesn't hurt to ask and many of them are happy to take anyone who will work hard.
The only other critical factor is that you must log your workouts. Write it all down - what you lifted, how long you rested, how you felt. All of it. This isn't negotiable unless you don't really want to succeed.
Eat a caloric surplus. Again, you've got a lot of choices, but they all boil down to "eat a lot of food." You can't just eat anything, in any amount, whenever you want to. But you do need to eat. You need to take in lots of protein, at least 2g per kg of bodyweight, or more commonly 1g per pound of bodyweight. That's a very common recommendation...you'll see higher but not often see lower. You need a lot of quality protein to grow.
Do eat often - every 2-3 hours, have a meal with plenty of lean protein. After you workout, drink a protein shake.
Knowing what to eat is tough, and diet is always the hardest portion of training. Here are some places you can start:
Mark's Daily Apple's "Primal Eating Plan"
Dr. Berardi's The 7 Rules of Good Nutrition
Or check out this post
Maximum Strength and Stronglifts 5x5 come with specific eating advice. Starting Strength recommends GOMAD - A Gallon Of (Whole) Milk A Day, plus a full complement of 5-6 meals a day. So does the 20 Rep Squats program.
Stay away from any plans that call for steep caloric reduction and low-fat eating. You're trying to gain muscle and strength, not wither away! You'll need a big surplus on the days you train to encourage your body to grow.
Get your rest. You don't get bigger and stronger in the gym. You get weaker and tired in the gym, and you grow bigger and stronger while you sleep. Don't go lift extra weights on your days off, or run a few miles for bonus cardio. Get your sleep, at least 8 hours a night if at all possible. Take it easy on your days off. You grow when you rest, you recover when you rest. If you keep pushing hard between workouts, you'll slow down or stop your gains. You lift heavy enough to trigger an adaptation, eat enough to fuel the adaptation, and then when you sleep your body will make the most of those and supercompensate.
But what if I'm too big and want to get smaller?
If you're already big and want to lose weight, you can still follow the advice above - just ignore the "caloric surplus" and aim for a "caloric deficit." Read the same diet plans, just don't err on the side of too much food.
Really, that's it - lift heavy, eat a lot, and rest plenty. The specifics get tricky, but if you pick any of those workout plans and lift hard, and get your rest and eat your protein (or drink your milk, or both)...you'll have done all you really need to do to ensure growth. You don't need a lot of fancy supplements (aside from a good protein powder.) Save those for when simply eating and lifting won't do it.
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