The lean bulk (introduction)

Without any plans for photo-shoots over the next few months, its given me a great opportunity to concentrate on other fitness/training goals of mine. What I really want to focus on is adding some lean muscle mass to my frame. A lot of people are under the impression that getting bigger is all about the “seafood” diet. You see food, and you eat it. Doing this is the completely wrong approach to adding muscle as your also gonna get fat! Body fat is dead weight and carrying it around is only going to slow you down, a scary fact that may put you off doing this is: once a fat cell is developed it can never be destroyed, it merely shrinks. Contradictory to popular belief, adding muscle without all the body fat isn’t impossible. I know through personal experience it is very achievable, you just need to be smart about the way you eat and train.

Over the next 10 weeks I’m going to be posting regular articles on different aspects of my training, dieting, supplements and workouts that I’m using to help achieve my goal. So keep your eyes peeled to keep updated with my ‘fitness journey’.

Let’s just take a quick look at why a lean bulk is more beneficial over the typical 'get fat and musclely' bulk. You still need to consume more calories than you’re expending, but don’t be under the impression you can produce more muscle just by overfeeding. Sure, the scales may not be going up as fast, but the quality of muscle you’re adding will be 10 times better!

Reasons for a lean bulk:

·         ‘Overfeeding’ wont produce any more muscle than a controlled calorie surplus.

·         Once a fat cell has been created it can’t be destroyed, it merely shrinks. This could result in lifelong fatness.

·         Changing from a full on bulking diet to a cutting (calorie deficit) diet, takes serious dedication! Anyone that’s done this will know exactly what I’m talking about.

·         In the fitness modelling industry a photo-shoot could come about at any time. Nothing worse than losing out on a job because you’re not in shape! (I learnt from this mistake!)

Without further ado, here are my current stats and basic goals outlined for the next 10 weeks:

Current weight: 70.4kg’s
current body fat: 6-8%

1.       Add 2.5kg’s of lean muscle mass over the 10 week period. Without letting my body fat get into double figures.

(To break the above goal down the scales should be increasing by 0.25kg a week)

2.       Power clean 80kg’s for 3 consecutive reps

3.       Complete 2 consecutive sets of 12 reps of ‘Fat Gripz’ pull-ups

Like all great achievements, they start with a plan. Proper planning prevents piss poor performance! To keep your body growing you need to progress and change up your workouts regularly. This is my plan from a training perspective for the next 10 weeks, starting sunday 27/11/11

Phase	Amount of weeks	Training split	Rep range
1	3 weeks	Body part split	10-12
2	3 weeks	Push/pull days	8-10
3	3 weeks	Push/pull days	4-8
4	1 weeks	Active recovery week	15-20

  

I will be breaking down each phase as and when I get to it, presenting each of the workouts in the phase, so watch this space!

In my next blog post I will be covering the supplements I’m using to assist in my training, recovery and performance. Last but not least, if any questions come about over the next 10 weeks please do not hesitate to contact me via email, Facebook or Twitter etc.