I want to introduce you all to the latest Mash Mafia sponsored athlete, Corey Reich. Corey is a National level physique competitor having won the 2015 NC NPC State Championships, and he did it drug free. This guys is a wealth of knowledge making his living as a personal trainer. He also owns the company “Carolina Physiques Coach” where he has helped 16 physique and bodybuilding athletes get on the stage. I am hoping that all of you weightlifters and powerlifters can learn a few things from him as well in the nutrition area especially.
Find him on Instagram: @coreyreich
Gaining lean muscle mass
There is a lot of information out there for guys or girls who want to get leaner. What about the person who wants to gain muscle mass but also doesn’t want to get fat? The person who was always skinny or no matter what they ate they couldn’t gain weight. I am here to help you learn how to gain some muscle mass the right way.
Now of course you have to train hard and continue to push yourself everyday in the gym, but it doesn’t stop there. It does involve you staying on top of your nutrition and making sure you get in the right amount of food at the right time of the day. So we need to break this down into three different parts. Training, diet, and supplementation will be the three different areas that you will need to be on point with.
First let’s talk about the training and how to go about making sure we put on some quality muscle. There are tons of different splits out there for you to try and a lot of them will work. What I recommend is you find a routine that you know works best for you and stick to it for 8-12 weeks and do not stray from it. Consistency is key but what about if you don’t know what split is best for you. This is where a coach might come in handy to recommend a split based off your strengths and your weaknesses. A simple split to try would be to train back/biceps on Monday, chest/triceps on Tuesday, legs on Wednesday, shoulders on Thursday, and then a chest/back combo on Friday. Saturday can be used to touch on weak areas or hit legs again. This will insure that every body part has been hit with max effort being applied each day. Try to stick to the rep ranges of 8-12 per set as that is where muscle or hypertrophy seems to occur for most athletes. Try and stick to around 16-24 sets per muscle group, wit beginners starting closer to the 16 sets per muscle group range.
Now let’s move on to nutrition where most of the success will come from. This will be an individually based subject because not everyone has the same metabolism, body structure, age, or genetics. What I recommend is that you do not change a thing in your diet for a week but track your macros (carbs, fats, protein) for each meal every day. Once you have established what you currently intake everyday you know that is your baseline for what you need to eat if you want to stay that body weight. Now from there you need to slowly bump up your caloric intake to where you gain no more than one pound per week. Gaining to fast will lead to too much fat gain and it will be harder when you want to lean back down. I also recommend that your intake of macros be split up at least into a 45% carbs /35% protein/20% fat split. So if you eat 2000 calories in a day you will eat 900 calories from carbs, 700 calories from protein, and 400 calories from fat. This will insure that you fuel your body adequately and not fill it with high fatty unhealthy foods. Stick to complex carbohydrates and lean proteins. Get most of your fats from things like almonds, avocados, natural peanut butter and olive oil.
The icing on the cake will be with adding in some supplementation. These are things I recommend for gaining muscle mass on top of correct nutrition and training because no supplements will work if those things are not up to par. Creatine will help make you stronger and pull water into the muscle cell, which is where you want it. Things like fish oil and a good multivitamin to maintain overall health while trying to pack on some weight. If you have trouble eating all your protein then a good whey protein will help you meet your daily requirements. There is a long list of possible supplements to take and it could be a never-ending one if you had endless funds. The ones I listed I believe are a great start and you can move into more advanced things once you train for a while.
At the end of the day nothing is going to beat hard work and consistency. Once you start on your plan make sure to stick with it day in and day out and I promise you will get the results that you desire. If you guys/girls want extra help or want to kick your muscle building or fat shredding program up a notch feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns. Thanks for reading hope I helped pave a way for you to reach your goals.
Check out the “Mash Squat Every Day” E-Book with 4 twelve week programs for weightlifting, powerlifting, super total, and bodybuilding. Find out more below:
Join Team Mash Mafia for weightlifting, powerlifting, athletic performance, bodybuilding, running, or a hybrid approach. This team is already taking over weightlifting, and I plan on taking over all of the other disciplines one at a time. Check it out below:
This weekend we will be hosting the first “Mash Squat Every Day Learn 2 Lift Clinic” being held at the Mash Compound March 12th! There is still room to Sign up for this seminar, and check out all the rest at the link below-