For bodybuilding fans,gaining mass is both the best time and the riskiest. While significantly increasing calories is a source of pleasure for many, mass gain should not be confused with abuse. Indeed, people tend to allow themselves more deviations when gaining mass and thus consume more fat. To avoid this kind of mistake, here are a few tips and an example of a diet program.
The goal of mass gain
Mass gain is often a follow-up to a lean period. The aim is to completely change the eating habits by increasing the caloric intake by about 20%. During mass gain, the volume of training should also be increased, taking advantage of the excess food to get more strength and push harder. More intense workouts will break down more muscle fibres, and the high calorie, high protein intake will rebuild the muscles resulting in muscle growth. However, protein is not the only thing that matters when building mass.
Fat plays an important role in the daily calorie count as 1 gram of fat represents 9 calories while 1 gram of protein or carbohydrate represents only 4. Carbohydrates also play an important role in mass gain as they will represent more than half of the diet. They will be a source of energy, but above all of excess calories that can be used by the muscles since they will be stored there in the form of glycogen.
4 dietary advice to follow when gaining mass
- Don't confuse gaining clean mass with gaining fat mass. On social networks, many people post themselves gobbling up kilos and kilos of fast food. Don't do this. For best results, always choose healthy foods, and only allow yourself a few deviations. This will allow you to gain muscle mass and avoid gaining too much body fat.
- Divide your meals. The difficulty in gaining mass is the quantity of food to ingest throughout the day. It will therefore be necessary to change eating habits and divide the 3 common meals into 5 or 6.
- Variety of carbohydrates. They represent a large part of the food in a mass gain. It will therefore be necessary to multiply the sources: fruit and vegetables, cereals, starches. . . or even breads made from oatmeal or wholemeal.
- Don't forget plant proteins. Popular belief has it that only meat and fish contain an abundance of proteins. However, this is not true, there are many foods rich in protein such as legumes (about 25 grams per 100 grams raw), oilseeds which contain nearly 25% protein (walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pine nuts, pistachios . . . ) or algae such as spirulina which beats all records and contains nearly 60g of protein per 100 grams.
Calculating your daily calorie requirements
First of all, the basic metabolism must be calculated using this formula which takes into account gender, age, weight and height:
- Male = + - (6. 75 x Age) + 66. 47
- Woman = + - (4. 67 x Age) + 655. 1
Once the basal metabolic rate is obtained, it must be multiplied by the coefficient corresponding to the physical activity.
- Slightly active=x 1. 1 (office work and low physical activity)
- Slightly active=x 1. 24 (office work and moderate physical activity)
- Very active=x 1. 4 (active work and moderate physical activity)
- Extremely active= x 1. 62 (active work and intensive physical activity)
For mass gain add 10% to 20% of the total target.
Example calculation
- 30 year old male, 1. 8 metres, 80 kilos, very active
Basic metabolism : (13. 75 x80) + (500. 33 x1. 8) - (6.
75 x30) + 66 . 47= 1864. 6
Total daily calorie requirement: 1864.
6 x 1. 4= 261
The daily caloric requirement will be 2610 ckal, to be adjusted according to the objective. In a controlled mass gain we will add about 10% of the total, i. e. : 2610 x 1. 1 =2871.
- 30 year old woman, 1. 7 metres, 60 kilos, very active
Basal metabolic rate : (9. 56 x60) + (184. 96 x1. 7) - (4. 67 x30)
+ 655. 1 = 563. 6 314. 43 140. 1 = 1393
Total daily calorie
requirement: 1393 x 1. 4= 1950. 2
The daily caloric requirement will be 1950. 2 ckal, to be adjusted according to the goal. In a major mass gain, we will add about 15% of the total, i. e. : 1950. 2 x 1. 15 =2242
Example of a mass gain programme
The important thing in a mass gain is to consume more calories than the body needs in order to boost the regeneration of muscle fibres. In these two programmes, the total calories are 2800 for men (about 30 years old and with a high level of physical activity) and 2250 for women (about 30 years old and with a high level of physical activity).
Example male programme 2800 ckal
| Menu | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Oat flakes | 100 gr |
| Vegetable milk | 300 ml |
| Fresh fruit | 2 units |
| Whey protein (optional) / or 2 eggs | 1 dose (25gr) |
| White cheese 0% | 200 gr |
| Peanut butter | 20 gr |
| Whole/complete bread | 1 slice (40 gr) |
| Chicken/turkey scallop | 200 gr |
| Cooked rice | 150 gr |
| Olive oil | 25 gr |
| Cooked legume | 130 gr |
| Fruits | 2 units |
| White cheese 0% (or whey protein) | 200 gr |
| Dried fruit | 30 gr |
| Meat/Fish | 200 gr |
| Potato / Sweet potato | 200 gr |
| Vegetables | Illimited |
| . | 25 gr |
| Fruit | 1 unit |
Example women's program 2300 ckal
| Menu | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Oat flakes | 70 gr |
| Vegetable milk | 250 ml |
| Fresh fruit | 1 units |
| Whey protein (optional) / or 2 eggs | 1 dose (25gr) |
| White cheese 0% | 150 gr |
| Peanut butter | 20 gr |
| Whole/complete bread | 1 slice (40 gr) |
| Chicken/turkey scallop | 200 gr |
| Cooked rice | 100 gr |
| Olive oil | 20 gr |
| Cooked legume | 80 gr |
| Fruits | 1 units |
| White cheese 0% (or whey protein) | 150 gr |
| Dried fruit | 40 gr |
| Meat/Fish | 150 gr |
| Potato / Sweet potato | 150 gr |
| Vegetables | Illimited |
| . | 20 gr |
| Fruit | 1 unit |
3 tips for training when gaining mass
- Take advantage of available energy. Overeating allows your body to build up large stores. Take advantage of this to do heavier, fuller and more intense workouts.
- Monitoring your progress. When building up mass, strength increases rapidly; to work correctly you should therefore note your performance at each training session to monitor your progress, keep motivated and make progress.
- Don't forget the cardio. Even if you shouldn't overdo it to keep the calorie surplus, the cardio is interesting in gaining mass. Cardio helps to: speed up recovery, improve general health, promote muscle growth through increased blood flow, and improve cardiac capacity and vascularization. Many people think that cardio is only useful for lean training, but it can be beneficial for gaining mass by limiting fat gain.