Hey guys, I'm about 145 pounds with around 6-7% of fat all year and would like to beef up while staying pretty lean. Any tips? I'm a small-frame guy and I'm not too tall.


I eat quite often chicken, rice, pasta (spaghetti, macaroni, etc.), some fish, red meat whenever I can. For breakfast, I sometimes eat eggs with a few toasts.

Not super keen on veggies but I'm working it. I take a few protein bars once in a while but I tend to not take as much as I would because it makes my stomach upset. I take some protein powder about once per week.

I workout about 2 times per week for now but would like to go more (like 4/week). My workout lasts about 1 hour to 1.5 hour and it's quite intense.
I don't do a lot of cardio to not loose too much weight.

My daily calorie intake is about 2200-2500.

Post an example of your workout and we can see if we can help.

This is a battle that is hard to fight...getting bigger while staying lean. Generally speaking, you need to increase your protein intake, along with some clean carbs, and lift as heavy as possible while still staying in the 8-10 rep range. You also need to make sure you give yourself plenty of rest. For a "hardgainer" like you, most people will tell you not to train the same bodypart more than once per week, otherwise you are tearing down as fast as you build up.



Arttie

thanks

I was in the same boat in my 20's to mid 30's. At 28 I weighed 155 and was 6'0 tall. I went on a 5,000 calorie diet for three months and gained 3 lbs. I got tired of eating that much so I backed off. I slowly moved up to 170 over the next few years. Finally at 38 my metabolism started to slow and I now weigh 195 and have to watch what I eat so it doesn't increase. The sucky part is, my knee hurts so bad I can do very little cardio. Much of it has to do with body type, worry more about being in shape and slowly you will get there.