How to Gain Weight and Build Muscle
So you wanna put on some lean muscle mass. And you want to do it within the context of the Primal Blueprint, but aren’t sure where to start. It’s a common question and it’s about time I addressed it head on.
As I’ve made pretty clear, our ultimate goal is to achieve positive gene expression, functional strength, optimum health, and extended longevity. In other words: To make the most out of the particular gene set you inherited. These are my end goals, and I’ve modeled the PB Laws with them in mind. But that doesn’t mean packing on extra muscle can’t happen with additional input. After I retired from a life of chronic cardio and started living Primally, I added 15 pounds of muscle, while keeping low body fat levels without really trying, so it’s absolutely possible for a hardgainer to gain some. The question is how much and at what expense?
I’d be the first to tell you that lean body mass is healthier than adipose tissue. Generally, the more lean mass a person has, the longer and better they live. But to increase mass at the expense of agility, strength, or speed is, in my opinion, counterproductive. What would Grok do – go for enormous biceps or the ability to haul a carcass back to camp? Unless you’re a bodybuilder (nothing wrong with that, mind you; it’s just not my focus), I can’t advise simply packing on size without a proportional increase in actual strength. Those bulging biceps might look good on the beach, but then again, so does the body that comes with keeping up with the younger guys, knocking out twenty pull-ups in a row, and lifting twice your bodyweight. Form is best paired with a healthy serving of function. The two are quite delicious together, and, luckily, following the PB allows us to get both without sacrificing either.
Of course, we’re all built a little differently. The basic building blocks are the same in everyone, but sexual reproduction (as opposed to asexual reproduction) has the funny habit of producing unique genetics and small variations that affect the way we respond to our environments. It’s why some people are short and some are tall, or why some of us respond better to carbohydrates than others. Even though we all pretty much operate the same way, there IS a range of possible outcomes that is proscribed by your direct ancestors. By that same token, some people just naturally have more muscle mass. They’re usually innately more muscular than the average person, and putting more on through resistance training is often an easy task. Then there are those who can’t seem to gain a pound: the hardgainers. They might be increasing strength, but it doesn’t seem to translate into visible muscle mass. Now, my initial advice for a hardgainer is this – don’t worry too much about it! As long as you’re getting stronger, you’re doing it right.
Let’s face it, though. You’ve probably heard that enough already. It’s fun being the lanky guy at the gym who can lift more than most, but you’re dead set on bulking up (who doesn’t like a bit more muscle to go along with that strength?), and you want to do it in a Primal context. Besides, continuing to increase strength will eventually require increasing size. To do so, you have to target the very same anabolic hormones that others use to get big, only with even more enthusiasm and drive. Like I said, we all have similar engines, but some require more fuel and more efficient driving (sorry for the corny analogy). Activating these hormones will work for anyone, provided they work hard and eat enough food.
The main hormones that contribute to muscle anabolism are testosterone, growth hormone (GH), and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). A little more about each and how to utilize them:
Testosterone
Crazy bodybuilders don’t inject themselves with anabolic steroid hormones that are based on testosterone for nothing. Among other roles, testosterone is an important muscle-building growth factor that favorably affects protein synthesis in addition to working with other hormones (like GH and IGF-1) to improve their function (more on this later). If you want to increase strength and build muscle, testosterone is absolutely required (don’t worry, though: no injections necessary!).
Growth Hormone
It’s right there in the name, isn’t it? Growth hormone. It helps muscle grow and, perhaps more importantly, it burns body fat. After all, leaning out is a big part of building muscle (or else you’ll just look puffy) and GH will help you do it.
Insulin-like Growth Factor 1
IGF-1 is extremely similar in effect to GH, as it should be – GH stimulates IGF-1 production in the liver. In fact, it’s suspected that IGF-1 is actually responsible for most of the “growth-promoting effects of circulating GH.”
Anabolic hormones all work together. In fact, to maximize their muscle-building potential, you must have all three present. Testosterone increases IGF-1, but only in the presence of GH. GH promotes skeletal muscle cell fusion independent of IGF-1, but the two are most effective in concert. Luckily for you, the types of exercises that stimulate the secretion of one will generally stimulate the secretion of the others. Funny how that works out, huh?
Enter The Central Nervous System
In order for your body to start pumping out these delicious anabolic hormones, you must first give it a reason to do so. I might even say you should give your genes a reason to express themselves. The most effective way to do this is by notifying the central nervous system. Now, the CNS can be a stubborn bastard, but he’s all you got when it comes to interpreting stimuli and relaying messages to the rest of the body. He’s not easily perturbed, and he won’t bother if you aren’t serious. If you insist on doing nothing but light aerobics or tiny isolation exercises, your CNS will barely notice. If you want to get your CNS’ attention, pick up the intensity. Run some sprints or do some heavy lifting. When you do an exercise like the squat with a heavy weight, all hands are on deck. Your CNS realizes that some serious exercising is going down and notifies the hypothalamus, which in turn talks to your pituitary gland. This tiny – but vital – member of the endocrine system is the gland that dispatches luteinizing hormones to tell the testicles to secrete testosterone. It’s also the gland that synthesizes and secretes GH. IGF-1 is mostly produced by the liver, but its production is facilitated by the presence of GH, so we can see that it all comes down to CNS stimulation. Chronic cardio doesn’t affect your CNS in any meaningful way, so that’s why we tend to avoid it; vigorous sprints, hard and heavy lifting, and anaerobic output will get its attention, so do plenty of these to maximize muscle growth.
Cortisol: A Hormone to Avoid
Promoting muscle and strength growth also requires avoiding excess amounts of catabolic (muscle wasting) hormones like cortisol. Cortisol is the major stress hormone, and it exists for a very legitimate reason (dealing with “flight or fight” incidents, inadequate sleep, anxiety), but in large amounts cortisol increases serum amino acids by breaking down muscle, inhibiting protein synthesis and reducing amino acid uptake by the muscles – all awful things for muscle growth. Compounding the problem even further, the broken-down muscle is converted into blood glucose, which then raises insulin secretion and increases insulin resistance while promoting fat storage. And we all know how great those muscles look with a nice layer of adipose tissue covering them up! On a serious note, most people following the PB already minimize cortisol by getting plenty of sleep and reducing stress, but if you’re preoccupied with building muscle mass and engaging in extended workout sessions to achieve it, avoiding excess cortisol can get tricky: excessive exercise without enough recovery time actually increases cortisol. It makes sense (think of it like your body’s telling you it needs a day or two off), but the desire for more muscle mass drives many to work out to the point of counter-productivity. Just be careful, and give yourself at least a day of rest after a particularly grueling session.
Lift Really Heavy Things
If you haven’t figured it out already, you’re going to be doing some heavy lifting in order to put on lean mass. The foundation of your routine should be the big compound lifts: squats, deadlifts, presses (bench and overhead), pull-ups, rows, dips, snatches, power cleans, clean and jerks. These engage multiple muscles while triggering your hormonal response systems. Bodyweight stuff, while valuable, simply isn’t going to get you the strength and mass increases you’re looking for. Testosterone, while useful, only gets really anabolic when you start lifting. You need to get under some decent weight, enough so that your CNS and endocrine system are blasted, but not so much that you can’t maintain proper form.
A popular routine is the 5×5 method. Popularized by programs like StrongLifts and Starting Strength, doing compound lifts for five sets of five reps allows you to strike a balance between strength building and superficial muscle hypertrophy. Done this way, your hypertrophy won’t be purely sarcoplasmic, which results in fluid-filled muscles that look big but don’t see a corresponding increase in actual strength. Instead, the 5×5 method promotes myofibrillar hypertrophy: hard, dense muscle fibers that increase strength and size (with no puffiness). That’s real muscle that would make Grok proud.
If you’re lifting heavy and lifting hard, keep your workouts spaced at least a day apart and don’t lift more than 3x/week. Three exercises per session should be perfect. That may not sound like much, but it’ll be plenty if you do it right. Remember, you’re doing big compound movements that will really shock your system, with an emphasis on intensity and power. You don’t want to overwork yourself, release a bunch of cortisol, and set yourself back a few weeks.
Squats and deadlifts are absolutely required. No excuses. They engage the most muscles and produce the biggest hormonal response. They will be the bedrock of your mass building campaign. Most programs recommend doing squats every session, and I tend to agree. You can handle it. Deadlifts are a bit more taxing and so should be relegated to every other workout. So, one week you’ll deadlift once, the next week twice. You can also sub in power cleans for the occasional deadlifts (or do them in addition) if you’re comfortable with such a complex movement. Presses are paramount, both overhead and bench. I’d alternate both types of presses every session. Pull-ups are great, but weighted pull-ups are even better. Same goes for dips. Just try to get one pulling, one pushing, and one squatting exercise in each session.
An example for beginners, with sets coming first in the sequence:
A
Squat 5×5
Pull-ups 5xFailure (add weight if “Failure” is becoming more than 12 reps)
Overhead Press 5×5
B
Squat 5×5
Deadlift 1/2/3×5 (your choice; deadlifts can be incredibly taxing, and with exhaustion comes poor form, so be careful; sometimes it’s better to do a really heavy load for a single set)
Bench Press 5×5
C
Squat 5×5
Pull-ups 5xFailure
Overhead Press 5×5
Do this sequence every week (maybe Monday, Wednesday, Friday) and steadily increase the weight each session. Once you’re making progress, feel free to add in other exercises like dips or more Olympic lifts. For more mass, more lactic “burn” (and more GH secretion), reduce your rest periods between sets or even superset them. If you feel like doing some cardio, stick to sprints once weekly, or even a Crossfit-style metcon (metabolic conditioning) workout, maybe some Tabata burpees. The key is conserving strength and giving your body time to rest and recover for the next round of squats, deadlifts, and presses.
This “program” can be tweaked and altered. Just make sure you’re doing big movements while maintaining extreme intensity and great form. Oh, and always make sure to squat and deadlift. Always. They produce the most testosterone, GH, and IGF-1.
Eat Lots (I Mean Lots) of Plants and Animals
No one would ever call the Primal Blueprint a protein-sparing plan, but you’re going to have to eat even more than before. Stuff yourself. I always say that body composition is 80% diet, and that goes for putting on mass as well as losing fat. You need to provide plenty of protein for all those hormones to synthesize, after all.
- Never let your protein intake go lower than 1g/lb of body weight when you are aiming to add long-term muscle. It’s the building block of muscle, and your body is going to be starving for it.
- Eat plenty of saturated and monounsaturated fat. Fat blunts insulin secretion while increasing testosterone production. Insulin may be useful for stuffing your muscles full of glycogen, but that’s not what you’re going for… right?
- Dietary fat, in conjunction with all the GH you’ll be producing, also spares muscle wasting.
- You may have heard of the popular GOMAD method – Gallon of Milk a Day for easy mass-building. It undoubtedly works, but a gallon of milk isn’t exactly Primal and I can’t recommend it. Instead of milk, why not a dozen eggs a day? ADEAD? If you can manage it, eating them on top of your regularly scheduled meals is a great source of affordable protein, fat, and vitamins (Vitamin A in particular may have pro-anabolic effects).
- Eat often. If you’re going for pure size and strength, fasted workouts and skipped PWO meals may not be the ticket. You’ll burn more fat with the extra GH secretion and existing muscle will be spared, but you may be missing the chance at prime protein synthesis when you fast. A PWO meal of protein and fat will still blunt the insulin secretion and provide fuel for your muscles.
- Increase caloric intake. You’re going to be expending so much energy on the lifts (and you’ll continue to burn through it even on rest days) while eating clean, Primal foods (and keeping insulin low as ever) that fat accumulation shouldn’t be an issue at all. Eat!
- On those days when you do expend a ton of energy – maybe on your metcon or sprint day – having a Primal-friendly starch, like squash or sweet potato, is a decent way to replenish depleted glycogen stores.
- Eat a big piece of fatty meat every single day. Steak, whole chicken, lamb leg, organs, whatever. Just eat a solid piece of animal flesh for a powerful protein infusion on a daily basis.
- A hardgainer is often someone who doesn’t eat enough. Sure, genes play a role, but you can ultimately have a significant say in how those genes rebuild you. To a point. Eat more and lift harder to grab the reins.
I’m a firm believer in the body’s natural ability to achieve proper homeostasis, provided we supply the right environment and the right foods. For some of you, that might mean lower body mass, lower than you’d like. In my opinion, that amount of muscle is probably “right” for you and I wouldn’t recommend going above and beyond to achieve more of it… but I also wouldn’t condemn it, especially if it’s pursued in accordance with the Primal Laws. As for me, I am comfortable where I’m at and tend not to seek added mass (I’m also at a point where lifting heavy increases my risk of injury, and I HATE downtime). But if you are a hard-gainer looking to add a few, as long as it’s not just show muscle and you can actually lift some decent weight and at the very least manipulate your own body weight comfortably, eat those dozen eggs and gain that weight.
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Posted By: Mark Sisson
I would classify myself as an easygainer, but I still benefitted greatly from reading this article. This is an excellent starting point for more research into the area of natural hormone production (This is how I discovered I should avoid Soy). Keep them coming Mr. Sisson!
Hi! I enjoyed this posting and also shared it with my fans on facebook! I have been following the paleo diet (low carb, no grains) since Februar 2010 and lost ~50 pounds (no chronic-cardio, just weekly strenth and daily walks)! Back to my weight 12 (!!!) years ago! I want to promote the paleo diet and HIT (training) as best as I can. Thank you!
Great article. When my protein levels dip much below the 1g/lb. level, I notice a sharp dip in strength. I’d also like to add “Carry, drag, and pull heavy things!” In addition to regular lifting, these types of exercises put a different type of strain on the body, and cause a type of whole body adaptation I don’t think you get otherwise.
This is the way I have been training for the last two months and I have seen an increase in both size and strength, but still I have to learn more about paleo nutrition.
The fact of restricting carbs for the PW meal being a hardgainer is something that did not work for me when I was trying to put more weight on.
Great post,
Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
I welcome all suggestions on the road to get started. I’m female, 45, and weight is at 105 lbs, 5 ft tall, yet I look fat because the bulk of the weight is centered around lower abs, and hips. The past two months I have been at the gym 3-4 times a week with little results (I did drop from 108 to 105) but the INCHES will not come off. I’ve received a lot of ‘misinformation’? on what to do. Now I’m totally confused!
I’ll do 45 mins of high cardio on the elliptical every time I am at the gym in addition to the weights (and I primarily use the free weights – barbells and dumbell exercises). I also was told my carb intake is too high. I know I do not eat enough calories, which is why I cannot understand no loss of inches! My caloric intake is about 500 less maybe more than what I should consume; however, I will say that it is true the bulk of those short calories come from carbs. I was going to try a very low carb diet, but not sure what to do. I had NO energy or strength the last time I tried an Atkins diet and could not work out at all. I need a plan of action. I’m going to order the Primal Blueprint book at Amazon.
In the meantime, high carbs, low carbs? more cardio? or reduce cardio? increase calories (I don’t want an even larger midsection)? Help!
I’m 33 yrs old, 5’10″, 160, 11-12% BF.
Been lifting since college, mixing up split routine, full-body, bodyweight only training, etc. My BW was consistently at 170 until about 8-10 months ago when I started losing weight with no change in calorie intake (right around 2000cal/day). Now I’ve been holding at 160 for the last 6 months.
Would I be considered a hardgainer?
Why are you at a point where lifting heavy things increases your chance of injury? Is it age? Just wondering because in the article you recommend lifting heavy things but then say you don’t…
Cool site, by the way!
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A great article on sound nutrition and training principles for hard-gainers, and the comments are fantastic as well. I do agree that it is important to take in some carbs immediately post-workout as you want to stimulate some insulin release and stop protien-breakdown aftera grueling training session. But how much will depend on the individual. For me, a cup of mixed fruit, (usually berries), some protein and saturated fat are the perfect mix and I’ve managed to retain most of my muscle mass even though I train heavily, (3 – 4 hours a day, a mix of Bikram Yoga and Weights). If you have to train a lot, then you have to eat more, and you have to constantly replenish liver and muscle glycogen. Thanks for sharing all the great information!!!
The best way I find to gain muscle mass is to start the session by lifting really heavy. For example the chest. I would do a bench press of about 60% maximum and lift for 5 reps. I would then move to about 80% and do 3 reps. I would then do my work set for a maximum of 4 reps. decrease the weight by 10% and do 5 reps, decrease again by 10% and do 5 reps.
For the rest of the chest workout I would select a weight I can do for 6-15 reps and really work toward fatigue hitting all angles of the chest.
I would do this for all muscle groups for about 2 months and then switch to a program like Mark described above for a month. This would limit plateaus and make sure you gain a mix of sarcoplasmic (size) muscle and myofibrillar (strength) muscle.
I’ve been doing Stonglifts for 11 weeks and eating in accordance with the BP. I’m a naturally lean (with the unfortunate tendency of story my fat in the sub-Q area… in other words, not ripped) 6’3″ guy with a history of regularly running in the 5-10K range. My starting weight on the program was 185. I am now 207 with a slight drop in body fat (from 12.5% to 11.5%). I can’t laud Stronglifts enough. I’ve progressed to 275 on squats with no injuries or illness (both of which should probably be credited to the BP) and hope to reach 315 in a couple weeks. It’s a great beginners program if you’ve been off for a while and has two subsequent programs (MadCow and SL-Advanced) if you want to keep lifting. The combo of the BP and Stronglifts is an unquestioned success for me… now if only I can get those abs to show a little more…
Ok this might be a bit long but I’d appreciate any help!
I’m in my forth week of Starting Strength and it’s been a battle. The first 10 days I did the GOMAD as best I could (at most 2/3 of the gallon) but it was just creating chaos in my body. At that time I read the PB and this article, so I started eating more meat, eggs, coconut milk, and nuts. About 3-4,000 calories daily. But honestly I don’t think I’m getting stronger at the rate that SS requires. I’ve gained a few pounds but not that much, and for the looks of it it’s a lot of fat. This week I’ve eaten with abandon and added lots of peanut butter (reluctantly but I wanted to know if it helped cause lots of people recommend it). So if I’m doing the lifts, and increasing the weight regularly, and eating like crazy, why would I not be getting stronger at the rate required? and why would I be getting fatter? (I started this knowing I’d gain fat but Mark says in this article that you shouldn’t worry about it if you’re within PB)
Thanks in advance!
Dinner for breakfast I like that. I somehwat do that now but I reserve eggs for the morning time. Going to try and make it a full on dinner meal.
Mark,
My 12 year old son is VERY skinny. I try to feed him primal but dad still eats a SAD diet & gives treats often. Last week I started him on your 4 essential movements 2x week & sprints. He is constantly walking/jogging & not at all inactive but has little strenth or speed. Is this all I should do for him right now?
My whole family are hardgainers. We also have a lot of diabetes in our family. Could the treats (icecream, candy, pizza, chips) be derailing him?
I’m 52 yrs. old, 5’8″, and weigh about 173. I’d like to get to 180/185, have been pretty much a hard gainer most of my life. I’m at a major plateau now and I’m going to try the 5X5 method. Questions:
How much rest between sets recommended?
Best alternatives for pull-ups (two bad shoulders)
Do any specific bi or tri exercises, and if so, 5X5 as well?
Recommended ab exercises?
Protein shake ok after workout vs. solid food?
Thanks….
Mike,
I’m not an expert by any means, but for myself (I’m 26 and by no means a peak athlete), I began with 30 seconds between each set. That time has since risen to 2 minutes between sets on squats, but I just reached 300 so the weight is considerably higher than at the start. I can’t give you any advice on the pullups. As for the bi/tri exercises, I imagine a standard curl and extension exercise would do the trick. I don’t do them, but I admit that I would like to see my arms grow a little to match my legs and shoulders so I might start in a few weeks. I would recommend patterning the progression after the other lifts; i.e. start light, add 5 lbs after each successful completion of a 5×5 lift, and do them every other time you lift. As for the abs, if you’re doing squats and dealifts properly, you probably wont need them. My abs have grown immensely since starting this workout and, from what I have read, unless you build your abs like any other muscle, just reducing belly fat won’t really matter if you’re wanting to show them off. Even if you’re just looking to strengthen your anterior core, the growth I’ve seen in them tells me they’re getting stronger. Finally, as for the shake or solid food question, either should be okay. I would imagine that preference should be given to real solid food, but if you have a shake that isn’t loaded with carbs, you would be fine. Again, this is coming from a 26 year old who studies classical philosophy more than human physiology, but I have seen great results from combining the StrongLifts program with a 80-90% Primal diet. I wish you the best, my friend.
Hello all,
This is my first time visiting this site, looking to gain weight but not at the expense of my health. I know this article is fairly old but I was just curious about how one could consume so many calories from protein sources and still be healthy. I mean two eggs is more than enough cholesterol for an entire day yet he is advocating a dozen. You will have to forgive my ignorance, like I said I am new to this site. I just want to be healthy, so any response that could explain this to me would greatly appreciated.
John,
You need to read more about paleo/primal lifestyle. Cholesterol and fat are not the enemy….
John,
Explore the sight a little more. The documentary FatHead (available on youtube) is also a good place to start. It isn’t Primal per se (Tom Naughton experiments with eating fast food for an entire month to disprove Spurlock’s claims), but it examines the relationship of fat and cholestoral comsumption to health. It’s very good and where I got my start on Primal Blueprint.
*Site lol
I want to eat alot more so I can gain more muscle but I have stomach problems. The source of the problem is still unclear– doctors have been looking into it for 7+ years and still no result. The bottom line is, the more I eat, the more bathroom trouble I have. Bathroom trouble translates to an 1hr+ visit multiple times a day. It’s impossible to eat enough and have enough time to work out with this particular situation.
Protein powders (even egg-protein derived) make me sick, as do protein bars. I use the protein powder because I don’t know what else to use. I hate being sick every time I work out.
tl;dr
To paraphrase my question and save alot of typing– how can I eat 1g protein per lb of lean body mass without feeling like I’ve consumed a ton of food? What protein packed super foods could I eat in a low quantity and achieve the same result without terribly upsetting my stomach?
Anyone looking to gain mass needs to lift heavy and eat big like you mention. The focus should be on compound movements. Too many magazines and websites will give it’s readers the workout of an IFBB pro and tell you this is the best way to gain muscle when it’s not. These guys are already huge. Training should be different when you’re not.
I’m not trying to be an asshole, but I’m not quite sure where this whole 1g per “pound” of BW came from. I have yet to find it in any real scientific literature,apart from fitness magazines and the usual bodybuilding dogma. It’s actually 0.8-1.5g per KG of BW. That’s a big difference! In other words, a 180lb bodybuilder would only need to consume anywhere between 80g- to a maximum of 120g of protein a day, and not 180g to 270g. Allot less than this made up number of 1g per lb of BW! It’s just a waste. I mistakingly followed the 1g/lb of BW for over 10 years until I looked deeper into the subject of nutrition. Remember that too much protein will also trigger your MTOR to up regulate cell production and shorten your telomere strand leading to premature aging…Up your calories by upping your good fats and keep the protein to a minimum to build or maintain lean body mass based off of the 0.8-1.5g per KG of BW calculation. You’ll not only save money and animals, but you’ll look younger doing it! hahahah! P.S. Primal/Paleo nutrition has changed my life!