If you’ve been working incredibly hard and have finally achieved 8 pack ab status, you may be thinking of changing your goal set and spending some time working on building more muscle mass.
You know that to lose body fat, you need to be in a calorie deficit to utilize stored fat as a fuel source. To build muscle mass however, you need to be in a calorie surplus to generate this new tissue with.
Obviously these two don’t go together, so you choose to focus on fat loss first. Now that you’ve achieved your goal, you want to maintain those abs, but wonder if it will be possible to do so while building muscle.
Let’s look at what you should consider.
The Rate Of Muscle Growth
The very first thing that you will need to keep in mind if you’re wondering about building muscle while maintaining 8 pack ab status is the rate of muscle growth you will experience.
If you want to pack on lean muscle as fast as you possibly can, expecting to stay just as lean as you are right now is not realistic. As you will want to be maximizing your calorie intake (within reason) so that you do build muscle to your full capacity, this means you may have extra on some days that do get converted into body fat.
As long as you are reasonable with your calorie surplus, you shouldn’t be adding pounds and pounds of fat, but some gain would be expected.
On the other hand, if you do want to stay very lean, then accept the fact that your rate of muscle growth will be sacrificed. You’ll be building muscle to the tune of one pound or less per month, so won’t be seeing dramatic changes in any significant time frame.
As long as you can keep this in mind, you can help yourself stay more realistic.
The Type Of Diet Utilized
Second, also take into account the diet that you’re going to be using. The leaner you want to stay while working on building muscle, the more precise you’re going to have to be with your diet plan. This means tracking each calorie that goes in along with timing your nutrient intake perfectly.
Some people prefer to use muscle building periods as a time when they can relax and be less anal about their diet, but this doesn’t quite align with the goal to stay as lean as you possibly can.
The Lean Versus Shredded Effect
Finally, take note that you need to understand the difference between ‘lean’ and ‘shredded’. Being highly shredded to the point where you can see superior definition between all eight abs is going to require added effects such as water depletion and likely carb depletion. This will not be possible if you’re trying to create an anabolic environment to build muscle in, so something that you can’t sustain.
Keeping yourself lean – possible.
Keeping yourself shredded – not.
Pay attention to the difference.
So there you have some of the most important tips to remember about the ability to build muscle successfully while staying lean. If you’re smart in your approach you should see good results in your quest but you do need to stay realistic at the same time.
