Can i gain muscle without bulking

Most people think that lifting weights will lead to bulky muscles and bulging veins. This is far from accurate. Weight training is absolutely necessary in order to achieve toned muscles. However, the type of weight training is extremely important. Each person is different and therefore requires a different weightlifting regimen in order to successfully reach their own personal fitness goals.

It is suggested that doing short, frequent repetitions is best to add strength without the bulk. So while weight lifting or strength training at least two days per week should be part of your exercise plan, the other three days should be cardio training — some activity to burn more calories than you take in.

Running, swimming, jogging, bicycling, tennis, racquetball, group exercise along with many other sports, all qualify. Keep in mind that you have to burn 3, more calories than you eat in a week to lose one pound of weight. Finally the last part of the equation is eating healthy. It is harder to burn more calories than you consume if the majority of food you are eating is fast and processed food. First Name. Last Name. Share yours below, and keep those questions coming at AskJJ jjvirgin.

News U. Politics Joe Biden Congress Extremism. Special Projects Highline. HuffPost Personal Video Horoscopes. Follow Us. Terms Privacy Policy. Part of HuffPost Wellness. All rights reserved. Suggest a correction. Now What? So Long, Hyaluronic Acid. Newsletter Sign Up. But more often than not this weight gain comes with a major downside. For the non-genetically gifted, drug-free trainee it is not uncommon to gain 10 kilograms of weight in three months, with only kilograms of that being lean muscle.

The rest is gained as fat. In terms of looking pure numbers this could mean a 2. At worst, the numbers are even more daunting. If 2kg of that 10kg of weight is lean muscle it means 4kg of fat for each kilogram of lean muscle. That seems like a lot of food and effort wasted. Only to work even harder to get rid of the fat. Or for a typical hard-gainer who struggles on putting any weight. But for anyone else the end result is probably not the most desired look.

What makes this challenging is trying to make as much of the weight being dropped fat, not muscle. Not always easy on a calorie deficit.

Again, this is especially true for those who are not genetically gifted and drug-free read: most lifters. Bulking without any regard to the quality of weight gained can be fun.

After all it means that you can probably eat everything and anything in sight. The downsides are far reaching.