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Has anyone successfully gained muscle mass starting from a moderate BF% ?

K

kal-el

New member
Ive been noticing a trend lately on the internet, where a lot of the internet coaches are saying in order to successfully gain mass without getting fat fucked you need to be lean first 10-12% BF max. That if you try gaining muscle when youre around 15% youll gain more fat than you will muscle.

Im curious what guys on here have experienced in regards to that.

Have you been able to gain decent muscle starting around 15% BF, without turning into a much bigger fatty?

Or do most of the guys on here start trying to gain mass at a leaner bf% ?
 
I have started out a few weeks ago with 30.8% body fat, and have dropped to 29.2% doing heavy lifting, whilst also gaining muscle mass.

Fat and muscle are two completely different things, resistance training will build muscle not fat, if your eating is not up to spec and you do not lose the fat but gain muscle you will look bigger, as you have gained mass, but not lost fat.

So it might appear that you are getting fatter, when in actual fact you are building muscle......you like me sound like you want to do two things at once, increase muscle mass and lose fat.

So you will need to do resistance training, watch what you eat, and may be do some HIIT or even go for an hours walk once per day to keep the metabolism firing.

The walk will make you feel better after a big gym session anyway, and I am sure the fresh air and sun will do some good as well:)
 
Vman, how did you go about trying to gain? Were you a complete beginner, did you do fullbody/split, are you consuming excess calories or just eating around maintenance?

Thanks for the reply Mick.
 
Im not saying its true, Im just asking people that have done it for the experience.

Apparently guys with higher body fat (15-20%) have a crappy hormonal profile, insulin resistant, high cortisol, etc. Because of that the body adds more of the excess calories to fat stores instead of muscle. And guys with lower body fat have higher T levels etc and are more primed for gaining muscle rather than fat.

Yet for some reason it seems to be easier for people with very high 30% BF to drop fat and gain muscle at the same time.
 
Well, I definitely started in the high 30% and have lost allot of fat, I have also gained some muscle. but not a considerable amount yet, mostly got stronger really. I do watch my diet very carefully though as I want to keep my muscle building progressing, but want less fat too. I have found that in the last few weeks fat loss has slowed heaps, even with some more cardio put in, I'm loosing fat allot slower, I hate it, but would rather have muscle to reduce onto anyway, so its the slow way for me I guess
 
Rambodian said:
Well, I definitely started in the high 30% and have lost allot of fat, I have also gained some muscle. but not a considerable amount yet, mostly got stronger really. I do watch my diet very carefully though as I want to keep my muscle building progressing, but want less fat too. I have found that in the last few weeks fat loss has slowed heaps, even with some more cardio put in, I'm loosing fat allot slower, I hate it, but would rather have muscle to reduce onto anyway, so its the slow way for me I guess
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If you are judging your fat loss just by scales as a measurement then who says you are not putting on muscle and losing more fat than you think.

To the OP. Just get out there are lift and eat properly stop worrying that someone on the internet has said it is not possible to do it properly. Insulin resistance is highest in fat people, it is also one of the bodies means to stop you getting fatter (as in the fatter you are the higher it is generally). Also T levels tend to drop as you get into lower bodyfat levels (not saying 12% is low though) and the difference in T levels at 12 to 18% BF is not that big a deal. Shit all this worrying about it is probably increasing your cortisol to T ratio and you are now losing muscle as you read.
 
how much fat you have has nothing to do with your muscle building ability, in fact GL bulking beyond 100kg of lean mass without being at least 15% bodyfat
 
kal-el said:
Vman, how did you go about trying to gain? Were you a complete beginner, did you do fullbody/split, are you consuming excess calories or just eating around maintenance?

Thanks for the reply Mick.
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Honestly man, ive done the most half ass effort in attempts to gain muscle, if i did it properly, e.g not get blind 2 nights a week, eat better foods and do more compound lifts id probably be sitting at 85kg's
Im not doing a beginner full body routine, im doing a 3 day split with extra work on saturday for muscles that are lagging behind.
Currently at my position ive hit the wall, been sitting at this weight for about month or so but in that month have been sick with the flu so i guess its not all too bad.
I'm currently going on a cut, dieting down to a low bf% to around 10%, then going to try and build the muscle and see if i can tell the difference.
IMHO diet is king, you can have the best routine in the world but if you arnt eating properly you will fail.
I never counted calories just tried to count protein intake, alot easier.
 
I'm in the 15~20% BF range (closer to 15%), and have gone from 82kg to 90kg in 12 months. I'm a bit more defined now at 90kg than I was at 82.
 
I'm the same as Dancey except at about 15% ~75kg, to 90kg in 12months, about 92 for me now (4months later) imo my body fat has stayed the same, but hard to tell coz im a lot bigger now.
( was on the 5x5 program as well )
 
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Of course you can gain muscle, it does not matter what body fat you are.

If you are consuming adequate protein and an appropriate calorie intake muscle growth/muscle maintenance is possible.
 
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I went from 150kg and fk all muscle mass to 104kg with a lot more muscle mass. I would have been over 35% bf at 150kg i think.

You can grow muscle and lose fat at the same time. You just have to make sure you are still getting plenty of protein.
 
Thanks for all the info/experiences if anyone else has some keep them coming. Just to clarify I know that youre able to put on muscle no matter what your body fat % is, Ive just read a lot lately from "internet coaches" that its much harder to do so if youre over say 12%. Getting super lean first seems to be the program of the season at the moment.
 
kal-el said:
Thanks for all the info/experiences if anyone else has some keep them coming. Just to clarify I know that youre able to put on muscle no matter what your body fat % is, Ive just read a lot lately from "internet coaches" that its much harder to do so if youre over say 12%. Getting super lean first seems to be the program of the season at the moment.
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It certainly is not harder at 12% Bf. Complete rubbish if someone is promoting that type of information. It sounds like a gimmick that is leading to the necessary for a particular product or program. For which you can purchase for 3 easy payments of $29.95 including postage and handling.

I guess with the naked eye being at 12% you will be able to 'see' the muscular development and muscular improvements to a certain extent.

For my clients I do suggest staying under 15% (typically between 10-12%) for the most part just for the simple fact that you can keep an 'eye' on weak points, symmetry and so the client doesn't need to play catch up when the dieting starts for a show or needing to get in shape in a shorter period of time.

Also IMO, over 15% having accurate BF assesments can be much more difficult and DEXA scans may not be available to all.
 
The gimmicky sales pitch were my thoughts too. I can imagine that for someone who has decent muscle mass already staying around 10-12% would be a good idea, but in your opinion someone who doesnt even look like they work out, if theyre were at 15%+/- it would be better for them to focus on trying to put some muscle on until they actually look like they lift, right?
 
Slightly off topic, but where can I get my body fat measured from in brisbane? All this talk about body fat measurements has got me curious
 
I think Griffith on the gold coast has some stuff there, dont know if public can get measured. Im pretty sure you should I think our lecturer told us the other day we just got a new piece in. Give the physiotherapy/exercise science dep. a call or even try UQ in Brisbane.
 
Kal - Yes of course. If someone is 15% BF and have NO muscle, them doing a cut will still result in them having NO muscle at the end of the day ;) Someone say 'Skinny-Fat'? LOL

Sookie - just google search DEXA scan in your local area or city. Friends of mine in Brisbane have said there is a place in 'Morningside' that do the DEXA scan. I t think it is $60 but it is well worth it. Much better than getting some random PT do a poor BF% test.
 
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