gaining 20 lbs w/o the gut

Ummm....work out and eat?

It's not that hard.

Then stop "indulging."

Find a good weight-training program, work harder than you think you can in the weight room, eat well, eat enough, do your cardio, and keep your general activity level high.

You won't gain 20 pounds of LBM overnight.

Make sure that you have an exit strategy- if you stop working out it is too easy to go to fat, if you put on muscle weight. Plan on a strict diet when you will slow down with your weightlifting.

Quite an understatement, no?


As for my advice to the OP: Man up.

To gain 1 lb per week, eat 2500-3000 extra calories over your maintenance level each week.
Eat just 400-500 kcal extra each day. If you eat in excess of 900 of your net each day, 60-70% of your gained weight will be fat.

Um, I do believe I need some double blind placebo controlled studies to believe that. You need to start backing up such ridiculous statements...

If I remember correctly the maximum amount of muscle weight you can gain per month is 2 pounds, but 1 pound is the realistic goal. Thus if you gain weight too quickly then you will be gaining mostly fat, and if you have a propensity to gain it in the stomach area then you will get a belly if you gain more than 1-2 pounds per month. The easiest way to control this is to weigh yourself weekly and check your body fat at the same time with the exact same method, that way you can see what proportion of muscle/fat you are gaining.

If you gain weight easily, the best way is to start lifting weights. Look up a 3-4 day split on the internet and stick to it. It should involve free weights and it's essential to use compound lifts like bench press, squat, barbell row and pullups. If you can't do pullups there's never a better time to learn

Don't change your diet too drastically yet, as it will adjust itself accordingly at first and you will crave the right foods.

Measure your waist and weight on a weekly basis, preferably the same day and time of day.

If your waistline starts to reduce and your weight stays the same, you'll know you're gaining muscle and you're on the right track.

If you are losing weight and your waist gets smaller, you are still losing overall but not at an optimal rate to gain muscle.

If you are gaining both you need to start eating less, or add another workout, or increase cardio, until the scale levels off.

Remember, losing an inch on your midsection is about 10 pounds of fat, give or take. Gaining an inch on your arms is about 10 pounds of muscle, give or take.

Try to cut down on junk food, maybe just a cheat meal a couple times a week. We live in the real world here, it's not good advice to tell someone to "man up" and cut out everything. Everything is ok in moderation.

I know it's not an exact science but it's a pretty easy method to follow. Consistency is the key.

How athletic are you now? At a certain point of fitness, realize that it's impossible to gain muscle and not gain fat at the same time. Any kind of workout that is structured to only put on muscle without any fat at all is just just going to hurt your muscle gain.

If you gain weight easily, then just hit the free weights (dont forget legs) and keep up your eating as well as adding some protein (whey is good) to your diet. If you were toned and athletic to begin with, you will gain fat along with the muscle, but after you hit your goal you can cut and get rid of the excess.

An inch on the arms = 10 pounds? Are you sure?

Heavy free weights? Current technique and level of fitness might make that risky.

No argument with the other points. The diet has to be healthy, with many of the calories coming from quality protein, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrates.

"Heavy" is defined relative to his current strength level, so no, not a problem. He probably can't handle heavy enough weights to seriously injure himself.

Adding 20 lbs of muscle only will take a long time. If you plan on drinking a lot of alcohol, give it up already.

Why would you want to gain so much weight?

I'm no doctor, but a friend (who happens to be a nurse) claims that more recent studies are linking better health and longevity to lower body weight. In her definition your present weight is close to ideal.

There's a much higher correlation between lower body fat and better health than there is between less overall mass and health. And 185 is not all that big for a 5'11'' male.