How can I monitor my lean muscle gains??

[amn101]

Hi everyone,

this is my first post on here and I hope some of you can offer some advice. I have been a casual gym goer for a couple of years but never really had any consistency until the last few months.

I have just completed the kris gethin 12 week trainer and it has given me a new motivation and love for training. I was lean to start with and now weigh just over 12 stone (170 pounds I think).

I am about to start a 10 week mass building lifting routine and have planned out my diet plan meticulously. I will be eating around 300-500 calories over my maintenance level, but am still eating very clean foods and only healthy fats. This way I hope to pack on some muscle fast without putting too much fat on, as I still have some fat around my midsection. (Especially after Xmas!!)

My goal is to try and gain a pound of lean muscle mass a month, which I know is a tall order but I am going to train hard and stick to my diet. My question is, how do I accurately gauge what I am putting on is muscle and what is just fat? How do you track this?

I assume I need to get all of my body fat percentages, measurements etc. before I start? Do I need to check these at regular intervals?

Sorry if this sounds like a dumb question but I want to make sure I approach it the right way rather than just putting on weight!

Any help appreciated

Cheers

[JSNeves]

Just taking measurements is the easiest... really all I ever used was the scale and what hole I was using on my belt. If my waist was expanding at too quick of a pace I would try and dial in my diet a little better.

[GinjaNinja85]

Your on the right track. If you know your Bodyfat % and your weight, you can work out your LBM, as your LBM is the remaining percentage of your body weight after you have calculated your fat mass.

The key is to accurately measure your Bodyfat, something only a trained person or doctor can do. Tbh, if you do what the first guy said, you'll get there. Wanting to know exactly how much you've gained is essentially mental masturbation.

[TirCeol]

To really track this accurately will be quite expensive and involve lots of intricate body fat measurements. You can do your best to estimate with calipers and some other tools, but I'd probably just go by how you feel. You'll realize if you're packing too much fat on or if you're maintaining/losing.

[ironwill2008]

My goal is to try and gain a pound of lean muscle mass a month....

If you do most things correctly most of the time, ^^^^ this is a reasonable expectation for someone at your level.

My question is, how do I accurately gauge what I am putting on is muscle and what is just fat? How do you track this?

The smart way is to simply keep an eye on the mirror, the fit of your clothes, the scale, and your training logbook.

What you want to see is a steady increase in the weight/reps you're able to lift with good form, your shirts and trouser legs getting increasingly tighter, and your body weight increasing while your waistline remains relatively the same.

[T-Rage]

I lost 25 pounds over the last 3 months and used a Tanita bodyfat scale and it worked well. It may not be accurate but it is precise. Accuracy is how true to real life the measurement is and precision is the ability to repeat the measurement consistently (which is the important part). My lean body mass actually increased by 1 pound while I lost the 25 pounds. The mirror showed me that the scale was indeed right on. I did this to ensure that I didn't just lose weight but fat with the diet I was on.

[amn101]

Thanks for the advice guys!