Getting a ripped 6 pack while building muscle?

Blacktie.

Basically wondering is it possible to get a fairly ripped 6 pack while piling on muscle to other parts of your body or is it one or the other? I figure its one or the other as you need to drop bodyfat for the abs to show and this is impossible if your trying to gain muscle on a surplus diet just trying to get some clarification on this.

Thanks for your replys

CerebralCortex

Blacktie. wrote: »

Basically wondering is it possible to get a fairly ripped 6 pack while piling on muscle to other parts of your body or is it one or the other? I figure its one or the other as you need to drop bodyfat for the abs to show and this is impossible if your trying to gain muscle on a surplus diet just trying to get some clarification on this.

Thanks for your replys

Guess it depends what your body fat percentage is before you started piling on the muscle.

Blacktie.

Well at the moment mines about 8.5ish. It fluctuates between 8 and 11.

brianthebard

Well then you should probably already have a six pack?

Blacktie.

Yeah thats what I thought aswell. I use accu-measure calipers to measure my % and as far as I can tell I'm doing it right and I've measured a few times and I'm getting consistent measures with it...

brianthebard

Apparently they can be quite inaccurate. If you start putting on muscle you'll speed up your metabolism, so any fat you might gain would be easier to shift. If you followed a carb cycling plan of some sort you should be able to keep any extra fat gains to a minimum. Beach time is over for another year, so nows the time to start putting on some muscle (and some bf for warmth) and then lose it in the spring-unless you have another reason for wanting a six pack?

Blacktie.

Yeah thats a good point I'll focus on the muscle growth for the next few months I really just want it cause I like the look. Ha I guess the media got to me too! Just one of my goals now is to attain it as I know its one of those really hard things you really have to be dedicated to get. I'll work on it in spring I guess and till then lift as heavy as I can 3 times a week. I find the hardest part of putting on muscle is the eating! I just don't always have the time to have 6 meals a day and then eating about 5/600 calories per meal of the right stuff can be tough. I'll work on it though and get there in the end!

brianthebard

Yeah it can be hard to adjust to increased calorie consumption at first. Are you taking a protein supplement?

MicraBoy

Well there are plenty of people who would advocate it is totally possible. Your diet would need to be fairly spot on though. That usually involves a mini-revolution in the way you plan and prepare your meals. You need to eat carbs at the right times, eat loads of quality protein, minimise bad fats and maximise good fats. And plenty more other bits and bobs like the 6 meals a day stuff!

The likes of "Precision Nutrition" and "Burn the fat, feed the muscle" are examples of this.

Blacktie.

Yeah I'm taking 30g of whey protein form the supplement factory 3 times a day and I'm using fitday to track my calories or attempt to anyway. It says I'm averaging around 2400 calories a day. I'm getting 1gram of protein per pound of bodyfat and I'm about 6' weighing 75kg (last time I checked bout 2 weeks ago). I head to the gym 3 times a week and try to do as many compound exercises as i can depending on what body parts Im working that day. Was thinking of going back to a full body workout rather than a split though still havnt decided on it yet.

brianthebard

Have you had a look at the stickies to calculate how many calories you need in a day? Would've thought you'd need a bit more if you are training three times a week, but I'll let you decide that for yourself.

Blacktie.

I remember calculating that a long time ago. Turns out my maintenance is 2900 (this is on the basis of weight lifting burning 9 calories per minute? Is this a correct assumption I just found it from a google search) calories per day :-O. So according to the stickie I should up that to 3500. That's alot more than I'm currently getting but its hard to get this much in healthily and not have the majority of it in carbs! My diet is usually 40carbs 30proein 30fat. Should i really be worrying about percentages or should I just get in the calories as healthily as I can?

The link were I got the 9 calories per minute http://forum.bodybuilding.com/archive/index.php?t-394779.html

brianthebard

I think 3500 sounds like the required amount for weight gain? Maybe think about calorie density in foods-stuff like nuts and oils and meats and proteins fill you up and have more calories per 100g than carb heavy foods. Also more milk would be an easy and useful addition to your diet if you aren't intolerant.

Blacktie.

Yeah I'm definatly going to up my intake of milk I've read about that alot lately and it seems to have some good results and is easy to apply. Yeah that is for weight gain but isn't that what I'm looking for if you want to build muscle? A surplus diet? Thanks for all the advice so far its been really helpful in helping me understand it all a bit better

brianthebard

Yeah you definitely want a surplus, have a look into carb cycling though. I can't personally recomend it but maybe others here can.