How to Build Muscle Without Getting Bulky
Jan 30th, 2008 by Mehdi Tags: Build Muscle, Nutrition
Not everyone wants to build muscle and get bulky:
- Budget. You need to eat more calories to gain weight. If you’re on a budget, you might not have the money to buy more food.
- Women. It’s a common myth that weight lifting makes you bulky. You will build muscle, but you can do this without gaining weight.
- Clothes. Read Doo’s story. New clothes cost money. And if you’re short, you’ll get problems finding clothes that fit.
- Sports. Reader Quagmire posted in the forum: “I have other interests such as mountaineering and rock climbing, and getting huge would be counterproductive.” Many sports work with weight categories.
- You Don’t Like It. Another one by Quagmire: “You may get pressure in this game to add weight and then add some more. Most of the guys I have come across have this obsession with getting over 200lbs and then some.“
This obsession is the opposite of anorexia: fear of being small. If you fear being small, you’ll always be. Eat more so you lose the skinny look. But you don’t have to weigh 220lbs because others do. Do it for yourself.
Below Olympic Weightlifter Le Maosheng. World record holder in the Clean & Jerk: 182,5kg in the 62kg category. He’s 1m63.
Le Maosheng. Image credit: Dehwang.
Basics. Before I explain how to build muscle without getting bulky, some basics about strength training and building muscle.
- More strength means more muscle. You can’t avoid muscle gains if you train hard. Even small guys will get muscular. Check Naim Süleymanoğlu.
- But you can control your body-weight. The trick is to minimize fat gains, maximize muscle gains and control your calorie intake.
- Muscles look more bulky than no muscles. You’ll have bigger legs, chest & shoulders. If that’s a problem for you, forget about weight lifting.
Let’s go with the how to.
1. Limit Calories. Daily caloric needs depend on how many calories you burn. You need less calories if you have a desk job than if you have a physical job. But avoid undereating (muscle loss) as much as overeating (weight gain).
Start with your body-weight in lbs x 18 kcal daily. That’s 2800kcal if you weigh 155lbs. Do that for 14 days without exception. Weigh yourself. If you lost weight, eat BWx20kcal. If you gained weight: BWx16kcal.
2. Eat Low Calorie Foods. Fights hunger by filling your stomach. Low calorie foods, like green veggies, often burn more calories than you get by consuming them. Use NutritionData to find low calorie foods.
Get 1g/lbs protein daily. Eat 1-2 low carb meals per day. Stay away from junk food. Make sure you get your total calories at the end of the day: you need calories for energy & to build muscle. Example meal plan:
- Breakfast. Eggs with veggies.
- Post Workout. Protein shake of whey & oats with raisins.
- Lunch. Tuna, rice & fruit.
- Snack. Red meat & green veggies.
- Dinner. Poultry & green veggies.
- Pre Bed Snack. Cottage cheese, berries, flax seeds, fish oil.
3. Cardio. 30mins moderate intensity cardio on the elliptical driver burns about 500kcal. Which means you can eat 3500kcal without gaining weight if you need 3000kcal daily to maintain your body-weight.
I don’t like adding cardio to build muscle without getting bulky. 3x/week cardio is time consuming. Limiting calorie intake & eating clean food is easier. But if you have the time & want to add cardio:
- 3x/Week. Post strength training so you have several days per week where you get both physical & mental rest.
- Moderate Intensity. Breathing heavier than at rest but not gasping.
4. Train Low Rep. You can influence the increase in muscle size you get from lifting weights. The process of building muscle is called hypertrophy. You have 2 kinds of muscular hypertrophy:
- Myofibrillar Hypertrophy. Gives a denser look but less muscle size. You get this by doing less than 5 reps per set.
- Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy. More muscle size but you don’t get as strong. Achieved by doing sets of 8 reps & more.
StrongLifts 5×5 builds strength & muscle. But you won’t get the same muscle size as when doing sets of 10 reps. You can further minimize hypertrophy by doing 8×3 or 12×2 instead of 5×5. This is still about 25 reps volume.
The problem with this approach: you’re training closer to your 1 repetition max. Adding weight each workout gets harder and it’s easier to overtrain.
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Nice post, Mehdi! I wrote on a similar topic on my blog recently, but I neglected to address diet, which is probably the most important aspect for regulating mass gain/loss. Well done!
I am 6′. In 2006 I was 165 lbs, very skinny. I wanted to add muscle and I was on a roll, but I gained way too much weight getting up to 200lbs last year. Too heavy for me. I learned that all I needed to do in the first place was lift 3x week, limit my overall calories (ideal bw x 14) while making sure to get at least 220g protein at the same time. I am now 180 lbs and very muscular and stronger than ever. Just where I want to be.
Read as much as you can on this site before you make the mistake I did.
my advice: circuit training, little rest between sets, reps range between 15 to 50, multi-joint excercises, moderate cardio, don’t over eat.
What if somebody wants growth in their upper body only? Could they do lower reps for full body/lower body exercises and higher reps for presses, rows, pull-ups, dips, etc?
Could you get the best of both worlds by doing less than 5 reps per set (Myofibrillar Hypertophy) for eight weeks or so and then switch to doing 8 or more reps (Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy) per set for another eight weeks? That is, could you get both a denser look and bigger muscles by switching things up? Thanks.
@Lucas & skiebengal05
Thanks both
@Rob
Are you sure you want growth in your upper-body only? Most people’s upper-body lacks behind in comparison to their lower body. You could apply tip 4 to your legs, but realize weight lifting builds muscle: you’ll get muscular legs, no matter what. And working your legs helps a lot building mass in your upper-body.
@Nick
You could do both at the same time: for core exercises reps of 5, for assistance exercises (like dips, chin-ups, pull-ups) high reps. Then add in 20 reppers on squats/deadlifts once in a while. I’d recommend to keep things simple however.
Approximately how many grams of carbs are in a “low carb meal”?
For example, a person weighing 200 lb should eat approx 3600 kcal (200 lb * 18 kcal/lb) and 200 g of protein (200 lb * 1 g/lb) — which accounts for 800 kcal (1 g protein = 4 kcal). How many grams of carbs should you be eating at a single meal? How many in a day? What percentage of your daily calories should come from carbs?
I really like this post! when I got my gym membership I told the owner (who is a bodybuilder) I did not want to train for muscle volume. he totally ignored me and gave me 2 3-month high rep BB programs. I asked him for a lower rep program but he never did. so now I quit his gym and ordered a power rack and set of weights. now I can do it my way and go for the ‘denser’ look desribed above.
“Gives a denser look but less muscle size”
What does “denser look” mean ? Can you give an example of someone looking dense (not as in stupid, way too much examples of that on the interweb) with little muscle size ?
Personally I don’t mind so much getting bulky, that’s what sweaters are for
(also, no reason to digg these articles anymore ?)
Dam, I have a desk job.
This calorie intake is complicated!
I will figure out my ideal calorie intake in relation to my weight and let you know!
@Wazzup, I think I know what Mehdi means but I could be wrong. Since I started training the big lifts and doing 5 sets of 5 reps I have noticed a difference even though injury has kept me at lighter weights. I’m still kind of flabby, but my rib cage, torso and neck areas all look stronger. Instead of developing muscle tone or size here and there, I look more filled in, solid and stronger everywhere.
Great post Mehdi! I recently started the 5×5, and so far am loving it. I like being a big guy, so more bulk is not my problem. Genetics dealt me a weird card as I weight 275lbs and am 6′ tall, I am chubby but not nearly as over weight as that sounds, (you know that expression “I’m not fat, just big boned”? I guess I fat and big boned). I used to lift a lot about seven years ago and was pretty slim, and at slim I was 230lbs. The point being is the 18x or even the 16x seems like a lot and increase in calories for me, but I still want to cut weight, what do you suggest?
Not sure what you’ll make of this: but my friend who is a serious rock climber, at about 62kg at the moment. His method of weight training without bulking was to just enjoy all the sports he loved. Weight training, climbing, running (10km++). No holding off on the cardio while in a weight training program.
Well he lifts more than me, on all exercises, and can chinup with nearly his body weight attached with a weight belt - 50something Kg (i wish i was exhaggerating here, the entire gym stopped and gasped). He looks like one hell of a unit. But you could fit him into a small suitcase, lol.
He also ate a LOT, even though he’s only a little fella. Meat, eggs, rice, you name it. He just didn’t eat junk.
What I am looking for is to get a nice strong body witout looking with chunks of meat all over like Arnold.
I think unless you have a weight class to squeeze into, like in boxing, or unless you have a sport like rock climbing where your weight plays a massive role in how successful you are: then you have the wrong idea about bulking up.
You dont wanna look like Arnold? LOL dont worry… YOU WONT. Even if you tried to!
Maybe if you had perfect mass building genes, and slaved away in the gym for 15+ years, with a perfect diet and plenty of steroids, you might actually make it half way to where he got.
No one gets more muscly than they want to be. Fatter yes! Muscly no! Don’t even bother worrying about your muscles getting too big.
If it was that easy, everyone would be Arnold’s size. Don’t kid yourselves.
@Geoff
3600kcal - 800 kcal protein = 2800 kcal for carbs/fat. Remove cals for fish oil, flax seeds, butter. Get remaining kcals from carbs. Divide by the amount of meals you decide contain carbs, done.
@Wazzup
I did bodybuilding my first years as you know. People say that I look smaller now than I did then. Although my weight is unchanged. You got to do both for about a year to check the difference for yourself & see what you like most. Feel free to digg articles if you want to, or you can also stumble it.
@Rocky
Start with BW in lbs x 16kcal. Make sure it comes calories comes 90% of the time from clean foods. You’ll burn muscle & lack energy if you don’t eat enough. Check out this article.
@Patmanpato
It was a figure of speech, almost everyone knows what it takes to get that kind of body. Besides, as we all know, this program is not for that kind of objective.
I know it was a figure of speech, but I think this article should be more geared towards those whose body weight is critical to their success in their chosen sport - boxing/martial arts, rock climbing, gymnastics, etc.
For anyone else, I would have thought it would be VERY unlikely that the muscle size and mass gains would be anything less than a pleasant side effect. (Of course, assuming you’re not talking about a gain in fat too). I haven’t known of anyone at all, who’s spent time in the gym and one day looked in the mirror and said something like “damn, my biceps are too big, I don’t like them” LOL
To each their own I guess.
good article though!
Patmanpato & anyone> Do you know what weight lifting routine your climbing friend did? I’ve got a few friends who are really into climbing, and most of them are pretty skeptical against non-specific strength training, since they feel that it would add unwanted bulk. The strength training that they do is almost completely focused on the upper body, and using the campus board for finger strength. I think they would frown upon the squat, for instance. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve gotten the impression that most climbers have the opinion that the best training for climbing is climbing…
Then of course, it is another thing if you do weight lifting just because it’s fun…
So…that guy in the picture. Does he do cardio?
Hey Jonas,
You’re actually pretty much spot on with your observations:
1. He (and his friends) believed climbing is the best training for climbing - theres no substitute whatsoever. He was also very casual with scheduling climbing with weight training - didn’t care if he just had a grueling weights session, he’ll spend the whole evening climbing if he could. He was a fanatic
2. He didn’t bother much in the way of squats and lower body work. Partly because he was keen on distance running and didn’t want it to interfere with his running.
As for weights program… The only real constant was that he worked mainly upper body in the gym, with low reps (5 or less on most exercises, occasionally as low as 3 or even isometric training). I was worried he was going to snap something painfully one day, he was lifting incredibly heavy and very low reps, always.
His favorite seemed to be working on the dumbbell press and rows I would say.
He tried many radical programs though, such as 100 chinups in an hour long weights session, by doing 10 reps between each of the 10 sets of some particular exercise, eg dumbbell press.
For his core, I didn’t see much, since he worked it outside the gym.
Like i said, he was a nut, and structure was hard to find, but he always trained like a mad man, ate like a monster, and never cared about being too fatigued - would always accept a strength challenge or dare from his equally insane rock climbing buddies.
It worked for him. I was a good 20kg heavier than him at one point, but I would give up my size+weight advantage to look like him. His biceps looked square without tensing… they were trying to burst outwards but they were held back by his small elbow joints LOL. He was literally a triangle on legs.
In terms of strength: in six months I’d say he doubled his weight lifting strength on a lot of exercises. Put me to shame thats for sure. All you need to do is picture a 160 cm tall guy doing chinups with 50+kg attached to him, you get the idea.
I think it was more his approach rather than any particular training program that worked for him. Never go light, never wuss out, but train to train another day.
He gained all of about 2.5 kg in 6 months at the gym: (he had previously never bothered with weight training). from 62 to about 65kg. He looked quite slim and not very muscular before he started in the gym (though still fit looking of course). But after 6 months he was one hell of a slim but fearsome looking machine!
You can tell by now that I think very highly of him and his achievements
But he IS what this article is all about!
Cheers,
@Jonas/Patmanpato
I do indoor climbing. You can’t climb using your upper-body solely, upper-body gets quickly tired. You need to use your legs as much as possible: move legs before the rest (squats). You also need power to jump to higher blocks (power cleans). And you need a lot of hip flexibility, pull-up strength, ab strength for when you’re hanging leg free, etc. There’s also a technique with climbing (much of it is balance). Only thing that holds me back is finger strength because I don’t train it at the gym.
Few years ago, sprinter did only sprints. Tennisers only tennis. Footballers only football. Nowadays we know strength puts you at a serious advantage. Climbing is no different. You’ll always find a freak somewhere who says he doesn’t do any strength training, but when you look at the top athletes in whatever sport, you know they do some kind of strength training.
Check out beastskills.com. James is a gymnasts, can do weighted dips with 80kg, he recommends Squats too.
@Gee
I doubt he does cardio. He probably does weight lifting 6-8 times per week however.
Hey Patmanpato, you just inspired me to try to sneak away from the office and get to the gym!
I guess you could get pretty good lower body workouts from those running sessions as well. Personally I think lifting weights and doing squats is much more fun than running, but to each his own, as you said :).
Check out videos of Chris Sharma climbing on youtube.. Amazing! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlcQ3mxlNfs&feature=related for instance.
Just a nitpick: the current science shows that virtually all muscle hypertrophy due to exercise is myofibrillar, not sarcoplasmic. Different types of exercise affect muscles differently, but size differences are just due to myofibrillar differences. Some exercises stimulate hypertrophy without other adaptations, some stimulate strength gains without hypertrophy by increasing the efficiency of processes within the muscle and neurosystem, some do both, so this doesn’t change your point.
Hey! I’ve been reading numerous articles on your website and have found them very helpful! I have lost over 50 pounds this past year and am in the process of trying to tone everything up. I’m down to my minimum weight for my height (5′5 at 115) but still can’t lose my stomach. I’ve always wanted that toned, flat stomach but its not looking like its going to happen. Any advice? I was also curious if your articles and advice are for women as well? Thanks for all the helpful info…
Does anyone know where to find examples of high-calorie meal plans - meaning 4000+ calories? I’ve mainly only found meal plans up to around 3000 calories or so. I’m 6′4″ and 240lbs with bodyfat ~22% so my daily requirements are super high even with needing to shed fat. I know my bodyfat is high so I’ve added in 30-45 minutes of cardio on top of my weight training and when I do that I’m burning around 1500 total calories in the gym. I know I can just throw down some extra protein shakes as I’ve done that in the past but I’m really looking for whole foods with a good mix of P/C/F. Thanks!
Nice article. But about point 4:
Sarcoplasm represents only around 20% of the total muscle cell volume in untrained individuals, this isn’t where the real size potential lies. Size potenial lies in sarcomeres, and thus myofibrillar hypertrophy.
Not the other way around.
Also, sets of 8 reps are, for most people, still in the myofibrillar hypertrophy zone (75%-85% of 1RM).
And you misspelled hypertrophy in “Myofibrillar Hypertophy.”
Almost forgot:
You talk about getting strong without bulk, but why do you not mention anything about improving neuromuscular efficiency?
After all, your muscles are allready capable of lifting heavy weights, they just don’t know it yet.
@Mandy
Strength training for women is same as for man: same exercises, same sets, same reps, etc. Check out this article. If you want the flat stomach: get stronger and eat healthy. Congraz on the 50lbs weight loss.
@Chad
I’ll get back to you in the forum
@Flying Fox
Fixed the spelling error, thanks. Didn’t talk about neuromuscular efficiency because topic was building muscle without getting bulky, with strength as tool to build muscle.
@Mehdi: what about my other remarks? Those were a little more significant.
Also, what your article basically means is: how to build muscle without muscle mass.
Sounds like complete nonsense to my, so i interpreted it as “building strength without excessive bulk”.
If you want to build muscle for looks instead of strength, it would be best to do a program specific for bilding mass, and simply stop when you get too bulky.
@Flying Fox
Bulky = increased body-weight. Alternative titles: how to build muscle
/get muscular without gaining weight. Like Le Maosheng in the picture: muscular, but only weighs 63kg (not bulky). Hope that makes sense.
Muscles have weight, building muscle increases bodyweight. There’s no way around that, except by losing fat.
Hey Medhi, I’ve been w/ stronglifts 5×5 for about 3 months my stregth has dramatically increased, bulky… eh slightly… but now that i have the stregth that i want is it normal to switch to Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy type of training? I know this site doesn’t concentrate on this… but my goal now is to build muscle, what would be the best sets?reps? thanks
@Jesse
I believe you should be able to Squat at least 1.5x your body-weigth before thinking about bodybuilding routines. Once you can do that, you can start adding isolation exercises, higher rep ranges, etc. Check out t-nation.com for example, you’ll find bodybuilding routines there.
I like to stay about 10-15lbs overweight because I look good enough and carry enough mass for good strength gains and have energy for squat and deadlifts. Also, I tried trimming down recently and lost some strength in my bench. Probably not the case with everyone, but it works for me. I know how to drop weight whenever I want so it works out.
Hi. I have what is probably a silly question, but here it goes: I am currently 215 lbs but want to get down to about 180 lbs (I’m 5′9″). I am wondering if I should be eating 215 grams of protien a day or 180 grams of protein a day? (And I’ve started the Stronglifts 5×5, which is awesome!)
Thanks!
On the rockclimbing issue, Mehdi, my friend does most his exercises in the gym using two or three fingers. Including deadlifts, chinups, etc. He said this helped him build a lot of finger strength.
I believe strength training in the gym is only really productive once you’ve reached a certain level in your sport. Just my observation of others and experiences with various martial arts and strength training. My rock climbing buddy is very advanced - one of the best in my city. I’ll have to dig up some photos of him in really weird positions upside down, lol.
As for needing to work lower body for rock climbing… unless you’re very unfit, it’s not as important as upper body. Most people I train with can do one leg squats with weight for example (only as a party trick!). Whereas my friend needed to build speed and power in the upper body, like you said, to launch himself from one hold to another. He did things like climbing up the underside of a flight of stairs, by keeping both hands together at all times.. ie. pullup-jumps to climb a flight of stairs. sorta like rock climbing with hands tied together and no legs, hehe.
His training methods probably aren’t for everyone, but they’re sure amazing to watch and put a lot of us gym rats to shame. lol.
ps. the Beast Skills site rules! It’s no coincidence my friend put me onto that site too! LOL
you can eat all the protein you want but if you cut weight you will lose strength. You have to decide whether you want to look good or be strong, of course nobody wants to look like a pig, so there is some middle ground. 180 lbs isn’t bad for a guy who is 5′9″,
Thanks for the advice Neil. The reason I asked was because I’ve been eating as much protein as I can and doing the 5×5 and haven’t lost any weight. I’m sure that I’m replacing fat with muscle, but I don’t want to stay at 215, so I thought maybe I should cut down on the protein. I think now though that I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing and try not to use the scale as a measure of success.
Iso-tonics (learn and practice to mentally pin point flexing ANY muscle of your body and keep the tension for at least 7 sec.), hand stand push ups and all kind of capoeira moves, one leg squats (slow tempo), push ups, dips, chin ups, pull ups. All previous ones: concentrate in the negative portion of the rep (coming down).
Good tips, like Mehdu said, don’t do more than 5 reps if you do 6 you are encouraging hyperthrophy, what i always do if i do 6 reps is add 5 pounds, for me 5 pounds= i rep. So if you are bicep curling 70 and you feel you can do 1 more rep after doing 5 add 5 (75 pounds now) pounds to the weight, that way next time it will be harder and i am pretty sure that you won’t be doing 6 reps after.
I’m just a teenager and I want to get stronger without showing it, kind like a secret protection. Is there a way I could do that? I mean a little muscle is okay but not a lot.
Wildfury
I have a question: I’m 17, and i’m interested in doing this. As I am going to High School, which does not permit me to eat while classes are running, how would I go about a diet plan? I can make time in the morning to eat breakfast (I usually wake up at 5:45am), but the soonest that I can eat after that is 10:30am; then when i get home at 2:30pm.