This question was asked on Yahoo Answers and my answer was chosen as the best. By the way, the Stair Step Training System virtually eliminates any chance of a prolonged plateau, simply by forcing periodic short plateaus!

Muscle Building Plateau?

Best Answer – Chosen by Asker

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Over the past year, I've done a lot of experimentation with different split routines. I've tried:

• 5-days-a-week, training one major bodypart per workout (not enough frequency)
• 4-day 2-way split, using the Push-Pull concept (workouts were too long)
• 3 full body workouts per week (I was pooped before I got to the end)
• 6-day 2-way split (too much frequency)
• 4-day 3-way split (this one was pretty cool but didn't offer the frequency I needed, but it's great if you have a weak bodypart and are trying to build strength)

Now I'm back to my old standard, working out 3 days a week on a 2-way split. I train Torso one day, Legs & Arms the other, alternating between the two every other day (like Monday-Wednesday-Friday). On weeks where I'm only training a bodypart once, I train HARD & HEAVY. Or maybe just HARD.

On weeks where I train a bodypart 2 times in the week, I may choose one day to train HEAVY, the other day with high reps.

There's a lot of flexibility built in to the system. During bulking phases, I just train with weights. During cutting phases, I add in cardio on off-days and/or after my weight workouts. It's pretty cool.

It's funny to me that I keep coming back to this split. Not so funny is that I make my best gains with this system. This is the system I used to pack on 60 pounds of rock-solid muscle in less than a year. I talk more about that at Hardgainer's Manifesto.

How can I gain muscle and lose fat at the same time?

That’s right up there with “How do I get six pack abs” as one of the most frequently asked fitness questions of all time. The problem is, when you ask it, you get all kinds of conflicting answers – even from experts who are supposed to know these things. So what’s the deal? Is it really possible to lose fat and build muscle simultaneously?

Short answer: Yes, you can gain muscle and lose fat at the “same time.”

Long answer: It’s difficult and it’s complicated. Allow me to explain…

First we have the issue of whether you really lose fat and gain muscle at the “same time.”

Well, yes, if your definition of the “same time” is say, a month or 12 weeks. But in that case, you’re probably not gaining muscle at the “same time” literally speaking, as in, right now this very moment you are reading this, or 7 days a week, 24 hours a day for months in a row.

The best explanation for what’s really happening is that you alternate between periods of caloric surplus (anabolism) and caloric deficit (catabolism) and the net result is a gain in muscle and a loss in body fat.

You see, if you stay in a calorie surplus, it’s the body’s natural tendency for body fat and lean body mass to go up together. And if you stay in a calorie deficit, it’s your body’s natural tendency for body fat and lean body mass to go down together.

There may be exceptions, but the general rule is that it is very difficult to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time – the mechanisms are mostly antagonistic to one another. When it does happen, it’s almost always the result of “unusual conditions” – I call them X factors.

The 4 X-Factors

The first X-factor is “training age” . Ever hear of “newbie gains?” The less trained your body is and the further you are from your genetic potential, the easier it is to gain muscle. The reverse is also true – an advanced bodybuilder with 20 years experience would be thrilled just to gain a few pounds of solid dry muscle in a year!

The second x factor is muscle memory. It’s easier to regain muscle you’ve lost than it is to gain new muscle in the first place (ergo, the fat out of shape semi retired bodybuilder who starts training again and blows up and gets ripped “overnight”).

The third X factor is genetics (or somatotype). Ever heard of the “genetic freak?” That’s the dude who sprouts muscle like weeds even when he’s on the “50-50 diet” (50% McDonald’s and 50% pizza)… and he never gets fat. (That dude chose the right parents!)

The fourth X factor is drugs. It would stun (or sadden) you if you knew how many people take performance and physique-enhancing drugs. I’m not just talking about pro bodybuilders, I’m talking about “Joe six pack” in the gym – not to mention those fitness models you idolize in the magazines. How did they get large muscle gains with concurrent fat loss? Chemicals.

I’m not a gambling man, but I’ll place a wager on this any day: I’ll bet that in 99% of the cases of large muscle gains with concurrent large fat losses, one or more of these x factors were present.

That’s not all! There are actually 5 more X factors related to your body composition and diet status (the X2 factors). But I’ll have to talk about those later.

So you’re not a beginner, you don’t take roids, you’re not a genetic freak and you have no muscle memory to take advantage of. Are you S.O.L? Well, I do want you to be realistic about your goals, but…

There IS a way for the average person to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time.

The Secret: You have to change your “temporal perspective!”

Traditionally nutritionists and fitness pros have only looked at calorie balance in terms of 24 hour periods. At midnight, you could tally up the calories like a shopkeeper closing out his register, and if the balance were positive, you’d say you were in a surplus for the day. If the balance were negative, you’d say you were in a deficit for the day.

But it’s entirely possible that you might pass through periods of “within-day” surplus where you were in a highly anabolic state (for example, you eat the biggest, highest carb meal of the day after your workout), and you were in a deficit the rest of the day.

If you did intense weight training, and you timed your nutrient intake appropriately, it is possible that you could gain a small amount of muscle during those anabolic hours, while losing fat the rest of the day. Granted it might only be grams or ounces – but what if you kept that up for a week? A month? Three months?

As you pan out and look at the bigger picture, what if most days of the week you were in a deficit for the entire day, and on some days you were in a surplus? If so, then isn’t it possible that over the course of the week, you’d have a small net gain of muscle and loss of body fat a a result of the caloric fluctuation?

These within-day and within-week phases are called microcycles and mesocycles. If you also had a primary goal with a longer term focus of several months, say 12 weeks or 16 weeks, that would be a macrocycle.

What I’ve just described is nutritional periodization. Some people call it cyclical dieting. It’s where you manipulate your calories (primarily by fluctuating carbohydrate intake, hence “carb cycling”) in order to intentionally zig zag your way through periods of surplus and deficit and create specific hormonal responses.

The end result: muscle gain and fat loss during the same time period!

I know that someone out there is having a hissy fit because I’ve only talked about calories: deficits and surpluses. Rightfully so. Calories matter but there’s more to it than calories – most importantly, hormones and “nutrient partitioning.”

If you’re in a calorie deficit you are going to pull energy from your body. The question is: From WHERE? If your hormones are out of whack and you’re eating crap, you could lose more muscle than fat in a deficit and gain almost pure fat, not muscle, in a surplus!

But WHAT IF you could manipulate within-day energy balance, use nutritional periodization AND control your hormones with food and lifestyle strategies?

Make no mistake – concurrent muscle gain and fat loss is a difficult goal to achieve. The good news: Difficult does not mean impossible. Or as George Santayana said, “The difficult is that which can be done immediately, the impossible, that which takes a little longer.”

The Holy Grail Body Transformation Program: How to Gain Muscle and Lose Fat at The Same Time

You can learn more about gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time in Tom Venuto's new e-book called, "The Holy Grail Body Transformation System."

You’ll learn all about nutritional periodization, cyclical dieting, hormonal manipulation, within-day energy balance, nutrient partitioning, AND the all the X factors, including the 5 “X2-Factors” – which are the keys to gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time.

You’ll also get Tom's new “TNB” training system, as seen in Men’s Fitness magazine (the complete, expanded version that Men’s Fitness didn’t have room to print).

At the moment, The Holy Grail ebook is not for sale separately and there is only one way you can get it.

From now until Midnight (PST), May 13th, 2010, you can get a copy of the Holy Grail Body Transformation program ebook for FREE when you purchase the Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle e-book from this web page:

www.BurnTheFat.com

After May 13th, 2010 at midnight PST The Holy Grail will be taken off the market for a period of time while Tom is collecting case studies and getting feedback from users, to include in the final edition – which WILL be released for sale separately later this year.

Visit the Burn The Fat website now and jump on this deal while you still can.

I got this tip from Doberman Dan, author of Hyper Muscle Growth. This is a killer tip for boosting your muscle gains through the roof! It's something all of us successful hardgainers have done, but we often fail to mention it because it's so innocent and obvious that we forget to mention it in our newsletters, tips, blogs, and sites.
 

Dramatically Increase Your Calories for 3 Days

You will never achieve a positive nitrogen balance with a low calorie diet. It takes raw materials – carbs, protein and fats – to build new muscle mass and support recovery. Increasing your calories by 50% (from 3,0000 to 4,500 per day, for instance) for three days can spur growth while adding little if any bodyfat. The key is to limit the increased calories to a designated three day period; you'll be able to stimulate growth by improving muscle sensitivity to insulin and by providing more carbs for glycogen storage.

If you are in an overtrained state – and if you're not gaining any new muscle mass, this is probably the case – the additional calories will promote anabolism before fat storage is able to kick in. That's why you want to limit the 50% increase to a three day period. After that time, return to your typical intake of daily calories; you'll have stimulated new growth without adding unwanted fat.

Get more of these super tips that work especially well for hardgainers by clicking the link below –

Hyper Muscle Growth

Here's some advice on how to build muscle and gain weight if you're on the skinny side -

Yahoo Answers

After a few comments that it would be better if I just posted the answer here on the blog, I've decided to do just that! So, here it is.

You need to concentrate on 3 things for building muscle:

1. Train right
2. Eat right
3. Recover right

For training, you want to lift heavy weights for 2-5 sets (more sets for more experienced lifters) of 6-10 reps on compound exercises only (exercises that use multiple muscles like squats, deadlifts, bench press, pull ups, overhead press). Train 3 times per week. Full body workouts.

For nutrition, make sure you eat at least 6 meals per day. Get 20-40 grams of protein per meal. At 160 pounds, you want at least 160 grams of protein a day. Good protein sources are eggs, milk, beef, fish, poultry, and pork. Eat plenty of raw fruit and vegetables, too. Drink lots of water.

Before your weight training workouts, mix up a protein shake. Make it a double serving. Mix whole milk and a good protein powder and drink roughly 1/3 of it about 30 minutes prior to working out. During your workout, drink another 1/3. Afterwards, finish it off.

Get at least 8 hours of sleep and rest as much as possible. Walk when you can run, sit when you can stand, lie down when you can sit. The idea is to expend as little energy as possible throughout the day.

The best system I've seen for building muscle is the Stair Step Training System (SSTS). It's a 16-week course that shows you how to build muscle, shred body fat, and get bigger, stronger, and faster all over a 4 month period.