I have been reminded recently of common misconceptions that surround muscle gain. A number of my athletes are currently entering a prepatory period where muscle gain is key. Training volumes are higher and intensities somewhat lower. Muscle gain potential can all be ruined by poor dietary practice. Many are told "increase your protein intake in this phase as you will need more protein to build muscle."

However, in truth this is not the whole picture. As long as you have sufficient protein you will gain muscle during this phase... but only if you have enough energy. By this, I mean you need to be eating more energy (calories) than you are expending. This is the one major factor for muscle gain. In the very short term you may do something that I call 're-comp' (as in re-composition) i.e. you will gain a little muscle and lose a little fat however this will not maximise the amount of muscle you gain! You ideally don't want to lose any fat and gain as much muscle as possible.

Therefore, if you do not see your bodyweight on the scales going up, you're not eating enough! Simple as that.

The clever bit after that is to eat the right foods to gain weight so that you are not loading up on extra kcals that will have a tendency to turn to fat. You should not use this as an excuse to consume large amounts of junk as gaining weight too quickly will inevitably lead to fat gain, albeit muscle gain also