The best way to build lean muscle is to find a balance between training and calorie intake.
A calorie is a unit of energy.
When you take in as many calories as you burn off, thermodynamic balance, takes place.
Thermo meaning heat and dynamic meaning movement.
To understand the principles of thermodynamic balance, think of you body as a bank account.
When you consume calories it's like making a deposit.
When you exercise, it's like writing a check, you burn calories and they are taken from your account.
If, at the end of the day, you have spent the same amount of calories that you have paid in, then your account balances out.
If you spend more calories than you take in then you have a deficit and you will lose weight.
By the same token, if you don't spend the enough calories you then have a surplus and you will gain weight.
Now you know what the thermodynamic balance is, how do you work it into your training? If you are overweight then the process is simple, reduce your calorie intake.
If you are following a regular training routine you should limit your calories to about three thousand calories per day.
Your diet should be heavy on protein and light on carbs until such times as you burn off the excess fat.
When you are leaner you can up your carb intake as you start to build mass.
If you are already on the lean side, then your priority will be to bulk up.
You should be consuming about three and a half thousand calories per day.
You should be eating about one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight and about three to four grams of carbohydrates.
The remainder of your calories should come from unsaturated fats.
Building lean muscle is about fifty percent nutrition and about fifty percent hard training.
You will never get ripped, no matter how hard you train, if you pig out on junk food regularly.
These foods are just plain nasty, high in saturated fat.
Truth is, nutrition has come a long way in the last twenty years, so you don't have to sacrifice taste.
Most junk food combinations have a healthy equivalent these days.
Once you have mastered your diet, you can train in confidence knowing that your thermodynamic balance will always maintain an equilibrium between you intake and output.