The goal for most guys is to gain as much lean muscle mass and possible in the shortest time possible, while not gaining much fat. That can certainly be done. But the faster you want results and the better results you want, the more you must learn. Gaining lean muscle mass is a very complex process and there are a large number of factors that determine the gains you can make.

There are actually three major factors that determine how much a person is able to gain muscle. The first is of course genetics. Some guys have incredible genetics and can put on muscle quickly and lose fat at the same time. They are also known as "genetic freaks". We have no control over our genetics. That is why it is very important to pay attention to yourself and not to others, because your friend may have much better or much worse genetics than you have.

The second factor to gaining lean muscle mass is training. That is something that you, I and everyone else, interested in building muscle, has control over. There is so much information and also misinformation online about weight training and cardio, so for the average guy it is very hard to know what works. Training provides the necessary stimulus for the muscle to grow. If your muscles do not get stimulated enough, you will just put on fat.

That brings us to the last factor and that is nutrition. There are a lot of guys who have great genetics, who train hard and correctly, but because their nutrition is poor, they do not get great results. The total amount of calories dictate if you gain weight or lose weight. If your calorie intake is above your maintenance level you gain weight and when it is below it, you lose weight. Your macronutrient ratios determine whether or not you gain muscle or fat. Meaning, if your calorie intake is above your maintenance level, but your macronutrient ratios are incorrect, then you gain mostly fat not solid muscle.

If you are able to master these two factors - training and nutrition - then gaining lean muscle mass should not be a problem to you. But there is so much to learn about proper training and nutrition, so that is very difficult. The fact is that most men have no idea what is an optimum diet for gaining lean muscle mass.

For example, have you determined the number of calories to start gaining lean muscle? Have you calculated the amounts of fats, carbs and proteins for each day? And have you distributed all the macronutrients and calories over the 5-6 meals you must eat every day? I believe the answer is NO. So many guys never get near their actual genetic potential, because they don`t put the time and effort to learn how to effectively start gaining lean muscle mass.