Written by Menswear Style in Health & Fitness on the 22nd March 2017

With summer fast approaching, the pressure is on to look as good as possible in your new seasonal wardrobe, and with more of your physique on show during the hotter months than any other time of year, it’s essential that you get in the best possible shape to complement the clothes you're going to be wearing at this time of the year. With this in mind, our friends over at Right Path Fitness have helped us put together these tips on how to bulk up in time for the summer months, whilst also staying as lean as possible – in order to ensure that you look your best no matter what you’re wearing – even if that happens to be nothing more than a pair of shorts and a classic tight white t-shirt.

1. Get your daily calories right 

The trick to getting the right balance between adding muscle whilst also ensuring that you don’t add too much excess bodyfat, is all about calories – you need to make sure you’re consuming exactly the right amount each day in order to provide your body with the nutrition it needs for full recovery from your workouts, but without overdoing things. You need to figure out how many calories you need per day to maintain your bodyweight during your new workout routine, and then consume an additional 200 calories a day in order to add the small amount of muscle weight that is required. Any more weight gain above and beyond this will purely be in the form of excess fat – which is not going to do anything for the way that you look throughout the all-important summer months.

2. Focus on eating lots of protein 

When you’re trying to build muscle but also stay lean at the same time, you should focus on making protein the main focus of your diet, as it is the primary nutrient for muscle growth and development, but it also contains a comparatively lower number of calories per gram compared to other nutrients such as carbohydrates and fats. In addition, protein also requires more energy to digest, which helps to boost your metabolism. It therefore makes sense to eat a greater proportion of protein in your diet when trying to bulk up but stay lean than you would normally do, so try to focus on consuming clean sources of protein such as diary, lean meat and eggs. Stick to a clean, high protein diet that focuses on these food sources and you’ll soon be in great shape for the summer.

3. Eat at the right times 

The timing of your meals is also important when trying to bulk up but also stay lean, as you’ll want to consume the majority of your calories earlier in the day, so that you can burn off the carbohydrates and fat throughout the day and avoid storing any unnecessary excess later in the day when you are about to sleep. It’s also important to consume one of your larger meals directly after your workout, as it’s vital that you provide your body with all the nutrition that it needs to fully recover from your workouts as quickly as possible – but this is particularly relevant when you are consciously restricting calories in your diet in order to stay lean.

4. Get the amount of cardio just right 

When looking to achieve the perfect balance between adding muscle but also staying nice and lean, it’s vital to get the amount of cardio that you do just right. This is to ensure that you blast some unwanted fat away but without burning too many calories that will start eating into any muscle gains that you manage to make. Start by scheduling in 3 x 20 minute sessions of cardio per week, and keep a close eye on how it’s affecting your bodyweight and whether it’s starting to eat into any muscle gains you’ve made – either increase or reduce the amount of cardio by 5 mins either side depending on how it’s affecting you. Get the amount and intensity of your cardio sessions just right, and you stand the best possible chance of keeping all your hard-earned muscle gains, but being able to show them off by also ensuring that your bodyfat percentage stays nice and low.

We provide tips with the help of Right Path Fitness on how men get stay lean, bulk and shape up in time for summer.