Help with my post-swim season workout plan

Now that my swim season is officially over, I am going to have much more time at college to work out the way I want to. Basically as some of you already know, I am underweight. I am male, 20, 5'8, about 120 pounds. I really want to get "bigger" (more muscular) but I do not want to gain fat. I know that this sounds counterintuitive because in order to build muscle you need a caloric surplus, which would build muscle but would also gain fat. I don't want to do this. Last year in my offseason I did 2 miles on the treadmill, lifted, and then cooled down on the ellipitcal. I did this 3 days a week with a 6 mile run on the other 4 days of the week, and basically even though I got stronger, I did not get any bigger and I lost 7 pounds. My diet is not the problem because I eat a lot of healthy, clean food and alot of lean protein like fish and grilled chicken, so the routine was what did me in. This year I want to wake up in the morning and run, like 3-4 miles, and then in the afternoon lift my weights. I'm hoping that my run in the morning on the empty stomach will stave off the fat, and then in the afternoon I can work on building muscle. Can anyone help me out as to how effective this would be, how I should go about starting my lifting again, or any advice in general? Thanks.

 It would not be effective.

 Cardio depletes cellular energy, activating a response that shuts down all other energy-intensive processes like - oh, building muscle protein - until energy homeostasis is restored.

 Which is why the rule of thumb is that more than 90 minutes of cardio a week when gaining muscle will compromise your results.

 'course, eating too much will also do that; the most you can hope for with perfect training, diet and rest is about one ounce of muscle a day, which requires something like 350-500 kcal/d surplus on average. A 3:1 muscle:fat ratio is generally doing good; you should be able to put on 3lbs of muscle and one pound of fat in a month and then diet off that pound in about a week provided you keep excessive cardio under control in the gaining period.

 Keep in mind: You can maintain your cardiovascular conditioning somewhat withough compromising your muscle gain process, or you can decide that you're willing to settle for less than your potential maximum progress in that one dimension. It doesn't have to be one or the other, but you do need to pick where you want to place your goal post in relation to developing your potential along any one fitness dimension.

Original Post by thejabronisayz:

My diet is not the problem because I eat a lot of healthy, clean food and alot of lean protein like fish and grilled chicken, so the routine was what did me in.

Your diet is the problem, if you aren't putting on size, you aren't eating enough, period.  It doesn't matter how good your routine is, if you are undereating (which you are) you won't put on any muscle.

If you want to put on muscle, you're just going to have to accept that you're going to put on fat as well, that's just how it works.  No one here is going to give you any 'secret method' to put on lots of muscle without any fat.

Eat more (a lot more), focus on the basics (squats, deadlifts, presses, pullups, rows) and cut out the cardio.  Add the cardio back in when you get closer to next swim season.  If you're trying to put on muscle, make that your priority.

According to CC, at sedentary I burn 1800 calories. I eat close to 2500 calories a day. My diet was not the problem. The excess of cardio caused my failure, not my diet. I could have counteracted that by eating even more, you're right, but I'm not going to forcefeed myself 4000 calories a day.