Level of leanness for adding weight

[zmirvin]

If you have an intermediate lifter (seriously lifting for at least 2 years) is there a level of body fat you like to see them at before they attempt to gain weight? Some coaches claim that it is better to be fairly lean before you attempt to add muscle. Do you agree with this?

I am mainly curious about the skinny fat guy who has been consistently training hard for a while.

Thanks!

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Hard to say without context, i.e. age/sex/current BW/current BF level/goals/training status, etc.

In general, I don't like when people who are already carrying some muscle but are soft try to gain weight. If someone is "skinny-fat" that may change my recommendation depending on their characterization of skinny fat.