Adding Muscle Mass

[Balldog]

So about a year ago I was weighing in at 223 lbs, which I did not think was a bad weight for being 6’3”. Then I seen a picture of me sitting on the couch with my nephew and was blow away by the size of my beer gut. So I decided to go on a diet of sorts, basically just eating three meals a day and that is it and I admit some of it was stress related, so I had no appetite some days. Today, I weighed in at 193 lbs. So I have finally lost 30 lbs, much of which I am certain was contained in my gut.

So phase one is done. Phase two is to add muscle to my upper body. I have been trying to work out and lift, I bought a Total Gym about 8 months ago. My problem is I will go hard for a couple weeks then not see any results and just give up for a month or so.

My question is, what is the best way to add muscle mass? Earlier in the year I was doing 100 pushups a day for a couple weeks, that has stopped as well. I’ve heard lifting more weight and smaller reps is the best way to add muscle. I have also heard that you must take days off to allow your muscle to recover and grow. I am just trying to figure out what the heck I got to do to see some results. Suggestions?

[pjstp20]

I could write you a book on this but I'll give you a few main points to start off. Changing your body, wether it be losing or gaining weight, is maybe 15% physical work and 85% diet. If your still trying to gain muscle weight eating only three times a day it won't work. You should find a calorie range thats about 300-500 calories over your maintnence weight and divide that into 5-6 meals. And as Im sure youve heard before eat 1 -1.5 g of protein per lb of body weight.

As for workouts themselves you gotta just go by feel. Some people gain muscle mass by working out every body part twice a week, some only once. Some with a medium amount of reps some with a low amount. All I can say is if you bust your ass you'll see results, and you'll be able to feel it. Gaining muscle mass is almost twice as hard as losing fat so it's gonna take a bit of effort.

[jetpunk2000]

I've actually had the same problem myself. I was at about 235 a year and change ago. I'm down to about 175 now and have been working out for 3 months trying to gain some mass. (I had been excercising before that but just to supplement the diet to lose) My biggest fear is that I'm gonna gain all that weight back. So I try to eat more, but I start to notice weight gain and no real change in definition. I think a lot of it is mental. To go from that diet mentality to trying to gain muscle is hard. I've lost 60+ pounds twice now. I don't want to do it again.

[Noop]

Wow you guys lose weight fast...


:)

noop

[jetpunk2000]

Wow you guys lose weight fast...


:)

noop
Hehe trust me it hasn't been fun. To go from eating White Castle to Smart One's is not one of life's pleasures. :D

[Noop]

I have never had White Castle I hear they have burgers to just die for...

:)

noop

[pjstp20]

There are a lot of myths out there in the bodybuiding world and I think jetpunk hit on one of the biggest: gaining muscle and losing weight at the same time. Unfortunatly there is no such thing (the exception being when you first begin working out). What I mean by that is you cannot actually gain muscle mass and lose (fat) weight at the same time. Your body is either anabolic (building up) or catabolic (tearing down). So what youre gonna have to do is take a step backward in order to take two steps forward. Cycle your workouts so that you train for both gaining mass and then losing the small amount of fat weight you gained while training for mass. You do this by training for muscle mass for about 3 months or so and then work on losing any fat you may have gained for a month or so. Then tweak and repeat until you're where you want to be.

Edit: Also tweak your diet so that it coincides with what youre working out for. When your anabolic eat 300-500cals above maintenence, when your catabolic 300-500 below.

[jetpunk2000]

I have never had White Castle I hear they have burgers to just die for...

:)

noop
The burgers are good, but I fell in love with the mozzerella sticks. They used to have this cheese dip that they kept heated and that with the stix was awesome. Of course they decided to forgoe the "fresh" cheese for this packaged crap and it was never the same.

[Hurst2112]

White Castle must have NASA engineers working for it. Have you ever tried their chicken rings?!

Amazing technology

[Noop]

Are there any in Miami?

[pjstp20]

I dont think there are any White Castles in Florida, I could be wrong though

[Sun Tzu]

I could write you a book on this but I'll give you a few main points to start off. Changing your body, wether it be losing or gaining weight, is maybe 15% physical work and 85% diet. If your still trying to gain muscle weight eating only three times a day it won't work. You should find a calorie range thats about 300-500 calories over your maintnence weight and divide that into 5-6 meals. And as Im sure youve heard before eat 1 -1.5 g of protein per lb of body weight.

As for workouts themselves you gotta just go by feel. Some people gain muscle mass by working out every body part twice a week, some only once. Some with a medium amount of reps some with a low amount. All I can say is if you bust your ass you'll see results, and you'll be able to feel it. Gaining muscle mass is almost twice as hard as losing fat so it's gonna take a bit of effort.

I agree with most of what is said here. I have been lifting for 3-4 years now and I have even attended a personal trainer school to get more educated about it. However it is possible to trim fat and gain muscle at the same time. I have been successful at trimming fat from my stomache and gaining muscle both on my upper body and lower body at the same time. If you have a good diet and a good workout then you could probably acheive both like I have. Here is what my 6 day workout looks like now.

Monday - Chest/Back
Flat Bench Dumbell Press - 5 sets 12/10/8/6/max for all of these
Machine Seated combo regular/incline bench press
Incline (bent) Cable Crossovers
Incline Dumbell flys
Bent Dumbell Rows
Machine Rows
Latisimus Pulldowns
Barbell raises
20 minutes on bike
150 situps ranging from front abs to obliques

Tuesday - Biceps/Triceps/Shoulders
Dumbell curls
Individual "free motion" cable curls
Curling Bar
Tricep Pushdowns
Skull Crushers
Triangle Pushups - 100 reps
Individual Cable raises
Military Dumbell Press
"free motion" cable military press
reverse dumbell flys
20 minutes on bike
150 situps ranging from front abs to obliques

Wednesday - 20 minutes on bike
Leg Extensions - 6 sets for all of these 15/12/10/8/6/max
Calf Raises
Lying Leg curls
Squats
20 minutes on bike
150 situps (again regular/obliques)

thurs-sat - repeat

I have put myself and been on this regimin for a while, and I have to admit I look at feel great. :)

[Franklinnoble]

Give BALCO a call.

[pjstp20]

I shouldnt speak directly from fact but everything Ive learned supports my contention. However Exercise Science in continually evolving and much is up for debate.

Sun Tzu: Do you have any numbers that support muscle gain and fat loss simultaneously? i.e.) lost x% body fat while actually going up in body weight? Sometimes people feel they are gaining muscle mass because their muscles are more visable due to fat loss.

[jetpunk2000]

My question is, aren't you supposed to rest 2-3X a week from weight training? I know it's OK to do cardio on the off days, but from what I've always known, consecutive training days is frowned upon. Have I been misguided here?

[Desnudo]

There are obviously several guys with much more knowledge than me, but I'll tell you what basically works for me from experience:

1. Cut way down on any cardio work. Not saying cut it out entirely, but reduce it if you do a lot of it. If I'm not trying to gain muscle, I usually run 20-40 miles a week, or the equivalent on a bike, skiing, etc.. No matter how much I lift or eat, it's nearly impossible to gain muscle if I do too much cardio.

2. Set up a schedule and stick to it. There are plenty of successful schedules that can work for you out there, just pick up an issue of Muscle and Fitness magazine or some such. My personal preference is for the old fashioned chest-shoulders-triceps, back-biceps, legs rotation with a day off in-between each. Ideally you'll have a lifting partner as it will make it much easier to push your limits.

3. Go with free weights. If possible, I'd get to a gym and use dumbells and barbells whenever possible. I feel they give you a better workout since you need to balance at the same time you're lifting. Alternatively the Bowflex seems to provide the same type of effect.

4. As for diet, if you really want to manage your weight, then I'd lay out a nutrional schedule. Otherwise, try adding two protein shakes to your daily eating habits. One between Breakfast and Lunch. The other a little while before you go to bed.

[pjstp20]

My question is, aren't you supposed to rest 2-3X a week from weight training? I know it's OK to do cardio on the off days, but from what I've always known, consecutive training days is frowned upon. Have I been misguided here?
You shouldnt exercise the same muscle on consecutive days but you definitly can workout on consecutive days. As a general rule you should rest a given body part 48 hrs after working it out. I say general because everyone is different some may need longer.

[pjstp20]

There are obviously several guys with much more knowledge than me, but I'll tell you what basically works for me from experience:

1. Cut way down on any cardio work. Not saying cut it out entirely, but reduce it if you do a lot of it. If I'm not trying to gain muscle, I usually run 20-40 miles a week, or the equivalent on a bike, skiing, etc.. No matter how much I lift or eat, it's nearly impossible to gain muscle if I do too much cardio.

2. Set up a schedule and stick to it. There are plenty of successful schedules that can work for you out there, just pick up an issue of Muscle and Fitness magazine or some such. My personal preference is for the old fashioned chest-shoulders-triceps, back-biceps, legs rotation with a day off in-between each. Ideally you'll have a lifting partner as it will make it much easier to push your limits.

3. Go with free weights. If possible, I'd get to a gym and use dumbells and barbells whenever possible. I feel they give you a better workout since you need to balance at the same time you're lifting. Alternatively the Bowflex seems to provide the same type of effect.

4. As for diet, if you really want to manage your weight, then I'd lay out a nutrional schedule. Otherwise, try adding two protein shakes to your daily eating habits. One between Breakfast and Lunch. The other a little while before you go to bed.
All very good points. I would recomend to cut out cardio completly if you want to put on muscle mass, but if cardio health is essential to you, partake moderatly, but eat more to compensate. Also, magazines are good refrence guides for beginers but use your head and a descriminating eye. A lot of workout routines come from proffesional body builders who are on a good amount of steroids, so their workouts would probably do more harm then good to someone who is not.

[primelord]

Are there any in Miami?

I think down south they are called Krystal burger. I don't know if the menu is completely the same, but the burgers are the same.

[AgPete]

So about a year ago I was weighing in at 223 lbs, which I did not think was a bad weight for being 6’3”. Then I seen a picture of me sitting on the couch with my nephew and was blow away by the size of my beer gut. So I decided to go on a diet of sorts, basically just eating three meals a day and that is it and I admit some of it was stress related, so I had no appetite some days. Today, I weighed in at 193 lbs. So I have finally lost 30 lbs, much of which I am certain was contained in my gut.

So phase one is done. Phase two is to add muscle to my upper body. I have been trying to work out and lift, I bought a Total Gym about 8 months ago. My problem is I will go hard for a couple weeks then not see any results and just give up for a month or so.

My question is, what is the best way to add muscle mass? Earlier in the year I was doing 100 pushups a day for a couple weeks, that has stopped as well. I’ve heard lifting more weight and smaller reps is the best way to add muscle. I have also heard that you must take days off to allow your muscle to recover and grow. I am just trying to figure out what the heck I got to do to see some results. Suggestions?

I know there's probably no proof that it works and it might actually cause more damage than good but I swear by that creatine stuff. In my mid-20's, I had started looking like what you describe and so I decided to get back in high school shape. I did about an hour or sometimes less of the heavy weights, low reps deal but I also would jog a few miles a day. IMO, my muscles recovered faster with creatine. I could workout almost everyday. In about 6 months, I was fairly chiseled. Enough so that if you looked at pictures before and after, you'd notice a huge difference. Not a recommendation because of some of the things I said above but it's the only sports supplement (besides just outright taking steroids) that I ever thought helped a workout routine. You don't have to take breaks every other day, but sometimes you have to listen to your body. Sometimes you just need to take a break but don't do it too long because you'll never get back into the routine.

As far as diet, unless you're eating fast food everyday, I wouldn't worry too much. As far as I'm concerned, diet is for pro athletes and people that want to do more than just get in shape but prevent future conditions such as heart disease. You can be in great shape but if you're taking in salt and cholesterol like a madman, you'll still have good chance for heart disease. Sure a diet will help but it's a pain on top of the motivation you need to have a rigorous workout schedule and run a normal life at the same time. That's just my two cents on the matter. One more recommendation, get a portable MP3 player because if you play the right music, you'll get twice the workout. Music is one of those things that can help you ignore the fatigue and pain. My recommendation is to guy the Gladiator, Conan or other fighting movie soundtrack. :p Serious. Those really pump you up.

Unfortunately I'm back to beer belly stage now. I broke one of my cardinal rules, I took a break for more days that I should have, got back into the lazy routine, and now I'm Homer Simpson again. Writing this makes me want to get in shape again. Good luck on your workout routine. :)

[daedalus]

My question is, aren't you supposed to rest 2-3X a week from weight training? I know it's OK to do cardio on the off days, but from what I've always known, consecutive training days is frowned upon. Have I been misguided here?As pjstp20 said, it's better to rest the particular muscle set that you worked on for the next day. If you look at, say, Sun Tzu's workout rotation, he works on different muscles on each day. It's during those rest period that your muscles are building.

[Desnudo]

I know there's probably no proof that it works and it might actually cause more damage than good but I swear by that creatine stuff.

I agree with that. I've had very good results using Creatine although I don't use it currently.

[Sun Tzu]

Another thing you could possibly do is take energy pills, or something similar before your workouts to give you that extra edge. Ephedra has been banned from all GNC stores, and if you go in there and ask for something to take before a workout to help you get those extra couple reps, they will probably give you something that works pretty well.

pjstp - I hadn't been working out for a couple months, but I had been eatting right. I have been back to the routine that I listed above for about 2 months now. I have put on 9 lbs of muscle since then, and I have also trimmed fat from my stomach in that same time. I don't have any official hard scientific numbers to support this "trim fat while gaining muscle" theory, but I have experienced it myself which to me is better than numbers. :) I do a good amount of heavy lifting when I work out, and when I throw in the bike/abs I think that's what trim's the fat. I also eat a LOT of protien which helps the gains in muscle mass. Everybody is different though, I know a lot of people who's workouts and diets look completely different than mine, and they build muscle just as fast or faster. So my advice is find something that you feel comfortable with, and <i>stick with it</i>. Don't give up after a month, because generally that's right about when you start seeing the results.

[randal7]

My problem is I will go hard for a couple weeks then not see any results and just give up for a month or so.

Here you have identified the core of the problem for most people. You have been given a lot of good advice here. Not to belittle any of it, but forget all of it for a moment. Sit down and think realistically : how much will I really work out on anything resembling a regular basis, and what are my goals? Very few folks have the drive to get a Schwartzenegger body; those guys basically work out full-time. Very few folks have the discipline for those diets, either. A good workout for a beginner is to lift two days a week, one exercise per bodypart, three or four sets per exercise, and two days cardio per week. Keep your workouts short, under an hour. The main key starting out is to establish the habit. Start out easy and you won't dread the gym, and you will still see results. Keep your regular three meals, but try to eat more protein. I have seen so many people start balls-out and burn out because it's just too much. Ease in, and after a few months, when you know what it's all about, add more if you still want to.

[lynchjm24]

My problem is I will go hard for a couple weeks then not see any results and just give up for a month or so.
Suggestions?

It really takes years.... not weeks.

[AgPete]

Here you have identified the core of the problem for most people. You have been given a lot of good advice here. Not to belittle any of it, but forget all of it for a moment. Sit down and think realistically : how much will I really work out on anything resembling a regular basis, and what are my goals? Very few folks have the drive to get a Schwartzenegger body; those guys basically work out full-time. Very few folks have the discipline for those diets, either. A good workout for a beginner is to lift two days a week, one exercise per bodypart, three or four sets per exercise, and two days cardio per week. Keep your workouts short, under an hour. The main key starting out is to establish the habit. Start out easy and you won't dread the gym, and you will still see results. Keep your regular three meals, but try to eat more protein. I have seen so many people start balls-out and burn out because it's just too much. Ease in, and after a few months, when you know what it's all about, add more if you still want to.

Balldog - One recommendation too that really helps is to take a picture of your body before you start working out. It sounds vain but it really encourages you when you can see before and after pics even after only a few months. Take pictures every few months and you'll see differences that you missed.

[Balldog]

Thanks for the advice guys.