For all you guys wanting to gain muscle, size, etc.

[bkrich83]

Re: For all you guys wanting to gain muscle, size, etc.

Yeah and being 35 doesn't hurt either at least that is my excuse! The older I get the harder it is to work out.

Exactly. When getting up at the crack of dawn, and lifting, and running, and doing plyometrics and agility work, is forced on you from 7th grade through your last college football game, doing that stuff just doesn't have much appeal imo.

Not to mention having a wife, a job that has crazy hours, a crapload of in-laws that are basically my dependents, monster mortgage payments, etc. I just want to relax when I get some free time.

[rudyjuly2]

Re: For all you guys wanting to gain muscle, size, etc.

Hmm, I'm not sure how beneficial it is to use more weight and compromise your form/technique.

Something that I read on Men's Health.com yesterday caught my eye...

I've always been taught and read that when you lift you should have steady, slower reps. They interviewed the trainer for five of the top heavy lifters in the world and he recommending always doing your reps as fast as physically possible. It's kinda annoying when that website/magazine contradicts it's self on a daily basis.

I think of a lot of these people read too many stupid articles and just start forming opinions. When I read somethings I disagree with I like to look at the person giving advice. I generally don't take advice about muscle building from cardio people who don't muscle build. I'm not a trainer and have a very simple program with weights at home and what I do is based off what works for me. I've tried it a bunch of different ways and I just do some simple stuff that works for me. I've been pretty lazy lately and need to get back to regular stuff after the holidays.

All I will say is that slow and steady is NOT the way to go imo. You should go as fast as possible without sacrificing technique is my way of thinking. Its hard to stay mentally focused when you work slow for one. Secondly, its against science to work slow. WORK is defined as force X distance. Going slow will limit your reps and thus the amount of work you do per set. Also, POWER is defined as WORK/time. The quicker you work, the more power you are exerting. If you really want to work your muscles, you need to maximize the WORK and POWER.

Again, I'm a simpleton and my brother is a much bigger workout guy than I am but that's what works for me.

[rudyjuly2]

Re: For all you guys wanting to gain muscle, size, etc.

That's not all that much different than my normal day...

1st meal - Hardees (Carls Jr. for you West Coast folks) Breakfast Burrito w/salsa to dip in, small order of hash rounds, and a medium Dr. Pepper.

2nd meal - 2 Lean Pockets (Pepperoni Pizza is my fav) and a can of Dr. Pepper.

3rd meal - Pasta with Tomatoe Sauce, Salad with 3 Cheese Ranch Dressing, 2 meatballs, glass of Diet Dr. Pepper (my wife buys the diet stuff).

4th meal - Bottle or two of Bud Light, microwaveable popcorn OR bowl of vanilla ice cream. I rotate back and forth between the two.

See? Not much different at all.

That's hilarious. I eat what I want as well but I'm not that bad.

[TJdaSportsGuy]

Re: For all you guys wanting to gain muscle, size, etc.

How are you even still alive? LOL

While I don't eat all that protein stuff, I do enjoy food, but man...LOL

Oh, come on, it's not THAT bad. Jeez...not like I'm eating donuts and cake all day or anything. In fact, I'm not really a sweets guy at all, with the exception of an occasional bowl of ice cream.

Trust me...my diet could be a LOT worse. There are people I know who buy those Honeybuns out of snack machines and eat 2 of those for lunch everyday. Now THAT'S bad!

[MagicBucsWsoxFan]

Re: For all you guys wanting to gain muscle, size, etc.

my diet sucks and I need to get on a schedule.

This is my usual day

Breakfast - usually none, if I do have time its cerial

snack - none

Lunch - usually either PB&J, a ham sandwich or cerial

snack - sometimes an apple sometimes nothing

dinner - veries depending on the situation. Sometimes I make myself a sandwich, sometimes my parents make chicken, stake or pasta.

snack about an hour before I go to sleep - This is where its hardest for me not to "munch" whether its a few pieces of chocolate, or a small bag of skittles or a few cookies.

[rudyjuly2]

Re: For all you guys wanting to gain muscle, size, etc.

my diet sucks and I need to get on a schedule.

This is my usual day

Breakfast - usually none, if I do have time its cerial

snack - none

Auburn Alumni will tell you how important it is to have a good breakfast. I always have two bowls of cereal every day. A lot of the time its sugar coated with 2% milk but I refuse to drop down to 1% or skim.

Breakfast kickstarts your metabolism which will help burn fat. Skipping breakfast is a bad idea.

http://adksportsfitness.com/back_issues/august2001/articles/nutrition.html

[MagicBucsWsoxFan]

Re: For all you guys wanting to gain muscle, size, etc.

hmm...this might be the stupiest question ever...but there are 3 or 4 nights a week where ill wake up around 430-5 AM absolutly starving. Sometimes I have a bowl of cerial and go back to bed until 730, sometimes I try to fight the urge. Would that count as breakfast if I did that? Or should I prevent doing that at all costs?

[rudyjuly2]

Re: For all you guys wanting to gain muscle, size, etc.

hmm...this might be the stupiest question ever...but there are 3 or 4 nights a week where ill wake up around 430-5 AM absolutly starving. Sometimes I have a bowl of cerial and go back to bed until 730, sometimes I try to fight the urge. Would that count as breakfast if I did that? Or should I prevent doing that at all costs?

lol. I don't know. Auburn Alumni was a certified trainer that even worked with Charles Barkley at one time (or worked out with him, not sure). I think I better shut up now before my lack of knowledge gets exposed and let AA handle that one.

[Money99]

Re: For all you guys wanting to gain muscle, size, etc.

How much protein on average should i consume? Im about 5' 10" 145 lbs if that helps at all.

From what I've read you should consume at LEAST the equivalent of your weight in grams of protein a day. But most will tell you 1.5.
So if you're 145 lbs you should consume at the minimum 145 g of protein a day. But 210-220 is what you should consume if you really want to get big.

That diet AA listed is pretty crazy. I'd love to have the time to make all those meals. But I'd actually rather know who that chick in his avatar is.

[BunnyHardaway]

Re: For all you guys wanting to gain muscle, size, etc.

This is closer to my eating habit. Although we do have a lot of seafood, sushi, and chicken, as my wife is not a big red meat eater.

My diet sucks, I no longer hit the gym very hard, really don't play sports any more (other than surfing, skiing and pickup bball).. I am pretty much settled in at 6'2" 195-200 lbs. I am a lot smaller than I was in college as far as muscle. But I do enjoy sleeping in and not having to get up at 5:00 am to lift, and being able to eat whatever I want.

Besides I am in shape, round is a shape.

Hell, that beats my diet:


Morning- nothing usually

Lunch- banana muffin bar, chocolate milk, slushie, and when the lunch is good I have that along with the milk and slushie.

When I get home- chips (Doritos, Lays Salt & Vinegar, Pringles), 1-2 cans of Pepsi, sometimes more.

Dinner time- sometimes we make steak, broccoli, pasta, but most of the time I have either a toaster oven pizza, more chips, and another can or two of Pepsi.

Before bed- soda and chips

So basically, my daily diet consists of a lot of chips and 4-6 sodas a day.

[ndeezlo]

Re: For all you guys wanting to gain muscle, size, etc.

there is a guy at work that is always trying to get me to lift with him, he always asks "don't you wanna get laid more?" I just responded with, "I'm kind of an *** hole i don't think my look is why i don't get laid."

[colkilla]

Re: For all you guys wanting to gain muscle, size, etc.

hmm...this might be the stupiest question ever...but there are 3 or 4 nights a week where ill wake up around 430-5 AM absolutly starving. Sometimes I have a bowl of cerial and go back to bed until 730, sometimes I try to fight the urge. Would that count as breakfast if I did that? Or should I prevent doing that at all costs?

aa can prob better answer this one, but i'll try. i think you are getting hunger pains from not eating enough and what you do eat contains too much sugar so that helps give you that starved feeling. i have overslept and missed breakfast before and had pizza the prior night. lets just say the next morning i was having some serious hunger pains!!!

[AuburnAlumni]

Re: For all you guys wanting to gain muscle, size, etc.

Damn...this thread BLEW UP.

Ok...some quick hitters for various questions in this thread.

1. Slow and steady on technique...the faster you go doing any exercise..the more you are using MOMENTUM and not MUSCLE. Go for a steady pace of about 2 seconds up and 2 seconds down.

2. Skipping Breakfast is a BAD idea. For one thing....you have been asleep for 6-8 hours or more and your body has NOTHING in it. If you wait until Lunchtime to eat many things will happen and they are all bad...
a) Your metabolism will slow because your body thinks you are in starvation mode.

b) Since you have no calories to burn in your stomach...your body will use valuable MUSCLE TISSUE instead.

c) Your energy levels will drop big time.

3. You guys who live on soda, chips, and fast food will most likely start to develop strong headaches and stomach pains from all of the caffeine, sugar, and trans fats being pumped into your body daily.

4. If you are looking to gain muscle/mass your goal for protein intake should be roughly 1 gram per pound of bodyweight.

5. There is no reason not to use Whey Protein a great deal in your daily diet. Not only is it a great source of a COMPLETE protein (i.e. it has all of the essential amino acids, etc.) but it's a hell of a lot more convenient mixing a couple of scoops of powder in a cup with some milk or water and gulping it down in a busy day than cooking and eating a piece of chicken or fish. BUT...you do want variety in your diet so your body gets a wide range of nutrients.

6. Guys who are taller, have longer arms, etc... Use DUMBBELLS. In fact...I swear by as much dumbbell training as possible as it works the stabilizer muscles much better than machines or barbells and helps with "real world" functional strength. I.e. Dumbbell bench press, curls, Tricep "skull crushers", shoulder press, shoulder flys, etc. Also...you don't need a spotter.

Example...for 3 years I didn't go near a Bench press rack. I only did Dumbbell work...decline, incline and flat DB Bench press with 120 pound dumbbells.

When I finally did..for sh*ts and giggles...max out on a bench press...I benched 405. That was after never going higher than 240 pounds (120 + 120 Dumbbells) for 3 years working chest.

7. If you are hungry...EAT!! Hunger pains are your body TELLING you that it needs food. Your body is the best gauge of when to eat...it's been programmed for thousands of years.

This doesn't mean go to an all you can eat buffet every time you get hungry..but do try and get a high protein, low fat snack to satisfy your hunger AND promote an increased metabolism.

If I wake up in the night...I'll usually drink a protein shake because your body is most anabolic (i.e. capable of building muscle) when you are in deep REM sleep.

[Scottdau]

Re: For all you guys wanting to gain muscle, size, etc.

. Guys who are taller, have longer arms, etc... Use DUMBBELLS. In fact...I swear by as much dumbbell training as possible as it works the stabilizer muscles much better than machines or barbells and helps with "real world" functional strength. I.e. Dumbbell bench press, curls, Tricep "skull crushers", shoulder press, shoulder flys, etc. Also...you don't need a spotter.

Very true. I do that for all my chest reps.

[cjonesfan921]

Re: For all you guys wanting to gain muscle, size, etc.

My problem is, I don't eat salads, sea food, or anything healthy for that matter. I just don't. I'm allergic to any seafood and just hate salads. I'm pretty much out of luck, because I do exercise but I also eat unhealthy.