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

[stewaat]

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

125...145...what is this, Ethiopiansports.com












Anything?












That formula says I need 3861.24 cals/day.

6'3, 215, 22, very active

[ODogg]

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

So you've gone from 290 to 250? Over what period of time?

40 lbs is great but I'd be concerned that you are losing muscle as well as fat. I'm eating about 2000 cals a day right now and losing and like I said, I'm only at 165.

Since the start of the year i've lost roughly 40 pounds. I've lost it too slowly to be muscle and I can tell you from looking at my body it's been fat, not muscle. I'm doing about 1500-1900 calories a day now and as I said, I workout 5 times a week, 3 times a week I do a lot of weight lifting and some minor cardio and two days a week I do heavy cardio. I average about 1 to 2 pounds of weight loss a week, although some weeks I lose 0, gain 1 pound (usually it's cuz I eat too much, like on the holiday weekend).

My doctor recommends I eat 1900 calories at least but to be honest I'm not going to be eating food just to obtain some goal. If i'm not hungry then i'm not eating. At some point you have to listen to your body IMO. Below are some before and after pictures

August 2006 - 290 pounds



May 2007 - 250 pounds

[pfunk880]

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

If it's working for you then keep at it.

[stewaat]

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

ODogg that's awesome progress man! I bet you feel so much better it's unreal!

[oakfan162]

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

Awsome progress ODogg, keep it up and you might be mistaken for:

[ODogg]

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

Awsome progress ODogg, keep it up and you might be mistaken for:

LOL, that's a great one oakfan, hilarious!!! I always been told I looked like:



And yeah stewaat I can't even begin to describe how much better I feel now after losing 40 pounds. My cholesterol and sugar, which were "in trouble zones" before are now normal (the diabetes thing that my doctor kept talking about was what scared the crap out of me and started all this btw). My blood pressure which was through the roof is now just a little high (controlled with 3x less medication now than I used to take).

But the bottom line is how I feel. I actually enjoy walking around and doing things now, instead of just barely getting by. I never am sucking up air and losing my breath. I'm never having any chest pains (angina) like I sometimes had when I was pushing 300. I don't always feel like i'm walking in sand (or underwater is another good comparison) like I used to either. It's just an incredible difference.

If people knew there was this much difference in how they felt I'll bet a lot more people would work hard to lose it. And on the flip side, now I actually really look forward to and accomodate working out, instead of dreading any working out or flat out doing anything physical at all like I used to do. Thanks guys for the Kudos!

[oakfan162]

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

Little bit, but I saw your pic and I immediately thought you must be related to Clayton. Lol.

[ODogg]

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

Little bit, but I saw your pic and I immediately thought you must be related to Clayton. Lol.

Yeah, I can see the resemblance too (unfortunately haha). Looks like he could be my uncle or something. Wish I had his money, that's for sure.

[NoSkillz50]

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

I've gained like 3 lbs over the last week. I've been lifting a lot in basketball and having protein shakes after every practice. They have 700 calories with 16 ounces of milk and have 52 g of protein. I also eat 2-3 eggs and some toast after practice. This is on top of eating 3 meals per day. I've been trying to eat healthy and eat a lot of protein. I'm 6'1" and 160 right now. I was 157 about a week ago. My body fat hovers around 10% and hasn't gone up since putting on those 3 pounds. I don't expect to be able to keep up gaining 3 lbs a week and am only expecting to gain maybe 4 lbs a month if I work really hard. I know you may not believe I gained 3 lbs in a week but for me I can usually put the first 3-5 lbs very easily but it gets harder to keep that on and keep bulking up. I'm hoping to hit 170 by the time my basketball season starts.

[nkhera1]

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

Do any of you guys know of any food or drinks that have vinegar in them? I hear vinegar helps lose fat, and I'm really trying to lose some I have around my belly (along with doing cardio and abs exercises).

[Trevytrev11]

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

Read the quoted info below.

Doing some quick math on your stats...

66 + (6.3 x 158) + (12.9 x 68) - (6.8 x 20)

66 + 995.4 + 877.2 - 136 = 1,802 calories. That means if you woke up and just laid in bed all day doing nothing but breathing you would burn 1,802 calories.

1,8.02 x 1.55 = 2,794 calories. That means on your typical day, you should be eating that many calories for your daily maintenance. If you're lifting on top of that, you'll want to add anywhere from 200-500 per day (opinions on this vary greatly). If you're eating less than that you will not put on muscle. Your muscles need enough food to allow them to grow during repair.

As far as workouts go, I wouldn't aim for just your upper body and abs (you can't train your abs w/o doing lower body). If I were you I would be mainly focused on squatting and dead lifting - it'll pack on the most muscle throughout your body and help out your core/abs a ton. The best lifting book on the planet that I've found is this......

http://www.amazon.com/New-Rules-Lift...8127468&sr=8-1


If you're serious about wanting to put on muscle, buy it and do everything it says.

Ok, so I've sat here for the better part of 2 hours and read through most of these posts and this one stuck out for me, I just had a few questions.

1) About the book: Do the excercises require weights and other equipment? As of right now, I have nothing at my house and don't want to purchase the book if it requires these things.

2) I'm currently 5'10 185 lbs and 25 years old . I want to drop about 10-15 pounds and basically tone up. I'm not looking to get bulky at all, just really trim down some and hopefully get a little more cut. Is this still the right book for me or will it add a lot of bulk?

3) My current diet is basically this:
-breakfast: cereal w 1% milk
-lunch: leftovers (pizza, taco's, enchilada's, grilled chicken breast w/pasta, steak w/pasta) or a PB&J or turkey sandwhich and pretty much always a banana or a togurt
-dinner: as above: frozen pizza, grilled chicken breast, steak, taco's, chicken enchilada's frozen pasta with sauce. If we eat chicken or steak, we usually add some sort of pasta
-dessert: Maybe 3-4 times a week, I'll eat a bowl of ice cream or a brownie or some cookies.

Will Whey protein help me get the leaner muscle I want or will it bulk me up. I'd like to eat smaller meals more often and possibly supplement one or two with protein if it will help.

4) I have a desk job and a 4 month old, so there isn't a lot of time for excercies. We usually go on a 30 minute walk 3 times a week and I take the baby for an hour walk on Saturday and due about an hour of yard work (sweating my *** off) once a week. Should I be shooting for more cardio (maybe a morning jog?)

5) I played baseball through college and lifted for about a year and a half afterwards and then just stopped for the last 2 years and pretty much just lost most of the definition I used to have, while pretty much maintaining my weight. Now I'd like to trim up and want to come up with the best (and easiest plan to acheive that. Any help would be great. If I do go the weight route? Do I want more rep's of less weight for leaner muscles?

Thanks.

[ehh]

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

1) About the book: Do the excercises require weights and other equipment? As of right now, I have nothing at my house and don't want to purchase the book if it requires these things.

Yes, it definitely requires weights. It's nearly impossible to get the typical desired physique doing only body-weight exercises. And forget it if you're thinking that only cardio will help you. You'll be in skinny-fat'ville for good. Is joining a gym out of the question?

2) I'm currently 5'10 185 lbs and 25 years old . I want to drop about 10-15 pounds and basically tone up. I'm not looking to get bulky at all, just really trim down some and hopefully get a little more cut. Is this still the right book for me or will it add a lot of bulk?

Cutting isn't really a word that most lifting fanatics care for. Just do the exercises in the book and eat right and you'll get positive results. You're not going to come out looking like a body builder, trust me.

3) My current diet is basically this:
-breakfast: cereal w 1% milk
-lunch: leftovers (pizza, taco's, enchilada's, grilled chicken breast w/pasta, steak w/pasta) or a PB&J or turkey sandwhich and pretty much always a banana or a togurt
-dinner: as above: frozen pizza, grilled chicken breast, steak, taco's, chicken enchilada's frozen pasta with sauce. If we eat chicken or steak, we usually add some sort of pasta
-dessert: Maybe 3-4 times a week, I'll eat a bowl of ice cream or a brownie or some cookies.

Will Whey protein help me get the leaner muscle I want or will it bulk me up. I'd like to eat smaller meals more often and possibly supplement one or two with protein if it will help.

Trying to be nice, your diet completely sucks.

Absolutely zero fruits and veggies? Ideally you should eat 6 servings a day of fruits or veggies. That's probably not going to happen, so start aiming for 3. Plus you should eat 5-6 small meals a day, not the dreaded "three square meals".

Even the things that you included are pretty bad for the most part, frozen pizza, the desserts, pasta, tacos, cereal (probably loaded with sugar).

Diet is where most people go wrong. Make no mistake, it's a very large commitment to eat right. Some people simply can't stick to it, others don't think it's worth it. This is completely your decision. The good news is your last paragraph was promising. Definitely order whey (and again don't worry about the bulk) and eat more frequent, smaller meals throughout the day. Whey is cheaper online than in GNC and similar stores.

A bit of advice, plan your meals ahead of time. John Wooden said it best, "Failing to plan is planning to fail." If you don't plan your meals a day (or a week in my case) in advance you'll be off your diet before you know it. Always make sure you have enough good stuff in your home and simply stop buying crap (ice cream, frozen pizza, etc).

For over a year I was strictly eating the same thing on a 7-day cycle. Meaning every meal/snack was the same each Monday, a different set every Tuesday, etc. This is when I was at my peak physical condition. I threw my back out deadlifting in July, then moved to a new town and have a serious gf on top of that so it's been hellish trying to get back into my routine again. I admit I've been terrible the last two-three months.

4) I have a desk job and a 4 month old, so there isn't a lot of time for excercies. We usually go on a 30 minute walk 3 times a week and I take the baby for an hour walk on Saturday and due about an hour of yard work (sweating my *** off) once a week. Should I be shooting for more cardio (maybe a morning jog?)

Finding time to exercise as you get older is hard as hell, and I don't even have any children yet. Again, here is where you have to decide how bad you want it. If you truly do, you'll have to join a gym and probably wake up an hour earlier in the morning to get in your workouts. Not easy, but doable. Once you get used to it you'll probably look forward to it.

If you're looking to lose fat and are serious about getting in shape you will need much more than 2 hours of walking per week and some yard work.

Do I want more rep's of less weight for leaner muscles?

You want variety, which NROL is great at. Stick with any one thing too long and your body will adjust and you'll stop seeing improvements. NROL varies from 2x25 to 6x3, meaning 2 sets of 25 reps and 6 sets of 3 reps.

Good luck!

[caseyd]

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

Ehh, I just started at our local gym. I've been going 5 times a week, doing a half hour on the eylliptical machine and a half hour of weights (chest one day, legs the next, etc.). I'm drinking a lot more water than I used too also, drink no soda, trying to eat better. I really don't want to get "big." I just want to firm up. Am I on the right track or is there something else I should be concentrating on? Thanks for your advice so far. It's very helpful.

[Trevytrev11]

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

Yes, it definitely requires weights. It's nearly impossible to get the typical desired physique doing only body-weight exercises. And forget it if you're thinking that only cardio will help you. You'll be in skinny-fat'ville for good. Is joining a gym out of the question?

Cutting isn't really a word that most lifting fanatics care for. Just do the exercises in the book and eat right and you'll get positive results. You're not going to come out looking like a body builder, trust me.

Trying to be nice, your diet completely sucks.

Absolutely zero fruits and veggies? Ideally you should eat 6 servings a day of fruits or veggies. That's probably not going to happen, so start aiming for 3. Plus you should eat 5-6 small meals a day, not the dreaded "three square meals".

Even the things that you included are pretty bad for the most part, frozen pizza, the desserts, pasta, tacos, cereal (probably loaded with sugar).

Diet is where most people go wrong. Make no mistake, it's a very large commitment to eat right. Some people simply can't stick to it, others don't think it's worth it. This is completely your decision. The good news is your last paragraph was promising. Definitely order whey (and again don't worry about the bulk) and eat more frequent, smaller meals throughout the day. Whey is cheaper online than in GNC and similar stores.

A bit of advice, plan your meals ahead of time. John Wooden said it best, "Failing to plan is planning to fail." If you don't plan your meals a day (or a week in my case) in advance you'll be off your diet before you know it. Always make sure you have enough good stuff in your home and simply stop buying crap (ice cream, frozen pizza, etc).

For over a year I was strictly eating the same thing on a 7-day cycle. Meaning every meal/snack was the same each Monday, a different set every Tuesday, etc. This is when I was at my peak physical condition. I threw my back out deadlifting in July, then moved to a new town and have a serious gf on top of that so it's been hellish trying to get back into my routine again. I admit I've been terrible the last two-three months.


Finding time to exercise as you get older is hard as hell, and I don't even have any children yet. Again, here is where you have to decide how bad you want it. If you truly do, you'll have to join a gym and probably wake up an hour earlier in the morning to get in your workouts. Not easy, but doable. Once you get used to it you'll probably look forward to it.

If you're looking to lose fat and are serious about getting in shape you will need much more than 2 hours of walking per week and some yard work.


You want variety, which NROL is great at. Stick with any one thing too long and your body will adjust and you'll stop seeing improvements. NROL varies from 2x25 to 6x3, meaning 2 sets of 25 reps and 6 sets of 3 reps.

Good luck!

Thanks man! I do eat some fruits & vegetables, but not nearly as much as I know I should. Depending on the meal, there is usually some sort of brocoli/greenbeans/corn, but like you said, I need to up it. My wife and I are both starting on Monday (going to Morton's steakhouse on Friday, so I figured that will be my last meal to veg out on), so I'm trying to come up with a grocery list that will balance me out.

A gym membership is likely out of the question...but we do have a gym at work that I need to start taking advantage of. Also, I was thinking of picking up some dumbells from craigslist. With a 4-month old, there is no way I can get out of the house for an hour or two 3 or 4 times a week. Weights at home would be much more convenient as it would allow me to work out at my convenience. I'm also going to start waking up a half hour earlier and jogging/running in the mornings.

So if you don't mind, let's discuss a diet plan.

Like I said, I'm 5'10, 185 and 25 years old..so with the formula you provided:
66+(6.3*185)+(12.9*70)-(6.8*25)=1,964.50...so if I understand this correctly, this is the amount of calories my body burns regardless of any sort of excercise. And 1964.50*1.55=2357.40, which is the daily intake I need to maintain my current weight...now my goal is to get down to about 170-175.

With that in mind, should I still aim for this 2357? Should I shoot a little lower since I'm trying to lose weight or should I shoot higher because I will be adding excercise?

My one basic rule is I can't eat sea-food, so any sort of fish is out of the question.

**Breakfast (7:00):Should I stick with cereal (healthier type cereals?) and 1% milk or should I switch it up to some sort of home-made smoothie with whey protein/fruit/yogurt?

**Snack (10:00): Would something like a piece of fruit be good here? Apple/Banana/grapes? Is that even enough? What about a small spinage salad with fat-free dressing?

**Lunch (12:00) Turkey sandwhich on whole grain bread (light mayo/mustard) and maybe another piece of fruit or a yogurt?

**Snack (3:00) Like the first snack, maybe a piece of fruit, maybe another smoothie?

Dinner (6:00) Boneless/Skinless BBQ'd chicken breast (with seasonong) and a vegetable (Broccoli/Green Beans/Corn/Spinich)

**Snack (8:00) Maybe some apples and peanut butter or vanilla icecream or something?

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Also, we make taco's and usually use ground turkey instead of beef, so I don't and also, often make it into taco salad instead of taco's...don't know if that matters. What about canned chicken?


Thanks again, I really appreciate the help.

[MagicBucsWsoxFan]

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

Hows this?

Monday - Bi's/Chest
Tuesday - Legs/Cardio
Wednesday - Shoulder/Tri's
Thursday - Legs/Cardio
Friday - Full body
Saturday - Off
Sunday - Full body

meal 1 - eggs/protein shake or oatmeal/protein shake (along creatine powter mixed in and a multi vitamin pill)

Meal 2 - Protein bar

meal 3 - Tuna sandwhich and protein/creatine shake mixed

meal 4 - fruit

meal 5 - some type of steak or chicken

meal 6 - protein/Creatine shake (after workout)