To talk on Icrontic, just register!

It only takes 30 seconds.

Have an account? Sign in:

Forgot?
tmh88
Custom User Title
tmh88
2,487 Posts

gaining muscle/weight

Hey everyone,

Last January I started lifting weights with my room mates(who have been doing it for years and have a whole bunch of workouts), so they helped me get a workout plan going. I was on a pretty strict workout plan going to the gym about 3 days a week from January through May or so. Back then I started in January at about 174 lbs and dropped to 155lbs. I lost a lot of fat and gained a little bit of muscle.

My schedule was chaotic and I sort of gave up, but I started again in the first week of September. I'm currently 6'2 155 lbs, with about 10-12% body fat. I used to be a runner and have a fast metabolism, so it's really hard for me to gain weight.

Currently I go to the gym 4 days a week. Monday I usually do shoulders and bicep workouts, and tuesday it's chest and triceps. Thursday it's lower body, and Friday or Saturday I work on my back and anything else that I feel wasn't worked out well enough. I won't get into the details but I got the workouts from bodybuilding.com and from some friends who have been bodybuilding for years and are big/scary. The one thing that bothers me is my bench press will NOT increase no matter what I do. Damn these long arms.

Since I started this workout plan of going to the gym 3-4 days a week in the beginning of September my weight hasn't budged at all. I'm stuck around 155 lbs and can't seem to put any more muscle on. Ive noticed some increases in the weight that I'm putting up, but not enough to be satisfied. I also noticed that I'm more toned, but not necessarily bigger. I take whey protein with every workout, and just started on a cycle of creatine. I'm currently in the loading phase, so I've upped my water consumption a lot.

I'm assuming I need to up my calorie intake, but my problem is finding ways to do it without eating junk foods since I'm not home often enough to make healthy meals/snacks. I let myself have a few beers on the weekend, energy drink/soda once a week, and a "cheating" meal once a week.

I don't necessarily care about being toned and having abs (which I sort of do now), I just need to bulk up first. I have class from 10-5 pm mon-thurs, so it's hard to eat during the day. I usually bring a peanut butter sandwich to eat around 1, but that's the only food I intake within that 7 hour period.

What do you guys think I should do about my food intake since I don't have the time to eat a lot during weekdays, other than the morning and night?

I don't want a strict diet down to counting single calories, I just need some ideas to help me add some muscle mass. Any suggestions on easy lunches/snacks that I can bring with me and eat between breaks of classes? Any other things that I should consider?
__________________





Armo, thanks for hosting
Thrax
Cad
Thrax
23,405 Posts
1. You're wasting your time and money with creatine. Your training level is nowhere near what it needs to be to benefit.

2. If you only have time in the morning or at night, you have time to cook for food during the day.

3. If you're not willing to make the sacrifices necessary--cooking in advance, eating food down to the calorie, and eating every three hours--then you're not ready to build muscle, because that's what it takes.


When you're ready to be serious, we'll talk.
__________________ Robert Hallock
Technical Analyst
Twitter | LinkedIn


CPU: Core 2 Duo E6420 @ 3.5GHz (500*7)
MoBo: DFI LanParty DK P35-T2R/S
RAM: 4GB G.SKILL PC8500
VID: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275
HSF: Thermalright Ultra-120

Obsidian
Way hotter than Fox n' Bush.
Obsidian
271 Posts
Gnome Queen
Ms. D
Gnome Queen
1,413 Posts
TMH, I'm assuming that you're only eating once during a 10-5 day because that's when you're not in class. Can you eat in class? Most professors, to my knowledge, don't care, and I'm sure if you spoke to them about having dietary requirements they'd excuse it. Then you'd be able to bring more food with you and snack periodically. Chicken is fairly easy to grill in mass quantities, and would probably be easy to eat in the morning. After that, I don't think that a whole grain bread with peanut butter is bad- though I wouldn't be surprised if Thrax disagrees with me. Otherwise, I would think that perhaps protein bars could be helpful, but I honestly don't know much about them, so I can't really recommend that (but it could be something useful to look into?). Good luck with your quest!
__________________ [folding_sig1]
tmh88
Custom User Title
tmh88
2,487 Posts
I never said anything about not willing to cook in advance or eating more often. All I said was I've been eating a sandwich during the day. I'm completely fine with bringing food to class with me and eating it when I have a chance.

Can you point out some good sites for meal planning? I also have no idea how many calories I should be taking in.

My comment about counting down to the last calorie was that I don't want to be one of those people who is scared to eat an oreo because "it will make me fat." Not that I'm going to eat half a bag of oreo's or anything, I just don't want to be scared to throw in an extra hundred calories every now and then.

I took creatine last April after I had been exercising for about 3 months and I had a huge boost after it. I noticed that I could do more reps and felt less exhausted after the same workout. My endurance while running was noticeably increased as well. I really liked the increase in stamina and I was hoping to gain the same results.
Nomad
-
Nomad
3,503 Posts
6'2 155 lbs … fast metabolism
You need to be eating truckloads of food.

Easy foods to carry around:
- Almonds
- Oatmeal
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Protein shakes
- Wheat bread/peanut butter sandwiches
- Fruit

I'd be looking at eating between 3,000–3,500 calories a day. Gobs of protein. Creatine is optional, if you're not eating enough to grow, it's not being used to its maximum potential. You're basically using it as an energy supplement, and there are cheaper ones than creatine (B12, ephedra, caffeine).
__________________
tmh88
Custom User Title
tmh88
2,487 Posts
I sat down yesterday and calculated that I've been eating about 1,500 calories a day, so I'm basically going to try and double that.

I woke up this morning and made 2 servings of otmeal with a banana and whole wheat bread. For lunch I made some chicken with whole grain rice and scrambled two eggs. I plan on having a snack shortly (probably just a peanut butter sandwich), and some raw vegetables later in the afternoon. For dinner I'll probably make some pasta with meat sauce(even though I know it's not the healthiest thing. I use 90/10 lean beef), but it'll throw in some calories. I'm sure I'll be snacking more throughout the day as well on fruit, nuts, and other small things.

I usually only take protein shakes on days that I work out. Should I start taking them on my off days as well?
Thrax
Cad
Thrax
23,405 Posts
Protein every day. You must eat 3500 calories every day. You should be on a 40/30/30 diet which means 40% of that 3500 should be protein, 30% carbs, 30% fat. Carbs = low GI like yams, brown rice, milk, oatmeal. Fat = peanut butter, olive oil, fat in chicken, milk fat.
tmh88
Custom User Title
tmh88
2,487 Posts
Can you point out some websites that can help with meal planning? I just need to get some meals down to know what I should/can eat. Do you know of any good iphone apps as well? I'm new to the strict diet thing and I could use some help.

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate your help. Thrax, I know you've been doing this for a while so I'd appreciate some pointers.
Thrax
Cad
Thrax
23,405 Posts
Pre-workout meal: 3 cups 2% milk + 40g of protein from powder
Post-workout meal: 3 cups 2% milk + 40g of protein from powder
Meal 1: 1.5 dry cups oatmeal cooked + 6oz chicken
Meal 2: 75g peanut butter + 2 slices wheat bread
Meal 3: 1.5 dry cups oatmeal cooked + 6 oz chicken
Meal 4: 6oz chicken
Water: DRINK 1.5 GALLONS PER DAY WITHOUT FAIL
---
Total cals: 3451
Macronutrients: 341g protein/280g carbs/114g fat (40/30/30 diet)
When to eat: Every three hours. Your pre-workout meal should come timed on the three hour mark. Your post-workout meal ignores this timer. The next meal after your post-workout should be 3 hours after your pre-workout meal.

So for example...

Wake 8 AM: 1.5 dry cups oatmeal cooked + 6oz chicken
11 AM: 6oz chicken
2 PM: 75g peanut butter + 2 slices wheat bread (PB sandwich)
5 PM: 3 cups 2% milk + 40g of protein from powder
6 PM: 3 cups 2% milk + 40g of protein from powder
8 PM: 1.5 dry cups oatmeal cooked + 6 oz chicken

Alternative foods:
3 cups dry oatmeal (cooked) = 32oz cooked sweet potatoes (increase peanut butter to 100g)
3 cups dry oatmeal (cooked) = 1.2 cups dry brown rice (cooked, increase peanut butter to 100g)
Chicken = Turkey, buffalo, piedmontese beef


Do not add more bread or more milk.
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	food.png
Views:	8
Size:	63.2 KB
ID:	27656  
tmh88
Custom User Title
tmh88
2,487 Posts
Thanks a lot for the help! I woke up a little late (10:30) but started with the oatmeal and chicken. I'm going to have a peanut butter sandwich and another piece of chicken around 1:30, and since I haven't had a cheat meal in about a week and a half, I think I'm going to have some pizza later today. And probably some oatmeal and turkey tonight.

I really appreciate the help.
tmh88
Custom User Title
tmh88
2,487 Posts
I'm up 3 pounds since starting this thread (5 days), and my body fat hasn't changed at all. I'm using one of those scales that reads it through your feet. Yes, I know they aren't accurate at all, however it is precise.

Accurate = sample of values are close to the true value.
Precise = sample of values are clustered together but not necessarily close to actual value.

See image for reference. Yes, I know 99% of you understand the concept, but I just want to clear the confusion before being yelled at.


My point is that although the scale may not be accurate, the readings are precise. Hence, I can assume that my body fat hasn't increased.

edit - forgot to mention that it felt like I had more stamina and could push out more reps as well. My dumbbell shoulder press went up 5 lbs, and I preacher curls were also up 5. I was also able to squeeze a couple more reps out of almost every exercise I did.

I don't know if I was just having a good day or if eating really added this much energy.
Thrax
Cad
Thrax
23,405 Posts
Right. Fat-reading scales don't read the correct percentage, but they do correctly read the change in percentage.

Yes, eating really added that much energy. It's why you can drop creatine and use the clean fuel your body really needed all along.
tmh88
Custom User Title
tmh88
2,487 Posts
Thanks for all the help thrax! I'm heading to the gym in about 45 minutes to do some lower body workouts along with a light ab workout.
tmh88
Custom User Title
tmh88
2,487 Posts
Well, I went to the gym again and felt like I was on steroids from my improvement. I was able to rep 8 times what I usually only can put up 3 times on the flat bench.

One more thing Thrax, should I be drinking 2% milk with protein or is water fine? Does it make that much of a difference. I'm so used to drinking it with water that when I use milk it's so damn thick and "rich" that it sort of leaves my stomach unsettled. Maybe I'll just have to get used to it.
Thrax
Cad
Thrax
23,405 Posts
You need the carbs from the milk before you go to the gym.
Nomad
-
Nomad
3,503 Posts
You need the calories from the milk to gain weight.
Fixed.
Thrax
Cad
Thrax
23,405 Posts
I was assuming he was going to mix the protein powder with water and drink the milk as well.

I'm so used to drinking it with water that when I use milk...
But yes, you need the milk every day.
tmh88
Custom User Title
tmh88
2,487 Posts
I'm up 6.5 lbs this week in weight! Dumbbell shoulder press +5lbs, preacher curl(biceps) +10 lbs, up from 3 sets of 7 chin ups to 3 sets of 9. Also up from 3 sets of 5 pull ups, now at 1 set of 7, 1 set of 6, and 1 set of 5.


Edit- That was yesterdays progress ^^^, now for today. All of these are on the "free weight" machines. No cables on any of these machines.

Hack squats - 3x8 @ 90 lbs, +20
leg press - 3x8 @ 180 lbs, +10
Leg extensions - 3x7 @ 60 lbs, +5
Calf Raises - 3x8 @ 180lbs, +20
Leg curls - 3x7 @ 60 lbs, +10

All it took was a lot of eating which I love to do anyway!
Thrax
Cad
Thrax
23,405 Posts
Next step, don't touch a machine unless the exercise absolutely requires it.
lordbean
King of Spray'n'Pray
lordbean
875 Posts

» Subscriber

Free range of movement ftw.
__________________ "You wanna know what the problem is? The problem is it ain't starting."

Rig: Intel C2Q9450@3.54GHz, 8GB OCZ Platinum Lo-Volt, Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P, 2x HD5850 @ 930/1275 + 875/1175, 2x Seagate 1TB HD, 3x WD 640GB HD
tmh88
Custom User Title
tmh88
2,487 Posts
It's been a while since I've posted here. Still continuing with exercising and eating shitloads of food. Up 5 more pounds since the last post. Too many exercises to list but they're all up! My bench press could use some more work but I won't complain since I have long arms which is a disadvantage...just need more time!
Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Classic muscle 8bit General Banter 23 8 Dec 2008 10:07pm
Clutch's weight gaining diet Clutch Fitness 20 28 Aug 2008 6:11pm
Not gaining points.... tmh88 Folding@Home 7 17 Mar 2006 2:39am
Microsoft Flexes More Open-Source Muscle KingFish Technology Articles 0 28 Sep 2004 12:28am
Blocking Programs from gaining Access? RWB Networking & Security 10 29 Apr 2004 12:20am

Go Back   Icrontic Forums > Life > Fitness
Jump to
This Thread Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search


Current time: 11:58am (GMT)
Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2009, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Get Vanilla instead. Trust me.