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?
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?
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Comments
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.
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.
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).
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?
Thanks everyone, I really appreciate your help. Thrax, I know you've been doing this for a while so I'd appreciate some pointers.
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.
I really appreciate the help.
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.
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.
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.
Fixed.
But yes, you need the milk every day.
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!
A lot of people say this, you simply need to look at your bench form. Push your chest out and retract your scapula, pulling your shoulder blades together, then touch the bar to the end of your sternum.
It gives you a firmer base to press off of, and also brings your chest closer to the bar.
One of my friends lost a ton of weight and gained some significant muscle using P90X so I gave it a try. I found that it was too "intense" for me. Not that I couldn't keep up, it's just that I was loosing too much weight and not gaining muscle quick enough despite taking protein daily and eating roughly 3000+ calories. At one point I was down to 148lbs and that's when I pretty much stopped their cardio workouts and stuck to the arms, back, shoulders and legs. I weigh about 163 now with about 8-10% body fat, so I did gain a little bit of muscle. I'm happy with my overall progrss.
how do you guys do your chicken in the mornings? 11am seems a little early for a half-pound chicken breast?
edit: oh, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if I was between 500-1500 calories during the day, based on the kind of food I get at home and how much I can fit in my desk at work. However, that's nothing new for the last few years. Maybe my body finally got pissed about it.
But we do have a lot of fridge space at work, think I'll go grocery shopping tomorrow for lunch.
For what it's worth, a large bag (10-12 frozen breasts), bbq sauce, peanut butter, honey, strawberry jam and a loaf of whole wheat bread was just under $30 - should last for 2 weeks with the chicken, milk and bread, and probably a month for the rest. chicken, milk and bread alone were $17, so total monthly cost is about $45-50.
edit: I already had the oatmeal, get it in bulk and forgot to look at the price.
edit 2: just had a coffee cup of milk, probably 2 cups. The carton of milk I got isn't big enough, will last maybe a week.