Attempt at Gaining Muscle

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

So here I am. I’ve played soccer all my life and big muscles weren’t really my goal until now. I was in the gym a few days ago and relized “shit I’m a weak skinny bastard” :-). I was never really fat…gained some weight when I Was in middle school but by high school I’ve lost it all with pretty much no effor(eating w.e…no exercise)I don’t know if I have a fast metabolism or not thats not important right now.

Once I started lifting at my house I started seeing some progress(of course eating w.e was available). 2 years later I was more informed and decided to “cut” to get my zupa hawt abs. It took me a few
months and then i just maintained. i started going to the gym with no real goal…just lifting and staying lean…this when on for a year.

After december of 2007 I sort of went into depression mode and bingue ate for a month while bearly lifting and gained like 15 pounds of pure fat and water(CAUSED OF NOT HAVING LONG TERM GOALS). I’ve been on the Anbolic Diet for the last month and lost a good amount of fat. I’m around 160 now at 12% body fat or so. my goal is to keep losing for two more weeks(so I can look like before i gained all the unwanted weight at around 9-10% body fat) and then up the calories little by little until I see some gains.

This is all trial and error for me. I won;t go into a all out bulk simply because I dont have a rush and this is a long term goal anyways. I just want to gain gain gain for the next few years until I’m happy with my size.

Anyways after all that you might be asking your self why I’m posting. Well I tryed a bulk a few months back and withdrew because I was too much of a pussy about gaining fat(and few months later gained nothing but while binge eating…HOW IRONIC). I’ll post my progress and such once I start in two weeks with the hope that some of you might throw in some advice and encoragement if I ever need it :-).

Shit thats a long ass post!!!

2

.

from your post it just sounds like you are being kind of a pussy. thats not a personal attack. stop being one, lift some heavy weights, eat some clean whole food, and stop binge eating like a 12 year old girl whose boyfriend left her for her neighbor sara who hit puberty sooner and therefore developed before any of the other girls on the block

3

[quote]ronaldo7 wrote:

After december of 2007 I sort of went into depression mode and bingue ate for a month while bearly lifting and gained like 15 pounds of pure fat and water(CAUSED OF NOT HAVING LONG TERM GOALS). I’ve been on the Anbolic Diet for the last month and lost a good amount of fat. I’m around 160 now at 12% body fat or so. my goal is to keep losing for two more weeks(so I can look like before i gained all the unwanted weight at around 9-10% body fat) and then up the calories little by little until I see some gains.

This is all trial and error for me. I won;t go into a all out bulk simply because I dont have a rush and this is a long term goal anyways. I just want to gain gain gain for the next few years until I’m happy with my size.

Anyways after all that you might be asking your self why I’m posting. Well I tryed a bulk a few months back and withdrew because I was too much of a pussy about gaining fat(and few months later gained nothing but while binge eating…HOW IRONIC). I’ll post my progress and such once I start in two weeks with the hope that some of you might throw in some advice and encoragement if I ever need it :-).

Shit thats a long ass post!!![/quote]

If your goal is to gain gain for next few years; then forget about losing anymore body fat. You will do fine if you workout. Binge eating will not cause to stop making gains; however, insufficient calories will cause you to stop making gains and to binge eat.

The fact that you stopped making gains and were binge eating is sympton of an incorrect diet and insufficient calores. Also, i must say you do not need to lose any more wieght with your current wieght of 160 pounds; unless your a midget, any more loss would be to much and would be contradictory if your objective is gain mass for the next couple years.

I think your problem is you have unrelistic goals. You cant combine “extreme” low body fat as well as a low calorie diet when trying to gain mass. Something is wrong somewhere; but maybe if you used a reasonable diet in combination with your lifting program, you might have better success. In general, you have no reason to be on a restricted diet at a wieght of 160 pounds and if you are on a program of gaining mass; then you really need some extra calories.

4

[quote]ds77 wrote:

If your goal is to gain gain for next few years; then forget about losing anymore body fat. You will do fine if you workout. Binge eating will not cause to stop making gains; however, insufficient calories will cause you to stop making gains and to binge eat.

The fact that you stopped making gains and were binge eating is sympton of an incorrect diet and insufficient calores. Also, i must say you do not need to lose any more wieght with your current wieght of 160 pounds; unless your a midget, any more loss would be to much and would be contradictory if your objective is gain mass for the next couple years.

I think your problem is you have unrelistic goals. You cant combine “extreme” low body fat as well as a low calorie diet when trying to gain mass. Something is wrong somewhere; but maybe if you used a reasonable diet in combination with your lifting program, you might have better success. In general, you have no reason to be on a restricted diet at a wieght of 160 pounds and if you are on a program of gaining mass; then you really need some extra calories.
[/quote]

I agree. Plus quit thinking in terms of “this is a long term goal, so I’m going to take my time gaining muscle”. Muscle isn’t so easy to come by that you can afford to take your time building it. It’ll take someone who is seriously and ferociously pursuing muscle mass 3-5 years (or possibly even longer) to build their muscular base. And that’s if they’re doing everything right (eating, lifting, resting, etc…).

I suggest you read through this thread:

http://www.T-Nation.com/tmagnum/readTopic.do?id=1949269

5

Ok I actually started around 3 weeks ago with my mass gain program. Was eating around 3000-3500 calories each day. You’ll know why I said “was eating” but for now this is how my lifts improved just by eating more.

SQUATS(PLUS BAR):
week#1

Set1= 90x12+

Set2= 90x8+

Set3= 110x8

Set4= 120x7

week#2

Set1= 110x12+

Set2= 130x8

Set3= 150x6

DEADLIFTS(PLUS BAR)
Week#1

Set1= 160x12

Set2= 180x8

Set3= 200x8

Week#2

Set1= 180x12

Set2= 200x6

Set3= 220x6

Now week number 3 hasn’t been all that good. Unfortionatly as I was doing squats on week number 2, a mayor headache erupted. I usually do and extra set to tire the legs in which I go lighter weight until failure . As I was reaching my 17th rep I failed so I rested the bar while I was down which caused a mayor headache which went away fairly quick so I continued my workout with no problems. Two days later I went to train my back and during my pull-up set an extreme headache kicked in. I had never left the gym before finishing my training but this headache was bad.

The leg day was last Thursday, today I went to try and train my arms but the headache came back once again. It sucks to have the will and mindset to do something but my body isn’t helping at the moment. I have decided to not lift until I feel 100% fine. I sure hope it goes away as quickly as possible.

Oh by the way, trying to gain mass is awesome. During those 2 weeks I felt great in the gym( much more motivation, stronger…e.t.c…)

6

[quote]ronaldo7 wrote:
So here I am. I’ve played soccer all my life and big muscles weren’t really my goal until now. I was in the gym a few days ago and relized “shit I’m a weak skinny bastard” :-). I was never really fat…gained some weight when I Was in middle school but by high school I’ve lost it all with pretty much no effor(eating w.e…no exercise)I don’t know if I have a fast metabolism or not thats not important right now.

Once I started lifting at my house I started seeing some progress(of course eating w.e was available). 2 years later I was more informed and decided to “cut” to get my zupa hawt abs. It took me a few
months and then i just maintained. i started going to the gym with no real goal…just lifting and staying lean…this when on for a year.

After december of 2007 I sort of went into depression mode and bingue ate for a month while bearly lifting and gained like 15 pounds of pure fat and water(CAUSED OF NOT HAVING LONG TERM GOALS). I’ve been on the Anbolic Diet for the last month and lost a good amount of fat. I’m around 160 now at 12% body fat or so. my goal is to keep losing for two more weeks(so I can look like before i gained all the unwanted weight at around 9-10% body fat) and then up the calories little by little until I see some gains.

This is all trial and error for me. I won;t go into a all out bulk simply because I dont have a rush and this is a long term goal anyways. I just want to gain gain gain for the next few years until I’m happy with my size.

Anyways after all that you might be asking your self why I’m posting. Well I tryed a bulk a few months back and withdrew because I was too much of a pussy about gaining fat(and few months later gained nothing but while binge eating…HOW IRONIC). I’ll post my progress and such once I start in two weeks with the hope that some of you might throw in some advice and encoragement if I ever need it :-).

Shit thats a long ass post!!![/quote]

When i first joined the gym and began training regular and even on fridays(!) a mate said to me once… yeah, thats fine an’ all, but I want to slowly do it, slowly but surely… so when i am 35 (22 at time) i will have a shit hot body, with loads of naturally earned muscle that is there to stay. Fair enough i replied…

I saw him last year, 5 years later, and while i was in good shape, “on my way” so to speak… he looked the same or worse than he did 5 years previous… That lack of a specific goal, expecting it to come to him slowly, without putting 100% into it, will lead to no-where. Fast. What i an saying is when he said that, what he really meant was “I’m too lazy to really devote that much time, effort and money to training - but i have loads of time to achieve a decent body if i just smoke another joint right now and curl my DB’s in my room”

All i mean is, It is a slow process to build an ounce of dry meat. It IS gonna take for-fucking-ever anyway, so why restrict yourself by saying you don’t want to go “all out” as you have ages to achieve an ideal?
Time flies by, and you should put your heart and soul into it, then you may have a chance of getting near where you want to be, but if you don’t, you wont.

2 pence.

Joe

7

Thanks for the reply s by the way.

Joe Brook:

I don’t know if wrote that wrong or something. Trust me man, for me to take a day off the gym sucks. If I don’t go it feels like my day is not fulfilled or complete. This is the first time I HAVE to stay away from the weights because of this headache. Anyways what I mean by taking it slow is diet wise. I don’t want to go into an all out bulk just because I like keeping track of my nutrition and the way I look. I don’t mean staying lean with a six pack in the process but I sure don’t want to look like most of the fat asses in the gym who are strong but have nothing to show for it with a 20% bf. It is no task for me to count calories and macros. I actually enjoy doing it. I say all of this with the little experience I have of course. Maybe as the “attempt to gain muscle” goes on I will change my ways.

Once again thanks for the replys.

8

Fair enough…

You will be able to gain more if you allow BF to creep up though, you really shouldn’t need to gain 10% extra fat to gain muscle, if you are careful and controlled.

Alot say don’t go over 15%, and i would tend to agree for myself at least.

What do you see as an all out bulk by the way? I am in an “all out” bulk (well, i’m trying to add a little muscle at least!) and around 14% which is fat enough for me.

Joe

9

[quote]fatcat wrote:

i started going to the gym with no real goal…just lifting and staying lean…this when on for a year.

.

from your post it just sounds like you are being kind of a pussy. thats not a personal attack. stop being one, lift some heavy weights, eat some clean whole food, and stop binge eating like a 12 year old girl whose boyfriend left her for her neighbor sara who hit puberty sooner and therefore developed before any of the other girls on the block[/quote]

yup

10

[quote]Joe Brook wrote:
Fair enough…

You will be able to gain more if you allow BF to creep up though, you really shouldn’t need to gain 10% extra fat to gain muscle, if you are careful and controlled.

Alot say don’t go over 15%, and i would tend to agree for myself at least.

What do you see as an all out bulk by the way? I am in an “all out” bulk (well, i’m trying to add a little muscle at least!) and around 14% which is fat enough for me.

Joe[/quote]

I consider an all out bulk when the calories come from any source of food. I have lots of discipline with my meals which is why I cook most of my food for days in advance. I have never tried gaining mass which means no experience in doing it cleanly or dirty (which one is better??..I would learn with my own and with other peoples experience). Since I want to gain as less fat as possible then it makes sense to follow a simple clean diet. I like eating so for me it isn’t a chore, when it’s time to eat it’s time to eat.

Good luck on your mass phase, keep me posted on your progress.

11

Ive been lifting for quite a while, and only recently have i started getting the results im after. Learning from your mistakes is a big part of it, but heres some good advice.

1.)Start out with the rippetoe starting strength program.

2.)Focus on learning the exercises, and progressing to heavier weights. Lifting heavy means 3-6rep range.

3.)Eat enough to where you are consistently gaining a lb a week. This part is the easiest and the hardest. You gotta eat a lot, but IMO theres a fine line between just enough and too much. I know its kinda gross but IMO the best method of telling wether your eating enough besides gaining weight, is how often you crap. You need to be crapping at least once a day, ideally twice.

Do all that and you’ll succeed.

12

[quote]ronaldo7 wrote:
Joe Brook wrote:
Fair enough…

You will be able to gain more if you allow BF to creep up though, you really shouldn’t need to gain 10% extra fat to gain muscle, if you are careful and controlled.

Alot say don’t go over 15%, and i would tend to agree for myself at least.

What do you see as an all out bulk by the way? I am in an “all out” bulk (well, i’m trying to add a little muscle at least!) and around 14% which is fat enough for me.

Joe

I consider an all out bulk when the calories come from any source of food. I have lots of discipline with my meals which is why I cook most of my food for days in advance. I have never tried gaining mass which means no experience in doing it cleanly or dirty (which one is better??..I would learn with my own and with other peoples experience). Since I want to gain as less fat as possible then it makes sense to follow a simple clean diet. I like eating so for me it isn’t a chore, when it’s time to eat it’s time to eat.

Good luck on your mass phase, keep me posted on your progress.[/quote]

In that case i doubt the is a guy here on an"all out" bulk… as i am purty confident that during even the most dirty of buking stages, that individual will count/keep an eye on Protein levels (high).

But i kinda know what you mean.
As for clean/dirty… this is by no means the gospel, JMO, but a few agree i think… a clean bulk could be a wiser choice for a FFB, or someone who is higher BF% or an endo or some endo-mesomorph body-type.
A “dirty” diet for those on the opposite end, “fast” metabolisms, lean naturally, can gorge on food and not seem to put on a pound (it is totally achieveable, just a matter of practice) of weight, the ecto-morphs or some ecto-mesomorphs.

Like i said, just my view, i for one would suggest that for one of my clients, and i began to successfully bulk when i allowed Mcdonalds into my life (a 1000kcal shake? Get in!)

Joe