How Long for Changes?

Im looking for an idea of what kind of gains are ideal for a beginner. I was a complete newbie to weights with the typical skinny-fat physique. I know that most people say the 1 pound per week rule but this is where im having difficulty. My body weight has only gone up a few pounds in the last 8 weeks. My lifts have all improved and I look and feel better. At this stage is there a way to tell if im making optimal changes or is there a way I can do better?

My goal is to add muscle. I realize that 8 weeks is nothing in terms of the time I will need to put in, I just want to make sure that I am doing my best to reach my goal. Thanks to everyone in advance.

Patience brother Patience.

Remember its not what you do today but what you do every day.

Solid

[quote]inthego wrote:
Patience brother Patience.

Remember its not what you do today but what you do every day.

Solid[/quote]

And if weight isnt going up simply eat more

Phill

I usually aim to get 1% better everyday

[quote]Phill wrote:
inthego wrote:
Patience brother Patience.

Remember its not what you do today but what you do every day.

Solid

And if weight isnt going up simply eat more

Phill
[/quote]

Ditto

What are you eating now? How often? The sooner you get your eating down, the fewer errors and bad habits to break.

Do you still feel kinda full when it’s time for the next meal? If not, eat more.

Thanks everyone. I have completely turned around my eating habits by now eating every 3 hours at least and eating quality foods each time. I pick my food choices from the lists on here by pros like Berardi. I am usually hungry by the next time I eat though.

Would it be more beneficial to eat more each meal and sticking with every 3hrs or start eating every 2hrs? Im also still not timing my nutrients as well as they say I should be.(EX. I wake up and have oatmeal with blueberies and protein powder without working out)

It’s a year and half that I’m training and if you’d see me you wouldn’t tell at all that I’ve been working out.
I’m stronger and my posture is bettere but no significant changes

[quote]skycamefalling wrote:
Would it be more beneficial to eat more each meal and sticking with every 3hrs or start eating every 2hrs? Im also still not timing my nutrients as well as they say I should be.(EX. I wake up and have oatmeal with blueberies and protein powder without working out)[/quote]
Every 3 hours sure is less work than every 2 hours! And don’t worry too much about perfect nutrient timing. Get basic healthy habits down first, then improve on the details.

I personally find that about three kilos a month is a good rate of weight gain for me - more than that and I pick up too much fat.

[quote]Horazio wrote:
It’s a year and half that I’m training and if you’d see me you wouldn’t tell at all that I’ve been working out.
I’m stronger and my posture is bettere but no significant changes[/quote]

That sucks, try something new.

[quote]skycamefalling wrote:
Im looking for an idea of what kind of gains are ideal for a beginner. I was a complete newbie to weights with the typical skinny-fat physique. I know that most people say the 1 pound per week rule but this is where im having difficulty. My body weight has only gone up a few pounds in the last 8 weeks. My lifts have all improved and I look and feel better. At this stage is there a way to tell if im making optimal changes or is there a way I can do better?

My goal is to add muscle. I realize that 8 weeks is nothing in terms of the time I will need to put in, I just want to make sure that I am doing my best to reach my goal. Thanks to everyone in advance.[/quote]

Yeah, its not so much about haveing perfect conditions to make gains as fast as posible its about haveing decent conditions and never giveing up.

Just dont let your lifts slow down keep upping the weight and never go hungry.

Make sure your upping the weight on the compound movements because puting 10lbs on your tricep kick back wont do shit for you in general.

[quote]Horazio wrote:
It’s a year and half that I’m training and if you’d see me you wouldn’t tell at all that I’ve been working out.
I’m stronger and my posture is bettere but no significant changes[/quote]

I just started working out again a little over a month ago and I’ve noticed pretty significant changes. I looked at a picture I took of myself on June 15 and I was pretty surprised how bad I looked.

[quote]n3wb wrote:
Horazio wrote:
It’s a year and half that I’m training and if you’d see me you wouldn’t tell at all that I’ve been working out.
I’m stronger and my posture is bettere but no significant changes

That sucks, try something new.[/quote]

…I don’t know what I’m doing wrong…I’ll open a thread about this sooner or later…the point is : I am stronger,but not that much,I mean,I should have improved a lot more I guess…

Thanks again. This is exactly why I started this thread. I am trying to avoid the whole workout for 12 months and add 5 pounds. It seems that everyone is saying nutrient timing isn’t as important as I thought as long as I stick with quality foods? Horazio, feel free to ask your question in this thread, as I feel that we could both learn from it.

Ben

Nutrient timing is a good thing to incorporate into your diet but it’s best to do so as a “tweak” after basic nutritional habits are well in place. In the iron game it’s very easy for beginners to get hung up on trying to get every little thing “perfect” and, when they don’t succeed, feel dispirited and demotivated.

As long as you keep doing well thought out workouts (ie. those made by T-Nation writers for beginners) and strictly follow the basic nutritional rules, and remember to get right back on the wagon whenever you fall off, you’ll make good progress as a beginner. Once that lifestyle is completely natural for you, ie. just how you live, you should begin looking into perfecting things like nutrient timing.

if nobody notices within 1 year then trade the squat-rack in for a loom

but at least your Mom will notice SOMETHING in a year

[quote]Horazio wrote:
n3wb wrote:
Horazio wrote:
It’s a year and half that I’m training and if you’d see me you wouldn’t tell at all that I’ve been working out.
I’m stronger and my posture is bettere but no significant changes

That sucks, try something new.

…I don’t know what I’m doing wrong…I’ll open a thread about this sooner or later…the point is : I am stronger,but not that much,I mean,I should have improved a lot more I guess…[/quote]

Sounds to me like you are going through the motions, in other words no intensity. Set some HIGH goals and reach for them. Attack them. Let nothing stand in your way in attaining them.

There is no rocket science to lifting weights.

Eat more. Lift more. Rest more. Grow more.

Awesome thanks so much for all the help! My last question is with setting some goals. Being new to this, Im not quite sure what some realistic goals are for myself. My current bench is 180lbs 3x5 Squat is 210lbs 4x5 pullups are @ 8 with bodyweight for 3 sets, Im still working on getting my form good enough on deadlifts to really push myself. I can list some other lifts as well if need be. My current bodyweight is 170lbs @ 5’9" and im 22y/o. What would be some good numbers to shoot for in say the next month? or 6 months? Again thanks to everyone for the help its much appreciated.

Ben

[quote]skycamefalling wrote:
Awesome thanks so much for all the help! My last question is with setting some goals. Being new to this, Im not quite sure what some realistic goals are for myself. My current bench is 180lbs 3x5 Squat is 210lbs 4x5 pullups are @ 8 with bodyweight for 3 sets, Im still working on getting my form good enough on deadlifts to really push myself. I can list some other lifts as well if need be. My current bodyweight is 170lbs @ 5’9" and im 22y/o. What would be some good numbers to shoot for in say the next month? or 6 months? Again thanks to everyone for the help its much appreciated.

Ben[/quote]

Don’t worry about realistic, realistic is too easy. Set your goals so high that you wonder if you can make them. It is better to set high and miss than to set low and hit.

Start goals for the next year. How much do you want to weigh, how big is your waist, how big is your chest, etc. How much are you going to lift in any of the lifts, if strength is important. If not, shoot for size improvements.

The rest of your goals for a month, 3, 6, and 9 are mid range goals designed to get you to attain the one year goal.

For instance, a one year goal might be to weigh 215 pounds on August 1, 2008, with a waist size of 31. Now you set your intermediate goals to get you there - How you are going to eat, lift, and rest to get there. What you will weigh in 30 days, etc. Then go to work reaching your goals.

It isn’t easy, but nothing worthwhile is.