Let Me Be Your Bulking Experiment

[quote]chobbs wrote:
^Great point, I would like to be strong, but “bodybuilding” comes before that, and I need to get to a decent weight before any of these things[/quote]

Don’t think ‘weight’, think muscle. As much as everyone will tell newbs not to obsess about staying excessively lean, or assuming your limits (I like this phrase!), remember that no matter how smart you think you are, or how much you eat, you can’t force feed muscle growth (damn I must sound like a broken record by now). Your body can only build so much in a given time frame (1-2 lbs per months tops), and every pound, every ounce, every gram your body weight goes up beyond the true limits of how fast your body can synthesize new tissue will be fat. No ifs, ands, or butts (ha!)

Yes, trying to stay very lean at this point will do more harm than good, but packing on pudge that you’re just going to have to lose later, will not only give you a false sense of “bro, I’m huge-itis”, but it will blunt your insulin sensitivity, essentially making it a bit more difficult to actually pack on LBM.

S

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:

[quote]chobbs wrote:
^Great point, I would like to be strong, but “bodybuilding” comes before that, and I need to get to a decent weight before any of these things[/quote]

Don’t think ‘weight’, think muscle. As much as everyone will tell newbs not to obsess about staying excessively lean, or assuming your limits (I like this phrase!), remember that no matter how smart you think you are, or how much you eat, you can’t force feed muscle growth (damn I must sound like a broken record by now). Your body can only build so much in a given time frame (1-2 lbs per months tops), and every pound, every ounce, every gram your body weight goes up beyond the true limits of how fast your body can synthesize new tissue will be fat. No ifs, ands, or butts (ha!)

Yes, trying to stay very lean at this point will do more harm than good, but packing on pudge that you’re just going to have to lose later, will not only give you a false sense of “bro, I’m huge-itis”, but it will blunt your insulin sensitivity, essentially making it a bit more difficult to actually pack on LBM.

S[/quote]

BOOM!

Done and done. Well said.

you have the luxury right now of cost and time not being an issue and also being 19 years old:
go to the library pick up a few simple cooking books and start experimenting.
If not inclined to can keep it simple with
BREAKFAST
-lots and lots of eggs with yolks(like it said in article not something your cardiologist would approve of but will pack on size in short term I think recommended amount of cholestrol per day is two eggs worth but you’re young and growing and hopefully subjecting yourself to testosterone building tension throughout your workouts)

LUNCH

-ground beef by the pound made into whatever you want real easy to cook if you don’t know look up all the possibilities it’s real easy to stove top something delicious.

DINNER 1 -salmon by the pound just bake it as is at 425 for 15-18 mins… on a stove top melt some butter with crushed up pistachios and top onto the fish when done cooking (real easy idiot proof kind of heavy and get tired of taste after a few bites but will give you quality calories)

DINNER 2
Now for a heart friendly staple:

-if don’t want to go through marinating chicken and want to save some $ buy the precooked frozen chicken breasts in solution (i like kroger brand the best or farmers market from wal-mart) follow the instructions on the packet for baking time usually ~40-50 minutes when frozen…drizzle them with olive oil on the baking sheet with some garlic salt and red cayenne pepper before putting them in…get those cheesy brocolli rice green giant packets that you can get anywhere microwave for about 6 minutes combine with the chicken…sounds hard but it’s really easy.

When all else fails if money is not an issue Chipotle is great(I like to get double meat with 1/2 of each kind of meat yea I get some looks from the employees) and so are Wendy’s burgers however I don’t really like those foods that are just loaded with astronomical amounts of protein fats and carbs. Stay away from the radical bulking protocols of pizza loaded with oil and the ben and jerrys ice cream. Good Luck sounds like with your height/frame you have a lot to fill out.

Please take what Stu said seriously!

The diet outlined in the linked article is for:

  1. Guys who don’t give a damn about their appearance and body composition (he mentioned Jason Pegg’s penchant for sticks of butter but didn’t include a shirtless picture of Jason Pegg). (Disclaimer: That statement doesn’t take away Jason Pegg’s accomplishments as a powerlifter; he’s just someone that didn’t pay attention to body composition or health while ingesting sticks of butter).
  2. Guys who don’t care to locomote faster than a walk or to have any athletic ability. Yeah, I get this is powerlifting and bodybuilding, but if you can’t jog for 20 to 30 minutes or run an 8 minute mile (being lenient), you might have a problem. If all you care about is the ability to waddle up to a squat rack and plop yourself on a bench and put up big numbers, then whatever.
  3. Guys who belatedly realize that when they hit 30-something years old and are obese and unhealthy and have horrific blood values, maybe even diabetes and hyperlipidemia, their weight isn’t so easy to manipulate anymore and are stuck with the tedious burden of strict dieting, tendency to yo-yo dieting and food addiction. Many are also stuck with hard-to-lose areas such as the sides of the chest, upper lats, glute-ham tie-in, and obliques.
  4. Guys who don’t care to be referred to or considered “the fat guy” (regardless of how much muscle carried). Yes, Andy Bolton and Donnie Thompson are GREAT powerlifters but they are “fat guys”.
  5. Men who are too lazy or indisciplined to do some caloric or nutrient control or at least some portion control.