T Nation

Question On Growing

Bodybuilding
#1

First off, yes, I am a skinny bastard. Over the last two years I have been on and off when it comes to weight-training. The last month/month and a half I have been working out really hard. My question is broken into 2 parts.
1.) What would be best for putting on quick weight/muscle?
I have been alternating three muscle groups per workout and resting those 3 muscle groups 4-7 days. I have been doing 3 sets w/ 10 reps (4 sets on chest, back, legs). Should I be doing this, or should I be maxing out? Is is good to some how combine both methods?

2.) I have been forcing myself to eat as much as I possibly can. I purchased the Grow and usually have a shake in the morning and for sure at night. Is there any sources of food that make a good snack during the day that I could be eating?

#2

1.) “What would be best for putting on quick weight/muscle? I have been alternating three muscle groups per workout and resting those 3 muscle groups 4-7 days. I have been doing 3 sets w/ 10 reps (4 sets on chest, back, legs). Should I be doing this, or should I be maxing out? Is is good to some how combine both methods?”

read a t-mag article. abbh, ovt, etc…

2.) “I have been forcing myself to eat as much as I possibly can. I purchased the Grow and usually have a shake in the morning and for sure at night. Is there any sources of food that make a good snack during the day that I could be eating?”

steak…

#3

[quote]1.) What would be best for putting on quick weight/muscle?
I have been alternating three muscle groups per workout and resting those 3 muscle groups 4-7 days. I have been doing 3 sets w/ 10 reps (4 sets on chest, back, legs). Should I be doing this, or should I be maxing out? Is is good to some how combine both methods?[/quote]

Forget about putting on “quick” muscle. Be patient. Remember, with weight gain comes muscle gain. So, rather than trying to find the magic excersize scheme to put on muscle, focus on eating for weight and muscle gain and the gains will come. It cannot be stated more emphatically than…

NUTRITION IS THE NUMBER ONE PRIORITY IN GAINING MUSCLE

Almost any weight training will provide stimulus for muscle growth, ASSUMING nutrition is adequate. By adequate, I mean whatever is enough for YOUR BODY to gain muscle; with total number of calories being foremost in importance, followed by enough protein.

As far as weight training, I would pick a good hypertrophy based workout from this magazine and give it a go.

Do you actually KNOW how many calories you are eating? Can you tell us how much protein you are getting? carbs? fats? if you don’t honestly know, then how can you possibly be eating enough? You’re not.

Forget about “snacks.” Think of everything as a meal. Read the article “Massive Eating” and follow that. Just eat enough. Find out how much protein you should eat, how many carbs, how many fats, per day, and divide them up into as many MEALS as it takes to get your target numbers. If you fail to gain weight, simply up the calories by 500 or so. You’ll start to gain weight, eventually. You HAVE to be on top of your nutrition though. As soon you realize this and spend more energy making that happen than tryin to find the perfect routine you’ll start packin on the pounds, albeit slowly.

Rome wasn’t built in a day.

#4

I would say it is not a point of a 3 rep or high rep to failure, or any different rep or set scheme. The trick is to keep it fresh. As your body adapts change the routine. I would say follow one of the proven programs in the mag and follow it to completion. Then Pick another that is totally different and continue on from there.

As far as diet you have been given some great advice. Simply eat more. The addition of Grow is a great idea and easy way to add k/cal and protein. I would take it one step further and not think of every time you eat as a snack or meal, but as fuel. fuel needed to grow. Not all of it is going to be really tasty and such. It is a feeding in ordr form you to progress.

Hope that helps.
Phill

#5

Smp219,
no hypertrophy programs will work unless you eat properly.
Then try: CW’s ABBH1 then ABBH2 then Singles. In these programs you find an effective combination of loads, sets, reps.

#6

Thanks 4 the help. I know it all takes time, and I am pretty happy with the results after a month. It’s so hard for me to find the time to eat with between school and work, but I am trying to stay on top of it as much as possible. My slender body frame doesn’t help either. Thanks 4 the post.

#7

What do you do for work? There was a while when I could not get into the gym, so I turned work into a workout. I was a barback at the time, so I had to lift heavy shit.

#8

Unfortunately, I work for a financial company, which means I’m usually behind a desk. I’ve started bringing Grow to work and making a shake around 2 or 3 o’clock (2 hours after lunch).

#9

smp, the workouts are important, yes, because properly done, they provide a stimulus for growth. But as you’ve seen, the responses have been mostly about about eating and getting enough food.

My recommendation is that you start getting a bit more organized where your nutrition and eating patterns are concerned. You need to commit to the basics; i.e., 6 meals a day, every 3 hours, protein every meal, good PWO nutrition, quality carbs correctly timed.

Part of it is education. As P-Dog said, “READ”!!! Read everything by John Berardi about nutrition. That takes care of the self-education and taking your knowledge to the next higher level.

The other thing I would recommend is that you start a food log. It doesn’t have to be complicated, but if you want to take control of your body composition (muscle to fat ratio), the only way you’re going to be successful is if you know exactly what you’re putting into your body, how many grams of protein and fat and carbs you’re getting per day. With that knowledge, you’ll be able to tweak and fine-tune things and get the results you’re looking for. Chris Shugart wrote a great article on how to keep a food log. Check it out at http://www.t-mag.com/nation_articles/162miss.html.

“…forcing myself to eat as much as I possibly can” isn’t going to get you to where you want to go. It just won’t.

The last thing I was going to say is that once you have your plan (i.e., how much you’re going to eat and what), you need to invest in 5 Tupperware containers and make up your meals to take with you to work. That’s what successful people do. If you don’t have what you need with you, you’re going to skip meals or eat whatever is available, even if that’s a bag of chips and a Coke or a donut out of the box that keeps calling your name because you left home without eating breakfast because you were running late.

Take control. Take charge. Plan & prepare.

Start also with JB’s article, 7 Habits of Highly Effective Nutritional Programs, http://www.t-mag.com/nation_articles/291seven2.html.

The answer lies in the intersection of knowledge and application. All the information you need is available here on this web site. Once you know what you need to do, just do it. That’s where most people drop the ball; in the area of APPLYING what they’ve learned.

Good luck to you. If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to ask.