I just turned 19 years old, I have been training for about 3 years, but within this last year is when I put on my weight, and started actually gaining muscle mass. I was 117 pounds last January, in these photo’s I am 148. I am doing german volume training right now, I have been switching between strength and hypertrophy to keep confusing my muscles and keep adding weight, but this is what I got for now.
Looking to pack on lean bodymass, and fast. Not worried about a lot of fat gain. I lift Monday Tuesday Thursday and Friday. My goals are to put on a lot of weight and start Bodybuilding. I know I’m not huge and I’m not looking for an ego boost like a lot of douche’s on this website. I am really set on my goals, and I am working very hard at them. So any advice from the higher level guys would be greatly helpful.
Diet:
Breakfast - 5 eggs, 5 pieces turkey bacon, 2 slices wheat toast, glass of milk
Pre workout - Oatmeal, Protein shake
Post workout - Protein shake (while cooking my meal)
Lunch - Chicken breast, baked potato, broccoli
Snack - fruit or nuts with greek yogurt
Dinner - chicken/steak/tuna, broccoli or baked potato
No higher levels guys have posted here yet, so you get a medium-level guy. Since it sounds like you’re serious about this, I’ll be very honest.
You don’t look like you work out. I’m sure you look way better than you did before you started working out, and I’m sure people who knew you before can see the difference, but at this point, seeing you for the first time, you look super average. So according to T nation standards in ratings, that puts you at like 2-3, somewhere in there.
Fortunately, I see some easy fixes. You’re right that you don’t need to worry about getting fat, you’re not close to that. But I’ll get to your diet in a second. First, I would suggest getting rid of half the supplements you’re taking. Alpha Male has no place in your supplements at age 19. It’s a good supplement, but isn’t going to have good VALUE for you at your age, your T is already high. Don’t need Beta7 either. You ALSO don’t need the creatine or BCAA’s, because you’re getting those in your musclepharm supplement. Unless your doctor told you that your vitamin C levels are low, that’s not helping you either.
Take allllll the money you spend on that stuff, and use it on food. The most honest thing a bodybuilder will ever tell you is that bodybuilding is about the food, not the supplements. Your diet looks really sparse, like you’re barely eating. The foods themselves are good, but I suspect you’re not getting enough of them. Why only 1 chicken breast? Double up on the proteins. Extra chicken is a super affordable way to go. You’re eating a decent amount of eggs already, but you could always do more. This diet makes it look like losing fat IS a priority.
You didn’t say anything specific about your workouts, so I can’t give any advice beyond this. Post specifics about your routine for guidance there.
You need to just keep hitting everything hard and putting on more mass all around.
Food choices look ok, but what kind of macros are you shooting for there? Tough to tell because you don’t give measurements on all foods. It looks like 200ish g of protein, which is good for a guy your size. Carbs look low. Try to get at least 2g/lb BW if you’re bulking up. I don’t think more fats would hurt either, just because they’re an easy way to get more cals in (you could throw EVOO/EVCO or a natural nut butter into your shakes and add a ton of cals from fats very easily).
Supplementation looks ok. I agree that Alpha Male is kind of redundant for a young guy. Vit C is also redundant if you’re taking a multi anyway. I personally wouldn’t bother taking more than 5g of creatine around workouts. Not sure what Muscle Pharm Assault has, but you might not need the creatine clear (or at least not a full dose). Your supplementation is not a PROBLEM, but you could refine it a little just so you aren’t wasting money on things you don’t need.
But yeah mainly just eat more carbs and fats, make sure you’re on a good program, and sleep enough. You are not nearly developed enough to pick apart your physique and worry about strengths and weaknesses. Hit everything hard, as often as you can while still recovering.
Make sure you don’t neglect your lats. You don;t want to build a decent amount of muscle, but still look thin in a shirt because you don’t have any back thickness.
This means pull-ups. Alot. if your biceps dominate the movement, figure out how to fix that.
also, you don’t want to put on 30 pounds of muscle and then find out you cant do any anymore because you’re too heavy.
Well, you look better than I did at 19, I think I weighed about 120!! You look like you’ve worked out some, so I think maybe some of the comments here are a little harsh. You’ve got some bumps for traps, and some curves to your arms, so you’re not completely average. But I’d advise you to keep your focus on the big mass exercises, like squat, bench, deadlifts, and maybe overhead presses, and try to get to heavier weights with those as soon as you can. You can add in some assistance exercises like curls, press downs, and side laterals for your arms as you see fit. Same with something for calves and hams after your squats. But focus on the big stuff. Check out Chad Waterbury’s Huge in a Hurry programs here on TNation, or other powerlifter style workouts. Get the strength up, and the size will come. Except for a good protein powder and maybe some creatine, I’d agree with the other guys here that you don’t need a lot of other supplements at your age, but just eating “big” like big steaks, several chicken breasts, fish fillets, lots of milk or yogurt or other natural protein sources would be key. And getting your overall calories up. Keep at it, and don’t let anyone sway you from your goals. Keep gaining knowledge and applying it every day.
I sincerely hope you are not planning on getting any more tattoos on your right arm. That being said, it seems like decent results for one year of serious lifting if you really were 117 lbs. Deltoids and traps look good. Lats and biceps are going to be your area of difficulty. Do lots of pullups man.
“Test boosters” are pretty much useless and are definitely not worth the money. Don’t buy them. Only real PHs and AAS will get your T levels to insane heights, and if that really is the way you want to go then I suggest doing a shitload of research and careful planning first.
You’ve worked your back more than your chest. That much is obvious. So start applying the techniques you built your back with whether it’s the training you stated or a new routine that applies to chest more. I can’t comment since I don’t know what exercises you do for chest now. German volume training seems unnecessary. You should be able to build with a solid routine of drop sets and super sets.
I’m guessing you don’t do much leg work? I didn’t either so I’m guessing you found out that you already had pretty strong legs when you started training and let them go a bit? That’s what I did. Now I do legs a lot more.
ok…im no expert but you need lat work…i can tell you workout…i was a skinny fat guy…hard gainer…you should look into strong lifts 5x5 workout…it helped me gain a pretty good bit of weight…
