Yesterday I posted a question that was misunderstood about body toning. What I meant to say is how I should go about gaining 15 pounds without gaining fat.
My Stats are: Male, 19 years old, 160 pounds, 6 feet tall, working out for two years strait 4-5 times a week, used creatine before and it helped me gain about 10 pounds. My diet mostly consists of: Tuna, Turkey and Chicken.
What are the supplements that I should be taking if any, and how should I approach my workout strategies.
A lot of people talk of gaining mass without fat, unless you juice up you have to accept that you will put on some adipose tissue.
I suggest you read Jon Berardi’ massive eating article (diet is in the t-mag FAQ) and possibly think about supplementing that type of diet with optimised vlume training (OVT) or Anti bodydbuilding hypertrophy (ABBH)(both can be found by using the search bar)
good luck
massive eating by JB also try a program like OVT GVT or ABBH
READ THE MAG…EAT LOTS OF FOOD…LIFT HEAVY THINGS!!!
Can’t be easier than that!
mVila,
Gaining 15lbs of lbm and no fat. That is a damn tough goal. You gotta eat to gain.
That said a good proven way to make good gains and limit your fat gain is to slowly increase your intake. If you know your maintenence kcals, which you should. Then start by adding 250 kcals to that amount. Stay here and monitor your progress and weight gain. When the gains stop, up the kcals another 250, and so on.
Now were not talking about 5 and ten lbs a week. You just arent going to gain muscle that fast. Sorry, it just doesnt work that way. We are talking a pound every week or two if your lucky.
As far as supplements. If you respond to creatine then by all means go for it. Other supplements simply shouldnt be needed for you right now. You are 19 years old. There isnt going to be another time in your life that you are going to be in such a state to make great gains as you are over the next few years. Your hormons should be through the roof.
Train hard, Eat, get plenty of rest. Base your workouts on the big compound exercises. Mix up the rep and set ranges every now and then.
Pretty much just read up on the previous articles. Learn as much as you can and put that new knowledge to use.
Good Luck
Phill
From the information I’ve gathered on this these are some of the rules you should follow.
1: Stay away from prohormones/steroids unless you have abnormally low levels of T. You’re too young and should have raging levels of T right now. So they arent needed.
2: Gotta lift heavy and really push yourself. Do big movements e.g. Dead and its variables, squats and its variables and the other olympic lifts and its variables.
3: YOU MUST EAT! Eat clean as hell but eat a lot. You should expect to gain a little fat but it can be minimalized if you use a fat burner. Hot Rox is pretty darn good. FOOD should be you’re #1 supplement, so to speak.
4: Excessive cardio will hinder muscle growth. You can do a little cardio but ONLY after lifting and keep it in moderation.
5: Supps that should be main stays are Multi-Vitamins and a good MRP/Protein powder. No better one than GROW!. I use Surge after my hard workouts and GROW! after my not so intense ones. I’ve definitely seen a difference in my body snce I’ve started using them.
Thats all I can think of right now. I’m sure the vets will chime in and help you out much more.
Take it away Tampa-Terry…
Everyone understood your question. At 160 lbs you are way under weight for someone who wants to appear muscular. I repeat you need more meat on your bones!
Tuna, chicken, turkey all great if you are over weight and you are getting your essential from supplementation, but I doubt that you are.
My advice is eat red meat, lift heavy using compound movements.
You are going to read that same advice from another 20 people today, and you read the same advice from 10-15 people yesterday. What do you think that means?
Before anyone rips you apart heres the simplest answer possible. If creatine helped you gain ‘10’ pounds in the past why not use it again???
You are 19 years old hence have a high test level anyway. Hence stay away from every prohormone, dont touch mag-10, tribex or anything of that sort. Pay clsoe attention to your pre and post workout nutrition get a good whey(you werent thinking soy were you?) protein tub and use it in your pre and post workout meals, along with carbs( you can buy maltdextorin , dextrose and all kinds of sugars cheaply or use gatorade mixes ). Buy some sort of EFA’s ( i recommend throwing a spoon of olive oil into your tuna, chicken etc to boost the fat content), better yet just get some fish oil(caps work just fine) or fax oil.
Keep your fiber high, drink tons of water and eat shit loads of food and you will be fine.
This probably go’s without saying but since u didnt mention it im not sure… do u have any kind of post workout drink, possibly a weight gainer or regular protein recovery drink?, this may be somthing you are already doing but if not it seems like post workout nutrition alone can help u put some weight on…
~Dave
one more thing, maybe theres a way around it that I dont know, but I think your going to have to live with some fat gains if your trying to add 15lbs of mass. exp if you want the gains to come quick, Issue 227 has an article titled “The Bulk-Building Workout” …might give you some ideas
~Dave
Hi, mvila. Glad to hear you want to gain some muscle. First of all, get your diet settled. Read “The New Diet Manifesto” and “Massive Eating.” You are gonna have to add some carbs and some healthy fats, if all you’re eating right now is chicken, turkey, and tuna.
I will leave the training advice to others, but they’re gonna tell you to stick to the big basic compound movements.
Supplements? People take supplements to get a hormonal advantage that you already have, at 19 years old. It takes food to build muscle. I do recommend Surge post-workout though; it’s basically food optimized for fast post-workout utilization.
Tuna,chicken,and turkey…now what about carbs,and fats?look up and read Massive Eating by John Berardi,and look over the Skinny Bastard diet…I would suggest food before supps bro…good luck
It’s impossible to gain that much weight without putting on any fat
anti-body building hypertrophy program by waterbury has gotten good reviews, so look at that. Also CT’s new bodybuilding pendulum might be worth a shot. Definitely read massive eating, i put on 13 lbs over winter break (6 weeks) following his guidelines, and virutally no fat gain.
best of luck.
Thank your for the responses, I got a lot of feedback and will take your advice seriously.
Hey, there, mvila!!! The advice you’ve gotten thus far is excellent. You’ve found a great site, here, one that will help you achieve your goals and work through the problems and issues you encounter along the way.
Yes, definitely, start reading the archived articles and using the search engine to search the forum or the archived articles for topics of interest to you. You’ll learn a ton!
Re the creatine, even though it’s an excellent supp to help increase strength, you do realize that the increase in weight you enjoyed/realized was an increase in water weight, right? Once you stop taking creatine, you’ll drop the water weight you gained.
One of the things I picked up on in your post is the fact that you eat mostly tuna, turkey and chicken. If you read any of the articles on nutrition here on the site, specifically the articles on bulking, you’ll realize that carbs and fat are equally/vitally important to putting on quality muscle. Protein is good. Protein is necessary, even mandatory. But you’re not going to make the gains you’re looking for without getting in your essential fatty acids. Do a search on EFAs.
As it relates to carbs, you need to be eating quality carbs. That means that along with starchy carbs, you need to be eating green veggie carbs, also. All of the supplements and all of the vitamins in the world will not make up for a poor diet. And I’m not saying that your diet is poor. But I am saying that you need to optimize it to meet your goals.
Let me ask you a few questions:
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How much protein (in grams) are you eating per day? How much per meal?
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How many meals do you eat per day? How often are you eating?
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What is your caloric intake per day?
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How much fat are you getting per day (in grams) and from what sources?
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What types of carbs are you taking in, and when do you take them in?
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What does your PWO nutrition look like?
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Do you do P+F and P+C food combining?
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Do you keep a food log?
The questions I asked you above are the things you should key in on as it relates to changing your diet to better meet your goals.
Start reading (and applying), and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!!!
Tuna and Chicken are great, but how much are you getting a day?
One thing that will make a big difference and is bordering on not being a supplement is getting your post-workout nutrition in line. Read the article here “Solving the post-workout puzzle”. I think that is what its called. If you keep your carbs pretty low, fat moderate, and focus on PWO for your carbs, you can increase muscle mass by targeting carb intake around exercise which has hormonal effects that are good for muscle maintenance and gains. Check out the T-Dawg 2.0 diet for the general idea.