Looking to gain weight

[mindgamez]

Hello, It has been over two months since I have been in the gym due to a humerus fracture while arm wrestling. The break is starting to heal so I will be back in the gym soon. My goal is to gain mass. I was going to the gym three months prior to the injury and was seeing nice strength gains but no real weight gains as I was not eating enough.

I am currently ~5'9 and 145lbs. I have lost at least 5 pounds of muscle since the accident mostly from my right arm and shoulder.

My calarie intake goal will be close to 4000 calaries which should allow me to bulk up fairly fast. I dont eat very much right now. I will also be going to gym three times a week. I have read that 32% of your calories coming in the form of protein. Carbohydrates should constitute 40% of your total calories and fats the remaining 28%.

I plan on having two shakes per day with at least 800 calaries in each shake in between 4 meals per day. I will be using some of the high cal recipes I have read on this forum which includes whey, milk, oats, peanut butter, etc.

I would appreciate any ideas for meals which are easy to prepare or buy from cafeterias. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated. Once I have many meal ideas I will be putting them in fitday to accurately see how many calaries I will be taking etc. If you see any flaw in my plan please let me know.

Meal 1:

Meal 2:

Meal 3:

Meal 4:

Thanks!

 

[KoolDrew]

Weight lifting routine?

As for your diet, 4000 seems kind of high. Remember you don't want to bulk up too fast and end up with more fat gains than muscle gains.

 

[mindgamez]

Originally posted by: KoolDrew
Weight lifting routine?

As for your diet, 4000 seems kind of high. Remember you don't want to bulk up too fast and end up with more fat gains than muscle gains.

I am not an expert at all the terms but my friend and I do something similar to this.

Day 1: squats , lunges, biceps
Day 2: Deadlifts and the ones where you lift it to your chest then over your head. Bicepts and pullups.
Day 3: Chest and tri mainly and some situps if there is time.

My goal is to be 170 by August if possible. I know I will have to pack on some fat. Do you think my goal is realistic?

 

[apac]

For each meal I'll try to go with a lean meat (chicken, turkey, fish, sometimes a good cut of steak), some sort of quality carb (brown rice, whole grain pasta, egg noodles, potatoes), and a fruit or vegetable.

Pretty easy meal I threw together tonight:

baked chicken tenders - Roughly 1 boneless skinless breast's worth of chicken, cut into strips. dip in egg, cover in bread crumbs, bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes. Flip halfway through.
1/2 cup brown rice - cooked on stove top, added 1 egg in the last 5 minutes. The egg makes the stuff surprisingly bearable, especially when eaten with the chicken. Also an excellent source of protein.
Asparagus - microwaved in one of those frozen 5-minute "steams in the bag" packages. Easy, no thinking required, gets you some of the green stuff.

 

[KoolDrew]

Your goal is fine. As for the routine I'm glad to see squats and deadlifts in there. However, if you're going to workout 3x a week I suggest a full body routine. Check out HST or Bill Starrs 5x5 routine.

 

[paulxcook]

Originally posted by: mindgamez

Originally posted by: KoolDrew
Weight lifting routine?

As for your diet, 4000 seems kind of high. Remember you don't want to bulk up too fast and end up with more fat gains than muscle gains.

I am not an expert at all the terms but my friend and I do something similar to this.

Day 1: squats , lunges, biceps
Day 2: Deadlifts and the ones where you lift it to your chest then over your head. Bicepts and pullups.
Day 3: Chest and tri mainly and some situps if there is time.

My goal is to be 170 by August if possible. I know I will have to pack on some fat. Do you think my goal is realistic?

Things I've read recently from people who seem to know what they're talking about make me think you're training your biceps too much. I'm sure someone can confirm this.

At 5'9 and 145, you sound pretty skinny. If you want to gain weight, muscle weight, it would make sense to me to focus on exercises that target muscles that will help you gain the most muscle.

You're already doing squats, deads, and from the sound of it, power cleans. Great. I especially commend you on the power cleans, I'm too much of a wuss to try them without a coach showing me how. But doing curls 2 out of the 3 days of your training seems excessive. You want to gain weight, but you're spending 2 out of 3 days on one of the smallest muscles.

Look at it like this. Say a bicep was laying on a table (gross, but go with it), next to it is a quadriceps muscle. David and Goliath. Whatever muscle you focus on will get x% bigger over a period of time of training. If both grow 3% bigger, which will gain the most weight? Not in proportion to its own weight, but in number of oz. or lbs or whatever. The quad, right? So doesn't it make sense to focus on exercises that have more mass to begin with if you're trying to gain weight? This isn't even taking into account the fact that squats build lots more muscles than just your quads.

Don't take this as me talking down to you, I'm certainly no authority, I'm just sharing what I myself am learning as a beginner.

Good luck on your eating, and consider starting a training journal so we can read about your progress.

 

[mindgamez]

UGH.. just got back from the doctor today and the xray results were not positive on my arm. It will be at least two months before I can do any lifting with it. I will still work my legs as much as possible. Any excersise suggestions where my right arm wont be needed would be appreciated.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: mindgamez
UGH.. just got back from the doctor today and the xray results were not positive on my arm. It will be at least two months before I can do any lifting with it. I will still work my legs as much as possible. Any excersise suggestions where my right arm wont be needed would be appreciated.

you answered your own suggestion