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Weight lifting
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Saint Nick
Lifer
So, pretty much, in order to accurately calculate my calorie intake, I need to measure how much of each food I eat per day? And then from there, I need to go talk to a trainer at the gym and see what they suggest? I'm really like dbot's schedule. Its similar to something I did when I was in high school.
Also, would investing in equipment for use at home be wise? Or would I be better off just going to the gym?
Also, would investing in equipment for use at home be wise? Or would I be better off just going to the gym?
Yes, you need to figure out how much you are eating. The fitday website linked above is the easiest way to do this. I would not recommend talking to trainers at the gym, most of them have no idea what they are talking about. All of the information you need is free.
I hate to keep pushing the board in my sig so much, but it really would answer all of your questions if you just give it a chance.
You would be better off joining a gym unless you want to buy at least a power rack, bench, and a few hundred lbs. of weights, and have a place to put all of it.
theLION
Senior member
Yup, go to the forum Special K is talking about. I love that place. Also, considering how skinny you are, just start eating and eating and eating. you prolly won't even have to worry about counting calories. just eat, lift heavy, get lots of sleep, be consistent, and be patient!!
oh ya.....do heavy compound lifts
and if/when you go to that forum.....seriously read the stickies BEFORE posting anything!!!!
Saint Nick
Lifer
Am I going to get sick from eating so much? I don't want to eat so much that I feel like I'm going to vomit.
Okay, thanks for the help so far guys, I'll see what I can do and stick with it.
Okay, thanks for the help so far guys, I'll see what I can do and stick with it.
Focus on 3 main things to start
1. Eat... A LOT. Try to make it good food though. Not so much saturated or trans fats
2. Lift heavy. Do compound exercises like Bench press, squats, pulldowns/pullups. Don't spend 45 minutes doing bicep concentration curls b/c you want big guns.
3. Sleep consistently.
Oh, and I see you are eating like 3 times a day. No good. At the very least toss in a protein shake between meals. If you are serious and have a little money, a lot of the bodybuilders swear by REAL GAINS weight gainer - Personally I'm looking to stay leaner so I just use Optimum Nutrition's 100% Whey protein. 10lb sack for $50.
Easier said than done though. I think you should shoot for 3500-4000 calories a day to bulk up. Even more if you don't care about bulking a lot of fat.
1. Eat... A LOT. Try to make it good food though. Not so much saturated or trans fats
2. Lift heavy. Do compound exercises like Bench press, squats, pulldowns/pullups. Don't spend 45 minutes doing bicep concentration curls b/c you want big guns.
3. Sleep consistently.
Oh, and I see you are eating like 3 times a day. No good. At the very least toss in a protein shake between meals. If you are serious and have a little money, a lot of the bodybuilders swear by REAL GAINS weight gainer - Personally I'm looking to stay leaner so I just use Optimum Nutrition's 100% Whey protein. 10lb sack for $50.
Easier said than done though. I think you should shoot for 3500-4000 calories a day to bulk up. Even more if you don't care about bulking a lot of fat.
CKent
Diamond Member
:roll: Protein shakes are some of the leanest calories around. A shake only has 100-300 calories depending how you make it. He needs to worry about eating enough in the first place. Real food, food with calories. It will in all likelihood include enough protein. If not, then he can worry about supplementing his diet with protein powder. Don't give him the "magic pill" idea.
A lot of skinny guys who've managed to bulk up say they had to view eating as a job. Filling their quotas (eating enough calories) and making sure not to cut corners (don't eat too much junk -- though a little junk here and there can help you meet calorie requirements) just like they were getting a paycheck for it. Won't be fun, you'll probably feel like you're stuffing yourself. A good way to go about it is to eat more often. Have a midmorning and midafternoon snack. Eat a little something before bed.
Verse914
Senior member
I agree with The Ninja...eat alot (at least 1.5grams of protein per lb of bodyweight).
Lift heavy...lift a weight that you can do 8 reps per set in good form, but force yourself do 10 of them (push yourself to do more).
Get plenty of sleep. Take some cassein protein before bed to help your muscles grow and recuperate.
Ive been using NO-Xplode to get my focus right and its has done wonders for me...its expensive as hell though...looking for a replacement for it (something cheaper).
Lift heavy...lift a weight that you can do 8 reps per set in good form, but force yourself do 10 of them (push yourself to do more).
Get plenty of sleep. Take some cassein protein before bed to help your muscles grow and recuperate.
Ive been using NO-Xplode to get my focus right and its has done wonders for me...its expensive as hell though...looking for a replacement for it (something cheaper).
A shake only has 100-300 calories, eh? Let's see here:
2 cups skim milk - 160 cals (even more if you use 2% or whole)
2 scoops whey - 240 cals
1 cup oats - 300 cals
2 tablespoons natural PB - 200 cals
1 banana - 150 cals
total - 1050 cals
Down a few of those per day and you will be all set. I'm not saying to avoid other sources of food, but the people who are telling you not to use supplements because "it's not a magic pill" are just wrong. Of course it's not a magic pill - it's a food source. Just look at my example above. It takes a couple minutes to prepare, and less than that to consume.
(after I get some time off from work expect a newbie liter thread but until then here is a brief overview to help you OP and others, there is a lot more to it so consider this an outline)
Okay, well first of all you are a new lifter so you need to focus on four things:
Workout: You are new to lifting so you are going to have great gains for the first six months or so because your muscles will be stimulated and shocked and dormant muscle fibers will become activated and your central nervous system will become more and more efficient (i.e. it finds shorter and shorter ways to send electeronic impulses to the msucle for the specific exercise, hence why you can get stronger but not any bigger). For the best gains, and expereince you need to focus on compound lifts, which will develop your central nervous system quicker and strengthen your whole body. No body building or power lifting isolation or assistance exercises yet and they will not be developing all the muscles which is important for a strong foundation, and you will not be getting the best gains, meaning transforming your body from a twig to a fuller appearence (you will need to stick with it though as your body can take years to look less twig like and more muscular, but don't worry, most body builders would kill for your type of body to begin with).
So compound exercises, that means squats, bench, deadlifts and olympic lifts.
Workout Monday Wednesday Friday, or basically three days a week a day rest after every workout
Monday: Bench, Squat, Power press
Wednesday: Shoulder press, deadlift, snatch
Friday: Bench, Squat, Power cleans
Trust me it may not look like a lot but you will leave exhuasted and tired. After the first day you will be sore all over, but just stretch before and after and deal with it until your muscles get used to it. For the first few months you want to do light weight, but high reps. So start with 3 sets of 10 reps for each exercise. Do 65%, 70% and then 75% of your max. If you are able to get your last set of ten then increase the weight next time by 5 pounds. You are doing light weight to develop muscular strength, but also endurance that will be needed later. Eventually you can do sets of 5 and 4, 3, 2 but only after you have mastered the lift...and by that I mean...FORM FORM FORM!!! Do not worry about what other guys are doing, just do the exercise properly and you will get stronger. Form is the most important, weight always comes second to form. You need to read up on form for the exercises on a variety of sites, t-nation.com is a great place to start. Eventually when you get your form down the weight will pile on so quickly you will not believe it, but if you do not get the form down you will look stupid, not get as strong, possbily inujure yourself, and basically cheating yourself.
You still need cardio no matter what. Not only is it better for overall health, but it also helps strenght, gives you energy for workouts, and speeds up your metabolism (along with 6 meals a day) which means more muscle and quicker. 30-45 minutes on tuesday and thursday is good as long as you push yourself. Do sprints until you throw up, or run three miles and almost pass out the last miles, that is how you get better. If you do not push yourself the whole workout was for nothing.
Recovery: You need sleep and lots of it. You grow when you sleep not when you lift, your body releases lots of hormones while you sleep that will make you a lot stronger than somoen who gets less than 8 hours of sleep a night. It will also leave you more refreshed and more likely to look at your workout positively during those first few weeks when you are getting into it. It will give you more energy to get stronger and help you get those last few reps that you want with the proper form. Tiredness is the biggest factor of losing form during a lift.
You also need to stretch, before and after which will help you be able to keep hitting the weights hard and remove any soreness and lactive acid.
Your diet and supplements come into this later
Diet: You need to eat, like everyone says...but what? it does not mean mcdonalds, or pie etc...healthy foods. Lots of pasta chicken whole grains etc. Cut out any uncecesary sugars...no sweets whatsoever if you are serious about this. Your diet will fuel your recovery and give you energy for your workouts. What you eat for lunch the day before your workout has an effect on your workout. Basically you want six meals a day. You want fats carbs and protein in all of those meals. Don't worry about ratios that is a myth.
Your diet should look something like this:
Breakfast: three eggs, ham, cheese, begal, protein shake
lunch: lasagna, enough to fill you
Preworkout: energy bar
Postworkout: protein shake, two begals 6 eggs (yes that much, you need to eat to see results, don't make yourself sick but you need to put it away)
3 hours later after working out: pasta and chicken
before bed: limit carbs, can of tuna...maybe some whole grain crackers, protein shake with milk
Which gets me to hydration...if you are not pissing clear you need more water!!! Hydration makes or breaks a workout, and hydration means drinking water the whole day.
When you are not drinking water, drink skim milk...the drink of champions
Supplements: As a new lifter all you need is a multi vitamin (NOW Adam is much better than store bought grocery store multi's which are not made for active people), fish oil (helps the body burn fat, increaes insulin responce, more energy, reduces inflamatories), and protein for obvious reasons (see my protein thread for more info). You can add creatine if you want, but it is not necessary until you learn more about it. That's all you need. You can buy stuff cheap at dpsnutrition.com. NEVER go to GNC the prices are high the supplements suck and the sales people will take advantage of new people like you. You do not need any NO crap (it is crpa a completel scan) and you do not need to be reading labels about things telling you you need it and it will be getting you stronger. Even if it is a good product you are not ready to use it yet, stick with the basics, trust me, no BCAA's or anything (you should be getting enough from your diet and protein intake).
If you have any questions feel free to PM me I'd be happy to help more, and you can tery surfing bodybuilding.com, wanabebig, t-nation etc and just googling and reading. You may be overwhelemed, but we all had to start somewhere and after a while of just reading and asking questions here and there you will learn more and more and then eventually get to the point where you can decide what us best for your own body and goals. Don't give up and best of luck to you!
Okay, well first of all you are a new lifter so you need to focus on four things:
Workout: You are new to lifting so you are going to have great gains for the first six months or so because your muscles will be stimulated and shocked and dormant muscle fibers will become activated and your central nervous system will become more and more efficient (i.e. it finds shorter and shorter ways to send electeronic impulses to the msucle for the specific exercise, hence why you can get stronger but not any bigger). For the best gains, and expereince you need to focus on compound lifts, which will develop your central nervous system quicker and strengthen your whole body. No body building or power lifting isolation or assistance exercises yet and they will not be developing all the muscles which is important for a strong foundation, and you will not be getting the best gains, meaning transforming your body from a twig to a fuller appearence (you will need to stick with it though as your body can take years to look less twig like and more muscular, but don't worry, most body builders would kill for your type of body to begin with).
So compound exercises, that means squats, bench, deadlifts and olympic lifts.
Workout Monday Wednesday Friday, or basically three days a week a day rest after every workout
Monday: Bench, Squat, Power press
Wednesday: Shoulder press, deadlift, snatch
Friday: Bench, Squat, Power cleans
Trust me it may not look like a lot but you will leave exhuasted and tired. After the first day you will be sore all over, but just stretch before and after and deal with it until your muscles get used to it. For the first few months you want to do light weight, but high reps. So start with 3 sets of 10 reps for each exercise. Do 65%, 70% and then 75% of your max. If you are able to get your last set of ten then increase the weight next time by 5 pounds. You are doing light weight to develop muscular strength, but also endurance that will be needed later. Eventually you can do sets of 5 and 4, 3, 2 but only after you have mastered the lift...and by that I mean...FORM FORM FORM!!! Do not worry about what other guys are doing, just do the exercise properly and you will get stronger. Form is the most important, weight always comes second to form. You need to read up on form for the exercises on a variety of sites, t-nation.com is a great place to start. Eventually when you get your form down the weight will pile on so quickly you will not believe it, but if you do not get the form down you will look stupid, not get as strong, possbily inujure yourself, and basically cheating yourself.
You still need cardio no matter what. Not only is it better for overall health, but it also helps strenght, gives you energy for workouts, and speeds up your metabolism (along with 6 meals a day) which means more muscle and quicker. 30-45 minutes on tuesday and thursday is good as long as you push yourself. Do sprints until you throw up, or run three miles and almost pass out the last miles, that is how you get better. If you do not push yourself the whole workout was for nothing.
Recovery: You need sleep and lots of it. You grow when you sleep not when you lift, your body releases lots of hormones while you sleep that will make you a lot stronger than somoen who gets less than 8 hours of sleep a night. It will also leave you more refreshed and more likely to look at your workout positively during those first few weeks when you are getting into it. It will give you more energy to get stronger and help you get those last few reps that you want with the proper form. Tiredness is the biggest factor of losing form during a lift.
You also need to stretch, before and after which will help you be able to keep hitting the weights hard and remove any soreness and lactive acid.
Your diet and supplements come into this later
Diet: You need to eat, like everyone says...but what? it does not mean mcdonalds, or pie etc...healthy foods. Lots of pasta chicken whole grains etc. Cut out any uncecesary sugars...no sweets whatsoever if you are serious about this. Your diet will fuel your recovery and give you energy for your workouts. What you eat for lunch the day before your workout has an effect on your workout. Basically you want six meals a day. You want fats carbs and protein in all of those meals. Don't worry about ratios that is a myth.
Your diet should look something like this:
Breakfast: three eggs, ham, cheese, begal, protein shake
lunch: lasagna, enough to fill you
Preworkout: energy bar
Postworkout: protein shake, two begals 6 eggs (yes that much, you need to eat to see results, don't make yourself sick but you need to put it away)
3 hours later after working out: pasta and chicken
before bed: limit carbs, can of tuna...maybe some whole grain crackers, protein shake with milk
Which gets me to hydration...if you are not pissing clear you need more water!!! Hydration makes or breaks a workout, and hydration means drinking water the whole day.
When you are not drinking water, drink skim milk...the drink of champions
Supplements: As a new lifter all you need is a multi vitamin (NOW Adam is much better than store bought grocery store multi's which are not made for active people), fish oil (helps the body burn fat, increaes insulin responce, more energy, reduces inflamatories), and protein for obvious reasons (see my protein thread for more info). You can add creatine if you want, but it is not necessary until you learn more about it. That's all you need. You can buy stuff cheap at dpsnutrition.com. NEVER go to GNC the prices are high the supplements suck and the sales people will take advantage of new people like you. You do not need any NO crap (it is crpa a completel scan) and you do not need to be reading labels about things telling you you need it and it will be getting you stronger. Even if it is a good product you are not ready to use it yet, stick with the basics, trust me, no BCAA's or anything (you should be getting enough from your diet and protein intake).
If you have any questions feel free to PM me I'd be happy to help more, and you can tery surfing bodybuilding.com, wanabebig, t-nation etc and just googling and reading. You may be overwhelemed, but we all had to start somewhere and after a while of just reading and asking questions here and there you will learn more and more and then eventually get to the point where you can decide what us best for your own body and goals. Don't give up and best of luck to you!
Eat more.
Of course I don't mean just anything though. Make sure you get plenty of protein. Generally you should be getting at least 1g of protein per pound of LBM and 0.5g of fat per pound. The rest can be whatever you want it to be.
As for the actually weight training, stick to compound lifts. Also, since you are just starting out and don't want to hire a personal trainer I HIGHLy HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend the book Starting Strength. It will do a perfect job to teaching you how to squat, deadlift, bench press. power clean, and military press properly. There's like over 50 pages on just squatting alone. I actually just started lifting a few months ago and am using a routine very similair to the one outlined in the book. However, I substituted power cleans for pendlay rows. I highly recommend the book though. Just read some of the reviews on Amazon and when you finally get it and start reading it you'll be glad you did. I have actually been squatting for years for football, but I still learned tons about proper form for squat from the book. It also helped a ton with me teaching my girlfriend to squat. Since I never had some of the problems she was having so I never really learned them, it was hard to teach her when those things came easy to me. Form is extremely important if you really want to make progress and since you won't have somebody there to really teach you, your best bet is this book.
Anyway, eat a lot and get the book. 😉
Also, with everybody recommending Wannabebig on here I wonder how many posters there are also posters here? I myself am a pretty active member at Wannabebig.
M0oG0oGaiPan
Diamond Member
Flax Seed oil and All natural peanut butter are 2 easy ways to increase your calorie count. I think 1 TBSP of flax is about 110 calories and 2TBSP of ANPB is like 210 calories. Here's a pretty easy diet you can use. There's a calculator somewhere on that site you can use too.
http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/nutrition/masseating_1.htm
http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/nutrition/masseating_1.htm
SludgeFactory
Platinum Member
Figure out your maintenance calories, then exceed that by 500 or 1000 cal/day to start.
Count your calories. Just like fat people can't be trusted to correctly guesstimate what they eat, neither can you.
Eat several times a day if you can't get it all down in 3 meals (and I'm assuming that you won't be able to). Unlike a lot of people, you probably have a legitimate reason to be eating 6 meals a day.
Learn good form, lift in the 6-8 rep range once you've learned good form, get 1 gr protein/lb bodyweight, compound lifts, blah blah blah
Count your calories. Just like fat people can't be trusted to correctly guesstimate what they eat, neither can you.
Eat several times a day if you can't get it all down in 3 meals (and I'm assuming that you won't be able to). Unlike a lot of people, you probably have a legitimate reason to be eating 6 meals a day.
Learn good form, lift in the 6-8 rep range once you've learned good form, get 1 gr protein/lb bodyweight, compound lifts, blah blah blah
50cent1228
Platinum Member
i was gonna tel him the same thing
everything u need to know is right theree!
while that may be true it's a pretty weak response. That's like me saying "everything you need to know is at www.google.com". Of course it's there but to sift through the mess is a lot of extra work.
That being said there are some good responses here. SVT Cobra gave a nice post, M0oG0oGaiPan gave a nice link. Many others as well.
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