43yo Male Needs Advice to Add Size

Training Bodybuilding
1

First off, i am not the 43 year old male. i am a 20 year old male, soon to be 21. my uncle is the 43 year old male.

little info:
43y/o…duh!
6’2"
210-215lbs
bf% ?
any measurements ?

he does not look fat or even overweight by looking at him, but when hes over at my pool over the summer i can tell you that he doesnt have a ripped 6 pack or anything. i would say hes an average in shape 43 y/o. he is also a cop in a very demanding position. he is on call 24/7. scheduled to work m-f but pretty regularly gets called back out after hes home or on the weekends. i say this to give you some idea of his hectic schedule.

i am very close to my uncle. the past couple of months i have made some good gains using CW’s Total Body Training and eating a lot more than i was. 174lbs->202lbs at 5’9". point being my uncle has noticed, to say the least, the size gains that i have achieved and he asked me if i could help him out. he says that although he built up some pretty good strength from lifting, he never really got “big”

just to give an idea of strength he has benched 450lbs in his lifetime and most likely can still hit 405lbs. he does not want to squat heavy as he has had problems with one of his knees in the past and up to this point has avoided a serious injury.

anyway, just seeing what others have done, or can suggest or whatever.

he does have a home gym that i would be proud of, consisting of a power rack, smith machine, powerlifting style flat bench, adjustable incline bench. huge “universal” machine with all kinds of stuff on it. also has dip/pullup tower. dumbells ranging from 5-100’s, eliptical, treadmill, etc…mirrored all the way around, oly bars, e-z bars, etc…im sure theres more…i would be in heaven if i had the power rack, flat bench, pullup/dip and the free weights. anyway, please help me give him some advice on how he can “get big”

2

almost everyone that I know who claims to not be able to put on mass, doesn’t eat well enough to put on mass. When I tell them this they say “I eat a lot. I eat all the time.” Truth is though that they eat crappy foods, and don’t get enough protein so the point I’m trying to make is: Does he get enough protein and eat to gain mass, or does he just eat whatever?

3

i guess i should have done more than imply this, which is what i was attempting to do when i said about how hectic his schedule is, i cant comment on how good he eats, because im usually not there when hes eating, but i can at the very least say that his eating isnt consistent. i feel bad for the guy, he works his ass off, with his regular shifts and part time and getting called out all the time, and when he gets home he cant even get a decent meal.

his wife, my aunt, is a nightmare. i would call her a 44 year old spoiled brat and that would be one of the nicest things i could say about her. she rips through his money…i could go on and on, but the point would just come back to no, he isnt consistent with eating.

his diet certainly needs to be addressed, but even if he eats better foods im not sure what he could do about being consistent. he is commander of homicide division in a county that has record breaking homicides…so his schedule is hectic. also, being 20 years old, and not yet having figured out how my body really reacts to certain foods, i definitely dont know what to tell a 43 year old to eat as far as metabolism and such.

i suppose im looking for a workout program that would be good for him and types of foods, not necessarily a diet, but more of a “try and build your meals with these foods, in this way” type of thing

thanks everyone for the help!

4

I’ve been there a time or two, when my life was hectic and training and eating right were difficult. I said “difficult” not impossible. In order for your uncle to make any gains, he needs—desire. He needs to plan meals and pack along a cooler. Tuna in foil packs has been a great invention. Protien shakes, peanut butter. A little imagination could make the diet work. Training time has to be “made”. It will not just fall in during “free time”. It needs to be as important as anything else that “has to be done” during the day.

As far as a training plan, I would start him off with a full body workout three times a week. Exercises will be simple and basic movements. Bench press, squats, military press, deadlifts, chin ups, bent over rows. 3-4 sets in the 8-12 rep range. About 6 weeks of this with proper diet should show considerable results. If he has the DESIRE.

Ironheart

5

[quote]Ironheart wrote:
I’ve been there a time or two, when my life was hectic and training and eating right were difficult. I said “difficult” not impossible. In order for your uncle to make any gains, he needs—desire. He needs to plan meals and pack along a cooler. Tuna in foil packs has been a great invention. Protien shakes, peanut butter. A little imagination could make the diet work. Training time has to be “made”. It will not just fall in during “free time”. It needs to be as important as anything else that “has to be done” during the day.

As far as a training plan, I would start him off with a full body workout three times a week. Exercises will be simple and basic movements. Bench press, squats, military press, deadlifts, chin ups, bent over rows. 3-4 sets in the 8-12 rep range. About 6 weeks of this with proper diet should show considerable results. If he has the DESIRE.

Ironheart[/quote]

this is the kind of thing i wasnt looking for. some dumbass to get on here and speak all this “if he wants it bad enough he will get it” and “he needs to get his priorities figured out” kinda shit. i wish you would have just stuck to suggesting meal options and a program, because then i would have really appreciated your post.

honestly though after all your shit about DESIRE id like, at the very least, to slap the shit out of you. i promise you, my friend, that desire is not what this man lacks. in fact, im sure he DESIRES very much so for the fucking idiots in the county to stop murdering each other so he could have more time to do some things that hed like to do. how many cops do you know making 140k+ a year? you dont get there without DESIRE.

i hope you understand where im coming from and how differently your post would have been received if you had held back on your “DESIRE” comments. thanks anyway, it sounds to me that i can simply recommend the typical high protein foods and a program like TBT

6

Whoa son, don’t get your panties in a bunch!!! I never said your uncle didn’t have desire. I said that he can achieve his goal regardless of his work schedule with a little planning, and yes, desire. And I’m talking about the specific desire to gain muscle mass…not his motivation in general. Sorry if you took it the wrong way.

And something else, before you call someone a “dumbass” and make other “tough” comments behind the safety of your keyboard, you may be well advised to find out a little bit about that person’s background and experience. You may be suprised.

Ironheart

7

[quote]Ironheart wrote:
Whoa son, don’t get your panties in a bunch!!! I never said your uncle didn’t have desire. I said that he can achieve his goal regardless of his work schedule with a little planning, and yes, desire. And I’m talking about the specific desire to gain muscle mass…not his motivation in general. Sorry if you took it the wrong way.

And something else, before you call someone a “dumbass” and make other “tough” comments behind the safety of your keyboard, you may be well advised to find out a little bit about that person’s background and experience. You may be suprised.

Ironheart[/quote]

Agreed. Ask your uncle where slapping about people for making a comment you don’t agree with will get you landed… or even what they could do in response. Desire isn’t something everyone applies to every aspect of their life-so the advice is not uncalled for. If Ironheart or someone else takes the time to write out a somewhat lengthy constructive response to assist you, humbly accept it.

8

[quote]Vegilles wrote:
Ironheart wrote:
Whoa son, don’t get your panties in a bunch!!! I never said your uncle didn’t have desire. I said that he can achieve his goal regardless of his work schedule with a little planning, and yes, desire. And I’m talking about the specific desire to gain muscle mass…not his motivation in general. Sorry if you took it the wrong way.

And something else, before you call someone a “dumbass” and make other “tough” comments behind the safety of your keyboard, you may be well advised to find out a little bit about that person’s background and experience. You may be suprised.

Ironheart

Agreed. Ask your uncle where slapping about people for making a comment you don’t agree with will get you landed… or even what they could do in response. Desire isn’t something everyone applies to every aspect of their life-so the advice is not uncalled for. If Ironheart or someone else takes the time to write out a somewhat lengthy constructive response to assist you, humbly accept it.

[/quote]

actually, what pissed me off was the fact that he felt the need to talk about desire, as if it were a missing ingredient. i asked for a workout routine and some diet tips to suggest for a very hard working man who very often has to change his plans from what hed like to do to what he has to do.

all the desire in the world isnt going to give him 25hr days, and for the time being its not going to relieve him of his responsibilities. as for Ironhearts background, and the things i dont know about him, id say there is most likely plenty there. i remember reading something about him training people. i think it would be a world of fun to make a living off of training people, because that truly would be doing something that you love, so if that is the case, great for him.

im sorry if neither of you understand someones frustration when they ask specifically for diet and training tips and they get back info about “DESIRE”. i thought i was being clear with my reason for seaking out advice on these topics, but for anyone that missed it: i am 20 years old, i have had success in training myself, but have never trained anyone else, let alone a 43 year old man, whose body may or may not be able to handle what mine can.

at no point was i looking for motivational quotes or tips on how to give my uncle a pep talk to get out of his rut. i also mentioned that he has benched 450 in his lifetime and that im sure he can still hit 405lbs. clearly he didnt pop out of the womb benching 450+, perhaps there was a little bit of DESIRE involved there.

as far as slapping the shit out of someone, and where that would land me, i think maybe you should hold off on attempting to be all high and mightly and delived some legal babble about 1st degree assault and its consequences, because in reality, i said “id like to”–which is a figure of expressing my frustration for Ironheart’s “DESIRE” comments. f

urthermore, saying that “i’d like to” as opposed to “i’m going to” (which would be hard to do through a computer) is in no illegal, or even threatening as it would have been if i had said “i’m going to”. as far as if i had pushed it further to say “i’m going to” the most Ironheart could do is get himself a restraining order, and thats pushing it big time, considering this is all via internet.

in order to do that he would have to have some way to prove that i have the ability to find out who he is/where he lives, and i promise you, i dont, but if thats something the both of you would like to explore, be my guest. point being, you can hold off on your witty “ask your uncle what this will land you” comments, as if i have no knowledge of crimes and the laws that are in place to protect citizens from them, as well as the punishments that are in place to bring justice to those that break the laws anyway. anyway, i suppose that if either or both of you want to continue this water fight, we can, but id rather be done with it.

as far as hiding behind a keyboard, that is not me. i would be strongly, strongly stand behind a T-Nation invitational, no-holds-barred full contact fighting competition, because there are some people that i really would like to [legally] have a couple 3 minute rounds with. if either of you want to make some calls and set something up im all for it

9

Sounds to me like somebody needs a hug…and then to chill a lil bit.

10

Food! Massive Eating articles by Barardi.

Along with pounding the iron, of course.

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[quote]actually, what pissed me off was the fact that he felt the need to talk about desire, as if it were a missing ingredient. i asked for a workout routine and some diet tips to suggest for a very hard working man who very often has to change his plans from what hed like to do to what he has to do.
[/quote]

When people give you good advice, especially when you have asked for it, the proper response is “Thank You”. If the advice isn’t what you were looking for, the proper response is still “Thank You”.

Nobody here is getting paid to offer you advice and suggestions, so you’ll just have to take what you get.

Beyond consistency, discuss your Uncle’s eating habits and see if he is getting protein with every meal and that he is eating often enough throughout the day.

12

i give up. im not fighting with anyone on this site anymore. my point was just that “DESIRE” didnt need to come in. and then i dont think Ironheart needed anyone to step in to back him up, and add fuel to the fire.

just like i dont understand why Vroom, you couldnt have simply posted your third paragraph and why the first two needed to be said. its salt in a wound.

either way, im only here for training info, which ive got–im set with WS4SB right now…ill be running a constant thread on it which i first posted called “first WS4SB workout” in ‘building a better body’. im posting my workout numbers and discussing what i think my muscle weaknesses and such are.

i was hoping with the first workout to get feedback from people, if that was possible, based on my numbers on certain lifts compared to others, to see if they could point out weaknesses, but it didnt catch on. anyway, anyone that wants to fight with me go there and do it in there, im done. white flag. towel thrown. im out.

all in all, though i had to high knee through some bullshit, i got some info to give my uncle, and i appreciate it. thank you all