Thanks for all the posts, except for the one who accused me of lying. I’m sure you also think I’m faking going from an average of 10 hours of sleep a night to 6. I also know the side effects are supposed to wear off, but so far they have not.
I have over the last few days been eating almost up to the point of nausea. A few hours later, I am eating again. I know it will be a slow process to stretch out the stomach, but I still think a shake would help out the situation. I consumed over 2000 calories yesterday, and that’s without soda (which I’m trying to wean off of)!
Thanks everyone! I will start studying up on foods which are high in calories, but still have some sort of nutritional value to them. I will keep stretching out the ol’ stomach, and sooner or later I’ll get up to 3000, and someday maybe even 4000!!!
A couple of last questions, though…
Is it still a good idea to make squats and deadlifts the cornerstone of my workout when I have suprisingly large legs but no upper body?
Also, is there a way for me to cut down the bf% while I’m gaining muscle, or is it a two-step process?
You shouldn’t aim to cut down the bodyfat while gaining muscle in my opinion. It is possible. But a full bulk where you can expect to add some bodyfat is a better way to reach your goals faster IMO.
[quote]Meatwad8 wrote:
I have over the last few days been eating almost up to the point of nausea. A few hours later, I am eating again.[/quote]
That’s what you need to do. And get more calories in by using whole milk, raw nuts, peanut butter (natural), fattier meats (beef, salmon, etc.).
At 5’8" and 135-140lbs, I truly doubt your legs are huge. If you think so, take some pics and let us see. In reality, they are most likely small.
[quote]Also, is there a way for me to cut down the bf% while I’m gaining muscle, or is it a two-step process?
Meatwad
[/quote]
Bodyfat will go down if you’re eating right and training hard. You can gain size, strength and get leaner.
[quote]Nate Dogg wrote:
At 5’8" and 135-140lbs, I truly doubt your legs are huge. If you think so, take some pics and let us see. In reality, they are most likely small.
[/quote]
Okay, so I don’t have a digital camera, or any camera for that matter, but here are my specs. I would say don’t laugh, but you won’t be able to refrain so keep it down…
Wrist: 5.9 inches (I have an extremely small frame)
Forearms: 10.2 inches
Arms: 12 inches
Chest: 35 inches
Legs: 20.25 inches
Calves: 14.75 inches
So I need help everywhere (except for maybe my calves). The only thing is according to that chart of proportion, my legs are where they’re supposed to be for my wrist size. My upper body, though, is EXTREMELY lacking.
I have been working out, but when you’re losing 10 pounds in 1.5 months, it’s kinda hard to see results :).
So the reason I was thinking of holding off on the deadlifts was to get the upper body strength up to par with the legs and go from there. Plus I won’t lie, I wanna see upper body results a lot more than lower body cause if anything my lower body is on par with people my size, whereas my upper body is WEAK!
Meatwad
P.S. Is it normal for your calves to be almost 3 inches larger than your biceps?
[quote]Meatwad8 wrote:
The only thing is according to that chart of proportion, my legs are where they’re supposed to be for my wrist size. My upper body, though, is EXTREMELY lacking.
P.S. Is it normal for your calves to be almost 3 inches larger than your biceps?[/quote]
You need to throw that damned chart in the trash. Your legs are 20". That’s not “big” to anyone. No one cares about your wrist size either. You are small, you need to teach your body to accept more food, and you are no where near looking someone who lifts with the measurements you posted regardless of that chart.
So the reason I was thinking of holding off on the deadlifts was to get the upper body strength up to par with the legs and go from there. Plus I won’t lie, I wanna see upper body results a lot more than lower body cause if anything my lower body is on par with people my size, whereas my upper body is WEAK!
Meatwad
[/quote]
Deadlifting itself will build up your lats and traps as well as your legs. And working your legs hard (deadlifts, squats, etc…) will help stimulate muscle growth in your upper body, if anything, through isometric contraction and hormone release. It certainly won’t impede it.
Your “large legs” are not much bigger than my arms. You need to grow all over. Intentionally not training a bodypart at your level of development is dumb. Train everything, especially the basics, and take as many calories as you can in liquid form.
[quote]rainjack wrote:
The meds thing kind of throws a monkey wrench in the whole machine. It is impossible to give you healthy, sound advice it you don’t post what meds you are on.
However, assuming you can ingest dairy products - Milk. Milk. Milk. Whole milk - none of that skim crap, or 2%. Drink at least a gallon of whole milk every day. Milk is God’s own weight gainer. [/quote]
Best damn advice you can get.
I was your same weight when I started reading here. I’m maybe 2 inches taller. I’m 178-180 now. Gallon of milk a day plus protien shakes, meals, and yogurt/cottage cheese b4 bedtime.
You’ll shit like you don’t have a digestive system for a week or two but after that you put on some quality size.
If your naturally skinny (and its not the med’s) then dont worry about ‘cardio’ and ‘abs’. I can eat however the fuck I want and have abs. It’s the gaining weight thats the hard part. You’re probably the same way.
Thanks, guys. I want to know I didn’t think my legs were large, just proportionately large to my tiny upper body. I don’t want to be doing more lifting for my lower body than my upper body…
I love running and can run for hours, so I guess that’s out if I am serious about this.
I’ll just chock on the calories and do a lot of the big three lifts. If my legs get really big and my upper body doesn’t grow as fast, I’ll worry about it then. I guess I was really asking that cause I didn’t know if it would be a good idea to get my upper body on par for the rest of me, and then go from there, or vice versa. Besides chicks dig a muscley butt and big legs, so it’s never a bad thing
My last question is if there are any recommendations for someone wanting to really pack on the upper body weight, especially in the shoulders, arms and forearms (lats wouldn’t be bad either). Do I do more exercises for them accordingly, or pace the them same as the rest of my body?
[quote]Meatwad8 wrote:
Thanks, guys. I want to know I didn’t think my legs were large, just proportionately large to my tiny upper body. I don’t want to be doing more lifting for my lower body than my upper body…
I love running and can run for hours, so I guess that’s out if I am serious about this.
I’ll just chock on the calories and do a lot of the big three lifts. If my legs get really big and my upper body doesn’t grow as fast, I’ll worry about it then. I guess I was really asking that cause I didn’t know if it would be a good idea to get my upper body on par for the rest of me, and then go from there, or vice versa. Besides chicks dig a muscley butt and big legs, so it’s never a bad thing
My last question is if there are any recommendations for someone wanting to really pack on the upper body weight, especially in the shoulders, arms and forearms (lats wouldn’t be bad either). Do I do more exercises for them accordingly, or pace the them same as the rest of my body?
Meatwad[/quote]
Read my monitor, YOUR ENTIRE BODY IS SMALL. Did you throw that chart away yet?
[quote]Meatwad8 wrote:
Wrist: 5.9 inches (I have an extremely small frame)
Forearms: 10.2 inches
Arms: 12 inches
Chest: 35 inches
Legs: 20.25 inches
Calves: 14.75 inches[/quote]
Your legs are not big, nor is the rest of you besides your calves. And big is relative.
That’s the problem with these charts. They can be skewed by certain things (such as your small wrist size - I have small wrists, but I’ve managed to pack on size). In many charts, they say your calves, arms and neck should be the same size. So that means you need to bump up your neck and arms to match your current calf size. Which would mean overall growth.
Well, for you, bigger calves may be normal (genetics). So yes, it’s possible.
And you need the squats and deadlifts because they cause overall body growth…including the upper body! So do them yo!
Squats, deads, chins, bench, military, upright row, dips, bent rows, close grip bench, curls.
Add volume progressively and balance the volume for pulling and pushing movements in the upper body. With athletes, there are considerations that dictate 1/3 more volume for posterior chain muscles and 1/4 more volume for lower body versus upper body. Don’t make it this complicated. Progressively adding work to your regimen will do the trick.
The old method of adding tonnage is as reliable as any: volume x weight= tonnage. Just keep increasing it on the basic lifts by either adding volume or intensity in 4-6 week intervals. Back cycle every 2-3 months and be patient.
As far as specific rep and set combos are concerned, read Poliquin’s article on trainee typing (can’t remember the title- the one with all the stuff about Chinese medicine) and wade through all the stuff about Eastern symbolism. Also GVT and anything Westside.
WORK HARD AND EAT BIG.
As far as the poster who made a comment about my recommendation that he probably won’t get fat- I was basing that on his pre- med condition. I’m not saying it can’t happen, but I’ve never seen it with someone this naturally small. This with training over 100 clients/ week for over 10 years. Great observation about the meds, though.
One word- most of the info we’ve given him here has been great (some a little weak, some ineffectual) but everybody has bent over backward to help this guy out and he should have no trouble reaching his goal provided he truly WORKS AT IT. I say he needs to keep us up to date and we wring his neck if he doesn’t get it done!
Meatwad, just pick a good T-Nation program, and you’ll be getting a great workout for you upper body AND your lower body. I think ABBH is a great program for beginners. And non-beginners. Look into it. Good luck!
[quote]titanium350 wrote:
Squats, deads, chins, bench, military, upright row, dips, bent rows, close grip bench, curls.
[/quote]
YES.
YES.
I strive to add volume or intensity (that is to say, WEIGHT) each workout, and I typically backcycle one week out of a month. The important things are:
a) progressive tonnage b) lots of kCals and c)occasional backcycling to give your body a break.
Also, you will quickly find out that your tonnage climbs the most quickly when you focus your workout on the money exercises: squats, deadlifts, benches, military presses, chins, and rows. (It’s hard to do a multi-ton workout doing curls and french-presses).
This addresses one of the most important factors in weight training, which is, it is SYSTEMIC. The entire body is involved in your training. If you do a heavy set of squats, your testosterone will pop, and you’ll trigger a whole metabolic chain-of-events that ends with you getting BIGGER.
That’s the most important reason that you need to keep doing squats and deadlifts, even though your upper body is proportionally smaller.
Most likely, you’ll find your upper body “filling out” more as you continue to lift weights. Since you have been (I would guess) fairly inert/inactive over time, your lower body has had the lion’s share of the work, and thus is bigger. The medication is most likely exacerbating the problem. As you start lifting and eating, this imbalance will start to go away.
Set and rep combos are less important than increasing tonnage, IMHO. If your tonnage is going up, your set and rep combos are working for you. 10x3, 5x5, 3x10, 10x10… whatever. The tonnage goes up… you get bigger.
My only advice is that you play around a little to see what works the best for you. I tend to like to lift less reps with more weight for more sets. This eats up time and forces me to spend most of my workout on deadlifts, bench presses, squats, chins, and other “money” multi-joint moves. Coincidentally, these are the moves that will make you stronger in real
life, not just on a machine in a gym. They are also the hardest, which is why “no one does them”.
Hey, if it were easy, everyone would be built.
That’s fair. The poor guy is only 21, too, and has a fair amount of “filling out” to do. I would love to have a second shot at lifting when I was 21.
I do think he should see if the doc has any reccomendations on keeping his appetite up. Make Dr. Dude do his homework! If he’s going to proscribe some drugs, he ought to know about the side-effects/what can be done to alleviate them. (Meh, probably say “It’ll go away” like I did in my first post.)
Anyway, much respect, Ti. You obviously know what you’re talking about.
Dan “I’m going to stay out of it, now, Ti’s got it handled.” McVicker
