[quote]Ryoungy wrote:
I’m feeling pretty down on myself. I don’t exactly feel sore or see any gains, and I’ve been trying to work out really hard this past week, really trying to gain muscle and get into weight lifting alot more. I’m doing dumbbell curls of around 30 lbs each, the weight is semi-hard but I don’t feel a burn or soreness after I do my sets of reps.
What I don’t get is how I’m doing it with correct form but there’s still not any change and its upsetting because everytime I do it, its just a waste of time then. I really want to build my upper body and gain more muscle but it doesn’t seem like it will happen. Anyone have any suggestions or crit/comments?[/quote]
Ryoungy,
I understand how you feel. It’s hard for people who have not lifted HUGE for their whole life. All though I am trying to loose weight, there are some things we should be doing in common. One is eating more meals through out the day, you can go nuts with your food. I hope you like to eat, this may actually be more of a challenge then you would think. I know that if you are spending a lot of time in the gym eating could make you feel sick (it does for me if I don’t give my self enough time to digest).
I’m going to have to make a Prof-X statement here, eat as much as you can. Now that being said if you can’t slam down 3000 calories next week that’s ok. There are little ways to add more calories (healthy ones) into your diet. I’m assuming that you are taking protein shakes pre and post workout. What I have started doing is adding things to my shakes. At first it was milk, then it was milk with some fat free yogurt, then I added a banana. This week I’m going to start adding two table spoons of all natural organic peanut butter. This will bring the calories of one shake up to about 500. You can probably do 2 of these shakes pretty easily a day and the good news is that they taste great. 2 of those shakes and that’s 1000 calories not even counting food.
Since I’m sensitive to how much food I eat around gym time another thing I do is eat soft scrambled eggs, with one piece of wheat toast (I prefer dry). The reason I like them soft scrambled is because they don’t seem to upset my stomach as much if I head to the gym after.
I just got done on a huge argument with a few people about food, many people will tell you to eat big. Few will tell you how to make that change painless. You will have to figure that out and add these things into your diet. Think slow and steady, I actually need to take in more calories to ratchet up my metabolism but I know I can’t just start eating a ton next week, I’ll feel sick. Add healthy calories to your diet at a rate that you can sustain. Eating 3000 or 4000 calories does you no good if you only do it for 1 week. Make it a goal maybe to add 250 to or diet every week if you can, or every other if you feel that’s hard. Just make sure they are good calories, not McDonald’s, or other crap fast food. Cottage cheese is a fav, of mine. Also you can pick up pre cooked whole chickens from Meijer, or Wal-Mart for like 4 dollars. It’s a little high in fat in my opinion but I eat them any ways, and you don’t have to worry about the fat issue. Remember slow and steady wins the race.
About your workout: go big. Dump the curls, bench, squat, dead lift, military press. Think about exercises that use more then one joint. Squats and dead lifts both use your knee and hip joints; bench uses elbows and shoulders, curls only your elbow joint. More joints are better. Shoot for between 4 and 6 reps in my opinion, this makes gains. Many people on this site will tell you the same thing, however BE SAFE. Following the advice from people on this site I’ve upped my weight on my lifts, but be careful to not injure your self. Again what good does lifting heavy do you if you get hurt and you can only do it for 1 week? Be sure to keep an eye on your form, there is no shame in doing less weight to prevent injury as long as your giving it your all.
Now that we’ve covered the body, let’s talk about the mind. Lift to be healthy and happy. I’ve lifted on and off my whole life. My down fall each time was that I wasn’t getting a 6 pack soon enough, or my bench wasn’t at X weight fast enough. Work out to be healthy, enjoy your workouts. If you don’t enjoy your work outs you won’t stick to them and then you will never get any where. If you enjoy your time in the gym and your goal is to keep going; then will see results as long as you are eating, sleeping, and lifting in alignment with your goals. The sooner you stop wanting results by tomorrow, the sooner they will seem to come. As some people stated working out is not about days and weeks, it’s about months and years.
This is all my opinion. You can take it or not it’s up to you. There are people who know more then me on this site. What I do know about is wanting to make your self better, and you will never make your self better if you don’t have a plan you can stick too. So make one, one you’re happy with and you can stick to. Some people will want you to do exactly what they do, but you’re not them. Bust your ass in the gym give it all you’ve got, find what works for you. In time you will see results, be patient good things will come.
Smack78!
