Well my next chest day is monday so the video will have to wait. Yes my macros are correct, i eat 330 grams of fat about half are saturated. I am still gaining weight but slower, because I am gaining more lean mass compared to fat. High fat diet = best lean mass gains with minimal fat gains. I will change triceps to twice a week and see how that goes.
Well everyone is different, but I think you’d benefit from some additional carbs to fill out those muscles with glycogen and help increase your work capacity, because added volume is all I think you really need at this point to keep progressing. The fat is not going to contribute much, if anything, to building strength and mass except possibly by sparing the little carbs and protein you do take in. One option, which has worked wonderfully for many people including myself, would be to drink lots of whole milk every day. You still get plenty of fat, with the added benefit of protein and carbs and those delicious beefy hormones. Milk is nature’s weight-gainer.
As for your training, I’d be interested to see what exactly a typical bench workout looks like for you.
This is a proven recipe: lift heavy first in your workout like 5x5, 5/3/1, 8x3, etc. Then drop the weight 20-25% and do a couple of “back-off” sets to near failure for added volume. Occasionally substitute these for heavy singles. Then finish with some JM or french presses or DB extensions, etc. to help with your lockout situation. Also make sure to include some overhead pressing on another day in the week, which would be a good day to do some dips as well.
thanks juggs but ive been trying not to drink too much milk, milk depletes calcium from your bones and since im lifting and still growing thats not a very good thing. Milk is acidic, when we drink it our stomach has to regulate the ph level and bring it down, best way to do that is to take calcium out of our bones in order to reduce the acidity. Milk takes away more calcium than it puts in.
A typical chest and tri workout would be about 3-5 sets of flat bench press, 6 reps at 90% of my max. I then move onto incline for 3 sets, about 8 ish reps, then i mix it up sometimes i do dumbbell flies, cable flies, skull crushers, tricep extensions, dumbbell press, etc. I did chest today second and last time this week and i did not flat bench barbell a tall, I replaced it with dumbbell press to mix things up.
[quote]Massthetics wrote:
thanks juggs but ive been trying not to drink too much milk, milk depletes calcium from your bones and since im lifting and still growing thats not a very good thing. Milk is acidic, when we drink it our stomach has to regulate the ph level and bring it down, best way to do that is to take calcium out of our bones in order to reduce the acidity. Milk takes away more calcium than it puts in.
WTF? And all this time I thought milk was good for us…who’d a thunk. Problem solved.
[quote]Massthetics wrote:
Milk is acidic, when we drink it our stomach has to regulate the ph level and bring it down, best way to do that is to take calcium out of our bones in order to reduce the acidity. Milk takes away more calcium than it puts in.
[/quote]
This sounds like vegan/political bullshit.
I’d like to see some solid evidence to support this if you have it.
[quote]Grove wrote:
[quote]Massthetics wrote:
thanks juggs but ive been trying not to drink too much milk, milk depletes calcium from your bones and since im lifting and still growing thats not a very good thing. Milk is acidic, when we drink it our stomach has to regulate the ph level and bring it down, best way to do that is to take calcium out of our bones in order to reduce the acidity. Milk takes away more calcium than it puts in.[/quote]
WTF? And all this time I thought milk was good for us…who’d a thunk. Problem solved.[/quote]
This is bullshit parroted by vegan hippies. Come on dude, not sure where you read that or who told you that but you really should work on checking your sources before you believe something. Chances are if the person would have a secondary motive for not wanting you to drink milk (they believe all animals should be set free and we should just float along in utopian bliss) then you should probably be pretty cynical when they have a dissenting opinion to a fairly long held idea.
I had a link to a doctor debunking the claim but it looks like it got pulled by mods.
Milk can deplete iron levels. It’s mild, but it happens. Multivitamins don’t usually contain iron because men often end up accumulating too much iron. But you can supplement with Ferrous Gluconate or liver/liver tablets if you need the iron.
That’s the only real caveat I’ve noticed from drinking a lot of milk. My intake varies from 1 to 7 gallons a week.
I suppose you also want to make sure you’re getting enough magnesium too, but this is less critical an issue than the iron, especially if you’re already eating well and using a multi.
As far as the milk and calcium depletion thing… with enough dietary fat (or enough milkfat), that’s completely a non-issue. Your body absorbs more calcium from whole milk than nonfat.
Thanks guys I wasn’t too sure about the milk lol I still drink it, there weren’t too many sources so I didn’t cut it out of my diet.
[quote]Massthetics wrote:
thanks juggs but ive been trying not to drink too much milk, milk depletes calcium from your bones and since im lifting and still growing thats not a very good thing. Milk is acidic, when we drink it our stomach has to regulate the ph level and bring it down, best way to do that is to take calcium out of our bones in order to reduce the acidity. Milk takes away more calcium than it puts in.
[/quote]
I don’t know where you read or heard this but you may want to find some different sources to compare with. This is absolutely not true.
Milk has a pH of about 6.6-6.8 which is only very slightly acidic. If that wastes bone then think about orange juice (3.5pH) and Coke (2.8pH). There would be a worldwide osteoporosis crisis.
Stomach acid can have a pH of lower than 1, just to give you some perspective.
[quote]Massthetics wrote:
thanks juggs but ive been trying not to drink too much milk, milk depletes calcium from your bones and since im lifting and still growing thats not a very good thing. Milk is acidic, when we drink it our stomach has to regulate the ph level and bring it down, best way to do that is to take calcium out of our bones in order to reduce the acidity. Milk takes away more calcium than it puts in.
[/quote]
And if you wouldn’t mind explaining to me what the mechanism for lowering pH with calcium is, I’d appreciate it. I have a pretty solid background in nutrition and physiology, and the only mechanisms I am aware of for controlling pH would be 1) manipulating blood pH through respiration and 2) the secretion of hydrogen ions (H+) and bicarbonate ions (HCO3-) by the liver and kidneys. None of that involves calcium.
[quote]Massthetics wrote:
A typical chest and tri workout would be about 3-5 sets of flat bench press, 6 reps at 90% of my max. I then move onto incline for 3 sets, about 8 ish reps, then i mix it up sometimes i do dumbbell flies, cable flies, skull crushers, tricep extensions, dumbbell press, etc. I did chest today second and last time this week and i did not flat bench barbell a tall, I replaced it with dumbbell press to mix things up.[/quote]
I don’t see anything terribly awry here. 3-5 sets of 6 at 90% of your max though? I can’t do anywhere close to 18-30 reps at 90% of my max.
Is there anything you do that competes for recovery? i.e. do you run a lot?
[quote]Juggs wrote:
[quote]Massthetics wrote:
A typical chest and tri workout would be about 3-5 sets of flat bench press, 6 reps at 90% of my max. I then move onto incline for 3 sets, about 8 ish reps, then i mix it up sometimes i do dumbbell flies, cable flies, skull crushers, tricep extensions, dumbbell press, etc. I did chest today second and last time this week and i did not flat bench barbell a tall, I replaced it with dumbbell press to mix things up.[/quote]
I don’t see anything terribly awry here. 3-5 sets of 6 at 90% of your max though? I can’t do anywhere close to 18-30 reps at 90% of my max.
Is there anything you do that competes for recovery? i.e. do you run a lot?[/quote]
That math doesn’t work. 3rm ranges between 88-92% of 1rm. But he’s new at this so he’s probably just underestimating his 1rm. No biggy.
I bench for about 5 or 6 reps, stopping right before failure. I would call that 90%? Not sure about my 1rm i don’t do 1rm’s its not my type of thing I don’t concern myself with that. The only thing that would hinder recovery is school and lack of sleep. Last friday night i slept for 15 hours, beautiful sleep felt so much better afterwards. I am always exhausted on week days but nothing I can do about it.
EDIT: considering my circumstances, and the fact that I have always been on a bro split (bad idea but atleast it was a decent bro split) I am thinking of hopping onto stronglifts 5x5? I will then only be going to the gym 3 times per week which is nice. Thoughts on ss 5x5? p.s. when people say 5x5, 3x5 etc is is 3 sets of 5 or other way around?
[quote]Massthetics wrote:
I bench for about 5 or 6 reps, stopping right before failure. I would call that 90%? Not sure about my 1rm i don’t do 1rm’s its not my type of thing I don’t concern myself with that. [/quote]
I’d stay away from using percentages then. 90%, most of the time, means a weight that’s 90% of your 1RM (training 1RM, usually). Not a big deal, it’s just that percentages have a specific meaning.
Most of the time, almost all of the time, 3x5 is 3 sets of 5, 3x12 is 3 sets of 12, etc. In a few cases, it’s the other way around, but this is usually in Russian programs… and these programs usually use percentages. So, pretty much, unless there’s a percent involved, you can assume it’s sets x reps.
[quote]Massthetics wrote:
I bench for about 5 or 6 reps, stopping right before failure. I would call that 90%? Not sure about my 1rm i don’t do 1rm’s its not my type of thing I don’t concern myself with that. The only thing that would hinder recovery is school and lack of sleep. Last friday night i slept for 15 hours, beautiful sleep felt so much better afterwards. I am always exhausted on week days but nothing I can do about it.
EDIT: considering my circumstances, and the fact that I have always been on a bro split (bad idea but atleast it was a decent bro split) I am thinking of hopping onto stronglifts 5x5? I will then only be going to the gym 3 times per week which is nice. Thoughts on ss 5x5? p.s. when people say 5x5, 3x5 etc is is 3 sets of 5 or other way around?[/quote]
As mentioned above, 90% of your max is usually something you can only lift for about 3 reps. Although it varies slightly between lifts, gender, training history, etc.
SS 5x5? The SS I know of, Starting Strength, is 3x5. It’s an incredible program for someone like you. I even used it myself after years of training when I was getting back into it from a long layoff. I gained more strength in 8 weeks than I had ever gained doing anything else. Not being a novice, I gained all my previous strength back quickly and added about 20-30 pounds on each lift before finally plateauing and switching to Texas Method. I absolutely loved SS.
I can’t comment on Stronglifts as I’ve never done it, but it looks like a solid program, although doing 5x5 squats 3 times a week would have me overtrained with cranky knees in no time. 3x5 was just right. But I did do a set of 10 with 325 yesterday. I think I’m at the point where that 5x5 3 times a week business is just too much for me.
3x5 would typically mean 3 sets of 5 reps, but I’ve heard and seen it used otherwise. Mark Rippetoe would say that 135x5x3 is 135lbs for 5 reps for 3 sets.
Google exrx calculators one repetition max. Its a good reference tool to know how percentages work / correspond with each other. I’d link it but they seem to frown on links lately.
Thanks for the clarification lorez, i was looking at stronglifts 5x5 and it says do 1x5 deadlift which didn’t seem right to me. But when I deadlift, today for example, i did my first working set at 180lb 6 reps. I had a little left in the tank. I rested for 2-3 minutes then had to drop to about 150lb for my subsequent sets… This always happens to me I fatigue in deadlift very quickly.
Sorry jugs, i meant stronglifts 5x5 not starting strength. Glad to hear about your results though the two programs aren’t too different.
i’d say that my 1rm for deadlift is 220lb, i might have tested it a few weeks ago but I can’t really remember lol. I really really don’t like doing 1rm lifts it just doesnt feel right / natural i dont like to snap my shit up. 3rm is decent but I prefer 5rm.
[quote]Juggs wrote:
[quote]Massthetics wrote:
thanks juggs but ive been trying not to drink too much milk, milk depletes calcium from your bones and since im lifting and still growing thats not a very good thing. Milk is acidic, when we drink it our stomach has to regulate the ph level and bring it down, best way to do that is to take calcium out of our bones in order to reduce the acidity. Milk takes away more calcium than it puts in.
[/quote]
And if you wouldn’t mind explaining to me what the mechanism for lowering pH with calcium is, I’d appreciate it. I have a pretty solid background in nutrition and physiology, and the only mechanisms I am aware of for controlling pH would be 1) manipulating blood pH through respiration and 2) the secretion of hydrogen ions (H+) and bicarbonate ions (HCO3-) by the liver and kidneys. None of that involves calcium. [/quote]
I could potentially see a very indirect mechanism by which calcium might alter pH. The kidneys do not secrete pure H+ ions. They use another molecule to accept the H+, such as phosphate. Your body keeps a large store of Ca2+ and PO42- in bone and large amounts of resorption/deposition (which could be affected by [Ca2+]) might change the phosphate levels in the blood, thus affecting pH. Granted, I’m probably just splitting hairs here because phosphate isn’t the primary regulator of pH, so I doubt this would have a significant enough effect size to really make a difference.
More likely, the OP was concerned about the high vitamin D content in milk because, contrary to popular belief, 1,25(OH)2D3 (the active form) does not build strong bones. Vitamin D’s real job is to increase serum [Ca2+]. It actually has a resorptive effect on bone. However, I don’t think this is of great concern as dietary vitamin D is a prohormone that doesn’t become 1,25(OH)2D3 unless needed, and the active form also helps with intestinal uptake of calcium and phosphate. So really a non-issue. Vitamin D deficiency is a bigger problem for people in Northern countries.