Hey y’all, just stopping by to introduce myself. I’m 17, about to be 18. I’m 5’11 and 160 pounds, I would say low teens in body fat percentage. I used to be a really chunky boy back in freshman year , I just started making smarter food choices and doing a little bit of jogging and some pushups ad sit ups for a couple of years on and off.
Right around christmas time I got a gym membership, I primarily just did some machine work, nothing special. Then about 4 months ago i started using a premade routine, Men’s Health Power Training.
I know the basics about nutrition, eat about six times a day, eat clean, and get adequate protein. Its just the how much that I’m not so sure about. I know you need to eat above maintenance to grow and below maintenance to lean out.
Well I guess its not ho much to eat that I’m confused about, its more about whether I need to pack on muscle or strip off fat that I’m confused about. Any help would be great. Up above is an unflexed pic, I wanted to add that and a flexed one but didn’t know how.
Yeah, you’re in the prime growing time of your life. Look at some of the older guys, like Pushharder, who wish they had gotten big when it was easy. You’re already pretty lean, so start eating.
Best way to figure out how much if you’re already eating clean is to keep track of how much you eat calorie wise, and if you haven’t gained weight after 2 weeks, add 250-500 cals to your daily intake. Repeat as needed. As long as you’re eating enough and lifting heavy, you should pack on muscle pretty quickly over the next few years.
Hey thanks everybody, alright just one more question, do I eat well above maintenance just on my lifting days and then right at maintenance on my off days, or do I eat big everyday?
Try to eat slightly above maintenance on your off days (250-500+), and maybe add another 300 cals or so in the form of a post workout shake to your lifting days. If you’re looking to gain 1 lb per week for example, you need an extra 3500 cals. It would be hard to get that in by just eating more on lifting days. Plus, a lot of people find that their body does better when they eat pretty much the same thing every day.
Honestly, you’d probably be better served by focusing on strength at this point, as the lower rep range is useful for perfecting your form. Just make sure you’re eating enough, and you’ll grow. Check out the Starting Strength thread, or take a look at West Side for Skinny Bastards. If you feel that you aren’t hitting a muscle group, go ahead and add some isolation work to the end of your workout (curls, etc).
I think the Power Training program by Coach Dos is a very good program. I have the book myself and while I am not using that training program specifically, I learned a lot of good chunks of info that I apply with what I am doing now.
I see ninjaboy’s point, but I think you would be fine using the hypertrophy program for now. You are still pretty much new to the whole game and I think an approach that focuses on bulking up is going to serve you well. Heck, the strength program probably would too at this point since you are going to respond well to most programs anyway since this is all fairly “new” to you.
Just approach it with intensity, eat a little more than you are used to and try not to overly complicate things. This is meant to be something you enjoy, in the end.
Thanks Kuz, I just finished my first 12 weeks of the program, but I’m probably doing too much cardio, I do 3 days a week of total body, and then 3 days a week of the strength cardio and on top of that all of those days I do HIIT. So I’m guessing that I’m probably doing too much, Since you have used the program what would you suggest as far as frequency?
if you enjoy the cardio; continue it. it will help you stay lean while gaining some mass. just make sure you up your caloric intake.
adding calories/gaining mass is a test; you have to play around (sometimes for a few months) to figure out “how much makes me grow?”…but once you nail that…you’re set to make some notable gains. i’m 25 and it took me 3mo to figure it out.
squat, deadlift, overhead press, bench. those movements will help you put muscle on; as long as your form is better then good.
