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Thyroid.
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Drop as much extra activity as you can, at least until your metabolism has slowed down some. That may include reducing your weight training to 4-5 days per week and single sessions per day… Every little bit can help.
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Lots of tricks available for getting in more food, some have been posted… I think we’ve had a few threads about that, actually… See if they’re linked in the “best of T-Nation” sticky.
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Might be a good idea to actually eat less for a while… Cut to 3000 immediately (see if you can), just reduce meal size basically, or keep meal size the same but reduce frequency to 3/day… That might cause your body to slow way down after some time…
It’s true that you have to eat more and actually gain weight, but then again, I imagine at your size it’s going to be bloody difficult to increase that food intake much beyond another 1000 cals or so… So imo slowing down your metabolism would be a good idea… Saves you some money in the long run, too. -
Contact someone like Shelby Starnes or Ken “Skip” Hill. Those guys may be able to help you figure this out in a way that lets you avoid going up to 9000 cals per day just to reach 250 lbs of off-season weight.
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Your lifts are nowhere close to any genetic limit of any non-ancient, non-sick male person I’ve ever known. Besides, weight gain is the issue… Just about everybody can get fat if they really try
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Good work so far, you don’t look half-bad. Given your starting weight and the way you look now, you probably have quite a bit of potential for bodybuilding in you.
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You aren’t taking any medication or drugs or anything which might be at least partially responsible for your crazy metabolism? Not puking the food back out or anything? (have to ask…)
[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
I hear Casey Butt has interesting theories about genetic limits…[/quote]
The guy is not gaining weight at all. He’s not just getting fat while not gaining muscle. Hence he doesn’t eat enough.
Also, if he started out at a lean 180 lbs… Are you seriously going to tell me that his genetics suck for this?
[/quote]
Just messin’ around, brother. You should have seen that coming a mile away!
[quote]Professor X wrote:
If I were Jay Cutler and didn’t have to work, then maybe I could just eat chicken breasts and turkey all day long and grow.
[/quote]
The funny thing about that is off-season, Jay’s 11 pm, last meal of the day is 2 in and out burgers, fries and a small lemonade! : )
[quote]gregron wrote:
I dont really have anything to add. Pretty much everythings been covered by the big guys around here but I just have a question…
Based on your height, weight, pictures and the fact that you said you’re a former cross country runner would you say that you’re a bit top heavy? Not that you dont train your legs but do you find them naturally stubborn when it comes to putting on size because of the former cross country aspect?
I’ve got a buddy who was a former distance runner and always had strong ripped up legs but they never really grew like his upper body did. I always thought it was due to years of X-country
.greg.[/quote]
I had the same problem for a while up until my second year in when a trainer recommended a particular method of squatting. I was able to get my thighs to start growing by squatting very slowly and very deep twice a week. I’d begin my leg workouts with it and do it 4 days later to loosen them back up. I’d drop slowly to parallel -pause- drop ass to my ankles -pause- back to parallel -pause- then slowly all the way up. I did 5 sets (6-8-10-8-6) with moderate weight and started getting noticeable growth. Now I just work them like normal.
My upper legs are aesthetically in proportion to my body, but for that bodybuilder look they do still need to get bigger.
Thanks for all the good advice so far guys. I’ll certainly be putting it into use!
you are looking great bro. really.
you haven�´t listed your training regarding reps and or periodization-do that.
regarding the kcals i got a simple trick for you:
just spread olive oil over your food or shakes.
just one table spoon equals 100kcals-good kcals.
so go for it.
science
[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
- Drop as much extra activity as you can, at least until your metabolism has slowed down some. That may include reducing your weight training to 4-5 days per week and single sessions per day… Every little bit can help.
[/quote]
I think by reducing your training volume/frequency you can really put some of that food to use.
You do look awesome already. One thing I recently started was nursing a recovery drink during my workout. I have seen good gains lately. I used to eat right before and then after, but adding the high carb/medium protien drink during my workouts have worked well and I also feel less tired. You could give this a try if you don’t already do this.
That’s good advice to lower calories for a little while, maybe a couple of months or so, (allow metabolism to slow somewhat). Also, as has been mentioned, it’s especially good to lower training frequency/cardio (you’d be surprised how many extra calories are burned, not just during the training, but afterwards too).
Here’s maybe another good idea, try lowering the rep set volume too. Like keep the rep range to around 6 reps per set rather than going nearer 10 reps per set. Although some “gurus” say that you shouldn’t increase rep range to “cut up”, I have definitely noticed a difference in weight control/composition when using higher reps - basically, you tend to need more calories to add bodyweight when using higher volume as opposed to higher intensity (intensity defined as percentage of 1 Rep Max).
So apart from increasing calorie dense foods, lowering activity, maybe another good “prescription” for weight training would be to increase intensity and lower volume a little.
[quote]23278 wrote:
My rest periods for one muscle are doing a set for a different muscle.[/quote]
This stood out for me because I train in a similar way. Virtually back-to-back supersets for 45 minutes straight over eight sessions is going to add up to some serious training density and a crazy amount of calories burned in and out of the gym. That alone is going to seriously limit weight gain.
Additional cardio is overkill and unnecessary with the conditioning your lifting already provides.
Throw in the fact that you’ve been training like this for two years, and the fact that as your lifts go up, you burn even more cals and it’s no wonder your metabolism is burning like a forest fire.
Ok, so I’ve changed a few things up. How’s this looking? I still snack whenever I feel that I can. Usually like a granola bar, boiled eggs, and peanut butter. I also have a 1/2 gallon 100g/220g all-day shake I swig off of at random throughout the day.
I haven’t counted all the calories yet, but I’m still at force feeding level. If this doesn’t get easier to down after a couple weeks I’m gonna have to drop it down.
Meal 1 7:00AM:
4 Large Eggs
2 Packets Apple/Cinnamon Oatmeal
16oz Orange Juice
3 T-Bomb II
Meal 2 9:00AM:
1 McD’s Sausage/Egg/Cheese McGriddle
1 12oz Coffee
Meal 3 10:45AM:
4oz Ribeye
2 Cups Wheat Pasta
1 Protein Bar
1 Animal Pack
Workout 11:30AM:
Pre Workout - Shake (30g/50g) & SuperPump250
During Workout - Gatoraid + 1.5 Scoop Purple Wrath & 50g Dextrose
Post Workout - Shake (42g/98g)& 2 Servings Peanut Butter
Meal 4 12:45PM:
2 McD’s Double Cheeseburgers
1 Side Salad W/Ranch
Meal 5 3:00PM:
8oz Ribeye
2 Cups Wild Rice
1 Cup Broccoli
16oz Whole Milk
Meal 6 5:30PM:
6oz Ribeye
2 Cups Wheat Pasta w/Tuna+Alfredo
1 Cup Green Beans
1 Can Coke Zero
Meal 7: 8:00PM:
2 Hard Boiled Eggs
1 Can Tuna + Oil
1 Cup Cottage Cheese
Meal 8 10:15:
8oz While Milk + Casein Protein. (44g/33g)
3 T-Bomb II
As far as training goes, I’m giving the I,BB program a shot. It’s different then anything I’ve done so maybe I’ll respond to it. Plus, since most the workouts are quick, I can do it over my lunch hour without a problem.
Until I get to the leg phase, I’ll be hitting legs twice a week in the evenings, and then I’ll run the leg phase twice. I’m 6’ 1" and while I thought my legs were ok, they only measured 27"…bah!
don’t forget the creatine… in the socks!