Sup guys I am new here. I am tired of not having my body at its ultimate potential and frankly don’t have my bros around that hit that gym as I live in a different country right now. I’m 31, 5’9 and 165 lbs I think at the moment. I defintely lost some weight in the last 3 months cause I’ve been fucking around wit solana meme coins and doing an IT cert class that I graduate in the next few weeks. I want to go hard and will post my start photos here. Should have a steady income starting in a few weeks so I can afford all this beef and eggs. Im thinking of doing a carnivore diet. I know that building muscle and losing fat at the same time is alot of work and I need to be extremely dialed in which I had trouble with in the past when on a “bulk”. Would also appreciate being pointed to the recommened workout program.
You didn’t list any goals except “ultimate potential”, so unless you’re picking up infinity stones during your travel - you need to get more specific.
Do you want to powerlift or bodybuild?
What is your experience with lifting?
What are your impressive lifts?
Why carnivore, specifically? Do you have an aversion to carbs?
What are your current strength levels? Is your ultimate potential remaining a similar weight but with a recomp, or do you want to be bigger?
Without these, I would say that a 531 program is a solid choice to run that will broadly fit most strength goals. Something like a Boring But Big template or Krypteia, or Building the Monolith if you’re already pretty fit and strong.
A carnivore diet can work for some, but for most looking to build muscle you’re probably better off keeping in some carbs. Especially when getting back into training.
I’ve been implementing that, and enjoying it so far.
Building muscle and losing fat are opposite sides of the metabolic spectrum. Is there a reason you don’t want to focus on just one goal instead? It tends to make things pretty streamlined. I find that I don’t put on fat easily while building muscle on carnivore, and that I hold onto muscle well while losing fat on carnivore.
Regarding a training program: what equipment do you have available?
Welcome
31, 5’ 9", 165 lbs. That is not to bad. When I was in college I was a Nautilus hardcore guy. I was 5’9" and 165 lbs. I was 22? Coeds would walk up and poke my chest. Those days are over. Way over…
Above posters are correct. You need to pick a category: Bodybuilding. Powerlifting. Aesthetics.
The 531 program is popular amongst T Nation members. Jim Wendler is the developer of the program.
Another expert here is Dr. Ellington Darden. He has his own threads/topics.
Good luck. 
And
Are the relevant pieces of information trying to be conveyed.
-Unless you are a complete beginner you are not doing both.
-You are not going to gain/bulk on a carnivore diet. Not unless you use dairy which is not carnivore. You will lean out and look flat.
Are you American?
He’s gotta buy all this beef you know.
You can absolutely gain on a Carnivore eating plan. Why do people still push this? It’s demonstrably false.
IMO, economic stability with some discretionary funds is essential to approach achieving your ultimate potential in the gym.
Show me examples.
I am talking about putting on 20+ lbs. of lean mass. Natural and on a pure carnivore diet. No dairy, no carb-ups, cheat meals, etc.
What do carbs do that is magical that can’t be done without them? Is it easier to gain “weight” on carbs? Yep… the gains are also a mix of fat, fluids, myofibrils… how much is just muscle?
Let’s say two calorically equal (both optimal for the individual for arguments sake) eating plans with the same protein amounts… why would carbs be better? The body replenishes glycogen sans exogenous sources.
An interesting interpretation. I’ve seen many claim otherwise, to include the man who wrote the book “The Carnivore diet”.
Certainly agree it’s not Lion Diet though.
I am not going to explain the science of why carbs are helpful, you have Google for that. However, if carbs are not beneficial, then why is dairy always suggested when gaining on carnivore?
First off thank you for the flood of replies. My incoherent sentences were typed some time around 3am during the typical motivational mood surge which I need to move to regular daytime hours.
Also I handle criticism and shit talk well so don’t hold back if I say anything stoopid.
First off yes, I am American who currently resides in Ireland.
My goals do not include me competing. My ideal physique goals would to be able to fill out a large tshirt nicely when going out, and to wear a extra large comfortably without looking like a weenie. Through the past 10 years when hitting the gym and exercises I would fluctuate between wearing a medium tshirt and then wearing a large because the medium didn’t fit. A month or more off and then its back the medium.
I definitely want to put on more size. Just from eating alone I can get myself to 175-180 so we can say that I do lean more towards bodybuilding. Like I stated before I am not interested in competing, or utilizing performance enhances (at least not in the beginning) I would for sure be interested in tren, HGH, peptides and the sort once I have achieved a certain benchmark. I have read that utilizing HGH in smaller doses can strengthen tendons and such. Anyways, the muscle that I do put on I want it to be dense, explosive with flexibility. I want those little muscles on top of my muscles get what I mean. I understand that this comes after years of hard training and that I may need change my training routine along the way. Possibly integrating strength and powerlifting along the way. Never done it. Maybe a start a powerbuilding routine?
Impressive lifts? Nah, I never really recorded or did any of that. My friend got my into the gym when I was about 20. We took JACK3D prework-out and hit legs, back, weighted ab, dips, everything you name it, but there was still no structured plan to it. I definitely saw results, but that may have just come from the “bulk” that I was seeing by eating everything in site because of munchies, not understanding macros and nutrition and believing that having a big bag of Serious Mass gainer. I was no athlete growing up. I played ice hockey for some time, but I was no dweeb either. My family had me digging holes and helping with renovations since I can remember. My first on the books job was a loader at UPS at 19 y/o and a string of other physical labor jobs such as tree removal, pool construction/maintence. Around 26 years old I completely stopped physical labor and my income came from working online. I got very used to it, although at that age I did start to train with a physical trainer 3- 4 times a week. It was great because he told me exactly what I had to do, corrected my form, and told me when to take a break because I am the type that can over train. Getting to the gym and and back into the groove is not hard for me. My muscle memory reactivates, its more about having a clear set of instructions on what I must complete in each work out. I get overwhelmed with the amount of information and jargon even though I know that the key is to pick one routine and actually stick it through. I just want to make sure it is the correct one so I opitimize my time.
Regarding my mention of the carnivore diet, I think I need to correct myself. I meant animal baased diet. The reason for this that after years of having a mysterious rash appear on my hand that itched and burned, I cut out all carbs for a few months and it completely went away. It seems that I have candida and react to processed carbs and starches. I also noticed a difference in brain fog, inflammation, and generally a more stable energy level throughout the day. My mistake was to not hit the gym at this time and experiment with how I felt afterwards. I have been continuning to eat an animal based diet. Eggs, beef, broth, bone tallow, milk/raw milk, butter but also began slowly incorporate bananas, sweet potatoes, grapes, berries avocado, greek yogurt and raw honey. I am not against taking carbs at this point, I just need to incorporate them back into my diet piece by piece. Starchy carbs do agree with me, I have a huge insulin or sugar spike and then I am asleep for a few hours lol. I am not one that wants to striclty eat meat and eggs all the time. That shit gets boring even when I have no cravings for junk food and sugar.
These past three months I have been glued to the computer completing an IT certification and trading meme coins. Sitting on my ass getting myself lined up for a remote IT job so can make some good money and invest in my health. I can probably count on two hands how many times I have gone out and its all been to get groceries around the corner. I am definitely Vitamin D deficient, and not on a sound sleep schedule. Waking up with no morning wood more one more than one occasion and feeling weak in the pelvic floor muscles really gave me a wake up call.
From reading your comments I see that following a very basic split would benefit me either way because it has been so long either way. That with focus on my diet and sleep will yield great gains. Also, the reason I steer towards the animal based/fat diet. I felt more full in general. I was counting my protein and fat intake and I was more than well exceeding my macros dailey without much thought and effort.
I will be posting some pictures here shortly for some roasting and motivation. HTanks guys.
I didn’t say they can’t be helpful…only that you can build muscle WITHOUT them… which is unequivocally true. I already stated they can help but they come with drawbacks
Dairy is not exactly carb plentiful… and its full fat dairy that is recommended which is much higher in fat than the trace carbs. Hence, it’s the fats not the carbs
Maximize your natural potential before blasting gear
As a non-sleeper, I cannot express the importance of sleep. Diet, always keep that in mind. Abdominals are created in the kitchen. A cliche’ probably, but important.
A valuable lesson I learned post one month of Corona, keep structure, keep a plan, keep a record. I flailed for probably two years after I was actually strong enough to reconfigure a Total Gym for different exercises. Then I would go at it 3-4 nights a week, I would record workouts, but there was no plan. About a year ago I took a breath, realized I had no forearm muscle still, and had to stick to a program utilizing different equipment also.
To think, I thought I was the only one. We all pick and choose our diet strategy. I try to stick to three plates of food a day. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If I get hungry in between I have a glass or two of Vit D milk. I try to keep sweets, seconds, and snacks to the weekend. (The No S Diet). I can lose nearly as quickly doing this than doing a low carb approach. Do I get hungry? I can. Will it kill me? No.
In my opinion, this is good. At 5’9", this is a good size. But to be honest, when I was a pup I looked my best at 165 lbs. Probably 175 lbs. is where I could be my best. About 2010 my wife and I spent a week in the Caymans, I No S-ed and Airdyned my way to 172 pounds. I had muscle, a V shape, my wife told me I was too thin. What the…?
Again, good luck.