He says, “this is what I do, this is what I eat. I’m not getting where I want, what can I change?”
He does not say, " I have to stay under 1500 calories a day, but I want to bulk. If I don’t run 5 miles a day then I’ll lose my abs. Why can’t I gain weight. I eat all the time, as long as it’s no more than 19 grams of fat." Reference trainforstars threads.
He has not come back and argued with anyone offering advice, nor has anyone here come out and said that he sucks, or can’t gain, or Shut up and Train.
So take note. When a poster is honest and respectful, they get honesty and respect. When a poster knows better than everyone else here, they get flamed.
In the past four years I’ve gone from 225 lbs and 20% bf to 145lbs 6%, and back to 190 at 13% two years later.
Bro, I don’t want to bust your balls, but I wanted to point something out. When you started at 225 @ 20%, you had 180 lbs of LBM and 45 pounds of fat, assuming your numbers are accurate. You then cut and lost 36.3 pounds of fat and 43.7 pounds of muscle. :-\ Since that time, you’ve put on 29 pounds of muscle and 16 pounds of fat. If you continue to bulk at your current rate, when you reach 225 you’ll have 187.8 lbs of LBM and 37.2 lbs of fat, @ 16.5% bodyfat.
Net gain: you converted 7.8 pounds from fat to muscle in 4+ years training.
It might be time to change something up, friend.
[/quote]
Good post. He basically lost everything just so he could get down to 6% body fat. I wish this desire to get super ripped before they gain the muscle at all would end.
Holy shit. I’m responding after only reading about the first ten posts and based on those posts, this thread should actually be called “Revenge of the Fatsos” or “Let the Fatsos be heard”. Something like that.
[quote]folly wrote:
So take note. When a poster is honest and respectful, they get honesty and respect. When a poster knows better than everyone else here, they get flamed.[/quote]
AMEN
We are not here for an internet pissing contest. The vast majority of people here are willing to help. When a poster cops an attitude, he might as well just stop posting.
[quote]kellyc wrote:
Holy shit. I’m responding after only reading about the first ten posts and based on those posts, this thread should actually be called “Revenge of the Fatsos” or “Let the Fatsos be heard”. Something like that.
What a bunch of ignorant shits.[/quote]
No, it’s hate on skinny, lazy, know it all fucks. There hasn’t been a fat poster in this thread. Just more serious lifters that are tired of reading the same stupid shit from the same type of people.
[quote]kellyc wrote:
Holy shit. I’m responding after only reading about the first ten posts and based on those posts, this thread should actually be called “Revenge of the Fatsos” or “Let the Fatsos be heard”. Something like that.
I’m not trying to defend anyone. I’ve always been pretty weak. Until recently, I couldn’t bench 135 for ten reps, and I was 230 lbs. It took me a long while to find T-Nation (and thank god I finally did), so for 8 years I was indoctrinated by Men’s Health routines, etc. Not to mention, the three or so certified trainers I worked with for a year each, who were themselves hugh, but who supplied workouts that didn’t involve going really heavy, rarely, if ever involved squats and deadlifts, and provided half-assed diets that were never up to snuff.
People who are new to the site are often people who are trying to break away from the bs that doesn’t work and find what does, but it takes a while to shed off what we’ve been fed for years and take on something new. Hell, it took me a while to hook on to Waterbury’s ABBH program, b/c it was against most of what I had learned and thought to be true. But I can’t even believe the gains I’m making. And w/ no supplements but protein powder!
Anyway, all I’m saying is, maybe you find us newbies annoying, but we are coming to you guys b/c you have the answers. We are the students and you are the teachers. And like a teacher, with each new batch of students, you will likely hear the same questions. Yes, the answers are already there in the archives, but it’s human nature to ask. Any patience you can offer, however much or little, will be greatly appreciated. We just want to learn. But if you need to vent, do so as well. It’s your right.
[quote]PGA200X wrote:
We just keep repeating ourselves over and over again to the same under 200lb demographic.
This is the bottom line, hopefully I say it loud enough so future and prospective posters can hear me…!
IF YOU ARE NOT OR CANNOT, GAIN MUSCLE, ARE 5’0"-5’5" HEIGHT AND UNDER 175LBS OR 5’6"-8’0" HEIGHT AND UNDER 200LBS, YOU ARE NOT EATING ENOUGH AND/OR YOUR WORKOUT INTENSITY SUCKS!
[/quote]
With all due respect, judging by your profile stats and your recent progress post, you do not come close to meeting your own lofty standards? what’s your excuse?
a) I’m not the one complaining and I am on my way to my goals, so fuck you.
b) I don’t want to be ‘too big’, so fuck you
c) I guess I must suck, so fuck you
d) fuck you, so fuck you.
[quote]wannbeBIG wrote:
I’ve been training a long time and ave seen minimal gains and it aint half pissing me off.
it isnt diet - that’s near perfect. I’m now looking at training intensity - dunno whther Im pushing myself too hard? I train one muscle group each session (sometimes 2 - tri’s and chest etc)
I’m not sure if the weight I’m using is too heavy? I normally do 5 sets of 5 and by the 4th set Im struggling to make 5 reps, though the following week I will try and get 5 reps out of all 5 sets and once I can do that I will try and up the weight the next session. the first few reps seem to go up pretty easy - does this sound right to you?
I sleep well, eat well- 6+ meals with protein in each, between 80-100 grams of fat, enough carbs and about 250 grams of protein. post workout I will consume 100 grams of maltodextrin and have about 40-50 grams of whey protein then 1 hour later have a meal that’s low in fat.
though when I say I sleep well - sleep is usually interupted when I need to take a leak and that happens 2-3 times a night.
I train at home but have all the necessary equipemnt to build a decent physique - bench, squat rack, pull up bar, EZ barm dumbells, barbells.
[quote]wannbeBIG wrote:
I’m now looking at training intensity - dunno whther Im pushing myself too hard? I train one muscle group each session (sometimes 2 - tri’s and chest etc)
I wish I knew where I was going wrong.
[/quote]
You do, but you don’t.
Try compound/ multi joint lifts. Scrap the body part splits.
There is no comparison in intensity between the amount of effort required to squat or deadlift compared to a set of tricep kickbacks and some of the other isolation type exercises.
(unless your triceps are the size of your glutes, hams and quads combined with your erector spinea and abdominals, which would be odd to say the least)
[quote]Big Dan wrote:
The hardest part of bulking is the $$$.
For those guys having trouble eating enough go buy a blender and make some shakes.[/quote]
May I also suggest doing it Big Bird-style, and putting down 2 or 3 lbs of nuts or seeds per a week. Sesame seeds are cheap anywhere. Or go to the Indian grocer and buy bags of SWAD brand raw cashews, almonds and shelled pistachios at $3.50 - $5 per a pound. Eat on those all day long. Works for me.
[quote]wannbeBIG wrote:
it isnt diet - that’s near perfect. I’m now looking at training intensity - dunno whther Im pushing myself too hard? I train one muscle group each session (sometimes 2 - tri’s and chest etc)
I’m not sure if the weight I’m using is too heavy? I normally do 5 sets of 5 and by the 4th set Im struggling to make 5 reps, though the following week I will try and get 5 reps out of all 5 sets and once I can do that I will try and up the weight the next session. the first few reps seem to go up pretty easy - does this sound right to you?[/quote]
How do you feel after each session? How do you feel when its time for the next session?
Answers should be: Pumped with lactic acid burn. And: Rearing to go.
Otherwise you might be: Undertraining. Or: Overtraining.
If undertraining, yet you can’t complete your workout as written, drop some weight. Then do another set, and another, dropping more weight as needed. Repeat until lifting a toothpick makes you cry. Drop sets rock my world.
If overtrained, take a week or two off. Redo your workout plan so that you feel ready to go for the next sessions. And for the future, take a back-off week when necessary, which is typically after three weeks of high intensity.
Note: This is a flowchart. Don’t follow all the advice!
[quote]Pirate Prentice wrote:
I’m not trying to defend anyone. I’ve always been pretty weak. Until recently, I couldn’t bench 135 for ten reps, and I was 230 lbs. It took me a long while to find T-Nation (and thank god I finally did), so for 8 years I was indoctrinated by Men’s Health routines, etc. Not to mention, the three or so certified trainers I worked with for a year each, who were themselves hugh, but who supplied workouts that didn’t involve going really heavy, rarely, if ever involved squats and deadlifts, and provided half-assed diets that were never up to snuff.
People who are new to the site are often people who are trying to break away from the bs that doesn’t work and find what does, but it takes a while to shed off what we’ve been fed for years and take on something new. Hell, it took me a while to hook on to Waterbury’s ABBH program, b/c it was against most of what I had learned and thought to be true. But I can’t even believe the gains I’m making. And w/ no supplements but protein powder!
Anyway, all I’m saying is, maybe you find us newbies annoying, but we are coming to you guys b/c you have the answers. We are the students and you are the teachers. And like a teacher, with each new batch of students, you will likely hear the same questions. Yes, the answers are already there in the archives, but it’s human nature to ask. Any patience you can offer, however much or little, will be greatly appreciated. We just want to learn. But if you need to vent, do so as well. It’s your right.
Thanks,
-P.[/quote]
It’s not that newbies are annoying, more so that many want to argue with good advice given. There have been many that ask questions and get anwers only to dispute all of what was suggested by giving excuses as to why they won’t or shouldn’t do it. That’s what pisses us off. If you ask a question, and someone gives serious feedback, take it in, think about it, try it, then decide if it’s good or not. That’s all.
[quote]wannbeBIG wrote:
it isnt diet - that’s near perfect. I’m now looking at training intensity - dunno whther Im pushing myself too hard? I train one muscle group each session (sometimes 2 - tri’s and chest etc)
[/quote]
You’re not training with enough intensity. You just answered your own question.
[quote]kellyc wrote:
Holy shit. I’m responding after only reading about the first ten posts and based on those posts, this thread should actually be called “Revenge of the Fatsos” or “Let the Fatsos be heard”. Something like that.
What a bunch of ignorant shits.[/quote]
My post was a knee jerk post and made at a time I didn’t have time to make a case.
The ignorance is because you guys put weight on easily and can’t understand someone who doesn’t. I am a big time eater. If you don’t believe me, check my past posts. I made one recently on the Ice Crean thread.
Even though I eat with the best of them, if I get injured and have to stop training, the weight comes off. Yes I know, if I kept forcing down the same amount of food I’d keep the weight on. Unfortunatelly I would get fat. I don’t see the point of forcing down uncomfortable amounts of food to be both out of shape and fat.
In my 20’s and early 30’s when I could train all out, I’d still max out in the upper 190’s. I ate 6 meals a day, three of them stuffing plus I am Food Scientist. I eat all day on the job. I admit, I think I could have broke the 200 barrier If I ate on the weekends like I did M-F, But at 6’1 I was never going to be no 220.
Bigragoo, I checked out your photos. Dude, your fat with poor symetry. Do you train Traps at all? I give credit where credit is due. Your girl is kinda cute.
[quote]BIGRAGOO wrote:
kellyc wrote:
Holy shit. I’m responding after only reading about the first ten posts and based on those posts, this thread should actually be called “Revenge of the Fatsos” or “Let the Fatsos be heard”. Something like that.
What a bunch of ignorant shits.
No, it’s hate on skinny, lazy, know it all fucks. There hasn’t been a fat poster in this thread. Just more serious lifters that are tired of reading the same stupid shit from the same type of people. [/quote]
To be honest, I am pretty fat and sassy.
But I don’t start dickless winy threads about it either.
I agree with Bigragoo on this one. I also think volume might be his culprit, as 5 x 5 for a muscle group once a week is nothing for volume. If I’m hitting a muscle group once a week, I’m going to be hitting it for a good 14-18 hard sets, depending on how I feel that particular day. Oh, and you definitely need to eat more.
You are eating way to clean for your body type. I’m a fortunate individual in that I can maintain 220 at 11% w/ 3000 calories, makes shedding the blubber difficult, but some ppl like yourself will have to eat much more to gain to any appreciable size. For instance, I have a good friend of mine I’ve been advising now for about 8 months. He was your classic skinny kid who complained that he couldn’t gain weight no matter what.
Well, this kid is now the pinnacle of determination for skinny guys like yourself, I have him eat at least 5500 calories per day, and sometimes right before bed he will drink a 1000 calorie shake ontop of the 5500 calories he’s already ingested. In 8 months he’s gone from 155lb to 175lbs, and he still has a six pack.
Hell, I bulked to 245 on 4000-4300 calories per day, but he has taken the cards he’s been dealt and come up with a damn fine hand in the end. Take your weight every two weeks…if nothing has changed…provided you have gotten your training in gear…add calories…repeat.
[quote]BIGRAGOO wrote:
wannbeBIG wrote:
it isnt diet - that’s near perfect. I’m now looking at training intensity - dunno whther Im pushing myself too hard? I train one muscle group each session (sometimes 2 - tri’s and chest etc)
You’re not training with enough intensity. You just answered your own question. [/quote]