The Official Gym & Fitness Thread

Do you by chance remember your program/diet?

I'd definitely be interested in knowing about it.

 

Maybe you should stop running 20+ miles. It doesn’t matter how much you eat. You’re not giving your body a chance to grow

 

Same. I was up to 4,200 and not gaining. So I cut all cardio and finally started adding weight. I was a 150-160 pounder. I’ve been as heavy as 181 but am now just floating around 170. Once I’m recovered from this hip surgery I’ll focus more on growing again (and being lean) but I can’t do anything but bench right now so I’m not too concerned with much since I’m limited...

 

Thought of you when I saw this today lmao

 

Yea. It was:

Eat.

That simple. I was just looking to gain weight. At your height/weight, I wouldn’t even worry about WHAT I’m eating. Just worry about HOW MUCH you’re eating. If you’re wanting to gain weight, just eat. Don’t worry about gaining body fat in the process. You can burn the fat back off after you make some gains.

I was 144 lbs. Been as high as 172.

 

You look like you weigh more than the 140s at 5’10’’ honestly. Are your scale isn’t broken? Lol

I’m 5’9’’ and as of last week 158lbs and my best guess 10%BF.
Last year I was up to 180 and lifting like a beast (for me and my beginner level). I enjoyed it because I wanted to prove myself post rotator cuff surgery I wasn’t limited. Well goal met lol.

I really enjoy all types of fitness not just one. Its hard to balance everything. You can’t be 180 benching 300 and be good at running, climbing, and yoga.

I prefer being light and lean. I feel freaking awesome.
I don’t feel as good if I’m not doing a lot of cardio.

If your goals are not to shorten your lifespan you probably want to care about what you eat lol

 

Not gonna lie, when I am over 210 I feel like a fat baby seal. I stay relatively lean now, but when you lived at 150 pounds for 23 years of your life and now you're 225 I feel it. Doesn't help consuming tons of food a day either, lol. I felt much more active and "free" when I was cutting and leaner.

 

I'm the type who figured I could probably never eat enough to gain, but I've been gaining weight at about 3.5k calories a day. That's very rough 'cause i only measure it here and there. Most days I eyeball it based on the days I did measure. Maybe I hit 4k some days, I'm sure I'm at 2.5-3k some days too. But my big thing is staying within what studies show is best for optimal muscle synthesis, keep your eating between 3-5 hours apart, (3 for me, I get hungry and I want to gain), and at each meal eat sufficient decent protein to get @ 3g of leucine (amino acid), which is the tip-over point for optimal muscle synthesis. Also roughly hitting my macros (1g protein/lb; .5g or so fat/lb; carbs as needed/desired, in my case).

That's my lazy but scientific approach to it. At 6'1", I gained from 167lbs to 184.5 in about 9 months. Also creatine has probably given me water gains in there somewhere, but I had and still have abs, a lot of vascularity, look like I lift more than I deserve to look in almost any t-shirt, etc. No idea actual BF, but prob somewhere in the 10-12% range is my guesstimate.

 

By the way, as a relative newb to barbell deadlifts, I find that on my rpe9 lifts it feels by far the hardest to begin moving the weight off the floor. Once I'm 4" up or whatever, it just flies up, but that initial move is by far the hardest for me.

Is that about how everyone's lifts go? Sometimes I wonder if my size (legs?) makes it so I'm nearly good-morning'ing it. Or this is just normal, different for every body type/size, etc.?

 

We need to change the name of this thread to pencil necks and cardio - the Anti-Gainz thread.

 

Hey... a pencil neck I am, but don't accuse me of cardio!!


JK, wish I could stand cardio a bit more. I could use some more endurance for my hunts.

 

Your body type will certainly affect your start position for the deadlift. This pic is super simple but makes the point clear. Arm, torso, femur length, etc will affect your start position.
http://www.powerliftingtowin.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/long-arm-short-arm-deadlift.jpg

 

Taco, I am not picking on you, but I chose your post to quote...

People say they eat X Y Z... Given your numbers you just posted, you'd need to eat 500 carbs a day to be roughly 3.5k calories. 500 carbs a day is a fuck ton. I do it often and with "good carbs" Not just pizza crust. Anyone here that eats 3.5k calories a day consistently WILL gain weight. I gain weight at 3500, although it is slow ( I am also 225# and 12% bf). Unless you guys are doing insane amounts of cardio to combat massive calorie intake, then I don't believe you when you say you didn't gain weight at X Y Z. (5k)

 

Maybe if you ate more your chest would grow

 

Yeah, sounds right. I have long arms I think but that doesn't seem to make up for it. Anyways...

Nah, that's fine. 500g carbs you mean? I may get more protein than 1g/lb. That was my base. And I do gain weight now that I'm eating more. I used to not but I wasn't paying attention and ate whatever the hell I wanted, as long as it was healthy in my definition of it (real foods, not much processed). I do eat a lot of carbs now, and force feed myself larger amounts. I have about 4 meals a day plus a protein shake as another meal kinda. So now I'm averaging around or at least 3-3.5k per day and I am gaining weight steadily.

One thing I noted when I took the time to calculate my calories and pay attention to weight and meals was that when I'm not on a plan or trying to eat more, I tend to eat little. I heard that often "hardgainers" just eat little and I'm inclined to believe that it really is a big part of that picture. (I'm sure some body composition/hormones, etc., also factor in there.)

 

In other words, I'm with you, don't believe it either. Any "hardgainer" who says they don't gain weight no matter what just hasn't actually eaten enough (or has a condition). If they were to start tracking and taking it seriously, they would gain weight, whether fat or muscle or both, depending on how much food and exercise are present.

 

Agree.

Anyone who thinks they require much more than 3,500 to gain mass, I would question their ability to count and track calories and macros.
Not accusing anyone of lying but its important to measure food and get pretty detailed in tracking for a good 6 months before “eye balling” portions. Its very easy to lose track when you aren’t measuring.

Also... you have to remain consistent over time. Need to see how you do at certain macro/cal levels over a few months to judge the effectiveness of a program/diet. And workout programs are important too. You can have your diet spot on but if you are on a hodgepodge or shitty program you still wont see results.

I was never effective at gaining mass when I was writing my own programs. Because a 145lb guy has no business writing himself a program to get him to 180 LOL.

 

Long arms are generally a very good trait for deadlifting. Do you pull conv. or sumo?

A pic of your start position or better yet a video would be great.

 

Excellent point

I've been through phases of not gaining and the conclusion was always due to the fact I never knew what I was eating - because I didn't count it out. I wish I started that 6 years ago when I started lifting. It's IMO, the most important thing is just know your amounts.

Absolutely, great points. Being consistent is consistently the hardest thing for most

 

Conventional. Yeah, I'll get around to a pic or vid sometime.