The Official Gym & Fitness Thread

Guys. I’m never gonna be 3% BF. I already had breakfast. Wasn’t hungry, but someone at work bought me a bacon egg and cheese biscuit. I ate it.

What have I done to myself???

 

@rmorse

In order to have some mass and show it you are going to need to both gain mass and lose body fat based on your photo.
You are small but have a relatively high body fat percentage.

Its important for you to know you can either build mass or lose fat, doing both at the same time for the inexperienced is ineffecient and likely not going to be effective.

I encourage guys in your shoes to start the mass building first because beginners put on mass quickly in the first 6-12 months. So as a newbie you have the propensity to gain some good size now. Rather than trying to get into it in a caloric deficit and hinder mass building.

Fitness and physique is a lifestyle change. If you attempt to make changes in your diet or exercise routine you will not maintain then you will not maintain your results.
Stick with activities you enjoy. You definitely will need to encorporate lifting into your life to get the results you want, but there are tons of ways to do that. Beachbody.com has a lot of good home routines (a lot can be done with no weight) and there is bodybuilding type workouts and powerlifting routines for people who have access to gyms with the equipment.

We just got done talking about Wendler 531. He has a simple routine that gets you lifting in the main 4 (squat, deadlift, bench, military press) and you have plenty of free time for cardio and other stuff.

When it comes to food...
Eat real food 90% of the time. Meats, dairy, fresh produce, rice, potatoes.
Stay away from processed foods. Soda, pasta, breads, pop tarts (yes I said it)... basically anything with added sugar and isn’t found on the outer aisles.
Beer is perfectly acceptable as its made with vegetables (hops)

If you eat primarily whole foods... its really hard to be fat. Its just hard to eat too much of all that.

I try to get veggies in at every meal and focus on fats and protein. I’m a low carb guy but you have to find what works for you.

None of this is really anything earth shattering or complex.

 

Awesome, thank you! So when you say I have to build mass, you mean put on the pounds? So try and eat more (but focus on eating good) and work out? Or just eat more?

 

On forcefeeding: I count my cals pretty regularly. But I also would have a tendency to undereat if I didn’t get myself to eat.

I can pretty easily eat 1500 cals a day if I’m not careful. Especially if my stomach is upset or I’m stressed or busy. I’ve been stressed lately so I just forget to eat I’ve got so much shit on my mind.

A lot of this shit is all relative to people. Just do what works for you.

We can’t be saying “do what works for you” then turn around and say there is only one way to do things.

I’ve been successful in reaching my goals by setting my micro and macro goals and making myself hit them.
If I just relied on what my body told me all the time I’d be eating too inconsistently to achieve any worthwhile results.

Last night I realized I didn’t track my cals that day and plugged them in. I was at 1600... guess who made themselves a 7th meal
Was I hungry? No. Doesn’t mean I don’t need to be eating more.
Today I brought me an extra snack so I’m not backloading my day with calories.

 

We’ve been over this. Only eat when you’re hungry

 

I would tell you to look more in the mirror and take photos intitially then focus all on the scale, because gaining mass is a slow process.

Its hard to suggest something specific because we all have different motivations. I’d probably work on improving your diet and only weigh yourself every few days to make sure you aren’t gaining too much weight.
Ideally the scale should climb 1lb a month.

But Id really just worry about improving your diet and work on finding a routine you enjoy. Get those down then you can work on getting the cals and macros right.

 

Oh, you picked the wrong guy to quote here... In that I'm one of possibly few who that doesn't apply to.

I'm 6'1" and about 190lbs, waist about 32". I look lean or skinny (but with a chest, kinda) and have had visible abs ever since I can remember. In the last few months they pop out a touch more since I've done some weighted ab work for that. I'm sure I'm not 6-7% bf, though I could try to argue that, with my look. I'm guessing I'm in the range of 12%, really not too sure and don't care too much.

I'm sure you have a point, and I don't have your experience working in fitness. So I'm not saying you're wrong. But look closely at what I said. You mentioned eating only when hungry. I said go for it if it works for you, it doesn't for me. When I was eating only as hungry, I lost weight between age 23 and 37, from approximately 190lbs to 167. Still had abs and a hint of a chest throughout, but skinny AF. I was raised on a very healthy/clean diet, (meaning pretty much only non-processed foods, cook/prep stuff yourself, eat "real" foods and as far away from manufactured as possible. Always a balance of protein/carbs/vegetables/fruits, heavy on the last two). So I was healthy enough, but kept losing weight 'cause my meals satisfied me, but between my body type, my low calories on good food, and etc., I was losing weight slowly over the years.

Anyways, I'm sure what you said applies to many people and is a good rule of thumb, but it sure doesn't to me. (You kinda said that with the "You guys barely seeing your abs...") I'm not even distantly fat. I could put on another 20lbs at my current rate and method (so muscle, not fat) and I'd still not look huge, and certainly not fat.

Lastly, as a point of possible interest, I counted calories after I'd kinda made a loose decision to eat more, but before I got serious about it. I was averaging 2.2-2.4k cal per day. One day I hit 3.5k. I consciously upped that to about 3k+ per day, sometimes 3.5k. 95% healthy food, and especially lots of protein--I do drink beer and some whiskey, very lightly. I've gained @ 23lbs in a year working out fairly hard (3x/wk) on that diet.

(Sorry about the book to those who can't read = dwalden) :-D

 

Perfect, that gives me a solid starting point. Thanks man

 

Oof, just caught up on everything else since the post I replied to.

In short, I really wonder what yota91 means by 6-7% and 12%. We may be talking diff languages here. Walking around at 6-7% as I know it is not something I want. I can look great and be very healthy at 10-12%, which I'm at approx.

You generally are favoring lean bulking over gaining a ton of fat. That I agree with. It's what I've been doing.

Cocktails, huh? I thought so with those pics but didn't want to jump straight to that one whenever I see a ripped dude.

 

I don’t understand how people can have such jacked bodies and still drink cocktails. There’s so much sugar and shit in them but apparently people can still get big even while drinking them.

 

I like most of what Packcon said. Good information.

As to bulking, I prefer lean bulking. Both are relative of course, and maybe that's even what he meant with the clean eating part(?). Anyways, I've gained about 23lbs with a lot of definition and size in the last 11mos by lean bulking. Always at a surplus but very clean foods. If you're looking for some more size and definition, that's my recommendation to you. But as one of my favorite youtubers says, there are many ways to skin a cat.

Also another thought/clarification, abs are made in the kitchen, but ALSO depend on genetics and workouts. So do the right workouts and eat well for low enough BF and you'll get whatever you're capable of. And about your beers, if your current activity level and beer consumption keeps you that thin, don't mess with either of those, just move foods to healthier+more, and add weightlifting, and you'll probably be golden.

 

In the reference to this cocktail, it's steroids. Not an actual alcoholic drink

 

No. The reference to cocktails here is = steroids. Trenbolone, etc., many forms of test.

 

Beat me to it!

 

Lmao I know guys, I was joking

 

Awesome, thanks. There’s a bunch of junk I can easily cut out of my diet, like my morning monster energy or Cheetos, etc. I’ll focus on that first, while also lifting

 

Switch to zero calorie monster if you want. That's 200 calories different.

 

You had me at sick gains! Who cares about the other nonsense!!

 

What are some good chest exercises that will help give some more definition? I've got a similar physique as @rmorse maybe a bit more skinny though. I'm finally starting to gain some more mass/definition in my arms, but my chest is lacking badly. I'm not a fan of bench press, it usually results in shoulder pains, even with very light weight.

 

The movements I feel the greatest contraction in for my chest are flys. I always keep a slight bend in my elbow and im focusing on the stretch at the bottom and at the top a very hard contraction. My movements are slower, therefore I tend to use a bit lighter weight (slow generally means harder for most cases).

Machine, Cables, Dumbbells. I typically feel it most in a machine or cable due to constant tension. Dumbbells lose tension towards the "lockout" or "contraction" phase and you'll see big time guys typically doing them with bands attached to each hand and running across their back to remain under constant tension.

But, if you aren't lean no muscle will be gained.