Weight Lifting Routine

[CleanGSR]

I'm going to start working out starting tonight and doing weights plus cardio. Here's my problem. I'm 125lbs 5'10" and eat like a crazed pig. I don't gain weight and have always had a hard time putting on weight. Last time I worked out (many years ago) I did weight for 6 months and gained 2lbs.....got frusturated and quit.

 

So, is there any kind of routine or secrets that will help me build muscle mass? I've heard that doing higher weight and less reps per set will help ........ like 90lbs with 3 sets of 6 reps will build mass faster than 60 pounds with 3 sets of 10. Other than that does anybody have any tips on gaining weight from my workout?

 

I know there's a few weight lifters on here so hopefully I can get some pointers. I'm not trying to get HUGE, but a 145 pounds range would be nice and would get me really defined with putting on 20lbs of muscle. Last I checked my body fat content was around 5% or a hair under, so whatever I put on will be straight muscle.

[Ben.]

I could lend you some of my weight. I've LITERALLY got 100 on you and I'm almost exactly the same height.

[CleanGSR]

I could lend you some of my weight. I've LITERALLY got 100 on you and I'm almost exactly the same height.

 

I'd take some of it if I could. I swear it is harder for me to put weight on than it is for other's to lose weight. I've tried everthing in the past. The only thing I'm counting on this time is the change in reps vs weight and hopefully my body's more matured to be able to add weight. It's been about 10 years since I last tried (when I was 17 or 18).

[Ben.]

Yea I've always heard your metabolism slows when you get older. HOW much older is the question.

[TLontheDL]

You have to eat 3 main meals a day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner in addition to snacking btw those main meals. Be sure to have protein in each of those meals and snacks. Protein rich foods include eggs, nuts, beef, chicken, salmon, tuna, pork, protein shakes, milk, etc.

 

There are special protein shakes for gainers. Go to your nearest GNC, Wal-Mart, vitamin shoppe, or sometimes your local grocery store and look for them. You can also buy online too, which are cheaper. When I started lifting, i drank muscle milk. I gained so much weight as well as muscle mass. Now I buy other kinds but that is b/c I don't need to gain weight. There are different kinds of protein powder for different purposes. Also, muscle milk is the best tasting protein shake thus far and I have gone through several shakes!

[texan]

some of the basics: lift heavy weights with fewer reps (as you say) to gain mass. Eat a surplus of calories over what your body needs to maintain weight, otherwise your body won't build new muscle tissue. Eat the right things, junk is junk and you're body won't build great things from it. Plenty of protein needs to be in your diet, but stick with lean meats and other natural sources (not a fan of protein shakes or suppliments myself). Don't spend much time on cardio, spend your energy lifting (ou weigh 125 lbs for Christ's sake, you have no fat to burn).

 

Your body type is obviously the super lean wiry build and your metabolisim is in permanent overdrive. I mean I am a lean guy by nature and the least I ever weighed in my adult life was 155lbs @ 5'11", and that's when I was playing hockey 2-3 hours a day every day. Its tough to put much muscle on a frame like yours, but you can do it if you stick with it and keep the pressure on your body.

[James Matteu]

If this is cause for concern, you may want to consider some blood test to establish what kind of blood type you are.

 

Conditions such as acute hypoglycemia can result in the type of condition you describe: eating without weight-gain.

 

The simpler answer is that your body (your genes) just are not designed for large masses of slow twitch muscles (which is what your building by lifting weights).

 

Fast twitch muscles are used in fast (less than 5 minutes) bursts of power and speed, they use a very complicated system of energy expenditure that deviates from the typical glucose/glycogen/lipid/oxygen combo the other muscles use. They use things like pyruvic acid, lactose, and creatine, in addition to glucose.

 

Slow twitch muscles are used in endurance sports, they function better as your body's ability to absorb oxygen into the blood increases (this is called the VO Max). The typical human is limited by the amount glycogen the body is able to store in the liver; this translates to roughly 20 miles running, or 60 miles cycling (this is the "wall" you may have heard of).

 

Perhaps you should give endurance sports a shot: running, or cycling, or swimming. Perhaps you can compete in triathlons like myself.

[TLontheDL]

He is trying to gain mass. Why would he want to do endurance sports?

[James Matteu]

He is trying to gain mass. Why would he want to do endurance sports?

I'm saying, why fight nature. Some runners would kill to be 125, that's like a sub-16min. 5K body mass.

[CleanGSR]

So the consensus is to not do cardio and only weights? I can handle that, should I rotate and do lower body one day and upper the next?, or should I do both upper and lower body every day? I'd eventually like to do cardio just to get in shape more......once I've gained mass, would cardio risk me of losing it again?

[James Matteu]

...would cardio risk me of losing it again?

I depends. If your not careful, yes.

 

For example, if you run 50 miles a week, you could loose fast twitch muscle (the bulky stuff), but increase your slow twitch density and VO Max.

 

On the other hand, you can run 9-12 miles a week and still gain weight.

 

Most of the body builders in my gym have terrible endurance.

[CleanGSR]

Well, once I gain some mass (if I can this time) then I'll introduce the cardio lightly and slowly increase it while watching my weight. If I see the weight start to drop then I'll back the cardio a little and hold it there. I know a lot of people aren't big fans of the supplemental drinks, but I might add a high calorie protien shake to my diet and also try to eat more.....I already eat quite a bit though and it's a healthy but plenty of calories diet with Chicken, milk, cereals, peanut butter, etc.... I try to eat fairly healthy and higher calorie foods, so the high calorie shake might help me get the extra calories for my workout. The protien shakes are just so dang expensive.

[sup]

To gain mass you need to take in more calories than you burn every day. Cardio isn't really necessary when trying to bulk up.

 

Your diet is way more important in gaining mass than your lifting routine.

[elusiveshame]

My friend is doing the same thing, gaining weight to bulk up. He was 6'2 at 150 lbs a few months ago, now he's up to 175 or close to that. His build isn't going to gain him those huge toned out muscles that, lets use for example, Edward Norton has in American History X, but there's some slight toning being done to him.

 

You don't want to work on your upper body and lower body in the same day. He works out daily now (went from every other day to daily after a few weeks), and he alternates. This way his body isn't all mangled up and he can focus on one thing per day. He'll do his arms/shoulders/chest day 1, legs day 2, back day 3, stomach day 4 and light cardio day 5. He also pounds down 2 protein shakes, a buttload of muscle milk, and over 3000 calories per day.

 

I personally don't see the point in all that Most people want to lose weight, yet you freaks want to gain it lol. Be happy you can't gain weight now, I know people in their mid 30's that use to be like you, and now they wish they didn't indulge in such crapty foods over the years because they're having a hard time getting that extra weight back off. You're 125 lbs... I'd love to be that small lol, I got 100 lbs on you as well, same height (maybe an inch or 2 taller), but yea.. I'm just trying to lose more weight lucky bastards.

[CleanGSR]

My friend is doing the same thing, gaining weight to bulk up. He was 6'2 at 150 lbs a few months ago, now he's up to 175 or close to that. His build isn't going to gain him those huge toned out muscles that, lets use for example, Edward Norton has in American History X, but there's some slight toning being done to him.

 

You don't want to work on your upper body and lower body in the same day. He works out daily now (went from every other day to daily after a few weeks), and he alternates. This way his body isn't all mangled up and he can focus on one thing per day. He'll do his arms/shoulders/chest day 1, legs day 2, back day 3, stomach day 4 and light cardio day 5. He also pounds down 2 protein shakes, a buttload of muscle milk, and over 3000 calories per day.

 

I personally don't see the point in all that Most people want to lose weight, yet you freaks want to gain it lol. Be happy you can't gain weight now, I know people in their mid 30's that use to be like you, and now they wish they didn't indulge in such crapty foods over the years because they're having a hard time getting that extra weight back off. You're 125 lbs... I'd love to be that small lol, I got 100 lbs on you as well, same height (maybe an inch or 2 taller), but yea.. I'm just trying to lose more weight lucky bastards.

 

Everybody always tells me to just be happy with my weight, but I'm tired of being the skinny guy. I hate the stupid comments. People make jokes about my weight and think nothing of it, but they don't realize that the comments hurt as much as comments toward a fat guy.

 

That said, my number 1 goal is to be healthy and I think I need a little bit of cardio to be healthy so I might do a small amount of cardio (like 20 minutes) each day and some weight lifting as well. I'm pushing toward 30 and want to start living more healthy, it would just be nice to gain some mass while I"m at it. I guess I'll do my best to start increasing my calorie intake every day and go from there.

 

Thanks for all the tips/advice in this thread.

[James Matteu]

The protien shakes are just so dang expensive.

I went to GNC and had a good laugh. All their "shakes" were whey with various vitamins and proteins added.

 

Let me tell you, I extracted whey from whole milk in biochemistry lab. The stuff is essentially powdered milk. If you want the same thing but cheaper, look into powdered supplements. Add them to powdered milk that has been ground into a powder, then add only a little bit of water, you will have the same thing, but it will taste worse than the store bought stuff (yeah they have sugar and flavors added).

[airjordan223]

Check out bodybuilding.com. If you work out, and dont give your body what it needs, nothing will happen. Once you start working out, you will notice you will be eat a looooot more to supply your muscles. ON has great products as far as whey protein, which is something you should pick up, or even get their Gainer, which does just that, helps you bulk up. As you said, doing lower reps of higher weights gives you more of a bulk.

[SIR_VTEC]

Alright man, i was actually going to start up a thread like this but you did before me man so here it goes...

 

To gain mass you want like every one else is saying, basically more weight less reps. If you want tone less weight more reps.

 

In order to gain weight you need to focus on eating FULL: breakfast, lunch, and dinner, that doesnt mean eat an apple for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, and a full course meal for dinner. I mean you actually have to eat a good amount, you want your intake of at least a minimum of 600 calories (Each meal), the reason why is you burn calories throughout the day, and since you eat like a mad man and you cant gain any weight your metabolism is super fast, so more calories the better in YOUR specific case. But make sure you eat healthy no greasy burgers, or pizzas, none of that crap...eat alot of starchy items like pasta, bread, dry foods.

 

Also another weight gainer without using the GNC products are Green Vegtables. They have a high content of protein, almost as much as fish, and poultry. Don't eat salads three times a day either, because all that does is stretch your stomach, so in reality for those health nutz eating a salad three times a day does nothing but stretch your stomach for more food intake therefore creating more room for appetite.

 

Also enhancers that will help you out are any protein gainers from GNC, the one that I've used before is:

 

Pro-NOS

 

just use protein as minimul as possible.

[James Matteu]

Don't eat salads three times a day either, because all that does is stretch your stomach, so in reality for those health nutz eating a salad three times a day does nothing but stretch your stomach for more food intake therefore creating more room for appetite.

HEY! I'm offended! I'm a vegan triathlete and as such each nothing but veggies.

 

You should've said, alot of lettuce will stretch your stomach and provide little nutrition, since it's really just a bunch of water.

[solinmysol]

Alright man, i was actually going to start up a thread like this but you did before me man so here it goes...

 

To gain mass you want like every one else is saying, basically more weight less reps. If you want tone less weight more reps.

 

In order to gain weight you need to focus on eating FULL: breakfast, lunch, and dinner, that doesnt mean eat an apple for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, and a full course meal for dinner. I mean you actually have to eat a good amount, you want your intake of at least a minimum of 600 calories (Each meal), the reason why is you burn calories throughout the day, and since you eat like a mad man and you cant gain any weight your metabolism is super fast, so more calories the better in YOUR specific case. But make sure you eat healthy no greasy burgers, or pizzas, none of that crap...eat alot of starchy items like pasta, bread, dry foods.

 

Also another weight gainer without using the GNC products are Green Vegtables. They have a high content of protein, almost as much as fish, and poultry. Don't eat salads three times a day either, because all that does is stretch your stomach, so in reality for those health nutz eating a salad three times a day does nothing but stretch your stomach for more food intake therefore creating more room for appetite.

 

Also enhancers that will help you out are any protein gainers from GNC, the one that I've used before is:

 

Pro-NOS

 

just use protein as minimul as possible.

 

exactly correct.

 

also, be sure to do upper one day, then lower then next, doing them both every day will not allow your body to produce muscle as you would like it to.

[CleanGSR]

Awesome. Thanks again guys. I'm in the process of trying to find some foods to eat for breakfast and lunch here at the office. I have a small fridge and microwave and that's it so I"m having a hard time coming up with things.

 

So far I have:

 

Breakfast options:

Bagels w/ cream cheese

Oatmeal

Cheerios

Peanut Butter Toast

 

Lunch Options: (having trouble here)

Tuna lunchables

Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches

Whole Wheat Bread

2% Milk

 

Snacks (or to eat with lunch):

Oranges

Bananas

........

 

As you can see, I've got a few things (got those ideas off a nutrition forum.....thanks Sup), but am at a loss for other ideas. I'll think of some though.

[James Matteu]

Remember, you can stay skinny and be an awsome runner!

[solinmysol]

Awesome. Thanks again guys. I'm in the process of trying to find some foods to eat for breakfast and lunch here at the office. I have a small fridge and microwave and that's it so I"m having a hard time coming up with things.

 

So far I have:

 

Breakfast options:

Bagels w/ cream cheese

Oatmeal

Cheerios

Peanut Butter Toast

 

Lunch Options: (having trouble here)

Tuna lunchables

Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches

Whole Wheat Bread

2% Milk

 

Snacks (or to eat with lunch):

Oranges

Bananas

........

 

As you can see, I've got a few things (got those ideas off a nutrition forum.....thanks Sup), but am at a loss for other ideas. I'll think of some though.

just remember minimum 600 calories EACH, and you will be good to go

[SIR_VTEC]

HEY! I'm offended! I'm a vegan triathlete and as such each nothing but veggies.

 

You should've said, alot of lettuce will stretch your stomach and provide little nutrition, since it's really just a bunch of water.

 

I know its lettuce, but whats the key ingredient in about 99% of vegtable related salads lol...I thought its was self explanatory. But if I offended you...GOOD I MEANT TO DO IT ANYWAY! lol. j/k

 

exactly correct.

 

also, be sure to do upper one day, then lower then next, doing them both every day will not allow your body to produce muscle as you would like it to.

 

I was thinking about nutrition so much I forgot to add that VERY IMPORTANT part...yes for sure, do not continue to lift everyday, you have to let your muscles heal after being streched out so much...i usually lift every other day, and the other days i dont lift i do cardio.

 

One more thing, hey Clean: I'm not sure if you like this stuff but, Nutella (like a chocolate spread) I usually make two of these with banana slices and eat this for breakfast...its really good so thats about a good 250 calories there...so just thought i would let you know...damn, i want one of these right now lol

[CleanGSR]

I know its lettuce, but whats the key ingredient in about 99% of vegtable related salads lol...I thought its was self explanatory. But if I offended you...GOOD I MEANT TO DO IT ANYWAY! lol. j/k

 

 

 

I was thinking about nutrition so much I forgot to add that VERY IMPORTANT part...yes for sure, do not continue to lift everyday, you have to let your muscles heal after being streched out so much...i usually lift every other day, and the other days i dont lift i do cardio.

 

One more thing, hey Clean: I'm not sure if you like this stuff but, Nutella (like a chocolate spread) I usually make two of these with banana slices and eat this for breakfast...its really good so thats about a good 250 calories there...so just thought i would let you know...damn, i want one of these right now lol

 

I'll look for Nuetella since I'm getting bananas already. 600 calories per meal is actually kind of hard (doing it healthy I mean) so that will take some work. I might try to get a supplement to help me get to that point. It's just hard at work since I'm limited to a small fridge and microwave.