thanks for all the help! i know its been like 2 months since i posted this, but i still feel confused as i get a ton of different advice. i tried taking weight gainer with a lot of calories but even though i gained muscle, it just seemed to give me a beer belly....

i'm just really confused on what to eat and what exercises to do as i'm overwhelmed by advice

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GEM

-practice makes perfect! don't be afraid to take gambles in life

Your not going to be able to bulk a lot and not put fat on, around the belly etc. Either bulk up then cut, or cut. First you need muscle to define.

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Been there, done it, oh and still doing it!

: Blog entries@ http://kennyspuathoughts.wordpress.com/

Just add it into your regular diet. When you're cooking, use olive oil instead of butter. I can also recommend tuna. I eat like... 2 cans a day. Just buy tuna in water, pour out the water, add olive oil and herbal salt, get yourself a spoon and eat. Cottage cheese is another thing which is great, add it to all your meals, it fits with... well, everything.

So to sum up, foods that have helped me gain weight:
* Tuna
* Cottage cheese
* Olive oil

- Trices

EDIT: Guess I should add that the cans I buy contain about 150g each, dno how big the cans are where you live but yeah...

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DISCLAIMER: The author of this post does not take responsibility for any form of vomiting, headache, or any other illness caused by the stupid vocabulary and/or the opinions expressed and used throughout the post.

I just skimmed trew the text, so maybe I will be saying something which has already been said.

A lot of people have this problem, and they train a couple of months and than quit because the didnt got any bigger.

My advice is to train 4-5 times a week, maybe you should consider changing your program so you lift more weight and you only do 5-8 rep and than you do 4-5 sets instead. Be sure to train your legs and back good aswell. Not just your triceps and biceps because you want them to be big. Training the large muscle areas makes your body realeasing more testotron which is good for all your muscles.

For which eating goes, I would say you should not start eating a lot of unhealthy stuff to "gain weight" I´ve been there and done it for two years without gaining anything. That just makes you unhealthy man, and makes your body addicted to sugar. But eat good and make sure you get proteins after training. I sugest protein shake, because it is easy and simple.

My last advice is to do this for YOUR OWN SAKE. Don´t just do it because for your "body looks" Do it because it is good for your body. And feel the benifit in energy and good mood from training, instead of looking in the mirror and look at your self as a disapoint because you dont grow from each training.

Btw when you keep training, you will be bigger at some point. Maybe it takes a couple of years but when it happens you would look awsome! Because compared to other you will have a low bodyfat % And you will look very trimmed and healthy:P

Regards Fløde

wow, there's alot of incorrect information in this thread.

Consult your physician

I agree with this comment, WAY to many incorrect information here. I should point out that excess protein does not cause ammonia, it may be produced in your kidneys but you will piss that stuff out when you pee. just like you piss out every other substance you body could not find a use for.

+1, from experience, the more protein consumed into the body, the better, obviously excess will be got rid of by the body, it works like a machine.

To get big your diet has to be right, be healthy, cut the cardio, train 3 times a week. When you rest is when you get bigger.

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Been there, done it, oh and still doing it!

: Blog entries@ http://kennyspuathoughts.wordpress.com/

Take out supplements add genetics

Personally I'add say genetics obviously help, everyone should know that, but supplements do help.

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Been there, done it, oh and still doing it!

: Blog entries@ http://kennyspuathoughts.wordpress.com/

Hi Gem

I was a personal trainer up until a month ago, and the best way to gain size is to get into the gym and concentrate on heavy basic compound exercises.

eg,

Chest - Bench Press
Back - Compound Row, Lat Pulldown,
Legs - Squats
Biceps - Barbell Curls
Triceps - close grip bench press
Abs - crunches, leg raises. Abdominus

the best way to make the most of this is to start of with 1 or 2 light warm up septs for each muscle group for about 10 reps, then you MUST do at least 2 heavy sets to FAILURE within the 6-12 rep range. If you do more reps that this then the weight is not heavy enough and bump it up next time.

You should also be eating at least 6 meals a day with plenty of protein

check out a book called Body For Life or Championship Body Building for more info.

cheers.

Good post by Jay, as I have posted before, compound exercises are the most important.

Check this out ...

http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5- ... g-program/

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Been there, done it, oh and still doing it!

: Blog entries@ http://kennyspuathoughts.wordpress.com/

Maybe I am wrong, but from what I've read and done most of the information I've read in this thread is either completely inaccurate or lacks the details needed to be understood. Compound exercises are great, but the you have to include isolating exercises as well.

1. Eat. Eat a lot. You have a higher metabolism than most, and thus you burn through your resources (energy, protein, amino acids) than others.

2. Fat disappears fastest from your shoulders and slowest from your stomache. Cardio will work, but the first 45 minutes are just burning reserves, you need to do cardio for longer than an hour in a day, not all at once nessacarily, but you should break and 1.5 hours of cardio to expect to burn. Think numbers, if you run for 15 minutes youre going to burn between 100-200 calories, which when you look at your intake is a can of Pepsi.

3. Eat. Eating more is great to gain weight, but if you dont do anything you wont get anything but fat. Especially if its all junk. People often eat less to lose weight, or eat less and exercise. Both wreak havoc on the body. Exercise and eat good. Having some junk is ok, if you dont care about being cut.

Great sources for what you need are Chicken, Steak, Fish, Pasta, Rice, Variety of Vegetables, Eggs, and WATER.

4. Working out for goals! If you want to get big, you want mass exercises. Power? Explosive exercises. Strength? Slow and heavy. Cut? Light, fast, and high reps.

5. You need to have a strong core (torso) foundation when working out for *any* gains. Work on planks, trunk twists, and the big 4 exercises.

6. Form is important, as is using free weights. Balance is key, and if you are in a machine your body can't properly (or rather, as effectively) build your stabilizer muscles to help give you proper balance, which will affect over all strength.

7. Creatine doesn't give you as much size as everyone says. And by everyone I'm talking about how people think it does cause that's what they heard. Creatine is great for explosive energy for 1-2 reps at most in each exercise, and thats it. It helps with endurance and some marginal strength boost, but it wont make you bigger because it's creatine, it will make you bigger because you were able to push out one or two more reps.

8. Always follow the big 4: Bench (preferably incline but flat is good too), Squat, Deadlift, and Olympic Press (clean and press.) They will give you the best strength and size gains for your work. Just be sure to stagger them out, and give at least a day rest to heal.

9. Stay consistent! On/off or long breaks all the time will not help. Some breaks are good, but it should never be longer then 2 weeks, hell even 1 week is pushing it.


Go to ironaddicts: http://www.ironaddicts.com/forums/ for some real information, and a great bunch of guys all around. I've been learning a ton from them, and my strength/size/health has grown leaps and bounds compared to following most of the ideas posted here.

Since youre whats considered a "hard gainer" go here: http://www.ironaddicts.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=65

And for gaining size and strength, try the Simple Power Routine: http://www.ironaddicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8050

Using that routine I went from a 200lb x 10 "1/2 squat" to a 285lb x 12 "box squat" in about 3 months; and a 135lb x5 deadlift to 255lb x 8 in the same time.

^^^^

basic heavy compound exercises are more important than isolation exercises for putting on mass (ie. size). Ofcourse there is nothing wrong with isolation exercises as well. Ideally a compound exercise followed by an isolation exerise is great (eg, Bench Press followed by Dumbell flyes) and worked well for my clients.

There is no such thing as "cutting up" exercises, this is a myth. Your muscles either increase in size or dont. "Cutting up" is really just increasing lean mucle mass and decreasing body fat levels.

That's basically what people are talking about when "cutting up." If you cut your BF% down and you have no muscle it would look retarded. More reps = more burn, higher endurance, and your body adapts to that form of work out by stream lining your body for what it is doing. Look at swimmers and runners. Their body is stream lined, but in the areas where they need power those muscles are huge.

It should also be noted that the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn on a daily basis, regardless of whether you do anything.

And yes, compound helps size a lot, but if you don't have the isolation exercises to help build specific strength, then your going to build your strength and size with compound exercises in all the wrong spots.

Example: Those meatheads in the gym who are huge and strong but their shoulders are pulled forwards giving them a "gorilla" appearance. All they do is pull forward or bench, and never worry about pulling back (such as reverse flyes or lat pull downs) so they look retarded and their strength is imbalanced. Isolation exercises help that a lot, especially db flyes and other isolation machines.

Basically being big doesn't mean shit if you're not strong AND balanced. If you're going to do it, do it right.

Edit: Benching 225lbs x 10 is great, but watch to see who can actually do 70lb DB presses AND keep them even. Think about it: thats 140lbs total and most people who bench 225lbs can *barely* do that. If you want *real* strength, concentrate on isolation/balance exercises. Why? When doing compounds like the bench, if one side is weaker than the other (which is often the case) your strong side compensates, and injuries can occur, or you will be asymmetrical in shape, size, and strength.

Of course, you *still* need to do compound exercises, I just would focus equally, if not more on isolation/balance exercises.

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"Once you have achieved perfection, you have achieved failure." - Me

yes youre right. The meatheads that have their posture pulled forward focus too much on chest exercises and not enough on anything else.

Someone who is just starting out should focus mainly on compound exercise to increase strength and muscle size for every muscle group. These exercises build the foundation of a physique while the isolation exercises put on the finishing touches. Thats not to say you cant use both.

I agree. When I first started out I did full body, mostly compound exercises, but it didn't really get me anywhere until I started with the isolation exercises. Keep in mind though I am a hard gainer myself, and I was in the USMC so I did retard amounts of cardio.

One other thing of note is you don't need to hit the gym for longer than 1.5 hours if you want size, and you don't need a lot of different exercises. My workouts last about 1-1.5 hours and consist of about 5 work outs a piece, +some ab work and rehab work on my knee. Anything much more than 1.5 hours is a waste as your body has used up the majority of its testosterone and fuel, so all you are doing is burning your muscles out and building more endurance.

I think the whole point I was trying to make is Compounds are great, but if you dont do the Isolation exercises your going to become imbalanced and really lose out on the big gains you could be getting as a result. Hell, I do compounds and iso's like you said Jay, here is my general work out:

1st workout
Monday
Squat or box squat 3 x 5
pullthroughs 3 x 10
Bent Row 4 x 6
Dumbbell Curl 3 x 8
Calf Raises 3 x 15 (standing, smith machine, this is more for calves and not balance)

2nd workout 1 day later
Wednesday
Bench Press 3 x 5
Incline Dumbbell Bench Press 4 x 8
Dumbbell Shoulder Press 3 x 8
Skull Crushers 3 x 10
Ab work 3 x 10 (*usually torso rotation machine or Russian Twist)

3rd workout 1 day later
Friday
Deadlift -3 x 5
Leg press 2 x 10
lat pull-down 4 x 6
Dumbbell Curl 3 x 8
Calf Raises 3 x 15

4th workout After TWO DAYS OFF
Monday
Incline bench press 3 x 5
Dumbbell Bench Press 4 x 8
Dumbbell Shoulder Press 3 x 8
Tricep pushdowns 3 x 10
Ab work (3x) 3 x 10 (same as before, but also with leg lifts and rowboats)

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"Once you have achieved perfection, you have achieved failure." - Me