1lb muscle gain in a ~year on SS, need new program.

[Pitysister]

2,000 calories? you're going to need about 1500 more per day.


go read the "how to bulk" sticky...it's at the top of this forum...i think. if not here, then in the nutrition forum. just pretty much ready every stick on this entire forum

[Pitysister]

http://www.bodybuilding.net/nutritio...bulk-1159.html

[Darkvision]

Can a mod please allow me to edit my posts?! grr lol. Ok the above like half of a paragraph got deleted... I forgot what I was asking. Just, I don't know what the best bulking workout is. starting STRENGTH. Well I"m ready for size now (I think.) Oh and I forgot to mention I didn't take whey because I didn't work out today. I have this weird fear or BS belief that I don't need to eat 4000 calories and 200 grams of protein on a day where I'm not working out, like say I work out on sat, sun, and mon, are rest days.. do I eat heavy on those days?

I also don't know what the best foods are to eat before working out or why. For example, During the week I have school and have about 8 hours before I hit the gym, on the weekends I wake up and am able to go early in the morning... but is there a certain amount of food I need to eat before I go / hour req? OR can I just wake up, take a whey scoop and milk and hit the gym?

Thank you so much everyone. Your knowledge and experience is incredible.

So to sum it all up, what's a good program to put me on? And what are the key factors. The pattern and what I noticed I did wrong so far is heavy lack of progressive overload,

[Pitysister]

starting strength is a great program for putting on size. but you have to eat....a shitload. every day. not just on workout days...every day.


and you can't edit your posts until you have 50 posts.

i take whey for breakfast every morning...half a scoop before workout, and 1.5 scoops after workout...creatine before and after...maltodextrin after...


everybody is different though...i suggest just going to the nutrition forum and reading.....and reading....and reading....and reading.

[Darkvision]

Another things is I don't have tons of cash to blow on weight gainer shakes and whey powders, I can only afford one 5lb tub of whey every 1.5-2 months. That's it.

Thanks for the sticky recommendation, I'm going to go read that again.

So you guys think the reason I didn't see massive gains on SS is because I didn't eat nearly enough?

[Ross86]

Well, I think it's probably....49% not doing planned progression and 51% not eating enough.

You don't need to spend ANY money on whey or weight gainers. What you need to do is raise your caloric intake and get most of your protein from food. It's great to supplement with whey if you can afford to, but it's not absolutely necessary.

Tuna at the dollar store is around $.25 a can. And a box of oatmeal is dirt cheap also. Brown rice is super cheap.

[iron_worker]

Ya I get tuna for <$5 for 6 cans and thats like a meals worth of protein per can.

I agree, weightgainer does get pricey because the serving sizes are so large.

[Darkvision]

The path of enlightenment is opening for me ;). I'm really seeing it guys, ok so what are some good foods I need to be eating / what threads should I hit up, just all the stickies in the nutrition forum?

I think timing is critical though, like you guys wouldn't eat a bunch of brown rice and oatmeal before you went to bed. Do you know where I can go to read up on what the best high protein/fat/calorie foods are and how much to eat / what times are best (carbs in the morning?) etc. Thanks!!!!

[HIThopper]

Dude for a beginner you are really overthinking shit, no offense I know you want to do everything right but, for the most part just get in there and train hard but EAT even harder.

Heres what I would do if I were you

1-Restart the SS program, keep your weights under your current PRs by 20-25 pounds to start off with.Keep adding anywhere up to 5 lbs per workout on squats benches and deadlifts,less for press etc.Focus on form and getting the required reps, rest as long as you need to between sets it doesnt matter too much, push this progression as long as you can, you should be able to push past previous PRs quite easliy if you eat well.

2- EAT, EAT and then EAT some more.Minimum of 1.5 grams of protein per lb of bodyweight 2 if you can eat it.And heaps of carbs.Try to get alot of carbs and protein for breakfast and then after you workout too.Watch you weight closely, weigh yourself weekly and at the same time of day (in the morning before breakfast is best IMO)If you putting on too much fat lower the calories slightly, if your not gaining eat more ,simple.If you find it hard to eat this much drink full cream milk or skim milk with your meals,it is simply awesome stuff and has everything you need to feed those hungry muscles.

3-Do a little low intensity cardio 2-3 times per week, just to keep the heart healthy and conditioning up to scratch.

Thats about it I dont know if this helps just my .02c

[Jeffo]

What Hopper said. Gaining size at the point should be pretty easy. Even if your training wasn't working, if you were eating enough the scale would still be moving up (fat gain).

Weigh yourself once a week. If you're not gaining 1-2 lbs per week, eat more. If you're gaining more than 2 lbs per week, back off a little and see how you go. This should be fine for 6-12 weeks or so.

Good protien sources are
Any fish
Any lean meat
Any poultry
Eggs
Cottage Cheese
Quark (if you have it in your area)
Milk

Good complex carb sources are
Brown rice
Brown pasta
Brown bred
Potatoes
Crackers of various sorts

Good simple carb sources are
Any fruit (bananas are a popular portable choice, but eat a variety of fruits)
Any fruit juice


Eat protien all day. Eat more simple carbs after training and complex carbs during the rest of the day. Take it easy on carbs in the evening. Don't forget your vegetables! They don't have much caloric value, but have plenty of vitamines that eveyone needs.

Learn how to read a food lable and weigh food. This is very important. You can't know how much you're eating it you don't know how to value and measure it. An easy way for you to start out at this point is to eat about 3000 cals a day and adjust based on what happens each week. You may think that's not much, but 3000 cals of good food (no big macs and doritos) is actually quite a bit for a smaller guy who's never done it.

Good luck mate,
Jeff