Re: advice for a little guy?


"cactus of doom" <cactusofdoom@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1137056825.659729.223680@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Hi. I'm an extremely small 23 year old guy. I've never been able to
> gain weight. At all. At 6 feet tall, I spent the past 8 years stuck
> at 125 lbs., binge or purge. Eat more, gain nothing; eat less, lose
> nothing. Strange.
>
> I got my hands on some freeweights a couple weeks ago, and suddenly up
> I'm to 135. Still tiny, but a great stride for me. And I'm noticably
> stronger (though still quite weak).
>
> A bit of a problem I have, though, is that I don't really have any idea
> what I'm doing. I try googling training advice, but the advice I find
> is geared towards guys who can already lift appreciable weights. I
> don't know what my max is, as I have no one to spot for me, but suffice
> it to say that I couldn't bench 100 lbs if my life depended on it. For
> other exercises, I put 20 lbs on my dumbells, and that's about my limit
> as far as being able to make a smooth, stable motion right now. Other
> than that, I don't know how to utilize freeweights to work most of my
> body.
>
> My upper body is filling out remarkably well, I'd say, except I can't
> get my chest to do anything. I try bench presses and flies, but I
> exhaust my arms and shoulders -- especially the shoulders -- and feel
> nothing in my pecs. I got to use a friend's bowflex the other day, and
> my pecs were burning up, but I can't count on seeing that thing too
> often. I really need to fill out my chest, because right now it's
> little more than a thin lining of skin over some ribs. Not nice to
> look at.
>
> I don't know why, but it's really hard for me to get a fulfilling
> workout. I go until I can't go any more, but I almost never feel
> anything the next day (except after doing squats -- I definitely feel
> those). Is this bad? My current solution is to do a few "warm up"
> reps on off days, to keep the muscles stimulated, but not overtaxed.
> Good idea? Bad?
>
> Pathetic as it is, being up to 135 is miracle for me, and I'm thinking
> maybe I've finally found my way, so I want to maximize it. The sole
> aim of my diet is calories: beer, soda, milk, pasta, pizza, meat,
> burgers, taco bell, etc., and the disgustingly high fat content is not
> an issue as I have about as little body fat as a living person can
> have. My question is, given that my stomach space is extremely limited
> (it's a feat of endurance for me just to eat two substantial meals a
> day), should I look into some kind of powder? I have a friend who
> swears up and down that liquid calories aren't worth half of what solid
> calories are, and he managed to put on 30 pounds.
>
> Your input is appreciated!
>

OK, I'm going to address your diet (others have some what but since I have
experienced what you're going through first hand.....)

EAT MORE! Don't worry about how many calories you're consuming compared to
someone else, if you're not gaining weight you're not eating enough, period.
Once you find YOUR caloric needs you can adjust to minimize fat gain while
maximizing muscle gains. At this point though, if you're not gain any
weight, you're not eating enough. I'd suggest each week or so you increase
your daily caloric intake 200-300 until you notice that you're putting on
fat (you don't have to get fat to notice!).

Your diet could use a lot of work. First, the foods you're eating are far
from ideal. At the minimum, try to replace some of the junk food with good
nutritious foods. Also, make sure you're getting enough protein (every day,
not just on lifting days). Protein shakes are probably going to be
necessary to reach your protein intake goal since your in college. You
mentioned not being able to eat more and feeling full pretty quickly. What
you need to do is eat more often (4-5/day would be a good number to shoot
for). They don't have to be huge feasts, but try to get down what you can.
Another thing to consider is a weight gainer (basically, a high
sugar/calorie protein shake) like NLarge. It's an easy way to get hundreds
of calories without feeling overly full.

You'll find that if you're not getting enough protein & calories your
workouts will result in you getting stronger but not bigger. For long term
success your diet needs to be addressed! If not, you won't see the results
you should (and want) and that leads to lack of motivation and/or injury
(i.e. overtraining because you think working out more will solve the calorie
deficit problem).

Good luck!


.

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