[number1sixerfan]

After research, I've decided to stick with a few supplements. I'm going to use a multivitamin, amino acid(that includes plenty in one), rtd protien shake, and cla.

Multivitamin- self explanatory

Amino Acid- energy and support the building of protein

RTD Protein Shake- I live in a dorm so making shakes can be tedious and time consuming, so RTD is a great option. And they taste a hell of a lot better. Recommendations on what and where to buy? I liked the muscle milk but at $2.77 a bottle I'd go broke before my muscle gets bigger.

CLA- I need something to help me tone. I'm starting to run for about 20+ minutes after lifting. Is there something better?

So I decided against creatine, at least for now. But I am going back on protein since it just makes sense. Is there anything else I should be aware of?

Also I wanted to ask for suggestions on toning. It seems like I have just a little bit of fat covering up my muscles.

Thanks.

 

[daycart1]

According to the mags, huge bodybuilders eat just a little over 2000 calories a day when they are trying to drop fat. Most americans eat that much for breakfast!

 

[number1sixerfan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by daycart1 According to the mags, huge bodybuilders eat just a little over 2000 calories a day when they are trying to drop fat. Most americans eat that much for breakfast!

I don't eat breakfast.lol

I know, I know. I should eat breakfast. I am working on it.

 

[pbalcer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by number1sixerfan After research, I've decided to stick with a few supplements. I'm going to use a multivitamin, amino acid(that includes plenty in one), rtd protien shake, and cla.

I'm not an expert but certain things work for me very well, so maybe you will find my $0.02 interesting. (Or amybe not...)

Unless you are _really_ _big_, there is no need for that (except multivitamin - it really helps because it is hard to get all the vitamins that you need from normal food).

More important is the diet. Eat 5...6 times a day every 3 hours (but don't stuff yourself - eat often but smaller portions). No junk food. The best is chicken breasts (cooked), tuna, eggs (only the white stuff, throw away the yellow stuff) and veggies. Cut down on carbs. Only whole wheat bread (a slice or two per day) and brown rice. Drink lots of water (at least 4 liters a day). With the proper diet you will be "up-and-running" from 5 am to 11pm (a bit slower at the begining and the end of the day

).

Quote:

Originally Posted by number1sixerfan CLA- I need something to help me tone. I'm starting to run for about 20+ minutes after lifting. Is there something better?

After lifting running few minutes _fast_ can improve cardio. If you want to burn fat, run slower and on longer distances (40+ minutes). The problem is that after doing weights properly, you might be too weak to run for 40 mins.

The best thing that works for me is one day weights (3 times a week), another day jogging (also 3 times a week).

 

[crazyfrenchman27]

Eat all the time...like 3,500+ calories.

Don't take a lot of protein all at once: spread it out across the day.

Stay hydrated.

Take pure creatine monohydrate. Be sure to cycle it on and off so your body doesn't acclimate to it...and drink lots of water.

Work-out five to six times a week for 1-1.5 hours and make sure to exercise/stretch all your muscle groups.

 

[number1sixerfan]

Ok, here's the thing. I've done the whole six meals a day thing. That's what got me the slight fat I have now.lol It is also costly and the cafeteria is closed during the summer, so I have to buy groceries. But I've narrowed my meals down to three a day. I will fix my meal plan to five times a day eating sandwhiches and fruit, etc.

Protein is very helpful because lifting only tears down your muscles. That's why I decided to take it.

pbalcer you had some interesting points which were helpful. When you say after lifting, run for a few minutes fast, you mean sprint then continue with slower, longer cardio?

Crazy I will consider strecthing out my protein intake, but I believe it is very helpful to intake most of it after workout for recovery. How has it helped you?

BTW, all I drink is water, so no worries there. I'm trying to watch what I eat in order to tone up and become more fit.

Keep on bringing the suggestions!

 

[BPRJam]

Couple of suggestions:

1.) Three meals a day isn't a bad way to go. Make sure they are healthy and not too large, though. (If your goal is to enter a competition, though, you should go talk to a nutritionist to figure out what you should do.)

2.) For snacks, eat a handful of almonds or peanuts. Don't do cashews or pecans.

3.) Take a protien shake only right after your workout. If you end up being able to smell the "protien-like" scent of the shake in your urine, then you're getting too much protien and your body is simply expelling it. Either decrease the amount of shake you drink, or get rid of the shakes and have a handful of peanuts after the workout. (Too much protien is bad for the kidneys.)

4.) Drink plenty of water. Eat some oats (either in cheerios or in oatmeal), and go to skim milk.

5.) Unless you are giving blood every 6 weeks, don't take a multivitamin with iron in it. You get way more iron than you need in a normal diet anyway, and long-term excess iron has been linked with prostate and thyroid problems. Always take the vitamin with a meal.

6.) Do some cardio every day. What happens as you increase metabolic demand is that your cells start ramping up the ability of your mitochondria to turn calories into usable energy. You'll have enough energy to feel like working out, and when you do work out, you can work out harder. (Don't hurt yourself, though!) Note that this effect will take a couple of weeks. In the mean time, you'll feel more tired than normal - unless you're already in good shape.

7.) Get plenty of sleep. The hardest thing on a body under stress is lack of sleep.

Even though I'm a little older now, I find that if I spend a couple of months on a workout regimine with the recommendations I just gave, I get stellar results quickly. Of course, YMMV.

BPRJam

 

[number1sixerfan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BPRJam Couple of suggestions: 1.) Three meals a day isn't a bad way to go. Make sure they are healthy and not too large, though. (If your goal is to enter a competition, though, you should go talk to a nutritionist to figure out what you should do.) 2.) For snacks, eat a handful of almonds or peanuts. Don't do cashews or pecans. 3.) Take a protien shake only right after your workout. If you end up being able to smell the "protien-like" scent of the shake in your urine, then you're getting too much protien and your body is simply expelling it. Either decrease the amount of shake you drink, or get rid of the shakes and have a handful of peanuts after the workout. (Too much protien is bad for the kidneys.) 4.) Drink plenty of water. Eat some oats (either in cheerios or in oatmeal), and go to skim milk. 5.) Unless you are giving blood every 6 weeks, don't take a multivitamin with iron in it. You get way more iron than you need in a normal diet anyway, and long-term excess iron has been linked with prostate and thyroid problems. Always take the vitamin with a meal. 6.) Do some cardio every day. What happens as you increase metabolic demand is that your cells start ramping up the ability of your mitochondria to turn calories into usable energy. You'll have enough energy to feel like working out, and when you do work out, you can work out harder. (Don't hurt yourself, though!) Note that this effect will take a couple of weeks. In the mean time, you'll feel more tired than normal - unless you're already in good shape. 7.) Get plenty of sleep. The hardest thing on a body under stress is lack of sleep. Even though I'm a little older now, I find that if I spend a couple of months on a workout regimine with the recommendations I just gave, I get stellar results quickly. Of course, YMMV. BPRJam

Very informal post. I know about the protein problems with kidneys. That's why I only take one a day and no more. Water helps this a bit right?

Also I will pick up some peanuts for snacks. I forgot all about them. As for oats I eat cereal. Will have to switch to skim milk though. It is indeed hard to find a multivitamin without iron, any suggestions?

Sleep is easy to get in the summer, however during the school year, it gets a little rough. Do naps help or hurt? I hear mixed things about them.

 

[TWIFOSP]

You can't just say eat X amount of times and Y amount of calories.

Everyone is different, but it's easy to figure out what works for you if you put a bit of effort into it.

Remember: Gaining weight is just a function of calories in is greater than calories burned. So if you eat more calories than you burn, you will gain weight. If these calories are usefull, IE carbs and protien, and you are tearing your muscles (lifting) into states that require repair (hypertrophy) than the weight gain will be muscle. If not, those calories will turn into fat.

The general conseus at www.discussfitness.com (a great site btw) is that trying to add muscle mass while dropping fat is a waste of time. Not only is it impossible for most, but you'll do better seperating them.

My suggestion is to take your normal caloric intake before you started to lift and add 300 calories. Take that, and spread it out over 6 times a day. This will maximize your energy, boost your metabolism and will minimize fat gain. But expect fat gain with your muscles. It's just a part of bulking. Bulk first and it becomes very easy to trim that fat with a bunch of new muscle.

Start with 300 and tweak it to your needs. Basically, if you're bulking, just eat whenever your hungry, but eat just enough so that you're hungry again in 1-2 hours.

Focus on core excercises and compound lifts. Don't just sit around and do preacher curls or very concentrated excercises. You will see tons more results from doing dead lifts, cleans and snatches, military presses, and pull ups.

I would suggest a technique called periodization. Search google, or discussfitness for it. It really helps you build mass and stay lean. Circuit training also is good for dropping fat, but keeps your muscles. It's like cardio weight training and was developed by Bruce Lee.

Get off head-fi and head to discussfitness, no I'm not affliated with them, but using those boards I was able to make gains that I had been struggling with before. Those are some really helpfull people and I would equate them as the head-fi of the fitness world.

 

[number1sixerfan]

I was thinking that bulking first and then getting lean would be ideal, but I messed up along the way of bulking. I stopped eating as much as I needed to and stopped taking protein because I was also gaining just a bit of fat.

So how do I effectively bulk up without getting fatter? I used to be 145lbs and am now 160lbs. I would like to be around 170lbs but I don't want to get fat in the process. I'm 5"8 btw.

 

[jpr703]

Skip the amino acids. You'll get plenty of those from the protein in your shake. I'm not sure why you're shying away from creatine, but a lot of people get good results with it. I tend to bloat a little on monohydrate, but Cee has been good to me. If you tend to bulk quickly, you probably don't need it, but otherwise you might want to give it a second look.

One of the best ways I know of to slim down, besides dieting, is to add some cardio at the end of your weight-lifting sessions. 3-4 times a week and you don't want to go over 20 minutes with it. Jogging should work fine. If you continue the cardio in appropriate amounts and slightly reduce your calorie intake, you should get good results.

Remember, bulking and cutting are two different beasts. You should pick which one you want to do and adjust your routine and your expectations accordingly.

 

[MuZI]

Make sure to check out Bodybuilding.com Forums and check out their stickies for tons of information.

Also you might wana take some Fish Oil.

 

[pbalcer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by number1sixerfan pbalcer you had some interesting points which were helpful. When you say after lifting, run for a few minutes fast, you mean sprint then continue with slower, longer cardio?

For the cardio workout try changing "the load". What I mean is: go slowly for few minutes and then 1...2 minutes as fast as you can. And again slowly for a couple of minutes and speed up again. After heavy workout with weights, running for 10...15 minutes like that is enough (at least for me). You can also try a bike. 30 secs easy going, 30 secs the highest resistance (chose it so you can maintain the speed) and the fastest you can go. And again, and again, for 5...10 minutes. It should do the trick.

When I run long distance (on the days when I don't do the weights), the last few hundred meters I always try to run faster. The last 100m it's a sprint.

In short:
1) cardio is the most effective when you "push it" and rest, and push, and rest, .... - steady running, biking, etc. is not as effective
2) if your pulse is below 140 after few minutes, after each "intensive" phase, add more resistance or go faster*
3) if your pulse is above 150, slow down of or you may collapse*

* The numbers 140 and 150 depend on age, condition, etc. Be careful until you find out what numbers fit your situation the best.

By the way, eating 6 times a day is primarily to speed up the metabolism. But for this regime to work, you must not stuff yourself "up to the roof".

You should be just a little bit hungry after each meal. And after few weeks your body will be able to burn more calories and turn them into muscles.

 

[TWIFOSP]

Quote:

Originally Posted by number1sixerfan I was thinking that bulking first and then getting lean would be ideal, but I messed up along the way of bulking. I stopped eating as much as I needed to and stopped taking protein because I was also gaining just a bit of fat. So how do I effectively bulk up without getting fatter? I used to be 145lbs and am now 160lbs. I would like to be around 170lbs but I don't want to get fat in the process. I'm 5"8 btw.

First step is to stop measuring weight. Muscle weighs a lot. Start measuring more useful things, like your BF%, or how much you can lift in a certain excercise using proper technique, or how you look in the mirror, or muscle size measured with measuring tapes.

Weight means next to nothing without those other things.

As for suggestions on how to bulk while _minimizing_ (again I think it's a waste of time to try and bulk without gaining at least SOME fat) fat gain:

1. Figure out your caloric intake needs. This is not a simple formula and it WILL take you a while to perfect. Start with a 40/40/20 split 40% protien, 40% carbs and 20% fat. Start with 2500 calories a day and if you aren't gaining weight, add more.
2. Eat good carbs and good fats. Your body needs them. Without carbs you can't shuttle protien effectively, and good fat can get burned off just like carbs.
3. Do circuit training or cardio on your NON lifting days to help burn fat and boost your metabolism.
4. Eat the same number of calories, only more times a day.

Again, just accept that you WILL gain fat while building muscle and you'll be fine. After you put on 10 lbs of lean muscle and a few pounds of fat, you can switch to a cutting routine and diet and you'll lose that weight in no time. Remember, the MORE muscle you have, the more calories your body burns just sitting still. The more muscle mass you have, the faster it comes off when you want it to.

If you want to follow a diet routine, I suggest body for life. Just make sure you eat as much food as need while your bulking and set a goal for muscle gain. Don't fret about your sixpack or whatever in the mirror. Once you hit that goal, switch to mirror mode and continue to eat lots of food, since you need more calories now, but switch to healthier cutting foods and start a heavier cardio / circuit training routine.

Again, just get on discussfitness.com... all the stuff I'm saying in here has been what I've learned from those forums and you're way better off in there.

 

[philodox]

Chris Myden, the guy that wrote the www.bestmp3guide.com guide for creating high quality MP3's also created a workout guide that seems to be pretty good... Link