GordyR

Hey all, this is my first post here so i'll start by giving you all a little background on myself, my physique and goals.

Goals:

First of all unlike most of you I really don't want to be "big", I would just like to add a little mass and gain some confidence when my shirt is off. Currently when I lose weight enough so that my stomach is perfectly flat i find that I look a little too skinny in the important areas i.e. chest and arms. So what I would really like to do is add enough lean mass so that when I cut, I don't look too skinny.

Physique:

I have what I believe to be a good base, my muscles are all of a good natural shape and pretty well defined. I have been dieting for the last 3 months and now have a perfectly flat stomach with my abs slightly visible and have decided its time to add some mass.


I am 6 foot tall and weigh 161lbs and am now very cut from dieting.

Firstly I could use some nutritional advice. I have read quite a bit so I know the correct sort of things I should be eating, but have found conflicting advice on the amount of calories/protein I should be having daily (assuming I want to add some mass without putting on too much fat)

I have just today changed my diet so that my intake is going to be around 2500 a day (I used the formula 15xbody wight so 15x161=2415) I have read this is a good start for a beginner, please correct me if I am wrong. I am aiming for approximately 160 grams of protein a day (again pelase correct me if I am wrong)

Also I could really use some excersize advice to enable me to make the most out the equipment I have available to me right now. In a months time I am going on a two week holiday. I plan to join a gym when i return but until then I have a very small amount of equipment available to me.

I have the following that I can use:

A generic home gym machine, or whatever you would like to call it. It is similar in its capabilities to the machine in the picture I have attached.



Now i know these things are considered pretty rubbish by anyone serious about gaining muscle, but I have it available at no cost to me and I figured it would have to do until I can join a real gym and start using proper "free" weights more.

I also have a pair of cheap simple dumbells with a variety of screw on weights.


What I was hoping is that aside from nutritional advice, you guys could give me some pointers on the best exersizes to do with my limited equipment. i.e how can I make the most of what I have available before joining a gym?

The last point I should make is that I really don't want to put much fat on in the next month since I am going on holiday, so I really need to find some balance. I udnerstand you have to gain a little fat to gain muscle, but I would really like to keep the fat gain at a minimum until my holiday is over and I can train properly at a gym.

Finally I apologise for the length of this post and sincerely hope some of you guys will take the trouble to help a beginner like me. Any advice you can give me is so much appreciated.

Cheers guys!

Killerkeane

welcome to the board gordy, congratulations on supplying a well sized thread, a lot of people say nothing about themselves, goals/aims which is not very good!
If you want to gain solid muscle mass you have to do several things:

Regular Intensive exercise, keep every rep between 10-12, do 14-16 sets per major muscle group(chest or back etc) and 6-8 every minor muscle group (Biceps, Triceps) You want to do compound exercises, this will maximise youre chances of muscles being hit really hard. Free weights are excellent, use these if possible. Now your home gym is okay, but you really want to join a gym that provides many facilities and weights for your disposal.

Diet:
Now In gaining weight, CALORIES are the most important thing along with suffecient amounts of protein, they say eat 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight so 160 for you will be fine,try to get some more in if possible. Eat regualrly throughout the day (every 2-3 hours) aiming for 500 calories, 30g of protein per meal. This may seem hard but there are plenty of threads to assist you with diet and planning, just ask if you have any problems with this. DIET IS KEY to weight gain, you need to supply your muscles with lots of nutrients after workouts so cram a protein shake down you after workout.

Supplements
Buy a quality WEIGHT GAIN product, not PROTEIN POWDER, protein powder does not provide the calories to gain weight, i would also suggest buying some protein bars to assist you throughout the day when a meal is not available.
I stress: Buy a well known proven weight gain product, many products are just not good enough so assist you in your diet.

Sleep
Get plenty of sleep, 8 hours every day, this will help you reach an anabolic state (a state of gaining muscle mass).

I wish you best of luck, welcome to the board. Check some of the other threads out on the board in gaining weight, and you will be fine mate!

Killerkeane

you might also want to consider the resting time between sets, keep a good high intensity routine up when working out, what i mean by this is make sure at the end of every set, your last rep is just about the last one you can do, Cut resting time between sets down, keep this to 1 minute. Any longer and your muscles will cool and wiill not grow. Late for work :(

hackskii

First of all welcome to the board Gordy
I am not sure 2500 cals will be enough but that is a good starting point.
Try getting 1 gram of protein for 1 lb of body weight.
Drink at least a half gallon of water a day.
Eat at least 5-6 meals a day spaced out evenly as this will give the body continious food and will actually speed up the metabolism and give your muscles the protein they will need to grow.

Exercises I would stick to the basics. Squats, deadlifts, pullups, bench, military presses.
Beings that you dont have much for the legs to do on the machine then I would do lunges (dumbbells) and extensions from your machine.
I can see that you can do bench on the machine and pulldowns this will be ok.
You can do military press from dumbbells that you have.
You can work arms from the dummbells that you have too by doing curls and overhead tricep extensions.
You can do side lateral rows for your side delts with your dumbbells too.

Dont worry about the weight right now as you will be modifying your diet accordingly as time goes on along with the weight lifting.
Body weight gain does not necessarally mean you are getting fat as muscle weighs more that fat.
So take out the tame measure and tape your arms, chest, stomach and legs. Write it down and if you can take a picture (before), also weigh yourself.
Good thing to start out with too.

Oh, dont forget to sleep alot.

GordyR

Thanks alot guys, I'll take all the advice you have given onboard. I think I will hold off on the weight gain powder until my hoilday is over for fear of gaining too much fat. Is that a bad idea?

One problem is I can't really see how to do a "good" bench from the machine I have available to me, I guess I will have to bench with my dumbells only. With the machine I can do fly's, are these worth doing? Which excersizes other than a "proper" bench press with a barbell would add bulk to my pec's the fastest?

Thanks again lads, much appreciated and thanks for the warm welcome

Sam_UK

hi m8, really don't want to put you off the idea...

but a month is not going to be long enough to bulk and cut again....

I would just concentrate on doing chest/shoulder exercises with the gym you have now... 6-8reps, 7-8 sets per body part, 3-4 times per week until you go away.... keep the calories slightly higher than what you are taking now..

you won't see alot of muscle growth in a month without eating ALOT and working out hard enough to utilise the food, it's just not feasible in my opinion..

The chest/shoulder exercises might just be enough to give you more confidence - pad you out a little before you go away. I'd save the bulking until you come back from holiday m8, and then really make a good go of it

Sam_UK

by the way I think flyes are a great exercise for pecs, go ahead with that ;)

GordyR

Thanks Sam, good advice there.

I understand that I won't be putting much if any mass on before I go away, particularly if i don't want to put any fat on either. As you say all I want to do is shape up and maybe pad out what I already have (and perhaps regain some of the muscle I lost through dieting the last few months)

I just want to make a start before going away, then really get down to some serious bulking when I return. Cheers for the advice mate!

Killerkeane

yeah that sounds good Gordy, it's always a good idea to start off easy, get your body and metabolism "used to it". Do what the guys have told ya until you go away, but if you do want to "pad" when you do go away, then raise your calories by 500-1000 a day. I know somebody else has already said this but this would be a good idea.

hackskii

Hey Gordy, you can do pushups instead of bench if you dont have a bench.
You could even superset your pushups with the flys.

GordyR

Great ideas there guys, thanks alot. I'll definately include pushups into my chest routine as it seems to be the best I can do for now. All your help is much appreciated. Cheer!

Killerkeane

YAY

GordyR

Right guys... Been at it one week and have some GREAT news!

As I said before I have been dieting the last 4 or so months in order to get the flat stomach I wanted for my holiday. I achieved this but as a result lost a LOT of muscle, all over. I dieted way too fast and did very little excersize. Basically I was crash dieting. I got my flat stomach but looked far too skinny with it.

Anyway this past week I have been training and eating like a horse! (My girlfriend just got a degree in nutrition so she has been extremely helpful in this area)

In one week somehow as if by magic I have managed to gain back most if not all of my lost muscle! It seems insane I know but somehow it has happened. Of course as I was so lean before starting it is "really" noticable! Since I have been following the rule of not training a muscle group more than once a week I have obviously only had one work out for each muscle group so far but the difference is staggering!

I know I wont keep this rate of growth for long as it is mostly a case of bringing back lost tissue but it sure has given me a much needed confidence boost for my holiday and of course has given me the motivation to really work hard for my goals.

Anyways, just wanted to say thanks to you guys for your help in starting me off. I plan on staying here and learning as much as I can about this sport, even though my long-term goals are a lot more humble than most peoples here.

Thanks guys

hackskii

Thats good.
I think when we diet the muscles look flat. They are not full. But when we start to eat again they are like a sponge soaking up all the nutrients.
Overfeeding can have an anabolic effect like dieting can have a catabolic effect too.

Sam_UK

good news man i'm pleased for you