Anybody trying to gain weight/muscle?

[jacks09]

I'm sure i'll get little sympathy from this but i'm currently trying to gain muscle. I'm eating 4000 Cals a day and have plateaued. Just looking for anyone to share advice or tips? Struggling with the sheer volume of food....

[DulwichFox]

Eating food will not help you with Muscle Weight.. but will help make you fatter..

I am of slight build and wanted to do the same..

The best course of action is Exercise. Weights..

You need to start with very light dumbbells and work up gradually.. Increasing repetitions and sets.

It is a very long procedure and you need to control what food you eat. and drink lots of water.

You need to keep hydrated.

You will get stronger but you need to be able to do regular exercising with days off..

You should see some progress after a few months..

Google the subject and find something that suits your needs...

DulwichFox

[DirtyBox]

I'm currently doing StrongLifts 5x5, very effective

http://stronglifts.com/5x5/

[jacks09]

Sorry I should have stated - I am a very experienced trainer.....just the first time I've made a long concerted effort to add muscle.

[jacks09]

what are you eating Dirty Box?

[Crackerjam]

Try having tonnes of protein in the morning - the body is most effective at building muscle in the morning

[Henry_17]

Jacks,

What are the macros of the 4k?

How often are you training?

What is your routine?

Crackerjam,

Source for body better at building muscle in morning?

[DirtyBox]

jacks09 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> what are you eating Dirty Box?

Pleanty of fruit and veg, lean meats, water, minimal processed foods. I still enjoy a beer but everything in moderation.

[jacks09]

250g Protein

156g Fat

400g Carbohydrate

Aim for 30g Fibre within that.

[david_carnell]

Henry_17 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Jacks,

>

> What are the macros of the 4k?

> How often are you training?

> What is your routine?

>

> Crackerjam,

> Source for body better at building muscle in

> morning?

I'm not sure about that either. I thought it was best overnight while you were asleep. For that reason a slow release protein like Casein would work wonders. Either lots of dairy or a powder form.

Dulwich Fox is right about building slowly. For strength you want low reps and low sets - like the 5x5 training but for size, something like German Volume Training is meant to be amazing.

4000k sounds ample though unless, as a trainer, you are doing lots of cardio? Then you'd need to have even more or drop some cardio work as you're just burning it off without building "mass".

[Henry_17]

Jacks,

Carbs look high, why do you need all those are you also doing cardio? I would switch carbs to protein until you at least are having more protein than carbs. If I were eating all those carbs I would definitely feel bloated and struggle to eat everything also.

Other than that if you haven't tried reverse pyramid training that might help if stalling.

[jacks09]

Thanks all for the responses.

I have been doing this for about 7 months now. started at my maintenance of 2500 kCals and have slowly been adding 100 -200 whenever the weight gain ceased. It's ceased again so will be going up to 4200 next week.

There are heaps of studies around how there is no difference in protein synthesis when you get over a certain threshold - (1.10g/lb) and actually oxidation increases which is detrimental.

Training has been good, i tried German volume training for 4 weeks. It's very dull, but effective, but does place a huge load on the nervous system - you become VERY tired. No using a Jim Stoppani return "shortcut to size" which is good as it aims to stimulate all 3 types of fibre.

Gone that high on carbs as i want to fuel my training - and also - given the other health implications of too much fat and protein, the cals have to come from somewhere......I've fully made my peace with the fact i am getting a bit fat. But starting January I'm taking a long slow diet down to my wedding and hopefully 8ish % bodyfat.

I'm thinking i need to look at my gut health more.....

[katanita]

It might be worth posting on or trawling the My Fitness Pal forums https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/categories/fitness-and-exercise. Oddly enough, they have some surprising good solid advice on there. It is very strength training focussed, and (amongst some entertaining idiocy) there are some knowledgeable posters who are free with their advice. And it usually avoids some of the unappealing bro science you find on bodybuilding forums. I also hear good things about the New Rules for Lifting http://www.thenewrulesoflifting.com/ but have no idea how it stacks up, am a newbie myself. Good luck.

[Seabag]

Why exactly are you trying to gain weight/muscle

Is it about body image, or does your working life require it

[jacks09]

Well a few things

I want to look good (in my opinion) for my wedding in July.

I want to injury proof myself within my sports (rugby and boxing to a lesser extent)

I am also doing the PT course and strongly feel a PT should be in good shape.

[Seabag]

Ah ok but remember to be joyful

The journey to a low 8% body fat can be a bit tedious for people around you

Have you watched http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01lxyzc

[isnottropical]

jacks09 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Thanks all for the responses.

>

> I have been doing this for about 7 months now.

> started at my maintenance of 2500 kCals and have

> slowly been adding 100 -200 whenever the weight

> gain ceased. It's ceased again so will be going

> up to 4200 next week.

>

> There are heaps of studies around how there is no

> difference in protein synthesis when you get over

> a certain threshold - (1.10g/lb) and actually

> oxidation increases which is detrimental.

>

> Training has been good, i tried German volume

> training for 4 weeks. It's very dull, but

> effective, but does place a huge load on the

> nervous system - you become VERY tired. No using

> a Jim Stoppani return "shortcut to size" which is

> good as it aims to stimulate all 3 types of

> fibre.

>

> Gone that high on carbs as i want to fuel my

> training - and also - given the other health

> implications of too much fat and protein, the cals

> have to come from somewhere......I've fully made

> my peace with the fact i am getting a bit fat.

> But starting January I'm taking a long slow diet

> down to my wedding and hopefully 8ish % bodyfat.

>

> I'm thinking i need to look at my gut health

> more.....

I would say you're asking the question on the wrong forum. Some good advice here, but you sound like you need to talk to some seriously experienced lifters if you're eating at that sort of level, and have a good experience of programmes.

The subreddit for fitness https://www.reddit.com/r/fitness is a fantastic resource for all things strength and hypertrophy based. Try asking this question on there.