Gain muscle? gain weight??!
Question: Im trying to gain muscle and weight? What is the best way to accomplish that....what food to eat? what exercise to do? routine? Please help...thanks..........
Answers: Im trying to gain muscle and weight? What is the best way to accomplish that....what food to eat? what exercise to do? routine? Please help...thanks..........
Well you have to eat more calories than you burn first of all. Because the fact is the only way to gain weight is to eat more calories than your body uses. You burn calories all day long even when you're sitting around going nothing. It's called a resting rate. There are a ton of equations out there that will give you an estimate (remember that I say estimate do not take this equation as the golden rule or truth but it will get you started) but the one I use is 12 to 14 calories per pound you weight. 12 if you are kind of active, 13 if you're more active than most and 14 if you are very active. So let's say you're very active because you're going to be doing 4 days of resistance training to add the muscle and weight. And lets say you weight 180 pounds. Your daily calorie target would be 180 x 14 wich is right at about 2500 calories. That is what you would need just to maintain. So you will add 20 percent of your total calories which for this example is about 500 calories. So the total daily calorie target would be 2500 + 500 calories which gets you to 3000 calories. I don't know how much you weigh but plug your weight in there and figure it out. But if 20 percent is more than 500 calores then only add 500. Do not add more than 500 calories at a time. It's just not healthy.
You might need to add even more. Just give it a month or two to see if you are gaining. If you are not try adding another 500 after a couple months.
So once you are eating more calories than you burn (and these need to be whole foods, meats, and all vegies) You can really get to work on the workout routine.
Your target rep range for adding size is 10 to 12 reps. Do 3 to 4 sets. You have to have to have to push it to lift heavier each and every time you hit the gym. The only way to get big is to lift big. Now I don't mean load up the bar and throw your back out. Start at the weight that allows you to complete 10 to 12 reps but the 12th rep should be hard. Then add a little weight every time you can.
To gain size you must work your legs out. I also don't recommend that you work endless exercises per body part. Don't isolate your biceps or triceps or whatever other muscle those machines in the middle of the gym do. Avoid them and go to the racks. They will probably be in the corner all alone. Go show them some love. By doing olympic lifts like jerks and cleans and squats and such you gain muscle mass at an advanced pace. You work whole muscle groups and full ranges of motion which causes the body to go into an ideal gain state. These moves will force your body to work as a complete unit. Maximum results in limited time. There is no need to spend over an hour in a gym to get big. Don't listen to that. Do the power lifts I mentioned. Do pushups and pull ups all day long. In between comercial breaks. When you're on your lunch. Whenever you have free time do pushups and pull ups.
I can promise you weight gain will come. And the right kind of gain too.
Proteins, proteins, proteins! These are great for lean muscle mass. Combine a protein-heavy diet with strength training. If you want lean muscle mass, do a lot of reps with smaller weights, but if you want to bulk up, then do less reps with heavier weights.
Cadio is important too. For a leaner look, the treadmill's the best, because it works out your body evenly, and so does swimming. But if you want bulk and mass, use the cross-trainer and/or elliptical machine with high resistance and incline.
It's a good idea to warm up with 20 mins of cardio (adjusted to your preferred results, see above), then continue with strength training, and finish with cardio. If you want more muscle, do more strength training instead of cardio.
Oh, and DEFINITELY avoids carb-heavy foods!
Hope this helped.. if you have more questions, feel free to send an e-mail!
Join a gym. There are trainers, there that can work with you. There are all type of cardio and weight lifting machines on site, for your use. It is well worth the money, and it won't be long before you see results, and others will too.
Eat a healthy diet consisting of Oatmeal, 100% whole wheat bread. Brown Rice. Baked not fried foods. Salmon,Tuna. Lots of water and Lots of Fruits and veggies. Nuts are healthy fats, as well as Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Fresh is best.
Follow the Food Pyramad. You can't go wrong. Drink lot of water.
Happy Holidays to you and yours.
Eat a balanced diet-make sure you have big breakfast's-and do your workouts early in the morning before you eat-and then have a big breakfast not only will this trim down your fat, but will increase the amount muscle you gain. Make sure its not just lifting weights, do some calestetics(push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, squats, etc.), switch up what you work out everytime-I found that if you were to work out 5 days a week-1st day do muscle failure, the next day do cardio, the next day do muscle failure, then cardio, etc. It works the same if you work out less than that-but the more you do, the quicker the gain-the most important thing is that you increase slowly(don't over do it) and keep at it- it's the only way to keep what you gain. If you find yourself needing more protein to bulk up you can use a protein supplement(go to a GNC, they will get you on the right track). If you do take a supplement, make sure you continue to work out regularly, otherwise all that bulk is going to go where you don't want it aka fat.