Looking to gain weight/muscle

[alwaysspinning]

Ok, I have a friend who is going to apply for a family membership at a gym and is offering to include me. I have been waning to go to the gym for quite some time now. I'm hoping to go to gain weight (im average in size) and muscle (average too). I was hoping to going to a gym in june but moving so wont be doing stuff until later this month hopefully. Anyways I'd like to get any helpful tips and advice. I'm free for answering questions too. Thank you for the time.

[inflated]

Diet is actually more important than your workouts. However, make the basic three (squats--no substitutions), Deadlifts, and bench press the foundation of your workouts. Aim for good form over high weight, incrementally increase the weight when and only when you can do it with perfect form. This is the best way to make progress and avoid injuries. Good luck to you.

[alwaysspinning]

Thanks!

[inm]

Originally Posted by inflated

Diet is actually more important than your workouts. However, make the basic three (squats--no substitutions), Deadlifts, and bench press the foundation of your workouts. Aim for good form over high weight, incrementally increase the weight when and only when you can do it with perfect form. This is the best way to make progress and avoid injuries. Good luck to you.

great answer, I'd call he subject covered!

[inm]

well... maybe just add pullups to the mix..

[sebastian66]

5 easy tips to gain weight:

1. Planning is necessary, put into your fridge healthy food
2. Eat every three hours
3. Choose healthy high carb foods
4. Choose healthy high protein foods
5. Choose healthy fats

[inflated]

Originally Posted by princecarspian

Proteins [COLOR=#000000]powders, shakes, bars, helper, but it adds weight to the muscle, not fat. [/COLOR]Before and after training are the best times to use.

Protein powders can be useful, but good healthy food takes priority over any supplements. Supplements are great for their convenience but it is better to have good homemade healthy food. Put together a bunch of containers with meals for throughout the day. Eat often 6 meals that are a bit smaller are better for lean mass gains than 3 big meals. If you want to gain weight you have to eat a lot of food, especially if you are a hardgainer. Drink whole milk instead of skim and if you are not lactose intolerant just drinking more milk will help you gain some weight.

[inflated]

Originally Posted by roymiller

Being skinny can make you look awkward in your clothes. It might be hard to find shirts that look good on you or pants that complement your body.

The same goes once you get too big and muscular, finding clothing that fits can be a nightmare.

[ytrewq]

Originally Posted by harthadavis

In the case of gaining muscle and weight, you are naturally inclined to gain muscle, consume insane amounts of calories. Weight Gainer shakes help reduce the calories in a fast and easy, but in most cases it is better to drink just a bunch of whole milk a day. It is much cheaper than all the supplements, and also has a large number of proteins, more than 120 grams of protein per liter.

Is there any reason to drink whole specifically? I have been drinking skim just to avoid the regular and saturated fat.

[monstermusclebe]

WHOLE v SKIM
The nutrition in milk is found in the fat. That fat is saturated, but saturated fat is also given a bum rap to some degree.

Skim milk lacks the fat, and so it's good if you are doing a carbo-heavy meal. But you miss out on the nutrition ~ whatever is left after pasteurization, that is ~ that is in the fat.

The jury is still out -- i.e. there are no definitive studies to prove what I am about to say, only a ton of anecdotal evidence -- but there is growing evidence that what makes saturated fat so bad for us is that there isn't any living nutrition in it, generally speaking.


LIVING FOOD
A quick story...
A shaman came to visit our country a few years ago. In an effort to reach out to the West, his tribe had sent a tribesmember to live in the US for a long time. He had learned English, gotten a GED and then gone to college. This tribesmember was now serving has host for this visiting shaman.

The first night of his visit, shortly after he had arrived, there was a dinner held by the community (a non-profit group), in honor of his arrival. At the dinner, as the food was being served, the shaman leaned over and asked his fellowtribesman: "Do they know that their food is dead?" His compatriot said "That's how they do things here."

Why the story? To point out that there seems to be a huge difference between RAW and PROCESSED foods.

Back to the milk: Nearly all our milk today in this country is highly processed i.e. it is a dead food.

Pasteurized milk is milk that has been heated. Nearly all milk is also then homogenized, which means that large quantities of it have been blended together in a massive vat, to provide for a uniform color, thickness and taste.

After many many decades of doing this to nearly all our milk, there is now a massive industry -- and beaucoup $$$ -- behind pasteurization and homogenization. And back in the day when there was no pasteurization ~ and no other sanitation standards, no FDA, etc. ~ yes, children died because of bad milk. Doctors are told about these horrible stories in medical school, and most of them won't touch raw milk with a ten foot pole.

Yet, in the days before pasteurization, doctors used to recommend whole milk as a cure for a variety of children's illnesses. Was this just a wive's tale?

Today, we say that some people are "lactose intolerant."
I am one of those people.

MY STORY: USING MILK AS A SOURCE OF BODYBUILDING NUTRITION
I tried the "Whole Millk" diet long ago. After a week on the diet, I got horribly sick. I thought it was just that I caught a bad cold. So a few weeks later, I tried it again. Same result. A few years went by, and I thought I'd try it again, this time taking lactase supplements. Same result. Sick as a dog after a week, and recovering within a few days after stopping the milk.

Flash forward to now:

Today, I drink an average of 1/2 - 3/4 gallons of milk -- some whole, some skim -- each and every day.

Why am I not getting sick?

Because I am drinking RAW, unpasteurized, unhomogenized milk.

In raw milk, all the vital nutrition ~ that is normally killed in the pasteurization and homogenization processes ~ are preserved.

Tying in my shaman story... Raw milk is a living food. In raw milk there are living enzymes ~ called lactase ~ that process the lactose milk sugars properly i.e. NO LACTOSE INTOLERANCE.

I can also report that I have not been sick for a single day since I began drinking raw milk, now about seven years ago. I used to get sick at least twice a year. Not any more.

And though I have gone through long periods where I haven't worked out, my body continues to look great, even after months away from the gym. People have often remarked "You look so healthy." Even when I haven't been to the gym in six months.

As you can tell, I am a total zealot and convert to raw milk. About 70% of my diet is milk... most of it whole. Again, I use skim for carb-heavy meals such as the pre-and post-workout meals.

I have had my cholesterol and other blood work done each year. Seven years ago -- before I began drinking raw milk -- I had a "moderately high" level of bad cholesterol and a "poor" level of healthy cholesterol.

This last February ~ on a diet "very high in saturated fat" -- levels most doctors would say is "unhealthy" -- due to the quantity of milk I drink ~ I had a "completely healthy" level of bad cholesterol i.e. quite low. My good cholesterol was "healthy," but borderline toward "not so healthy." -- So raw milk isn't a silver bullet to perfect health. So I'm upping my cardio and taking regular doses of top quality fish oils, which should help with upping the levels of good cholesterol in my blood.

My doctor thinks I'm something of a miracle. For a long time she couldn't get how I can have blood work that looks so good, and eat (er, drink) so much saturated fat. She's now wondering if she's been wrong and been told a bunch of hooey about how bad raw milk is for us.

More info about the benefits, research and articles on raw milk can be found at http://www.rawmilk.org.


INTERESTED? HOW CAN YOU GET IT?
Unfortunately, waw milk is only available commercially in 17 states in the US. In other states, you have to get it direct from the dairy i.e. go to their farm. I am fortunate to live in California, where I can get it at most natural and specialty food stores. Other states? Visit www.rawmilk.org.

For a bodybuilder's primary source of nutrition, I cannot recommend raw milk highly enough.

Conversely, I find pasteurized milk to be poison.

At least it is to my body.

Happy growing muscles to all...

Markus

[monstermusclebe]

That last link up there actually goes to www.rawmilk.com.

[inflated]

Keep it basic the big three exercises should be the foundation of your routine--(Squats--no exceptions), bench press, and deadlifts. Diet should be good healthy food, the less processed the better.

[Scottn]

eat healthy high carb foods: Boiled soybeans, Peanuts, Hamburger patty, Chicken breast, Tuna, canned.

healthy high protein foods: Soy protein isolate, Whey protein isolate,

[Tawan]

oh great tips thanks

[d880640]

Just some of what I eat:
"Whey to go" protein no chemicals (Vitamin Shoppe) 3 scoops = 60 grams protein 300 cal
added to chocolate shake 420 cal plus 2 cups water shake well.

Multi-vitmain I use one without Iron
B complex 25 mg by Country Life - called: Basic-B Caps $11.79 (Vitaimin Shoppe)
B12 Methycobalmin 1000 Mcg Solary gumlet $5.79 (print online coupon at Vitamin Shoppe) o' this is the best form of B12!
HMB by Body Tech (Vitamin Shoppe) $19.95 no soreness so you can sleep at night
Maca Extract - 1 pill balances hormones if you need it

Double "Q" Red Sockeye Salmon (Wild Alaska) 7 1/2 oz can 60 gram protein at Giant Foods store
Lasagna from a can 540 cal 20 grams protein
Almond butter on Ezekiel Bread
Large banana
Chicken Breast no additives
Orange
turkey breast on Ezekiel Bread
Mashed potatoes
Pear
Water
Omega-3

Quick organic Oatmeal cooked added in blender with: water, wild Blueberries, banana

I'm 67 years old and I use a 25 pound dumbell at work each day.
Sick and tired of being sick and tired and having my back go out every year
so I had to get my body in shape.

[V.R.Goh]

I remember something about eating 1 gram of protein for every pound of bodyweight each day, spread out among meals. Would that help to gain size, or is that another dieting legend?