HELP! I'm a rookie lifter and need advice

[nemesisplayer]

My name is Alan. I am 23 years old. I just started working out maybe 2 months ago. I am coming off of a shoulder dislocation in May, so I am still rehabbing and taking the workouts at a little slower pace. I know that I can get big - I have the mind set I am 140 lbs and not really seeing a whole lot of muscle gain, although I can lift slightly more now than what I started with. I am nervous and unsure of weight gainers, simply because I don't want to be just bulky, I want to have lean muscle and am afraid that weight gainers will put on fat and unnecessary weight. Also, I read up on creatine monohydrate. My brother, who is bigger than me and been lifting for a while, said that creatine is bad because it can cause kidney damage. The reviews haven't really pinned anything on any kidney-related problems. I currently take whey protein, Uniliver, and drink lots of water and eat 3 meals a day with snacks in between and after. Should I eat 5 meals a day and skip the snacks? I eat mostly complex carbs, good proteins, very little fat (virtually no saturated and trans fats), fruits, dairy, and vegetables daily. I think my diet is good. My question is - are weight gainers and creatine necessary for me? Or should I stick to my diet, supplements, and the SSS (Slow Strict Smooth) method, as well as switching up exercises and gradually pushing myself with extra weight? Thanks for your responses.

 

[lockdownd7]

My name is Alan. I am 23 years old. I just started working out maybe 2 months ago. I am coming off of a shoulder dislocation in May, so I am still rehabbing and taking the workouts at a little slower pace. I know that I can get big - I have the mind set I am 140 lbs and not really seeing a whole lot of muscle gain, although I can lift slightly more now than what I started with. I am nervous and unsure of weight gainers, simply because I don't want to be just bulky, I want to have lean muscle and am afraid that weight gainers will put on fat and unnecessary weight. Also, I read up on creatine monohydrate. My brother, who is bigger than me and been lifting for a while, said that creatine is bad because it can cause kidney damage. The reviews haven't really pinned anything on any kidney-related problems. I currently take whey protein, Uniliver, and drink lots of water and eat 3 meals a day with snacks in between and after. Should I eat 5 meals a day and skip the snacks? I eat mostly complex carbs, good proteins, very little fat (virtually no saturated and trans fats), fruits, dairy, and vegetables daily. I think my diet is good. My question is - are weight gainers and creatine necessary for me? Or should I stick to my diet, supplements, and the SSS (Slow Strict Smooth) method, as well as switching up exercises and gradually pushing myself with extra weight? Thanks for your responses.

Nope, weight gainers/creatine are not necessary or advisable at this point. TBH, you'd be better off ditching the whey protein as well, simply because you likely need to learn how to eat as opposed to becoming reliant on increasing amounts of protein powder. At this point your focus should be eating enough and increasing bar weight on the core lifts. Don't worry about switching exercises too frequently, because it's important that you get enough exposure to actually learn the lifts and become comfortable with them.

 

[SaiBoT]

Welcome to the EF bro!

Regarding training check this link http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/w...xercises-articles-more-start-here-484815.html and read it all like ten times or more. I would suggest the intermediate version of 5x5 since you are 23 already, this will ensure that you will be working your entire body with progressively higher weights making you strong and functional.

About switching up exercises from time to time just for the sake of switching is not getting anywhere, constant progressive overload will!

About diet for adding muscle you will need 2g of protein per pound of bodyweight, which I think you can manage without supplements since you are only 140lbs, but a isolate whey supp mixed with oats will work wonders, one upon waking and other one before bed. About carbs, you can manipulate carbs between 2g and 4g per lb of BW depending if you are gaining more fat tissue(move toward lower limit) or making no gains at all (move to higher limit) ersonally I would start with 3g of carbs per lb of BW. About fats you will need them, from the dairy, the whole eggs and some smart fats like olive oil, flax or fish oils, you can add some olive oil to your shakes... Because fat is anabolic. You will need also some fast carbs post workout to replenish the muscle glycogen, which brings me to the creatine issue you mentioned, your bro has been reading newspapers, instead of scientific data in relation to creatine, creatine is great and it works for most people. Also talking about workouts, diet with creatine or not you should be drinking a gallon of water a day this will help your body clear itself and you should be sleeping at least 8 hours a night for recovery, the muscle will grow while you rest.

Ok if you don't undereat, undertrain and if you rest properly you will be a new self.

 

[desmond]

+ 1

I agree generally with what Saibot says, except I respectfully disagree with him re: whey isolate. Don't need to consume it pre-bed, just PWO and it is also useful for breakfast (and makes oats taste better too). Also, his protein recommedations, whilst won't hurt, are on the high side for non-aas users, which I'm assuming you are as a (meaning no disrepect) a newb.

I would have as minimums 200P+, 200C+, and 60F+, and start in the 2600-3000 cal range at your bodyweight (more if you are doing a lot of aerobics)

Welcome to the EF bro!

Regarding training check this link http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/w...xercises-articles-more-start-here-484815.html and read it all like ten times or more. I would suggest the intermediate version of 5x5 since you are 23 already, this will ensure that you will be working your entire body with progressively higher weights making you strong and functional.

About switching up exercises from time to time just for the sake of switching is not getting anywhere, constant progressive overload will!

About diet for adding muscle you will need 2g of protein per pound of bodyweight, which I think you can manage without supplements since you are only 140lbs, but a isolate whey supp mixed with oats will work wonders, one upon waking and other one before bed. About carbs, you can manipulate carbs between 2g and 4g per lb of BW depending if you are gaining more fat tissue(move toward lower limit) or making no gains at all (move to higher limit) ersonally I would start with 3g of carbs per lb of BW. About fats you will need them, from the dairy, the whole eggs and some smart fats like olive oil, flax or fish oils, you can add some olive oil to your shakes... Because fat is anabolic. You will need also some fast carbs post workout to replenish the muscle glycogen, which brings me to the creatine issue you mentioned, your bro has been reading newspapers, instead of scientific data in relation to creatine, creatine is great and it works for most people. Also talking about workouts, diet with creatine or not you should be drinking a gallon of water a day this will help your body clear itself and you should be sleeping at least 8 hours a night for recovery, the muscle will grow while you rest.

Ok if you don't undereat, undertrain and if you rest properly you will be a new self.

 

[SaiBoT]

+ 1

I agree generally with what Saibot says, except I respectfully disagree with him re: whey isolate. Don't need to consume it pre-bed, just PWO and it is also useful for breakfast (and makes oats taste better too). Also, his protein recommedations, whilst won't hurt, are on the high side for non-aas users, which I'm assuming you are as a (meaning no disrepect) a newb.

I would have as minimums 200P+, 200C+, and 60F+, and start in the 2600-3000 cal range at your bodyweight (more if you are doing a lot of aerobics)

Agreed Desmond I suggested that shake before bed because it might be a valuable help if he couldn't get all the protein he needed with the solid meals. Nevertheless if he can eat that much, which at the beginning it's a hard thing to do he could do a slow digestion protein like cottage cheese or, inside the supps realm, a casein shake would be the best.

Also I suggested the higher limit on food intake because he needs to have in mind the importance of the diet, safe measures.

 

[cmarcell]

My name is Alan. I am 23 years old. I just started working out maybe 2 months ago. I am coming off of a shoulder dislocation in May, so I am still rehabbing and taking the workouts at a little slower pace. I know that I can get big - I have the mind set I am 140 lbs and not really seeing a whole lot of muscle gain, although I can lift slightly more now than what I started with. I am nervous and unsure of weight gainers, simply because I don't want to be just bulky, I want to have lean muscle and am afraid that weight gainers will put on fat and unnecessary weight. Also, I read up on creatine monohydrate. My brother, who is bigger than me and been lifting for a while, said that creatine is bad because it can cause kidney damage. The reviews haven't really pinned anything on any kidney-related problems. I currently take whey protein, Uniliver, and drink lots of water and eat 3 meals a day with snacks in between and after. Should I eat 5 meals a day and skip the snacks? I eat mostly complex carbs, good proteins, very little fat (virtually no saturated and trans fats), fruits, dairy, and vegetables daily. I think my diet is good. My question is - are weight gainers and creatine necessary for me? Or should I stick to my diet, supplements, and the SSS (Slow Strict Smooth) method, as well as switching up exercises and gradually pushing myself with extra weight? Thanks for your responses.

1. How tall are you? This would help us better gauge where you are as to where you could be. Height makes a difference.

2. Creatine is a great product. Monohydrate is a safe product to use, although I agree that at the point you are at, it isn't necessary at all. In fact, knock all supplements out except a protein powder on hand.

3. About weight gainer for the future. I take it only when necessary. But I have IBS. So sometimes I can't eat what I need. I make it up with weight gainer. You need carbs and fats just as much as you need protein. It's not optimal (real food is), but when you just cannot get the food, its a good supplement. Just don't get the weight gainers that have 3000 calories, 200 g carbs, and only 20 g protein. Some of them are horrible. The worst I ever took was 82 g carbs, 53 g protein (current one is 53/43...not bad since I take the same amount of carbs as protein).

4. You cannot really expect to only gain lean muscle without using products (most of us anyway). Sometimes you need to add some fat. Bulk up a little. Gain some weight. Burning that fat off later is half the fun. So eat bro, eat. 5-6 meals a day (and that goes for everyone, whether you're trying to gain weight, lose weight, stay healthy...doesn't matter). Snacks count as a meal. Just make them good snacks. Peanuts. A PB&J. Whatever. Just no doritoes and shit. A couple is fine...but not a whole "meals" worth.

5. Beginners 3x5. Worked wonders for me when I had to stop working out, and lost some weight. Did that to get back into things, gained back the 15 lbs I lost and added even more.

To conclude:

-5-6 meals daily- whey protein when needed to supplement.
-200-250 g protein daily- same for carbs- about 100 g good fats.
-3x5 workout program.

Start there. Enjoy.

 

[SCREW]

ya i would suggest either he 3x5 or the 5x5 intermediate version, im on that one right now and so far its been going great

Bill Starr 5x5 - Madcow Intermediate or Linear Version

theres he link to the workout

 

[Big_BK]

Fooooooooooood. Lol! Shovel the shit down bro, if you are that light you can afford anything, pizza, ice cream , pies, etc. Make sure you are eating a TON! I wouldn't worry about protein right now since you dont have much mass, carbs and fats will be more helpful at this stage and you should take in enough protein throughout the day anyway without having to worry about adding shakes in at this point.

 

[FuzzyGophar]

All of this advice is great and true. 2 years ago I was 5'10 130 lbs now I am 5'10 190 lbs. and I got there by listening to all the guys on this board. The 5x5 is awesome, do not get caught up in all the isolation stuff and machines. Do compound lifts and focus on adding weight to them. Couple that with eating and you will grow like a weed.

Another thing I would do is set some goals for yourself. Short term and long term. When I first started out one of my first goals was to be able to bench press with 1 45 lb. plate on each side. My long term goal was to be able to bench 300 lbs. The first goal came fairly quickly but it took forever to reach the last one. It kept me motivated though and I finally reached it after about 2 years. Setting those short terms goals keep you going and it feels great when you reach them.

 

[janthonyf]

I wouldnt ditch the whey shakes. They can come in really handy since we all lead busy lives and its not always easy to eat 5-6 meals a day. not to mention the toll solid food can tak on your digestive system. But solid food is the def. a better source than a shake. if your trying to gain mass then you need more calories so yea ur gonna gain some fat. the same works the other way. if your big and ur tring to get leaner, you cant shedd fat without losing some bit of muscle.But i would say a shake is better in the moring since it gets the protein to your starving muscles quickly, and a solid food meal before you go to bed. unless ur taking some other sort of post workout supp, the absolute best time to drink a shake is right after your workout.

 

[beach_bum_dude]

The best thing I learned from this site was DIET!! I'm now a firm believer that most of my gain issues came from poor dieting.