Gaining 5lb a week.. is it possible?

[CaptainJ]

Heres a problem that i'm dealing with at the moment and do to lack of my knowledge i dont know what the issue is or how to fix it.

With my right hand/side i am able to do 5 push ups with one hand, but with my left hand/side i am only able to do 2 push ups.

Now i work both sides equally at all times, and the only thing comes to mind, is why my left side is weaker, is because i have semi heart issues since i was a kid. Thus left hand/side being closer to heart might be the reason why i can only do 2 reps of one hand push ups.

But, my left side has more stamina when i use free weight, versus my right hand/side. For example; with my left arm i can do 12 curls, but with my right hand i'm struggling performing 10 reps using same exact weight.

Any advice what i can do to even both sides out or what the issue might be?

BTW, im left handed if that makes any difference, but i only write with my left hand, everything else i do as a right handed.

Thanks.

Use a barbell, that will make you grow proportionatly. Although you shouldn't worry, everyone is weaker on their left side (or right side if they are left handed). Also stop doing bicep curls, do chin ups instead.

 

[muscleman]

Barbell isn't any better than dumbbells for making you grow "proportionately" if you're doing the same amount of weight/reps on each side. But yes, one of your sides will be slightly weaker than the other.

 

[blinkwatt101]

There is nothing wrong with doing bicep curls,provided your form is done right. If done properly NOTHING will develop bicep like Arnold's with the huge peak when flexed and 'chunk' of bicep near the opposite side of the elbow that 'looks cool' and gives you an amazing pump look.

 

[dbot]

2-3 pounds of muscle per week is definitely possible (I've done it myself). Whether or not it's sustainable is a completely different story. Even if everyone knew exactly what worked best for their individual bodies, most people wouldn't have the time nor the willpower to maintain such a strict diet and workout routine.

I'd recommend finding a diet/exercise plan that you can keep up with for the long term. Convenience is KEY. You're far better off gaining a pound a month on a plan that you can stick with forever, as opposed to 5 pounds a week on a plan that you're destined to give up on.

 

[blinkwatt101]

You can not gain 2-3 pounds of muscle/week...if you think you did. YOUR WRONG.

I'd be willing to bet that anyone here who thinks they gained more then 1 pounds of PURE muscle a month is fat. Enlighten me and prove me wrong...post a pic of your physique.

 

[dbot]

You can not gain 2-3 pounds of muscle/week...if you think you did. YOUR WRONG.

I'd be willing to bet that anyone here who thinks they gained more then 1 pounds of PURE muscle a month is fat. Enlighten me and prove me wrong...post a pic of your physique.

First of all, nobody needs to "prove" you wrong. It is your own responsibility to back up your claims. If you wish to challenge whether or not it's possible to gain more than a pound of muscle in a month, then you prove it. Personally, I know you're wrong, because I've done it myself (and yes, I know how to use a caliper to measure body fat, so don't talk to me like I'm a fucking moron). But I'm not the one who's refuting other people's comments and effectively calling them idiots. If you're going to do that, you better have something pretty damn intelligent to say if you want anyone to listen to you.

 

[blinkwatt101]

Several people in the past asked me on my old user i.d. (blinkwatt),to provide some pics just cause I make some pretty un-ordinary claims. I'm more then happy to provide a link to current pictures of me if anyone ask(cause I know I come off as a hard ass when it comes to exercising and weight lifting).

Again,this is the last time I will even mention this...Why did Franco only weight 180lbs in his prime at 3-4% bodyfat....after 7-10 years of weight lifting...eating perfect...training HARD...and on steroids? Same can be said with Zane,The Oak and so on...THEY ARE/WERE THE STANDARD WHAT MAKES ANYONE THINK THEY CAN HANG WITH THEM?

I see people in the gym say they gained 5 lbs from creatine...my ass...it's all water and other variable that you don't control when you weight yourself. These people are also the same ones who stop lifting after they supplements cause 'I lost my gains'....children.

 

[muscleman]

Don't even bother with it, talking to a brick wall is easier. Let superman over here keep gaining his 3lbs/muscle a week.

PS. a caliper is a POS. If you want a semi-accurate measurement you need an immersion tank.

 

[CaptainJ]

Again,this is the last time I will even mention this...Why did Franco only weight 180lbs in his prime at 3-4% bodyfat....after 7-10 years of weight lifting...eating perfect...training HARD...and on steroids? Same can be said with Zane,The Oak and so on...THEY ARE/WERE THE STANDARD WHAT MAKES ANYONE THINK THEY CAN HANG WITH THEM?

No idea. It depends. Maintaining 3-4% body fat seems like this bodybuilder's priority, rather than gaining muscle. It's hard to gain muscle without gaining fat too. Also there's no such thing as eating perfect, "Perfect" is subjective, your and his idea of perfect could be low fat, high protein, lots of veg. Which is not going to get you muscle. High fat diets are a must when gaining muscle.

Also what does training hard mean? Does that mean he's devoting one whole day to arms, and maybe only one day for squats and deadlifts? Because no matter how hard he trains, he WON'T get bigger without squatting or deadlifting much. You should be squatting atleast 3 times a week.

It does not seem like a flaw with his body, but possible flaws with his bodybuilder mentality, a desire to not lose the "Tone" and "Definition" of his muscle.

Also 2-3 pounds of muscle a week is POSSIBLE. It just requires an unsustainable diet like I have said before. Drinking ****loads of milk and eating alot is not easy, and the fat you will gain will be high too. The 2-3 pounds a week rate is just unsustainable and it is better to aim for a slower rate like 1-2lb a month.

Just because you haven't gained 2-3lbs of muscle in a week does not mean it's impossible. Many people before you have done it, you MUST be doing something wrong or your body was not designed to easily grow muscle. Maybe you lack both of the 2 fast muscle building genes, making you a hardgainer. We don't know. But you can't prove us wrong because of your own experiences, and especially when you don't give us details about how much you eat and your workout.

 

[Colossus]

Stop reading forums, pick up a physiology textbook and educate yourselves. Do a PubMed search on muscle protein synthesis in healthy, non-AAS using adult men.

I cant even believe this retarded discussion is still going.

Unlike the tendons and ligaments, studies have shown that muscle responds by adapting after a period of several weeks or even months of progressive loading (McDough & Davies, 1984). It also should be noted that the protein turnover rate in collagen occurs approximately every 1000 days.

In a healthy male NOT taking steroids, your rate of skeletal muscle hypertrophy is not going to exceed what your connective tissues can handle. Unless you have a 1 in 5,000,000 genetic mutation that has disabled your natural signaling mechanisms for negative regulation of skeletal muscle development, you CANNOT gain pounds of muscle in one week.

Those who scoff at this and continue to believe they've gained super size over such a short period forget that much of the increased bodyweight is largely due to increased body fat stores, glycogen and water. Of course you will FEEL like you have gained 2-3 pounds of muscle, that's a phenomenon called transient hypertrophy. Basically when you are training intensely and getting sufficient nutrition, your muscles will swell with water and glycogen stores, giving them that "full" feeling. This does NOT equate to a gain in sustainable tissue.

There are so many variables in muscular development that it is not only impractical but irrational to try and develop a "standardized" rule for how much muscle tissue the human body can synthesize in a given time. Your natural build and genetics play a significant role. We DO know, however, that unless you are on some serious hormonal supplementation, even the fastest of gainers will not be putting on more than ~.5 kg of actual muscle tissue in a week. That's not including fat, water, glycogen, etc.

Here's some references to get you armchair bodybuilders started:

1. Kraemer, W.J., Adams, K., Cafarelli, E., Dudley, G.A., Dooly, C., Feigenbaum, M.S., Fleck, S.J., Franklin, B., Fry, A.C., Hoffman, J.R., Newton, R.U., Potteiger, J., Stone, M.H., Ratamess, N.A., & Triplett-McBride, T. (2002). American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Progression models in resistance training for healthy adults. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 34, 364-380

2. Paddon-Jones, D., Leveritt, M., Lonergan, A., & Abernethy, P. (2001). Adaptation to chronic eccentric exercise in humans: the influence of contraction velocity. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 285, 466-471

3. Volek, J.S., Duncan, N.D., Mazzetti, S.A., Staron, R.S., Putukian, M., Gomez, A.L, Pearson, D.R, Fink, W.J., & Kraemer WJ. (1999). Performance and muscle fiber adaptations to creatine supplementation and heavy resistance training. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 31, 1147-1156

4. McLester, J.R. Jr., Bishop, P., & Guilliams, M.E. (2000). Comparison of 1 day and 3 days per week of equal-volume resistance training in experienced subjects. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 14, 273–281
5. Strauss, R.H., Lanese, R.R., & Malarkey, W.B. (1985). Weight loss in amateur wrestlers and its effect on serum testosterone levels. Journal of the American Medical Association, 254, 3337-3338

6. Forbes, G.B. (2000). Body fat content influences the body composition response to nutrition and exercise. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 904, 359-365

7. Van Etten, L.M., Verstappen, F.T., & Westerterp, K.R. (1994). Effect of body build on weight-training-induced adaptations in body composition and muscular strength. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 26, 515-521

8. Candow, D.G., & Burke, D.G. (2007). Effect of short-term equal-volume resistance training with different workout frequency on muscle mass and strength in untrained men and women. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 21, 204-207

 

[blinkwatt101]

No idea. It depends. Maintaining 3-4% body fat seems like this bodybuilder's priority, rather than gaining muscle.

Nope,true bodybuilders focus on gaining muscle proportionally to their body while staying lean. Something that was the focus on 60s,70s and early 80s until bodybuilding took a dump.

It's hard to gain muscle without gaining fat too.

Yep.

Also there's no such thing as eating perfect, "Perfect" is subjective, your and his idea of perfect could be low fat, high protein, lots of veg. Which is not going to get you muscle. High fat diets are a must when gaining muscle.

High fat diets are not a must when gaining muscle. You can do it by eating tons of raw foods,meats veggies and fruits,fats aren't necessarily needed. That being said watch old bodybuilding videos....they eat beef. It contains a lot of fat,just make sure you cook it from raw ground beef and soak up as much fat from it as possible and go to town. By the way i go through 1 quart of light olive oil every other month and I stay at 6% and less all summer.

Also what does training hard mean?

Training hard implies that you know what you are doing in the gym. Which most don't. I advise anyone who is new to the gym to watch Pumping Iron,don't just watch it,study how they lifted,the lifts they did,form they have. How they lifted was almost a form of art. 99% of people in the gym don't have the form, devotion and intensity that they had back in the day.

Because no matter how hard he trains, he WON'T get bigger without squatting or deadlifting much.

You can get bigger without deadlifting. Squatting should be the pinnacle of intensity for the week and that is the only 1 single workout I've seen everyone whos physique was worth something do.

You should be squatting atleast 3 times a week.

WRONG. If you have form and are going intensely enough you should not even be able to do squats three times/week. If you can, you simply aren't going low enough or you aren't pushing yourself enough.(unless you are using some form of performance enhancing substance)

you MUST be doing something wrong or your body was not designed to easily grow muscle.

Newsflash. No ones body easily gains pure muscle.

Man where is Espi?

 

[CaptainJ]

Also what does training hard mean?

Training hard implies that you know what you are doing in the gym. Which most don't. I advise anyone who is new to the gym to watch Pumping Iron,don't just watch it,study how they lifted,the lifts they did,form they have. How they lifted was almost a form of art. 99% of people in the gym don't have the form, devotion and intensity that they had back in the day.

Because no matter how hard he trains, he WON'T get bigger without squatting or deadlifting much.

You can get bigger without deadlifting. Squatting should be the pinnacle of intensity for the week and that is the only 1 single workout I've seen everyone whos physique was worth something do.

You should be squatting atleast 3 times a week.

WRONG. If you have form and are going intensely enough you should not even be able to do squats three times/week. If you can, you simply aren't going low enough or you aren't pushing yourself enough.(unless you are using some form of performance enhancing substance)

The top question was rhetorical, my point was that it doesn't matter how hard you train, so long as you train right.

Sure you can get big without deadlifting, but why hamstring yourself (no pun intended) and go for the hard pointless route?

No squatting 3 times a week? HAH, tell that to Rippetoe and all other powerlifters. His program and many other strength training beginner + intermediate programs have you squatting 3 times a week. Form is the top priority, and your CNS gets used to squating intensely 3 times a week. Yes they all squat below parralel (that's deep to bodybuilders), otherwise it's not a squat, it's a nothing.

You can't just tell me it's impossible to squat 3 times a week with good form, depth and intensity. I do it. I squat 5x5 on high intensity, increasing by 2.5kg each time I squat, and I'm working towards a 1.5xbw squat. You simply can't tell me it's impossible. And no, i'm not on steroids, I just work hard. I'm not pushing myself enough? How can I squat so often and so hard and no push myself?

I can tell from your statements that you just don't comprehend compound lifts and the simple ways of gaining muscle. Your mindset must be locked into the "new age bodybuilder" mindset, where they fear squats and deadlifts, putting them on last priority against endless bicep curls. You're focussed on maintaining the "lean" look, that god forbid you should gain muscle, for that would involve gaining fat!

Try doing a bulking cycle, pig out, eat anything and everything, including lots of fats, whilst squatting 3x a week and deadlifting. Your perception on muscle growth would change.

 

[muscleman]

Squat/bench/deadlift are extremely beneficial if you're trying to gain mass. Yes you can do it without them, but it's a lot harder since you're essentially neglecting the biggest muscle groups in your body. Anyway ... you don't have to squat 1x a week, and you don't have to squat 3x either. Do whatever your program has you doing. Different programs, different goals. I went through Rippetoe, made monster gains, and it's a great program, but eventually you burn out on it. It's called Starting Strength for a reason. 5x5 is a good intermediate program, but you'll burn out on that too.

CaptainJ you seem to have a decent understanding of training, but I still call 3lbs of muscle mass/week complete BS. If you think you can prove otherwise, there's an ongoing thread at bodybuilding.com which offers $150 for anyone who can put on 10lbs muscle in 1 month, roids or not.

Just because it's not fat, doesn't mean it's muscle. After all, we're mostly water. And then the massive glycogen stores.

 

[blinkwatt101]

Just because it's not fat, doesn't mean it's muscle. After all, we're mostly water. And then the massive glycogen stores.

Lol fat...water...all looks the same. Not good.

 

[blinkwatt101]

F.y.i. this Rippatoe guy isn't all muscle. Here is him in the peak of what he should be looking lean in,mid rep during a competition.

http://www.crossfiteastside.com/uploaded_images/RipDeadlift.jpg

Don't get me wrong theres muscle there,but it's not all muscle. Fat makes you stronger,it gets more weight behind you making it easier to pull and throw stuff around.

 

[CaptainJ]

F.y.i. this Rippatoe guy isn't all muscle. Here is him in the peak of what he should be looking lean in,mid rep during a competition.

http://www.crossfiteastside.com/uploaded_images/RipDeadlift.jpg

Don't get me wrong theres muscle there,but it's not all muscle. Fat makes you stronger,it gets more weight behind you making it easier to pull and throw stuff around.

Dude don't misspell Rippetoe's name, especially calling him "Rippatoe" lol .

He's a powerlifter, not the strongest powerlifter around for that matter, but he does not have to look "lean", powerlifting competitions don't judge on how toned you are, just how much you can lift.

Also, let me get this straight, you are saying that fat makes you stronger!? Since when was it possible for fat to contract and lift weight? You're making up sh1t now that's not even relevant to the argument.

Muscleman, I can understand the effects of glycogen stores + water, increasing the weight of the muscle, leaving the actual amount of pure lean mass relatively lower than the "bulk".

The main point of my argument is dispelling this bodybuilder mindset of "Impossible to gain more than 1lb a month, I eat ALOT and train HARD, steroids are the only way!". These people are stuck in the bullsh1t of bodybuilding, forgetting about the oldschool methods and simple ways to gain muscle. I don't care if someone says they train hard, they probably aren't training right. Fvck your reverse superset tricep kickback skullcrusher curls with cables, just get me underneath a bar and let me squat. Someone says they eat alot, chances are they don't even understand the meaning of eating alot, I'm talking 10000+ calories with plenty of FAT (saturated baby), carbs and Protein. Now I eat much less than that, yet I still make significant gains, which makes me find it hard to believe people's claims of it only being possible to gain 1lb a month, when they then go on to tell me I'm not "allowed" to squat 3 times a week.

 

[blinkwatt101]

Also, let me get this straight, you are saying that fat makes you stronger!? Since when was it possible for fat to contract and lift weight? You're making up sh1t now that's not even relevant to the argument.

I'm curious. Do you ever watch The Worlds Strongest Man competitions on ESPN? Fat gets momentum behind you. Fat in itself doesn't make you stronger. Unless you are referring to legs in which case the dudes who are 'big boned' as their Moms like to call them tend to be able to push around more weight then the average joe due to the weight they have to wheel around 24/7.

 

[Colossus]

F=MA, boys.

 

[Deniska]

Im not conviced to the fullest that drinking a gallon of milk a day will give me great results and im sure its true, but for some odd reason, in the past few days, ive been drinking a lot of milk. Probably do to vitamin/mineral deficiency or because i havent had a glass of milk in the last 6 months.

I do Pull-ups and Chin-ups as well. I rotate both every other day.

I work out at home, cant afford gym fees right now, so i have about 200lb of free weights, plates of different weights that i use. Ranging from 5lb to 25lb, a bench, a set of "perfect pushups" and a bar for pull ups and chin ups.

I wont take Juice/steroids, because i do have heart issues, random sharp pain once a week since i was 7, to the extant that i cant sleep longer then half an hour on my left side. Other then that, i can run 2 miles or more just fine or lift as much weight as my body strength will allow me to all day long.

Once again, thanks to everyone for all your help.

 

[blinkwatt101]

First of all, nobody needs to "prove" you wrong. It is your own responsibility to back up your claims. If you wish to challenge whether or not it's possible to gain more than a pound of muscle in a month, then you prove it. Personally, I know you're wrong, because I've done it myself (and yes, I know how to use a caliper to measure body fat, so don't talk to me like I'm a fucking moron). But I'm not the one who's refuting other people's comments and effectively calling them idiots. If you're going to do that, you better have something pretty damn intelligent to say if you want anyone to listen to you.

I just took this pic. No pump for 24 hours. My back is my weak point,it's not wide enough to match the rest of me. It's from improper concentration points when hitting my back when I first started going to the gym. I, like everyone else in there, was pulling from my biceps.

http://tinypic.com/r/2nhp8n5/3

Anyone can run their mouth,but it's the result of their knowledge is all that matters.