Need some questions answered

[faiNt`]

Hi guys

First off, I'm about 6'4" and roughly 185 lbs. I've been pretty skinny all my life and haven't been able to bulk up no matter how much I eat.

I'm finished with organized sports, so bulking up is no longer needed. I simply need to improve my physical look; being skinny is not that great anymore.

I've always been told that heavy weights with low reps = muscle, while lighter weights with higher reps = tone.

If I simply want to LOOK good/better/jacked .. would I go for higher reps?

Ideas? Tips? Advice?

 

[Kerpal]

I've always been told that heavy weights with low reps = muscle, while lighter weights with higher reps = tone.

No, this is a common misconception.

 

[CarlitosWay]

Hi guys

First off, I'm about 6'4" and roughly 185 lbs. I've been pretty skinny all my life and haven't been able to bulk up no matter how much I eat.

You don't know jack about eating until you eat at least 1.5 to 2 grams X BW in protein from dead animals/protein shakes/eggs Day in, day out for years consistently. To put it into perspective an 8oz steak has around 50-60 grams of protein. I never dip below 200 grams of protein. When bulking I shoot for around 300+ grams of protein. I know of guys who eat 400 grams + Daily

You have a tall frame. That needs to get filled out. My buddy who is 6'2 is pushing close to 300 lbs (around 290 right now I believe, has a daily intake of 600+ grams of protein). Yeah he has done a cycle or two of steroids. Yet he got up to around 240-250 naturally, just by force feeding and training like a bodybuilder.


I'm finished with organized sports, so bulking up is no longer needed. I simply need to improve my physical look; being skinny is not that great anymore.

This doesn't make sense at all. So you don't think bulking up is needed. Yet then you go on to say you want to improve your physical look and not be skinny any more. Now ....how the **** do you suppose you're going to achieve that ?

Don't think for a second you're going to add a whole bunch of muscle while keeping your abs. Nope sorry it's not going to happen. Not saying you're going to have to get fat but at least expect a little bit of fat to accompany every 20+ lbs of muscle from eating 800+ calories over your maintenance calories week in, week out. Your job is to get into the gym training hard at least 4-6 times a week

I've always been told that heavy weights with low reps = muscle, while lighter weights with higher reps = tone.

Tone wtf...Get that word out of your vocab..school girls and guys who aren't serious about putting real amounts of muscle on use that word.


Load of ****.....Both work, both can build muscle and depending on the person and what they discover through trial and error one might respond better to lower reps and another might respond better to higher reps. My suggestion. Do both. Most guys I know who lift for size go heavy as they can in the 6-10 rep range (sometimes higher on say dumbbell exercises/ for safety). Then will use isolation exercises like lateral db raises for higher reps 10-15 rep range.

Just take a look at my journal. I mix it up. This is what is going to get me from point A to point B the fastest. http://www.sosuave.net/forum/showthread.php?t=170855

If I simply want to LOOK good/better/jacked .. would I go for higher reps?

Generally yes...more reps with no pansy ass weights gives a better time under tension. Which means you work that muscle longer and exhaust it to the point your body says "WTF?" and given you're eating enough it has no choice but to grow bigger and gain "some" strength as a side effect. Train for size by getting stronger (i.e. given more reps/or more weight) in the rep range you feel works for you and eat for size. Strength will be secondary. Yet the greatest part is if you do decide to train purely for strength later. Larger muscles have more potential for huge strength gains!. This is all not that hard.

Ideas? Tips? Advice?

I suggest if you want to achieve as much mass as possible and have a nice polished well looking physique later. Is to train like a BODYBUILDER. No ifs and or buts about it, don't care what smoke some one blows up your ass. Natural or not these guys are the ones who manipulate their diets and body compositions to achieve what most wish they had.

I also take the time to learn from powerlifters. They know how to build huge tris for example. Hell we have a 700 lb bench pressing powerlifter who you'll see using free weights, leg press and the smith machine. Utilize everything, remain open minded and don't feed into any dogmas that get spewed.

My point of this post is to get guys in their early 20's to think, to get guys who just blew 10 years of training who are in their 30's to think, and to get guys who just blew 10-15 years of training who are in their 40's to think. Am I advising bulking up? No that was a hypothetical example. Im advising you get your freaking head on straight if you want this so bad. That means extreme food intake pronto, with the heaviest weights in good form that you can use progressively, extreme stretching and enough cardio (and bodyfat protocols) that it keeps you at a leaness your satisfied with as you get dramatically larger. This sport isnt unlike a career. You have to set yourself up early so you can be right where you want to be late. Theres alot of you guys 35-45 years old in this forum, some that I even train, that think they want it but really dont have what it takes to go get it. I see it in their workouts they send me (they take the easy comfortable road never pushing the limits) and for those that I dont train I sometimes see it in your posts---you just dont have what it takes. I can only provide a guide to get there, I cant create an inner drive for you.
You have to start thinking in terms of point B from point A. Do you really think that eating 3000 calories with 225 grams of protein and doing the Weider "confusion training principle" to keep your body offguard will somehow magically make your 175lbs into 250lbs of rock granite monstrosity? Every year of training is so damn important. If you just trained for a whole year and only gained 2lbs of muscle mass, you just pretty much wasted a productive year of training--its gone--its lost and you arent getting that year back. Three weeks ago I was contacted by someone in his early 40's who had been lifting for many years, weighed about 170lbs and showed me a picture of Geir Borgan Paulsen and said thats what he wanted to look like and can i get him there?!. Laughable. Geir Borgan Paulsen is 50 years old and looks freaking phenomenal. He is a tiny bit (and i mean every so slightly tiny bit smaller) than he was when he competed in his 30's. Instead of wasting years and years of lifting getting absolutely nowhere, Geir spent his 20's and 30's eating huge amounts of food and training with heavy heavy weights so that he could walk around all thru his 30's, 40's and now 50 years old jacked to the hilt. Not many people have a better front double biceps than Geir no matter what age they are.....here he is http://www.nutritionoutlet.nu/galler...02/borgan.html
What Im hoping to relay to you slackers and dreamers that are in this forum is that you have to put your time in and pay your dues in this sport. Your 2-3lbs gain a year arent going to get it done so unless you want to get to 55 years old and look back and think "wow besides the people I told and myself, noone even knew I was a bodybuilder and I never made it"....you better get your ass in gear and your head on right and get this done now. Gaining fat is easy but if you never lifted how long would it take for you to gain 80lbs of fat from 175 to 255lbs? Probably a year and you would have to forcefeed yourself to get there. Just think how long it takes to put on 80lbs of muscle mass which is an extremely "hard to come by" commodity. This sport is about extremes--using weights you havent used previously, taking in amounts of food to build greater muscle mass-in amounts you never have done previously, and GETTING THE CARDIO DONE to keep you at an acceptable offseason training bodyfat that keeps you happy. Get your act together and think this all out or quit your complaining and dreaming and take up tennis.

An easy split I started that opened up my eyes on how to real train for size is this one a Dorian Yates inspired one

Chest/Tris/Bis
legs
off
Shoulders/Back
off

2-3 exercises for each body part consisting of compound exercises that work for you and isolation exercises. Just cause some one says do back squats, doesn't mean you have to if they feel like **** when you do them and don't even stimulate your legs properly. Hey front squats, hack squats or leg press might actually build your legs up greatly instead.

Hit the exercises hard for solid reps. Always progressing some way some how training day to training day via more reps or more weights in that rep range.

 

[CarlitosWay]

Drink plenty of water gallon + a day. Always eat protein first at every meal. take in the majority of your carbs (huge amounts) around work outs. It's like a window of opportunity =). Eat your good fats at other times of the day when you're not real active (i.e. before bed) things like natural peanut butter, raw almonds/walnuts, straight tablespoons of light tasting olive oil (or pure/extra virgin if you're hardcore)



Do all this and don't lift like a pansy and I can't see how you can not reach your goal.


Foods to eat ....

> Protein. Most people set it at 1 to 2 grams per pound of bodyweight, or if going by percentage of a diet, 30 to 40% of total intake -whatever floats your boat. This topic has been beaten to death!

Protein list
pork
beef
chicken
cottage cheese
cheese
protein powder
turkey
eggs
egg whites
all kinds of fish - oily (salmon, trout, sardine, mackerel) and lean (tuna, halibut, cod, flounder, and so on)
yogurt (has carbs too - actually more carbs than protein)
Greek yogurt (less carbs, more protein)

> Starcy carbs. Most people set it as 30 to 50 percent of the diet, depending on how good they do with them. I personally do quite ****ty with a ton of starchy carbs, but if you do good with them, so be it.

Starchy carb list
quinoa
whole-grain bread
whole-grain pasta
brown rice
oatmeal
oat bran
corn

> Fruits, beans, veggies. This is what has been recommended to make up most of your carbs throughout the day, thanks to nutritionists Lonnie Lowery and John Berardi. I'm with them. Eat these with most of your meals and leave the starchy carbs for the post workout and breakfast meals, unless you're extremely active, have an insane caloric allotment, or do great with them.

List
All veggies
All fruits
All beans

> Fats. Make up 30 percent of the diet. 1/3 saturated, 1/3 monounsaturated, 1/3 polyunsaturated. I don't bother counting this, but make sure I get a blend of fats.

List
olive oil
fish oil (I don't take caps. I eat a piece of salmon or a can of sardines.)
flaxseeds
flaxseed oil
nuts
coconut oil
macadamia nut oil
egg yolks
full-fat cheese
medium- to high-fat meats

> P + C and P + F versus mixed meal war. Do what works for you and what you have faith in. I'm with Berardi and Lowery.

> Peri-workout. Whey and/or milk protein or can of tuna and whatever simple carb floats your damn boat! Yeah, it can be a can of coke, low-fat chocolate milk, Surge, OJ, grape juice, or Kool Aid powder. I've used all sources and I've not noticed one damn difference in my physique, strength, or recuperative ability. Or you can actually live on the edge and go next door to the Chinaman and order a SOLID MEAL (gasp) of brown rice, steamed chicken, and veggies.

> Supplements. Most are **** and unnecessary. If you're eating 6 to 10 servings of veggies and fruits per day and eating enough nutrient-dense food overall, you don't need much, if any, of them.


Now I ****ing dare anyone to tell me what else needs to be here or what else 99 percent of newbies, intermediate, and even some advanced people need!

 

[faiNt`]

Thanks for the amazing reply Carlos. I'll be sure to start as soon as the doc gives me the "okay" from surgery.