Progress in Bulking Cycle

[TaoBoy]

Seems there's hope for us all.
I eat lilke a horse and still can't put on the weight.
I am starting a new program (weight and nutrition) this year - so let's hope for some gains.


Nice work FP!!

[Cheese Dog]

Great job, Ford! Congratulations for not letting the tick keep you down!

Can you post your workout program when you get a chance?
Thanks!

[Ford Prefect]

Ironfist,

N-Large shakes taste bad but not horrible. I just guzzle them.


Arhat,

LOL! I hope that was a joke. This is the second time in as many years that I've made gains like this, and I've never done any steroids before in my life. Either I'm some kind of mutant from another planet or your info is off.


TJD,

I'm not sure if the first time I broke out of my hardgainer rut kind of broke my body into gaining weight or not, but the first time I gained weight, I was eating 5,000-6,000 calories a day. It was pretty bad because I was full all the time and I had to force myself to eat. This time around, I'm eating under 3,500 calories a day and doing fine. A typical day would look like:

Meal 1: Cereal & milk, N-large shake
Meal 2: (post workout) N-large shake
Meal 3: 4 hard boiled eggs, protein shake
Meal 4: Can of Tuna w/mayo, milk, protein shake
Meal 5: Friday's Potato Skins (frozen variety), protein shake
Meal 6: 10-16 oz of Chicken Breast, grape juice
Meal 7: (30 minutes b4 bed) protein shake

My daily supplements were: Creatine (10 g), glutamine (15g), Flaxseed Oil for EFA's (3 tbsp)

During the day, I'd snack on nuts and fruit, drink a lot of water, etc. The best thing about this diet is that I was rarely too full for my next meal and I was usually pretty hungry when it came rolling around.

[Ford Prefect]

Cheesedog,

The first time I put on weight, I was using Westside Barbell's conjugated periodization plan. You can find articles about their method at:

http://www.elitefitnesssystems.com

Heh. I even wrote some articles for them about it which if you search hard enough, you will find.

This time around, I went with the straight bodybuilder approach. I'm working out 3 days a week.

Week 1-6: Day 1-Chest/shoulders/tri's, Day 2-Legs, Day 3-Back/bi's

In this approach, I'd pyramid 8 reps, 6 reps, 4 reps, 2 reps. At the end of the pyramid, I'd use the same weight I used for the 8 reps and fail with it. I'd also superset that with another exercise for the same muscle group. I also did some ancillary work in regular BB format of 3-5 sets of 10-15 reps.

Week 8-10: Day 1: Chest/back, Day 2-Legs, Day 3-arms/shoulders

This approach is similar to German Volume Training. I'd do 10 sets of 10 in my main exercises with 30-60 seconds rest. I'd then do some ancillary work in 3x10-15 format.

Week 11-12: same as first phase

This will be my cutting phase. Basically, I'm just going to try to maintain as much mucle as possible while cutting fat. I'll cycle regular aerobic work with HIIT first thing in the morning before a meal.

[Suntzu]

I still havent gotten use to the mini-meal thing… it works for about a week than the food runs out… and I hate grocery shopping… plus the fact that I cant add weight… carrot sticks and such just don’t appeal to me…

I was using Westside Barbell's conjugated periodization plan.

I just started reading and comprehending that style of planning… I like it… it might fit me better than the linear style… I have ADD when it comes to my weighttraining…

[Kempo Guy]

Ford,

Your workout seems similar to mine... I guess I was doing German Volume training without even knowing it...

Your eating plan is very similar to mine as well, although I'm restricting my calorie intake right now (to around 1800 - 2100/day) as I'm trying to lean out. I guess I'm doing something right for once!


Suntzu,

I hear you man. I had a really hard time with eating as many times a day as well. That is until I started planning my meals out a week in advance! These days I actually write out a schedule of meals for each day of the week that I try to follow.
This forces me to go to the grocery store once a week to stock up on food. And I prepare a lot of the meals in advance on Sunday evenings. Once you get used to the routine it's not that bad...

KG

[Suntzu]

I have ADD when it come to food too… but I get better when it comes close to fight day… that last 2 weeks I'm pretty good… but that because I usually snack on MR bars and salads and such… and being sooo focused on the fight(s) help me with my self-control... but right now... i have none... but a candy bar in my face i'm killin it...

[Ford Prefect]

Sun,

I hear ya, man. I'm on the verge of insanity right now from the eating plan and can't wait until it's over. Dietting is without a doubt, the hardest part of the whole thing.

KG,

Good to hear you're getting results from it too. Good luck with the restricted calorie dietting. I'm dreading that part.

[IronFist]

Originally posted by Arhat of Fury
Sorry Ford, i dont beleive you. Theres no way someone can put on close to 30 LBS of muscle in 8-10 weeks(even if some fat came with it.. Hell, the human body can only gain 12-15lbS of muscle in a year. Unless your using steroids, its not scientifically possible.

This sounds like one of those BS "magical" weightgainer commercials.

Are you serious? What would be his motivation for lying about his gains? Where did you get the 12-15lbs in a year statistic from?

IronFist

[Qi dup]

I've had the vanilla N large, and it really wasn't to bad. It really reminds me of something, I'm just not sure what it is. It's almost kind of, 'cake-y'. Things I liked about the N large is that it's not overly thick like a lot of shakes. It's also easy to mix, and It didn't leave the sludge in my blender.

[Ford Prefect]

inic,

I'm in Boston too (Waltham right off Rt20), so if you really don't believe it, you are welcome to drop by, and I can show you pictures of what I looked like in August/September. The change is obvious even with all my clothes on. (I won't take my clothes off for you unless you buy me dinner and movie first)

A quick search on google on theories of muscle hypertrophy should be sufficient to explain how it works theoretically. It's 5:30 and I'm outta here.

[IronFist]

Hey, I looked for the N-Large shakes today when I was at GNC (booooo). They had only like 5g of fat or something per serving, right? And I think 54g of protein? That's a lot of carbs in the shake... did they fill you up? Or do they just spike your blood sugar so you get hungry again in an hour?

Anyway, it was like $30 for 11 servings, or 22 servings if you only use half a serving. That's a bit expensive, but I might try them if you recommend them. Did you mix it with water or milk? They had chocolate and vanilla... which is better?

IronFist

[Cheese Dog]

Ford:

Many thanks for the info!

Cheese Dog

[Ford Prefect]

Iron,

That's why I use them sparingly. Two full servings accounts for close to 2/3's of my carb intake for the day. Those prices you listed are pretty expensive though. I pay $40 for a 10-pound jug that has 28 full servings. I usually only do halves so that's 56 servings.

[Qi dup]

I think this is the cheapest you'll find the N large. At least that's the cheapest I found it. When I got mine at GNC a while back I got hosed too. 29.99 for the small one. They might try and screw you with the shipping on the site aboce. If so, I'd try here Those are the best prices I could find.