Sorry to add another weight-gain thread, but I've been browsing over these forums and I'm overwhelmed with the amount of dietary information. It seems a like there is a lot of debate as to what a proper diet is and so I apologize if this just adds to the clutter. Anyway, I'm 150 lbs at the moment and I ultimately want to weigh in at 170-180 pounds. I've decided to make a goal of reaching 160 by Christmas time. I've been working out since the Superbowl and I've found that I've plateaued at about 150 lbs, and I believe that this is the result of me not increasing my caloric intake. That or impatience. I read over the sticky thread concerning the myths of starting a high calorie diet. I found it interesting because it was only a few days ago that I really began to focus on a higher caloric intake. Since I'm only beginning this diet I would like to do it effectively and so any help is appreciated. My knowledge of nutrition is pretty limited and so any dietary tips such as timing of meals is appreciated.
Your confussion is understandable. there is a lot of info out there. when i went into the Gracie instructor trainee program I decided to add 20 lbs of muscle in about 4 months. My brother is a natural bodybuilder and has won a few competitions so i did his plan. We both have the same body type so it worked for me but you may be built totally different,so I guess take what you can that works for you. 5 days a week I did my freeweight training. all after grappling of course) Mon. Back and bicepts, Tues, legs( a lot of your total weight comes from your legs so don't just lift upper body like some of these clowns you see in the gym) calves can be worked out nearly everyday because they are small muscles that heal rather quickly, Abs too. work the muscles out until failure occurs,were you just can't lift the weight another inch. This will help to tear down the tissue( wich you help rebuild through diet and rest) Wed,Rest your muscles to let them heal.Don't lift anything. Heavy weight less reps is the key to getting mass! Thurs. chest ,tricepts,and shoulders. make sure that you drink about 5 oz. of water every 10-15 minutes. the muscle is full of water and it needs replenishing when you tear them down. Fri, Abs , a little cardio,(not to much to were your burning all kinds of calories, but enough to work out your heart. it's a muscle too.) Sat. Legs and Abs. (as with all muscles you need to give them positive and negative resistance. don't just lift the weight and let it fall. let the weight down slowly, and controlled, Bad form will be of no use to you. Better to lift 20lbs. properly that 50lbs. improperly. Working out on an empty stomach will cause your body to use fat for energy. this is good. After your work out, take some amino acid pills that you can get from GNC. 2-3 pills depending on millegrams.Go to a good Mexican grill like Rubio's or baja fresh and get a big burrito with meat and cheese, stay away from the filler items in the burrito. and put some protein in you. Go home and rest. Sun. Rest,Eat,Rest, Eat. My brother would always be eating,5'9" 215 lbs. with 6-8% bodyfat depending on if he had a contest. Eat before you go to sleep, your body rebuilds itself when you are sleeping. Protein shake I use hemp protein,flax and whey. hemp protein has the purest form of plant protein for the human body. My brother told me to set an alarm for 4 in the morning, get up and eat egg whites or make a big protein shake or a turkey sandwich. good protein and the tryptophan will put you back to sleep. Creatine is a good suplement for growth. Creatine is found in red meat naturally, and what it does is it helps the muscle cells retain water in the cell, causing a larger firmer muscle to develope. You don't have to eat totally clean all the time, reward yourself once or twice a week with some Taco bell or what ever you like. Now back to the training. You have to change up your daily rutein after a little while to kind of "trick your muscles" do higher reps less weight once in a while. Mix-up muscle groups that you train together normally. Also do supersetting were you don't rest in between sets. not all of the time of course. Protein and Carbs are neccesarry for muscle growth. No Atkins diet here. Go to GNC or any other nutrtion center and get some good protein bars to eat on the go or at work in between breaks. Doing this made me go from 150 to 178 in about 3 1/2 to 4 months. Hope this helps and good luck.
Groundforce, I didn't even read all of your post, but I did see you wrote "hemp protein is the purest plant protein..." Where'd you get that? I'm all for hemp, man, but realistically, the hemp protein is a novelty item (unless you're a vegetarian). Stick the whey, egg, and casein.
Great stuff ground force, but if I'm doing multiple moves for the same muscle group, will I do the same move to failure, rest and move to another move. Or do just one move per muscle or go for a faill at the last move. I'd like to hear your oppinion, the lifting-till-failure really splits oppinions.
hemp seed protein is available online at www.veganessentials.com , Hemp protein has the purest form of essential omega3 and omega6 fatty acids that the body can digest,better than whey,flax and soy. I use it as a suplement in my shakes, I have packs of non-THC seeds from www.earthfriendlygoods.com they are great for popping some protein on the go. But yes I do use those others too.
Thanks, this is something that my brothers friend Shawn Ray told me at Powerhouse Gym in H.B. ( has a couple of national and international world bodybuilding titles) for adding mass, after your basic warm ups with lighter weight, get your heaviest weight you can lift 10 times or more. lift until you can't lift anymore. That is all the muscle requires to tear down. with proper form. If you are doing different excersises for one muscle group,this would be good to do at the end of the rutein.
That depends on your bodyweight. Kabuki made a great sticky for this. It isn't this simple, man. It's not rocket science, but it isn't as simple as "eat lots of calories."
Okay, but I still don't understand what "the purest form of essential omega3 and omega6 fatty acids" means. On a molecular level, could you explain that to me? It's just the word "purest" is in and of itself inert, here. I need to understand the concept of purity in regards to Omega 3's and Omega 6's since I've never encountered it before. How is this scored?
Madmick here is a link that will better describe hemp seed oil than I can. www.intensivenutrition.com/hempoil.htm
Yes, I own Ground Force Kimonos. the world's first HEMP fiber Jiu-Jitsu Kimono. info in gear and equipt section. 2nd page
Okay, here's the deal. The important information is the composition of hemp oil: 57% Lineoleic Acid (1.7% GLA) 19% Linolenic Acid Linoleic Acid is an Omega-6 fatty acid used in the biosynthesis of cell membranes and prostaglandins, but to be fully utilized by the body, it must be converted to GLA (another Omega-6 fatty acid which is actually an isomer of linolenic acid- that's next); most American's aren't deficient in GLA because of its presence in meats and oils, and the body's ability to efficiently convert linoleic acid to GLA when needed: borage, evening primrose oil, and black currant are all better sources of GLA. Of those, borage is usually the richest in GLA. As for linoleic acid, sunflower oil (or vegetable oil, for that matter) is a better source than hemp oil. Linolenic Acid is an Omega-3 fatty acid and has many benefits, especially to the cardiovascular system. Along with Linoleic Acid, it is a precursor to DHA (which coupled with EPA are the two EFA's found almost exclusively in fish) meaning that in this case, contrary to the usual order of digestion, the shorter chains are used to build longer fats; however, unlike the conversion of lineolic acid to GLA, the conversion of linolenic acid to DHA or EPA is very poor. In other words, in order to obtain these essential fats, you must get them from fish. Not to mention that flaxseed is a superior source of linolenic acid to hemp. Furthermore, it's been demonstrated in numerous studies that humans eat up to 10x their required Omega-6's in their diet, and hemp oil is richest in that. The EFA that Americans truly lack are the Omega-3's, particularly DHA and EPA. So contrary to what this website advertises, you're actually skewing the ratio of Omega-3's to Omega 6&9's for the worse (these retailers appear to be perpetuating the myth that the desired 1:3 ratio is for Omega-3&6's to Omega-9's). In other words, and to repeat myself, hemp is really a novelty item. Yes, it's has some cool whole food value, but is inferior to other foods available to be used in protein shakes that accomplish the same goals. Bottom line: for EFA's, you need to take a fish oil pill. Hemp can add some healthy dietary fat to a shake, but it doesn't address our serious EFA needs.
I've always wondered about hemp oil vs flaxseed oil. When you look at the numbers, the hemp oil seems to have a higher nutrition value, but I always wondered why bodybuilders and fitness experts rarely if ever included hemp oil in their diets. Considering flaxseed oil is almost always in there. This thread needs a bump simply for the flaxseed, fish oil/ hemp oil argument schematics by madmick. Good stuff.
