Critique me!

Jimmy Bottlehead

Hey all.

Ok, I'm 6'0", and a hardgainer. Always have been. I started going to the gymin May or so. I weighed 11st with 13% Body Fat (BF). Now I'm 12st 9lbs with 9% BF.

My diet is roughly this (when I stick to it)


8am: Pint of Milk w/Nesquik (hate the taste of just milk)

9am: Three Weetabix w/ milk,

11am:usually two yogurts

1pm: Right now, it's a sandwich/panini with cheese, turkey (deli, I know it's poor), stuffing and cheese w/apple juice

3.30/4pm: Weightgainer shake (N-Large 2, three scoops with milk)

Gym from 6-7.15 or so

7.20pm: Weight gainer shake (as above)

8.30pm: Two grilled battered chicken fillets (Big Al's) w/two buns

11/11.30pm: (Avonmore Chicken & Veg) Soup with a Two-scoop weightgainer.


******************************


My workout is currently:

Day 1: Chest/Triceps
Day 2: Back/Biceps
Day 3: Legs/Shoulders

I do three sets across the board, aiming to do around 15 on the first set, between 10-12 on the second set and 4-10 on the final set, raising the weight each time. usually go to failure or use the rest-pause technique.

Day 1:

Incline bench press
Decline Press
Flyes

Tricep pulldowns w/hand straps
Skull Crushers
Narrow-Grip sitting chest press machine


Day 2:
Wide Grip Lat Pulldown
Standing Narrow Grip lat pulldown
Bent Over dumbbell Rows

Standing E-Z bar bicep burls
Preacher Curls
(and if I've anything left) 21's (7 low, 7 high, and 7 full curls)

Day 3:
Shoulder Press Machine
Front Dumbbell Raises
Lat Raises
Behind the back Barbell shrugs

Squats
Leg Press
Calf Raises


I have changed my workout routine recently, I can post that up if it helps in any way? But I figured this was enough to read to start off with!



I'm looking to keep putting on size. I'm not terribly bothered about putting on a bit of fat, it's part of it. Even with the weight I've gained, there's not too much fat there. The BF% has actually dropped!
But I'm sure the peeps on here can give me some advice on diet and working out, so please do.

Thanks,

CJ

Hanley

If that's all you're eating then you're not a hardgainer....

Dragan

Hanley wrote: »

If that's all you're eating then you're not a hardgainer....

Agreed. There is no such thing as a hardgainer.....it was a clever word developed by a clever man to sell books and magazines.

If your training hard and eating big you grow.

Jimmy Bottlehead

Cheers lads, but that doesn't really help... d'ya reckon I should change anything up?

Cadrach

The diet doesn't look good. To begin with, you need more solid real food - proper steaks/chicken breasts (not Big Al's)/fish and lots of fresh veg (broccoli/spinach/peppers/etc. - I know they're not nice but they're good for you)

g'em

First off, congrats on the progress so far. To keep making progress, keep it simple. If the volume of food you are currently eating isn't helping to add mass, then eat more.

At first, get used to the increase in food. I get the feeling that if you start to micro-analyse your diet too much you'll end up not eating enough becuase you're afraid of eating the "wrong" thing. Don't be: eat more of the good foods and you can't go wrong. More fats, more protein, more complex carbs.

At breakfast maybe have some wholemeal toast and peanut butter, or scarmble some eggs, or have both and the weetabix!

Mid-morning add some nuts, some fruit, an oat bar or three oat bars - essentially get another proper "meal" into you. Double the size of your lunch. Oh and get more veg into you - nothing to do with the weight gain, your diet just lacks in antioxidants, vitamins and minerals Whatever your diet is right now, make it bigger. You have a license to eat more - make the most of it!!

In training put the emphasis on big, heavy, compound lifts. As long as you're eating enough to support the growth of muscle it will do!

hardtrainer

From the info you've given, you've added more than a lb of muscle per week (on average) for 6 months, so thats great going. Has it been a slow and regular gain in mass or have you found that your gains have tapered off in the last couple of months?
This is important, as if you have seen things tapering off, then perhaps it's time to make changes. If you've been consistently making gains, then honestly, just keep going as you are (though do try to balance your diet with some fruit and veg as G'em and Cadrach have already said).

Vegeta

While what the lads say is true, oh so true, can I just add to watch the BF%

Colm_OReilly

Train for strength, eat a lot of healthy foods, and you'll grow.

You don't eat enough protein by the looks of it, particularly early in the morning. Get some meat into you early enough, and at every meal.

Also, as g'em said, eat more veg - this should really be the mainstay of your carb intake. Don't train your body in a segmented capacity, train it all as one - the compound movements of the squat, deadlfit, press, pull ups, dips etc will deliver a better anabolic punch to aid in growth.

Jimmy Bottlehead

hardtrainer wrote: »

From the info you've given, you've added more than a lb of muscle per week (on average) for 6 months, so thats great going. Has it been a slow and regular gain in mass or have you found that your gains have tapered off in the last couple of months?
This is important, as if you have seen things tapering off, then perhaps it's time to make changes. If you've been consistently making gains, then honestly, just keep going as you are (though do try to balance your diet with some fruit and veg as G'em and Cadrach have already said).

It's been a big gain when I manage to stick to my diet. For instance, I lost 3lb over one weekend from not really eating much or often. It's taken me two weeks of fairly solid eating to regain that again. Also, I forgot to mention that I'm on creatine. I was on Animal Pump (now banned) and found it excellent. The NO and other stuff in it really gave a boost and a good focus. I'm on N-Gorge now, it has creatine and NO but I don't find it as effective. So maybe that counts for something?
Also throwing in cod liver oil and multivitamin tabs, but I realise they're no substitute for real vits through good food. I'd usually go for red apples, bananas, pineapple... carrots, maybe parsnip, potatoes... it's getting the time to make veg that's the problem.

g'em

CJ Marren wrote: »

it's getting the time to make veg that's the problem.

Buy steamer as pictured:


Put water in steamer. Heat until water is boiling. Put veg (fresh or frozen) into steamer. Leave for 3-5 mintues. Remove. Eat.

I pre-cook all my lunch meals this way, usually steaming a chicken breast before the veg. It takes me all of 15 minutes to do in the evenings, or 5 if I've already cooked up a batch of chicken breasts a couple of days beforehand.

Alternatively get a roasting dish (a deep rectangular dish) and slice up carrots, parsnip, aubergine, courgette, red onion, cloves of garlic, peppers and tomatoes. Drizzle liberally with olive oil and bung in a 200C oven for about 30 minutes. Deee-licious

Jimmy Bottlehead

Right-o, I've changed the old breakfast - now porridge (with Avonmore Choc Milk for taste, can't stand it otherwise) and I'll pick up a steamer (haha) at the weekend. Never even occured to me that they cooked stuff that quick!
Thanks again G'em!