Kad's Battle

[Kad]

It's time to start a Battle log! Hopefully this will be useful for me to keep track of what I'm doing, and not go round in circles. Plus to sponge some more advice from you all folks And perhaps others in my position of "I wanna GAIN weight!" will find it useful.

 

Intro was here, if anyone wants a bit of background on me. https://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/115113-hello-nf-community/&tab=comments#comment-2543275

 

Turns out I had just presumed I was eating enough calories a day (seemed a lot...) but actually i was at least 500 a day under what I should have been eating to get some weight. So the mission is to reach 176lbs (80kgs) in a healthy manner, not just get fat. Starting weight is 70kgs (155lbs). To do this, the goals are:

 

• Exercise with weight training 3-4 times a week.
• Start swimming once a week
• Eat a healthy 2800 calories a day.

 

Starting me, starting stats (lol, ok it's an RPG right? xD)

 

I should probably do proper progress shots, I dunno - do we do that here?

 

Starting Stats:
25th October (im going back a bit which was low point)

Weight 70kgs (155lbs)

Body Fat 14.9%

Muscle 80.8% (it's a weird stat on my scales, it counts as everything which is not bone or fat basically)

Bone 4.2%

Water 57.8%

 

Current Stats:

22nd November

Weight 72.1kgs (158lbs) (+2.1kgs)

Body Fat 16%    (+1.1%)

Muscle 79.8% (-1%)

Bone 4.2%

Water 57.2%

 

It's been a busy time at work and I have not been exercising enough 😕

So gotta keep an eye on the fat % or i am going to just go from one type of unhealthy to another xD

[fitnessgurl]

https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/13-tips-for-guaranteed-weight-gain-the-skinny-nerd-manifesto/

 

Found this for you.

[Defining]

You might want to just use the scale as a trend tracker, rather than assuming it's hugely accurate; Lean Body Mass (LBM) does typically include everything that isn't fat. You might also benefit from converting those percentages into weight for a more accurate picture of your progress (eg. 125.25 to 126lbs 'muscle' %) - this also points out that if you're using these numbers, it looks like you gained <1lb of lean body mass to over 2lbs of body fat. Ideally it should be at least 1:1, or even more towards muscle (especially for someone like yourself: young, male, beginner). 

 

The higher fat gain could indicate a couple different things:

- you increased your kcal too much, too fast

- you're not eating enough protein

- your resistance training isn't stimulating muscle growth

- the bioimpedence scale isn't very accurate

- you're not sleeping enough/you're stressed

- all/any of the above

 

If you're looking at a couple of weeks where you won't have the time to work out, you should drop your calories down to maintenance levels (probably 2,200-2,400kcal for yourself?); no sense in eating for gains if you're not doing any resistance training to signal to your body that it should be building muscle from the extra energy.

 

A final recommendation, if I may: you should track your weight lifting progress as well. Seeing proof that you can lift heavier stuff than you did last month will be great motivation, especially if/when the muscle gain goes slower than you'd like. 

[Kad]

On 11/24/2019 at 2:18 PM, fitnessgurl said:

https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/13-tips-for-guaranteed-weight-gain-the-skinny-nerd-manifesto/

 

Found this for you.

Awesome! Thanks - my new bible! Seems like the perfect article for me. Will do a thorough read through when I am at home.

On 11/24/2019 at 6:33 PM, Defining said:

 

The higher fat gain could indicate a couple different things:

- you increased your kcal too much, too fast

- you're not eating enough protein

- your resistance training isn't stimulating muscle growth

- the bioimpedence scale isn't very accurate

- you're not sleeping enough/you're stressed

- all/any of the above

 

A final recommendation, if I may: you should track your weight lifting progress as well. Seeing proof that you can lift heavier stuff than you did last month will be great motivation, especially if/when the muscle gain goes slower than you'd like. 

Hmm yea on the points
- probably did jump up the calories very fast. ie: in one day!
-More milk needed! Aiming for 200g per day. Getting about 100g until i tweak things and grab some protien shakes.
-Hope it is! xD Will post routine etc here
-Bloody better be for the cost! haha

- Yes and YES!!! O_O lol 5 hours and crushingly stressed just now. Should work on that. After two weeks a lot of projects at work are over so .. should be better!

 

-------------

 

Day 2: Monday 25th Nov

 

Calorie tracking app is working well. Even though all the default foods on there are American. So i do a bit of data entry when eating!

 

Workout yesterday, which I have been doing for a while - time to vary things up a bit soon -

 

12 x Dumbbell Curl x 3 Sets 28lbs each arm

10 x Shoulder Press x 3 Sets 28lbs each arm

10 x Bench Press x 3 Sets 78lbs Poor weight I know, but any more starts to mess my shoulder. So taking it gradually.

12 x Overhead Tricep Press x3 Sets 28lbs

12 x One arm Dumbbell Raise x 3 Sets Each arm 28lbs

10 x Squat x 3 Sets 28lbs

12 x Side Raises x 3 Sets Resistance band

12 x Front Raises x 3 Sets Resistance Band

[fitnessgurl]

7 hours ago, Kad said:

Awesome! Thanks

You're welcome!

[Defining]

FWIW, I think you could definitely stand to back off on your arm stuff and get a bit more lower body work in there - if you only work on your vanity muscles (arms/chest/shoulders), you'll inevitably end up stalling and developing imbalances. IMO, it's also maybe not a great idea to try to gain muscle if you don't have the time/energy to really focus on it properly. If you try to bulk while sleep deprived and stressed, I think you're just going to end up gaining fat, and not the muscle/shape that you're actually looking for. Just my 2c.

 

I have a copy/paste blurb that I've shared before for bulking programming:

 

Spoiler

I'm going to make some assumptions here, and work on the premise that you'd like to add a bit of muscle, lose a bit of fat, and just generally get a bit more fit. To that end, if it were me (and I didn't want to get super overwhelmed right off the bat), for the first two weeks I'd probably start by trying to to hit up the NF bodyweight workout routine 3-4xweek and in a perfect world you'll also get a chance to walk outside for 30-60min/day. That gets you moving, and gently eases your body into being more active without making you hate life due to DOMS (soreness). Sounds like you are in an optimal position to make pretty rapid progress (young, male, beginner) - which should hopefully make the next few months super fun! 

 

In addition to working out, you REALLY NEED TO* also pay attention to both nutrition and recovery, to speed things along and keep yourself healthy:

 

You want to be sleeping AT LEAST 8-10hrs/night (the recommendation is typically a minimum of 8). Take days off between workouts, and don't overdo it on the number of sets you do each workout. Meditation and gratitude journaling is also helpful to reduce stress, which will improve recovery and help you make progress faster.

 

*You don't actually 'need' to do anything, but optimising your nutrition and recovery strategies will give you the best results in the shortest amount of time, and help prevent burnout.

 

For the workout:

 

You can alternate weight lifting/resistance training days with some cardio stuff like swimming, rowing, cycling, running (if you're into that kind of thing, eurgh ) - but make sure not to go TOO hard every day. Take a few days off every week where you're only doing lazy/easy physical activity like walking the dogs, going for an easy hike, leisurely swim, ultimate frisbee with friends, etc. 

 

To help you understand how to select exercises, I generally like to think of them as pulling and pushing for upper body (both vertical ie. overhead and horizontal ie. arms in front of you), and knee dominant or hip dominant for your lower body (the two major joints for your lower body, AKA squat v deadlift), and some folks also like to add some isolation exercises for areas that need some extra attention. Note: you could waste time on bicep curls, or you could use a bigger multi-joint movement like rowing to hit more body parts at once - even with time to spare, there's no sense in being inefficient with your workout design (and yes, I'm biased ). But that's pretty much it! Find some safe/fun lifts, work out consistently, and you're away to the races. Some more info: https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/how-to-build-your-own-workout-routine/ 

 

The other movement I'd add to the list would be loaded carries - which is to say, picking up something heavy and walking a distance with it- mostly because that mimics the most common day-to-day strength we need in real life! Plenty of folks also like to add core work as a specific category, which is cool - but your core will also be used to stabilise lots of the movements detailed below. Up to you, but here are a few more ideas if you want!

 

For beginners, full body workouts (rather than focusing on different body parts on different days) give you the chance to exercise each muscle group 3-4 times a week, which helps you to improve movement patterns and optimise initial strength gains. Essentially, beginners aren't strong enough to stress out their muscles to the point that they need to split things up, at least to start with. I also like to err on the side of less technical movements, especially when you're working out alone at home - the fewer things that can be done incorrectly, the better!

 

To that end, here are my favourite beginner movements: For each workout, pick one from each 'column' of movements (horiz push, horiz pull, vert push, vert pull, knee dominant, hip dominant, core, loaded carry) - you can vary these from day to day if you'd like to stave off boredom, or keep with the same couple of movements to make your progress easier to track. The order you do them in doesn't REALLY matter, so you can pick whichever out of convenience/gym availability, or prioritise the muscles you care more about by doing them at the beginning of the workout when you're freshest.

 

WARM UP: 5-10min of skip rope, burpees, rowing, or jumping jacks AND 2 sets of Sun Salutation for EACH SIDE (4 total, lots of variations around, I prefer the ones that include a lunge movement/stretch for your hips)

 

OR the NF Warmup if you prefer that over my yoga tomfoolery suggestion  

 

Then:

• Goblet squat or Split Squat (lower body; knee dominant) - kettlebells are NOT essential, you can start with just bodyweight or use dumbbells (or even just hold a weight plate)
• Hip Thrust or Practice the Hinge (lower body; hip dominant) - add weight when you can do at least 15 bodyweight reps in a row; don't deadlift until you have a good hinge. This is a bit alarmist on my part - lots of people really enjoy deadlifting, and see fast progress on it when they start out; personally, I prefer to build the base movement patterns first, but if you're curious about DLs there are plenty of experienced lifters (which I am NOT) available on the forum to help you out.
• Inverted Row or Dumbbell Row (upper horizontal pull; pick one per workout) - keep your back straight, don't let your shoulders cave in! Seated cable rows are also great.
• Pull Downs with bands or cable weights (upper vertical pull; pick one per workout) - lighter weights to start with, you should focus on feeling it in your back, not your arms (this movement will eventually progress to pull-ups, but those are really hard for most of us to star out with). If you can do pull-ups, do those instead!
• Pushups or Dumbbell Bench Press (upper horizontal push; pick one per workout) - regress as needed to keep good form
• Headstand Pushups (upper vertical push) - elevated pike push-ups are a good regression for beginners, and DB presses are another option, but DON'T do any overhead pressing with weights if you have poor thoracic (upper back) mobility or shoulder stability. Another great option would be landmine presses, which can help you add weight while keeping your shoulders/back safe & happy. Or incline DB bench presses, if you prefer.
• RKC Plank or Auxillary Core Movements (core) - time and reps don't matter if you're not doing them properly; slow & good form for 15sec is better than bad form for 60s
• Farmer's Walk or Similar Variations (loaded carries) - also acts as a 'metabolic finisher' for the workout

 

COOL DOWN: Brisk Walk for 15min, 2 more Sun Salutations (one per side) OR do some foam rolling if that's your jam

 

RE: Rep & set schemes - I prefer the rep goal system

Aim for a minimum of at least 25 reps per movement, starting at a weight that you can just lift for 5 reps, and then every set is as many reps as possible. The progression would be increasing how many reps I can do in a row, but ALWAYS needing to finish at least 25. Once you can hit at least 3 sets of 8 reps, it's back to the beginning. 

 

eg. goblet squat with 40lbs

workouts 1-3: 5-5-5-4-3

workouts 4-5: 6-5-5-4-4-3

workout 6: 6-6-5-5-4

workouts 7-8: 7-7-5-4-4

workouts 9-10: 8-7-6-5

workout 11: 8-8-7-6

workouts 12: 9-8-8

Increase weight to new 5 rep max next workout!

 

I prefer this kind of periodisation because A: it's easier to remember what weight you're lifting because it doesn't change as often (eg. it's the same weight for 2-3 weeks in the example above, but you're still practicing progressive overloading), B: it simulates a natural progression from strength to endurance, which also helps connective tissue catch up to the muscle, and 😄 it ensures that volume is consistent, regardless of the rep range you're using. It's ALSO pretty handy because it takes less time when you're first starting out to figure out how much weight is appropriate for each lift

 

Your first week with weights will likely see your workouts taking longer, just because you're still learning the movements and figuring out the weights. Once you're in a groove though, ideally your workout (including warmup) will take you less than an hour to finish. Any longer than that and you'll start to fatigue.

 

WRITE DOWN YOUR WORKOUT, so it's easy to remember/follow along, as well to track your progress. You may feel like a dweeb, but tracking your workouts is the best way to ensure regular and consistent progress.

 

You can also ignore all of the above, and try a pre-existing beginner program like Starting Strength or something similar. Personally, I prefer being able to customise to my own needs & preferences, but I also understand the appeal of a simple 'do that, this way, for that long' routine.

 

TL:DR - eat enough protein, get some veggies in, sleep lots, lift heavy stuff, move often, be safe, have fun!

 

Don't do stuff you don't enjoy, and remember to go slow, be safe, and have fun. I'm most definitely NOT an expert, health professional, or otherwise credible source beyond being a random stranger on the internet who reads too much.