KimuraTriangle Posted March 1, 2012 Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 Hey guys, I adopted the Paleo Diet progressively over the past 6 months, and apart from the addition of cheese to my omelets, I've now gone totally primal. As I'd hoped, I feel a lot better, I'm much leaner, more mentally aware, have more energy, and I'm functionally stronger, faster, and more explosive.However, I've hit a ceiling. In particular, one which switching up my workout for several weeks hasn't helped. I can't seem to put on muscle. I'm getting stronger relative to my weight still, but according to my spreadsheets, that progress is slowing dramatically. Steve mentioned in his Beginner's Guide to the Paleo Diet article that he was adding more carbs to his diet to try and put on weight... but anytime I try to, I feel more lethargic and just generally worse.Can anyone give me some advice? Quote Link to comment
Corbab Posted March 1, 2012 Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 Make sure you're getting enough protein and enough calories overall. You might have been experiencing "noob gains," so it's entirely possible that your progress has slowed, and that's normal. Carbs can help if you're trying to gain weight, but it's primarily a calorie surplus that adds size. You might gain some fat in the process, but you can cut fairly easily on a paleo plan. Quote Never think of pain or danger or enemies a moment longer than is necessary to fight them. -Ayn Rand Amongst those less skilled you can see all this energy escaping through contorted faces, gritted teeth and tight shoulders that consume huge amounts of effort but contribute nothing to achieving the task. Link to comment
Anivair Posted March 1, 2012 Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 Also, what's your workout look like? Building muscle is largely a factor of how you're working out. Quote Level 3 Human Ranger STR: 9 DEX: 5.25 STA: 14.5 CON: 5.5 WIS: 16 CHA: 5.5 My Current Challenge Link to comment
Gainsdalf the Whey Posted March 1, 2012 Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 As for the carbs, the slower burning ones like beans make you feel like crap less typically. Quote Massrandir, Barkûn, Swolórin, The Whey Pilgrim 500 / 330 / 625 Challenges: 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 31 32 34 35 36 39 41 42 45 46 47 48 49 Current Challenge "No citizen has a right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. What a disgrace it is for a man to grow old without ever seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable. " ~ Socrates "Friends don't let friends squat high." ~ Chad Wesley Smith "It's a dangerous business, Brodo, squatting to the floor. You step into the rack, and if you don't keep your form, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to." ~ Gainsdalf Link to comment
Waldo Posted March 1, 2012 Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 As for the carbs, the slower burning ones like beans make you feel like crap less typically.Real heavy breads like wheats and ryes are some of the slowest burning carbs out there, single digit glycemic load, rivaling many non-starchy veggies.As for the OP, are you specifically lifting for muscle growth with reps in the hypertrophy range (8-12 reps)? Low reps will build muscles slowly mass-wise (but gain a lot of strength), high reps will do little for muscle size. Quote currently cutting battle log challenges: 21,20, 19,18,17,16,15,14,13,12,11,10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 don't panic! Link to comment
aj_rock Posted March 1, 2012 Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 Hey guys, I adopted the Paleo Diet progressively over the past 6 months, and apart from the addition of cheese to my omelets, I've now gone totally primal. As I'd hoped, I feel a lot better, I'm much leaner, more mentally aware, have more energy, and I'm functionally stronger, faster, and more explosive.However, I've hit a ceiling. In particular, one which switching up my workout for several weeks hasn't helped. I can't seem to put on muscle. I'm getting stronger relative to my weight still, but according to my spreadsheets, that progress is slowing dramatically. Steve mentioned in his Beginner's Guide to the Paleo Diet article that he was adding more carbs to his diet to try and put on weight... but anytime I try to, I feel more lethargic and just generally worse.Can anyone give me some advice?It's hard for us to help you without a better frame of reference. How strong ARE you, what is your BF/LBM numbers, height, etc... these are all things to factor into what realistic expectations you should have. Might be you're hitting a ceiling simply because you've been training long enough that gains slow down. You can't keep getting bigger muscles indefinitely. Quote Why must I put a name on the foods I choose to eat and how I choose to eat them? Rather than tell people that I eat according to someone else's arbitrary rules, I'd rather just tell them, I eat healthy. And no, my diet does not have a name.My daily battle log! Link to comment
KimuraTriangle Posted March 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 Okay, some numbers. I'm 5'9", 165lbs, 13% BF.As for lifting numbers, I haven't evaluated my 1RMs yet (except for the clean and press... I was curious in the moment), But here's what I do know.I have a 3-rep max on the barbell bench of 155lbsDeadlift 3RM is 215lbsBarbell Box Squat 4RM is 195lbsClean and Press 1RM is 125lbsI have a varied program focussed around training for combat grappling, specifically No-Gi Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Also in terms of my workouts fairly often I change what exercises I do week to week because I get bored quickly. And if I'm bored, I just won't go to the gym. I usually do full body workouts, but with one day where I focus on core-only. This is an example of this week's workout:Day 1:Barbell Clean + Press 6r7sSumo Barbell Clean 6r7sBarbell Deadlift 6r7sIncline Barbell Bench + Incline Dumbell Flyes (Superset) 6r7s eachOne-Arm Kettlebell Swing 20r5sDumbell Squat and Press 10r5s ^The last two I've just added in and am still getting the hang of, so I didn't want to go with heavy weights quite yet.Day 2-Dumbell Uppercuts 20r5s-Palms Facing Chin-Ups AMAP-Tricep Dips 6r7s-Barbell Box Squats 6r7s-Dumbell Punch Crawl (Across Room and Back)-Barbell Bench Press 6r7s-Dumbell Lunge Walks (Across Room and Back)Day 3-Cable Woodchopper, alternating sides (60sec, 7s)-Alligator Walks on Physioball (60sec, 7s)-Hanging Leg Raises (6r7s)-Ab Rollout (15reps) + Ab Plank 1m30sec, 7 sets-Squats + Dumbell Press 10r5s-Power Cleans 6r7s-Dumbell Bench Press laying on Physioball 6r7sDoes that help at all?Also, if at all possible in my diet I want to stay away from wheat and dairy. I just feel systemically better healthier since I started omitting it, and I don't want to give up those benefits. Quote Link to comment
KimuraTriangle Posted March 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 Oh, here's today's as well.T-Pushups w/ Light Dumbells 6r7sChin-ups (w/ feet on Physioball) 6r7sBent-Over Dumbell Rows 6r7sBarbell Plate Circuit (6r7s each) -Around the Head Drill -Front Raises -High PullsCable Twist w/ Physioball 6r7s Quote Link to comment
aj_rock Posted March 1, 2012 Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 How's your actual grapple training going? Most mixed sports like this require a lot of metabolic work, and metabolic work is primarily fueled by carbs. That, combined with the fact that you're probably still in a calorie deficit will slow muscle gains.If you really wanna concentrate on gaining LBM, get more carbs, and actually do LESS work. Metabolic work, because of the high carb requirements, generally doesn't go along well with fat loss. Quote Why must I put a name on the foods I choose to eat and how I choose to eat them? Rather than tell people that I eat according to someone else's arbitrary rules, I'd rather just tell them, I eat healthy. And no, my diet does not have a name.My daily battle log! Link to comment
Ryan Sannar Posted March 1, 2012 Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 I would say your not eating enough. Try to gorge more for a week or two and see if that changes it. Quote Link to comment
KimuraTriangle Posted March 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 @aj_rock Thanks for your input! Could you be more specific in what you mean by "doing less work?" Do you mean decreasing frequency of weight training, or jiu-jitsu? Or doing few exercises per weight workout? Quote Link to comment
aj_rock Posted March 2, 2012 Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 Not frequency, but volume. Do the weight training, and the jiu-jitsu, but do less sets with more effort per set in the gym, and keep jiu-jitsu workouts the same way; shorter, but overall the same amount of effort over less time.Otherwise, you'll end up over-working your muscles. You'll still overwork them unless you take in more calories though. Quote Why must I put a name on the foods I choose to eat and how I choose to eat them? Rather than tell people that I eat according to someone else's arbitrary rules, I'd rather just tell them, I eat healthy. And no, my diet does not have a name.My daily battle log! Link to comment
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