i know this is annoying..

[gcrewx]

but im looking for some help...

ive been lifting (inconsistantly) for a year or two now but never too serious. by not too serious i mean like i JUST started up again last week after not lifting since like march. its been more consistant than that, but still not enough. so here i am wanting to give it another shot. ive gotten stronger and seen gains in my size but im still obviously nowhere near my target weight. im a lean guy. 6'0 149lbs with 6-7% bodyfat. i tried max-ot for a while and it worked but i wasnt consistant with it so im thinking about trying it out again. my only problem is im afraid it will make me slower. does that make sense? i play a lot of sports. and i skateboard. so im a pretty active/agile guy and i'd like to stay that way. im not an idiot and i know that max-ot isnt going to change me over night and make me a dumb slow monster, but i just want to make sure that its the right thing for me. i'd like to be about 160-165 lbs and maintain my current bodyfat percentage. i look athletic and i want to continue to look athletic. so basically is this right for me? any input that you want to offer would really help me. thanks guys

sawyer

[whiteman90909]

If you want to stay leaner, just do more reps at lower weight and dont force your muscles into hypertrophy. Lifting can't hurt if you do it right.

[gcrewx]

i was wondering about that because i DO want to stay lean, but at the same time i DO want to gain like 15-20 pounds..

[greathuskie]

lift for strength and everything else will fall into place. just dont go on a fat nasty bulk and you wont gain a lot of weight, but you will gain muscle, just not that fast.

whiteman, more reps + lower weight = no hypertrophy? ummmmmmm

[whiteman90909]

Have i completly misread all of the posts ive ever seen? damn, cause ive been under the impression that more weight + fewer reps + foooooooooooood= hypertrophy

[gcrewx]

like if you look at my profile picture you can see how small i am. i want to be bigger. i want a bigger chest, bigger arms, bigger legs, a nicer stomach, etc. so i want to be lean but i want to be muscular..

[Turnip]

Cutting and bulking is the best way to do this, means you need to lift heavy, and eat alot, and then lift heavy, and not eat alot. Its a vicious cycle.

[Built]

If you want to stay leaner, just do more reps at lower weight and dont force your muscles into hypertrophy. Lifting can't hurt if you do it right.

What?

Um, whiteman, care to explain this one?

[LivinItUp]

like if you look at my profile picture you can see how small i am. i want to be bigger. i want a bigger chest, bigger arms, bigger legs, a nicer stomach, etc. so i want to be lean but i want to be muscular..


You can never have it all at once :) it takes time

I'm tellin' ya you should really start eating like a monster...take in HIGH protein foods.

As you may know...you need to really eat to get bigger. It's just not going to happen when you don't eat over you're maintenance...I personally have no trouble losing or gaining weight, and well I did not put on much muscle at all when I was eating in caloric deficit even though the foods were very health and high and protein. I've gained a whole lot of muscle, however, when I eat over maintanence same types of foods and maybe some other decent foods just for the calories. You'll gain some fat, but it won't even be noticable if you are gaining muscle as well...not to mention the new muscle adds to you're metabolism.

For someone you're size, it's somethin you shouldn't be so concerned about. The best route to take in my opinion is BULK up and cut back down...you'll be impressed with you're results if you do it right. You won't slow down either...I had gained from 195lbs up to 220 lbs in a few months, and well I was still just as agile, I gained enough muscle to handle that much more weight on me.I didn't look fat because I am tall and have long limbs. I'm back down to 200lbs and now I look skinny, but with big muscles lol! Lean I guess you can say, not so much skinny.


Ok, with my opinions set aside, if you are dead set on maintaining you're skinnyness/leanness, do what is called a clean bulk. You need to take in a little over maintenance so that you gain a few lbs here and there. You should notice more muscle, if you're not...then eat more. Stick to the heavy lifting and lay off the cardio...you won't gain much or any fat, and if you do and feel uncomfortable...it can be fixed with a little cardio and diet anyways. To get a nicer stomach you'll need some weighted ab excercises and the bulking I am mentioning..once you're abs get developed...it's a simple matter of diet(possibly some cardio if you want to risk burning some muscle) but a little won't hurt.

So I hope this makes sense, I have to leave so I cant double check what I wrote!

[KingWilder]

seriously...more reps at lower weight??? I think you have it backwards.

[TwiloMike]

Have i completly misread all of the posts ive ever seen? damn, cause ive been under the impression that more weight + fewer reps + foooooooooooood= hypertrophy
When someone says "I want to gain 15-20lbs" it means they want hypertrophy, mkay?

To the OP: Eat clean, eat lots, train heavy, don't max out regularly, get on a good routine, rest plenty, and you will gain without massive amounts of fat.

[HeavyBomber]

lift for strength and everything else will fall into place. just dont go on a fat nasty bulk and you wont gain a lot of weight, but you will gain muscle, just not that fast.

I must admit that I haven't read this thread very intuitively but this statement is very sound advice.

[whiteman90909]

Like I said in my previous post, I am thouroughly confused now. Im going to dissect what I said, and please correct my mistatments.

Hypertrophy is when your muscles grow larger than their normal size due to increasing the amount of weight you are doing, but doing fewer reps of the excersise, example, a 3x3 routine. So if he didnt want to gain lots of muscle, he didn't want to go into hypertrophy., and therefor should be doing 8+ reps per set.

Please go wild and tear that statement apart.

[Songsangnim]

Like I said in my previous post, I am thouroughly confused now. Im going to dissect what I said, and please correct my mistatments.

(a)Hypertrophy is when your muscles grow larger than their normal size (b)due to increasing the amount of weight you are doing,(c) but doing fewer reps of the excersise, example, a 3x3 routine. (d) So if he didnt want to gain lots of muscle, he didn't want to go into hypertrophy., and therefor should be doing 8+ reps per set.

Please go wild and tear that statement apart.

(letters in brackets are mine)


(a) Short answer, Yes

(b) Hypertrophy can occur by other methods than increasing the amount of weight.

(c) You don't require fewer reps (that's more for strength, although that can also increase hypertrophy).

(d) 8+ reps a set? There is no set scheme of reps and sets that stimulate hypertrophy...if there was, we'd all be doing it.

[jostrichm]

If you want to stay leaner, just do more reps at lower weight and dont force your muscles into hypertrophy. Lifting can't hurt if you do it right.

Ridiculous :rolleyes:

[whiteman90909]

I dont know what I was thinking when I wrote that... Pleaseingnore my comments and Ill curl back into a little ball under my computer table.:hide:

[mrelwooddowd]

You don't have to read any post but mine..

If you're truly 6-7% bodyfat, and only train sporadically, you can eat whatever the F you want as long as it's a surplus with protein.

Eat, lift heavy (consistently now), sleep, and get your 20lbs.