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So I'm 18. 5ft5. 68kg. Been gym since I was 15 nothing major since the last year, I have a high metablolism and find it so ****ing hard to put on mass, when training I train heavy for a decent amount of reps and burn out fairly quickly so I thought i'd get some Creatine... However my knowledge is limited.

How many should I take and when?

I work out on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Cardio inbetween

Any help is greatly appreciated!

[csaba73]

Kabo0m,

Welcome to the Dungeon - looking forward to seeing many contributinos and great development from you.

Taking Creatine increases strength in short-explosive exercises (like weight training) with 10%. It might also increase your lean mass (body mass-fat) mainly as your muscle cells will have more water in them. Best source of creatine is mono-hydrate, of which you take approx 5 grams with your post-workout shake. Some people introduce creatine with a loading cycle, in which you basically take for first week or so 20g / day in 4 servings. There is no scientific foundation for this though and it might cause stomach discomfort if not taken with a lot of water.

However, from your description I doubt Creatine is what you need at this stage. What would help much more is to have a clean diet with lots of protein from natural sources. You will find in other threads that the main recommendation is 5-6 meals a day, with about 30g of protein per meal. Best sources of protein are: chicken breast, turkey breast, salmon, egg whites, skimmed milk.

In order to create a good diet, you will need to have the discipline to track what you are eating, start keeping a log for one week (fitday.com and sparkpeople.com are good free sites for this). Once you know how much kCals and Proteins you take on average post these to this thread and you will get lot's of great recommendations.

Cardio is great for overall fitness however - if you really want to gain weight, then you should be careful not overdoing cardio. Max 1-2 sessions/week of max 45 mins and preferrably HIIT of 20-25 mins instead of cardio.

Looking forward to your meal log.

[Peaked]

Thanks for replying so fast. See I know how to work out, decent ways of training certain aspects of Protein and stuff but I think my diet is wrong. I find it hard as I live with my parents still to stay on some diet, I eat anything I do drink protein shakes, whey protein I have one after workout, about 2 hours after then before bed. around 40g, 40g, 20g.

The suggestion about Cardio I hate it. I really do hate it, I don't always make it twice if my legs get burned out and swore I can't run anyways. But I wanna do it, to rid of some fat around my lower abs (only frikken place).

Any other suggestions as what I can do to improve overall? It's been about 3 years and well I'm not as big enough as what effort I put in...

[csaba73]

Kabo0m,

I know what you mean with living with your parents - we have all been there :-)

Still you can shoot for more meals, for instance taking peanut butter and some low-fat yoghurt can get you 20g protein. Or a simple scrambles egg (6 whites, 1 yolk). And heating up a salmon fillet is also kids-play.

However, you must decide what you want to do:
1/ cut body-fat
2/ increase lean muscle

It is virtually impossible to do both.

In your case, based on your stats, you might consider cutting fat before increasing lean muscle (but if you post some photos we can judge much better). In this case, keep up the cardio (see advise above), reduce your daily kCals with about 300-500 and increase your proteins to 150-200g/day.

Oh, there is no such thing as reducing fat in specific body zones, you decrease overall body fat and based on your genetics you will lose fat in certain body parts. It is not uncommon to have large body fat differences between legs, arms and torso. Nothing you can do about this - training abs will not reduce belly fat.

[Peaked]

I'm not fat, I'm more skinny than anything just I cant see my last 2 abs, I will try and get some pictures up.

I'm going to try get a decent diet going I'm also a fussy eater certain things I will eat just for the sake of the Protein can't say I like my shakes but I down em anyways. Am I taking my Protein at the right time, decent enough amount or should I increase that? I don't know the best specific times to eat, even when to take Protein.

I don't do individual muscle group on a day, I do a 2-3 hour workout, where I work hard, fast and train my whole body. What should I take on my resting days?

I'm definatly going to try get some decent shots of me. Could'nt upload two old photos as I havn't posted enough yet. :)...

[Peaked]

I think I just added a profile picture, this shot is just a stupid pose shot and about 6 months old since then I have gotten a little bit bigger, but not hugely.

[csaba73]

thanks for the additional info:

2-3 hours of training is too much - your workouts should not be more than 1 hour - after one hour your body starts to break-down amino acids from your muscles to provide energy for the workout. In this sport less is often better. However, you really need to get your food right before worrying too much about the exercises.

Protein (as in whey protein shake) you should take immediately after your workout; you might also add protein powder to your breakfast, i.e. a bowl of low-fat milk, whey protein and your favourite cereals / oats / etc. Some people also take casein protein before going to bed, if you fancy this, try the cheaper option (and the one your parents will not object to) is to eat 50-100g of cottage cheese.

[Peaked]

Really too much? I mean I do a full body workout, yea after an hour I feel drained but I take a lucozade and keep going. I train biceps (My favourite muscle) for around an hour.

I do 50 normal pull ups, 30 wide grip pulls ups.
Bicep curls 15kg / 80 - 120 Reps (8-12)
Bicep inclinced curls 12.5kg / 50 Reps (10)
Ez Bar 20kg / 50 reps (10)


Inclinded dumbell press 22.5kg / 60 reps (10)
Dumbel fly 12.5kg / 40 - 60reps (10)
Pulldowns 23kg / 50 - 70 reps (10)
Dips 50 - 100 reps (10-15)
Also that thing with the Ez bar above your head, then like reversed curl? 20kg 60 reps.

Leg machine squat 100kg - 150kg - 60/70 reps.

Abs 200 sit ups, 50 crunches 50 leg raises.

I mix in some more minor **** if im feeling good some more curls, pull downs simple stuff.

Once I do all this **** time flys I don't have long resting periods unless I feel I need it before I die :P. But as for a diet well I don't really have one tbh..

Cereal - Sandwhich - Dinner consists of some chicken, chips, beans or something. Then nothing except my Protein shakes .. I eat ****ty food which after reading 100000 posts im going to concentrate and cut the crap ..

For me it's a pretty decent workout I add reps if I feel I can continue it gets my muscles bursting and pumped and I feel it the next day. I am thinking of taking 140g Protein on a workout day instead of 100g, how much on my rest days and when should they be taken?

Thanks for all the help, I appreciate it alot.

[csaba73]

Buddy, please spend some time reading other threads in the exercise section - but basically:

1/ max one hour, high intensity

2/ individual muscle group needs to be trained once maybe twice a week (not 3 times like you do)

3/ high intensity and high weight, so next time you post, please don't write 120 reps of biceps curls, it hurts to read this! instead you need to get a heavier weight and do 5 sets of 8 reps (this is 40 reps - and you have 60 secs rest between sets)

4/ train all muscle groups - you miss triceps, shoulders, traps and your legs are 60% of your body muscles and you only give them one exercise?

5/ protein helps you to build muscle, you build muscle 48-72 hours AFTER exercise, so if you train 3 times a week then you need to keep your protein high regardless of this is a training day or not. Most people would be on 150-200g protein PLUS 30-40g in the post-workout shake

If you want to take just one advise - reduce your workouts to one hour. This by it self will help you to grow

Bonus:
1 hour of weight training = 400 kCals, 3 hours is a whopping 1200 kCals, you train 3 x week = 3600kCals. PLUS 2 times Cardio of 400 kCals. This is 4400 kCals of activity based calories / week or 630 kCals/day!!! Add your normal consumption to this, let's keep it at a modest 2000kCals. So you need 2630kCals just to stay at equal weight!!

Your diet looks like 2000kCals to me so it is no miracle you are skinny, there is no way your body can build muscles with a negative calorie balance of 630/day!

[mitbar]

Originally Posted by Kabo0m

So I'm 18. 5ft5. 68kg. Been gym since I was 15 nothing major since the last year, I have a high metablolism and find it so ****ing hard to put on mass, when training I train heavy for a decent amount of reps and burn out fairly quickly so I thought i'd get some Creatine... However my knowledge is limited.

How many should I take and when?

I work out on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Cardio inbetween

Any help is greatly appreciated!

take 5grams preworkout, 5 grams post workout. on non workout days just take 5grams.

[Peaked]

I don't miss out triceps, traps yea I forgot about them I just do shoulder raises, side heavy weight low reps and infront not heavy but low reps.

If I was to workout in an hour so it = 3 hours a week, would I feel the burn enough? I mean working my whole body does take time and my overall goal is to look like some of you guys:). Not like Ronnie coleman but big, lean and muscular. I am taking in the information you are saying and it's a big help but I like to understand why ofc.

15g Protein a day? It's 19g a scoop and I was heading towards to 150g a day?

The cottage cheese just done some research looks like crap, but 14g Protein for 100g cottage cheese that's gotta be a good source right?

[mitbar]

hey bro you will get a better response for diet in the nutrition section.

[Peaked]

I'll give it a look, I just thought 10g of Protein is way to small?

[mitbar]

you need atleast 1g per lb a day.

[csaba73]

Kabo0m,

one hour is enough - trust me - if you lift heavy enough and with right intensity you will be cringing of pain the day after.

To become someone like Ronnie you need 10+ years of exercise and be genetically gifted - at your age I would prefer focusing on your academic career which in later life will help you find a real job. Apart from very few professional body builders (Schwarzenegger) very few have managed to make a decent living after their sport career.

re-read - I wrote 150g of protein as a lower-limit and this is still double of the average protein consumption of adults. A scoop is usually 30g (but better to check with a reliable scale)

Cottage cheese you take before bed - it is full of casein protein which takes about 7 hours to process. The idea here is to have a steady protein flow in your body also during sleep. The 14g is not much, your overall metabolism during sleep is also much slower, so this actually works. As mentioned before, you can also take casein protein, this is actually quite an expensive form of protein to buy, but this gives you 30g proteins in one scoop for the night. I only take this when I have eaten very little or when I wake up at night hungry.

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Ah .. I have Whey Protein it's 19.1g per scoop. I'm going to take 150g Each day I workout. Then 150g on my rest days, not sure about Saturday and Sunday though.

I'm going to harden my workout! I will try to go to these stats.
Standard things, ofc ill throw in more just not writing for now

17.5kg Bicep curls 8 reps 6/7 Sets.

22.5kg/25kg Dumbell Chest Press 8 reps 4/5 Sets.

Leg squat machine 120kg 8 reps 4/5/6 Sets.

Normal abs, crunches dunno how to work my abs hardcore..

For triceps ill do the Ez bar thing. I guess 20kg 8 reps 4/5/6 Sets.

Im not sure on decent trap, lat, delts.

For shoulders I usualy do low dips and shoulder raises.


I am going to stay away from chocolate, crisps (well maybe with a sandwhich lmao :P).

[crull]

chest: flatbench, incline bench, dips
back: deadlift, pullups/chinup(what u prever), brabell rows, t-bar rows, dumbbell rows
legs: squat, front squat, stiff legged deadlift
delts: military press, arnold press, dumbbell press
traps: shrugs(barbell, dumbbell, barbell behind back)
bi's: barbell curl, hammer curl, concentration curl
tris: close grip benchpress, skullcrushers, overhead dumbbellextensions

you should mainly pick this exercises, if you want i can make a 3 day layout for you

[Peaked]

Originally Posted by crull

chest: flatbench, incline bench, dips
back: deadlift, pullups/chinup(what u prever), brabell rows, t-bar rows, dumbbell rows
legs: squat, front squat, stiff legged deadlift
delts: military press, arnold press, dumbbell press
traps: shrugs(barbell, dumbbell, barbell behind back)
bi's: barbell curl, hammer curl, concentration curl
tris: close grip benchpress, skullcrushers, overhead dumbbellextensions

you should mainly pick this exercises, if you want i can make a 3 day layout for you

That would be fantastic, also half of these I have no idea what they are .. Think you can explain in like step 123?

Many thanks!

[mitbar]

if you google them you can usually find a step by step video on how to do them.

[Peaked]

Originally Posted by mitbar

if you google them you can usually find a step by step video on how to do them.

Just youtubed em all. They all looked great a few of them I already do.

[crull]

ok then do something like this:

mon: 3 sets 4-6 reps
squat
stiff legged deadlift
benchpress
barbell row
military press
chinups

wed: 3x8-12
leg extensions
leg curls
dumbbell press
close grip pulldown
incline press
dumbbellrow

fri: 3x6-10
deadlift
front squat
dips
t-bar row
arnold press
wide grip pullup

now you will think something like why no arms or no abs?
cause your arms and abs are worked with almost every exercise in this layout

[Peaked]

Originally Posted by crull

ok then do something like this:

mon: 3 sets 4-6 reps
squat
stiff legged deadlift
benchpress
barbell row
military press
chinups

wed: 3x8-12
leg extensions
leg curls
dumbbell press
close grip pulldown
incline press
dumbbellrow

fri: 3x6-10
deadlift
front squat
dips
t-bar row
arnold press
wide grip pullup

now you will think something like why no arms or no abs?
cause your arms and abs are worked with almost every exercise in this layout

I know you've given me gold here. However I want to stick to a body workout on a single day I feel more comfortable with it. Also, knowing that I have done curls, crunches at the very least is gonna show some results right?

[crull]

you said you were working out on mon, wed and fri, so i just made a layout for that^^ or do you mean you would like it better to do the same W/O on all 3 days? then you lack a bit of variety my friend

crunches dont really work your abs, the function of your abs is to stabilize the body, when you do crunches, you work your hip flexors

man believe me, after some sort of vertical + horizontal pull your bis will be pumped enough^^ and the presses will take care of your tris

but you can add on mon: close grip bench and barbell curls

wed: concentration curls and pushdowns

fri: hammercurls, skullcrushers

but then i think you would go over 1 1/2 hours and we want to avoid that^^

[Peaked]

Originally Posted by crull

you said you were working out on mon, wed and fri, so i just made a layout for that^^ or do you mean you would like it better to do the same W/O on all 3 days? then you lack a bit of variety my friend

crunches dont really work your abs, the function of your abs is to stabilize the body, when you do crunches, you work your hip flexors

man believe me, after some sort of vertical + horizontal pull your bis will be pumped enough^^ and the presses will take care of your tris

but you can add on mon: close grip bench and barbell curls

wed: concentration curls and pushdowns

fri: hammercurls, skullcrushers

but then i think you would go over 1 1/2 hours and we want to avoid that^^

I always thought spend longer while still hitting it hard you'd get better results. It seems logical not really sure why though :P. Yeah I understand mix things up a bit what I mean is Monday, Wednesday and Friday I like to ork my whole body each workout.

[csaba73]

Kabo0m,

trust us - we are here to help you - and for free :-)

the training is spot on and will help you develop a lot of strength, adjusted to the right muscle groups. If you choose the right weights, one hour for these three days will hurt you a lot.

Just one thing - unless you really feel you know the technique I would swap the deadlift and the stiff-legged deadlift with some other leg exercises like ham curls or similar for the hamstrings.

do you have someone you train with or who can spot you?

I repeat you will only see your six-pack if your overall body fat goes down to about 6%. You can do crunches all day long, if your bf% > 6% no abs! However, and you have not responded to the question - do you want to see your abs (cutting) or gain muscle. Pick one and adjust your diet accordingly.

[crull]

you know that i gave you 3 full body workouts right?^^

[Peaked]

Originally Posted by csaba73

Kabo0m,

trust us - we are here to help you - and for free :-)

the training is spot on and will help you develop a lot of strength, adjusted to the right muscle groups. If you choose the right weights, one hour for these three days will hurt you a lot.

Just one thing - unless you really feel you know the technique I would swap the deadlift and the stiff-legged deadlift with some other leg exercises like ham curls or similar for the hamstrings.

do you have someone you train with or who can spot you?

I repeat you will only see your six-pack if your overall body fat goes down to about 6%. You can do crunches all day long, if your bf% > 6% no abs! However, and you have not responded to the question - do you want to see your abs (cutting) or gain muscle. Pick one and adjust your diet accordingly.

Well I'd love to get bulked up get heavier while keeping a certain toned then cut and looked ripped to shreds. I workout on my own which is why i'm not comfortable doing certain things, some days I feel stronger than others and some days I feel burned out. However I am not disagreeing what you guys are saying, I respect the help! However I just like to say my mind :P

[Peaked]

Originally Posted by crull

you know that i gave you 3 full body workouts right?^^

Heh dude forgive me it's getting late and I just youtubed the names again and now I can see that. So when you mix the **** up does it really benefit towards that muscle group :P? Any ideas why? (I like to understand and get a bit of knowledge yano :P)

[csaba73]

Ok,

that's the right attitude for growing strong.

if you train alone - then please skip the two deadlifts until you have had someone with experience help you with these; you can seriously screw up your lower back if you don't have the right technique - and to develop this you need more than youtube.

if you want to bulk up then you need to determine your daily kcal expenditure and add ca 500kCals to it to grow. While you bulk keep a close eye at your BF% (either through scales or calipers, or some good quality photos you archive). You don't want to get fat, just increase your overall muscles. However it is virtually impossible to bulk without adding fat, aim for a 2:1 ratio (muscle:fat).

Reason you feel burnt out is because you overtrain. I would immagine that on Monday you feel great as you had most rest and Friday is pretty lousy. Don't forget every day in the gym is depleting your central nervous system, not just the muscles you have exercised.

[crull]

yeah, its allways good to work the muscles from different angles etc
and on monday those are mainly power exercises so lower reps, wed is more of a recovery/hypertrophy day and fri strengh/hypertrophy

and when you do your chest before your shoulders, your shoulders will be a bit fatigued when you start working them directly and with chins and rows its the same^^ and we start with legs cause those are the most taxing exercises and you want to have your full energy potential when working them