Hi all - Looking some information

[lionheartxxi]

Hey all, I am from the uk. Been doing some research in steroids and performance enhancing drugs.

Getting my information mostly from the below site, which is a charity site, set up to combat steroid abuse.

steroidabuse.com/

I am quite small naturally, only 5 ft 7" at 71kgs and 28 years old, I have really small limbs and joints. You know im not going to make the whole genetic cry baby excuses, but seriously, i have not been blessed with great genes for getting strong, bodyweight wise, i am quite strong, and i have proven myself more than physically capable within my job.

My squat is currently sitting at 110kgs for a few reps, it fluctuates all the time, it has been like this for the past year or so, I just can't seem to get it past a certain point, i have got a 70kg military press, but currently cant get that anymore, sitting at around 60kgs - 65kgs, bench i am on around 90kgs for a few reps.

I am really exasperated about hitting plateaus, I think my diet is fine, I get the required calories, and the macro percentage I would say is pretty decent.

After my workouts, It feels like i take ages to repair, for example - say i do legs on a monday, 10 sets of leg press, 5 sets of lunges each leg, jumping squats with weight over a box for five sets - that is me generally wrecked for the week in regards to legs and progressing, if i continue to go in, i will start to regress, I have tried all sorts of routines, such as squat everyday routine (which lasted for two weeks until i completely regress), i have tried a few times a week but not going to failure with good form, maybe shy of it.

I just want that extra edge, increase protein synthesis and be able to workout for more workouts per week. I know that I am not weak, due to my job, I work hard, but I have got to get stronger than I am now. I watch some kids in the gym, some are doing 140kgs on a bench press, some are doing 90kgs, yes they are heavier than me, but they are alot younger than me and it really winds me up.

I do not take supplements, I did in the past, however it was all wasted, i told myself months ago after taking a prohormone called sd matrix, that i wasnt going to fall into the supplement trap again, and if im going to take something it is going to be the real deal.

My primary concern about taking something is not the cycle or what to get, as that information is so easy to come by, that site i posted further on up, tells you exactly what doses to take and that is a charity set up to advice people not to go to steroids. The concern is, how do i know if what i am getting is the real deal, i have a friend who can get it for me from a friend back home, and there are also alot of lads i work with that do take steroids, i seen one on tren and he just blew up, however he also seems to pop them like candy.

Surely the suppliers from gyms must have a supplier source from an online source, trying to find a legit place is like finding a needle in a haystack. There must be a way to by pass gym suppliers straight to the actual manufacturer. I am really interested in human growth hormone, but im not getting it unless i know for a fact, or close to 100% probability that it is the real deal, or it is just wasted money in the end of the day.

I know this sounds silly, i would also like to be able to grow more facial hair, at 28 years old, i can only grow a tiny bit of hair on my upper lip and a bit under my chin. I was a premature baby by a month, im not sure if this could be a reason for my lack of hair, and at 16 years of age i was only 8 stone, by 17 i got it up to nine and a half stone. At one point when i was 24 i was 14 stone, due to 'bulking' i was really just fat, i did make gains, however the amount of fat and water retention i had on me was ridiculous.

Anyways im just asking for general advice. The main one being, because im almost 100% i want to go on HGH long term, where can i actually get it from, is there a supplier online i can just order it from, because im sure the gym suppliers must use an online source.

Thanks for reading, sorry for the blabbering.

 

[PrinceDianabol]

Any idea what your body fat % is? Do you stay generally pretty lean?

I won't say don't use AAS, as you seem to be doing your research and going about it sensibly, but I think you should get your diet in check first. The thing is, if you can't gain weight naturally then there's a very good chance you won't maintain the gains when you finish cycle... It's all in the diet brother. I know you said your diets fine, but the fact is if your not gaining weight then your not getting enough calories. You'd be surprised how better results you can get just by having your diet evaluated.

Can you lay out your diet for us? Or at least a general breakdown Cals/pro/carb/fat. Also your training routine & split would help.

 

[lionheartxxi]

Hi Prince, thanks very much for the reply.

Well mostly I will eat at works canteen - the main meals that is

Breakfast - Canteen at work
2 slices of bacon
1 fried egg
serving of canned tomatoes
serving of beans
two slices of toast
cereal, usually bran flakes
small cup of orange juice

mid morning - banana or small snack - sometimes protein shakes, but to be honest im stuffed still at this
time from breakfast, if i take something bigger i usually get bloated as some of my breakfast is still in my
stomach.

Lunch
canteen
varies, but mostly it is like a dinner - can range from chicken wraps, with plenty of chicken, peppers and onions,
or can be a baked potato with beans, cheese and tuna

post workout - a banana - i usually go to the gym before dinner

dinner at the canteen again or sometimes i cook for myself
usually a hearty meal, i definitely dont starve. varies really, from potatoes to meat,
or chilli beef with rice, or curries.

before bed or close to bed, mid evening or late depending on how hungry i am, could be a banana again or
another snack.

Along with all this i love milk, I go through 2-3 litres of milk every two days. I love the stuff. If im hungry throughout the day
in between meals, i will drink milk. I have done the whole protein powders over the years, It may be an uneducated statement,
but i think milk is natural, so i use it as my protein drink.

And i do have a passion for chocolate as snacks and jaffa cakes are my achilles heel, though i have tried to be a bit more conservative, especially for my teeth.

That is my typical week, I dont feel like im starving. I would probably get about 140 grams of protein a day on a good day, no more
than that i reckon. But i never feel hungry and if i do i eat something.

everything was going well until summer i went abroad to an asian country for two weeks, up to then i was making great progress, my squat was at 7 sets of 100kgs - ranging between 10 to 7 reps, for me this was very good, but when i came back i really struggled with squats again. It really really annoyed me, for the whole year i had been making good progress, i go away for two weeks and come back and it all went to crap. Whilst i was there i ate like a king, so why did my body decide you are now going to struggle at lifting a few reps of a 100kgs.

Sorry for the epic drip session again.

 

[lionheartxxi]

Thanks very much for the reply Chicago. I don't doubt for a second that I have not mastered aspects of this lifestyle, and that is why i am searching for the answer. I know i am a beginner, sometimes i wish somebody with a lot of experience could take me under their wing and train me, almost like an apprentice sort of discipline. I feel with all the information floating on the web and all the capitalist companies trying to make a profit, i am floating in a sea of confusion.

You know on the internet you see people squatting 140kgs, 200kgs and even further. It just seems like a far of goal, it is so impressive.

Last year i could do 90kgs to 100kgs on the squat, this year im doing 100kgs - 110kgs - it is ridiculous. I must be doing something wrong, of course I am. My goal was a 130kgs on squat. It really winds me up, and it is what is pushing me towards tinkering with my hormones.

I have no doubt that there are people on here that are so strong that I can not even fathom. I generally am around strong people, but not in a bodybuilding, powerlifting, olympic lifting sense.

Thanks again for the reply

 

[lionheartxxi]

And prince sorry got carried away, my friend said i am about 15% bodyfat, he is pretty well into his weights, but seems to recover really fast, he is doing up to 180kgs on the squat and has a 240kg deadlift now, however i can not train with him as i live and work far away. He said he can do squats, deadlifts a good few times a week and can still hit personal bests the next week, he is the opposite of me, tall, stocky and bulky, but he does have medium sized limbs.

Yeah generally i am pretty lean, i can pinch about an inch of fat on my belly after the christmas period.

 

[lionheartxxi]

Regarding training itself, i have trained solid other than my weeks off from work for a year solid. Before that I was away quite alot with my job with no access to weights, so i would do bodyweight stuff, handstand pushups, muscle ups etc, fireman carries, runs with weight etc, alot of endurance work and carrying alot of weight for long distances, sprints etc, when i came back from all that i purchased gymnastic rings, done alot of dip work on them, practicing holding handstands and doing freestanding handstand pushups, squats whenever i was on a location with weights, before all that, it was 9 months of hard physical training at work, mostly assault courses, and long endurance runs with weight, gym work, swimming, all sorts, carrying heavy amounts of weight across landscapes. and before that i weight trained, done circuit training for about a year, and before that.... it was a mis mash to be honest.

So yeah i suppose i am in the baby stages, were consistency is concerned. However surely that squat should have went within this year, i thought 130kgs would have been so achievable.

 

[lionheartxxi]

here is a sample of my workouts at the start of this year

weighted ring dips - 20kgs - 5 / 30kgs - 5 / 40kgs - 4/ 30kgs - 5 / bw - 20
flyes - 17.5kgs 8, 8, 8
military press - 40kgs - 5 / 45kgs - 5 / 50kgs - 5
handstand pushups - 3 . 0, 0 - Holding handstands instead
lateral raises - 10kgs - 8 / 10kgs - 5 7.5kgs- 6 / 7.5kgs - 8
tricep extensions - 27.5kgs - 6 / 25kgs - 7 / 22.5kgs - 6 /20kgs - 5 / 17.5kgs 5


leg press - 190kg - 7 / 230kg - 5 / 260kg - 5 / 290kg - 5 / 310kg 4
lunges - 50kg - 8 l&r / 55kgs 6 l&r / 60kgs - 6 l&r
jumping squats - 10kgs - 6 / 15kgs - 6 / 10kg - 6
hamstring curls - 7 plates - 8 / 8 plates - 6 / 9 plates - 4 / 10 plates - 3

pullups - bw - 13 / 5kg - 5 / 10kg - 4 / 15kg - 3 / bw - 8
dumbbell rows - 37.5kg - 8 r&l - same for next two sets
weighted chins - 5kg - 5 / bw - 5 / bw - 4
barbell curls - 40kg - 6 / 40kg - 6 / 40kg - 4
dumbbell curls - 15kgs - 8r 5l / 15kgs - 5r 4l / 12.5kgs - 5r 5l
forearms curls 30kg - 8 / 35kgs - 6 / 30kgs 6

ab roller - full lockout - 8, knees - 6 / full lockout - 6 / full lockout - 4
leg raises to bar - 8 / 7 / 6
knee raises - 7.5kgs - 8 / 7 / 6
headstand leg raises - 10 / 10 / 10
ab circuit

Shrugs - 70kgs - 12 / 80kgs - 10 / 90kgs - 10 / 90kgs - 8 / 90kgs - 8
neck bridge - 5 sets

 

[lionheartxxi]

half way through the year

squats - 100kgs-10 /100kgs-8 /100kgs-8 /100kgs-8 /100kgs-8
db press - 40kgs-5 /40kgs-5 /40kgs-5 /40kgs-5 /40kgs-5

squats - 110kgs-5 /110kgs-5 /110kgs-4 /100kgs-5 /100kgs-5
ring dips - 20kgs-10 /30kgs-8 /30kgs-7 /30kgs-6 /bw-25 /20kgs-3,bw-3

pullups - bw-6 /15kgs-5 /20kgs-4 /15kgs-4 /10kgs-5
db rows - 50kgs-6 /50kgs-6 /50kgs-8
chinups - 12.5kgs-4 /12.5kgs-3 /12.5kgs -3

shrugs - 100kgs-10 /110kgs-5,3 /105kgs-8 /105kgs-5 /100kgs-5,3
neck bridges - 5 sets
forearm curls - 40kgs-7 /45kgs-6 /47.5kgs-5 /40kgs-7 /40kgs-5

 

[reeper167]

Genetics play a huge role in absolute outcomes and extremes in bodybuilding. Meaning some people will just never be small and skinny, and some people will never look like Kai Greene no matter how much they eat, workout, supplement etc. That being said, if you arent gaining weight now and youre trying to then you arent eating enough. Based on your age, weight and what im assuming is a very active lifestyle try eating the following amount of food everyday split relatively evenly between 5-6 meals. Another note on post workout recovery make sure that you are feeding your body what it needs post workout. For example working out hard depletes your glycogen levels and they take a while to restore on their own. To resolve this issue add some dextrose (crazy cheap from bb.com) to your post workout protein shake. Also not a bad idea to add some fast digesting carbs (like waxy maize or maltodextrin) and creatine to your post workout shake (I hope that you are consuming fast digesting protein immediately after your workout right?? ie. hydrolyzed whey protein or the like). Dont overdue the dextrose just a teaspoon will get you where you need to be. If you have the money drink some BCAA's during your workout as well. Now for your diet:

Training days:
Protein - 250 grams per day
Carbs - 416g per day
Fat - 74g per day

Non-training days
Protein - 330 grams per day
Carbs - 250 grams per day
Fats - 111 grams per day.

This is a lot of food, however if eating clean foods in the aforementioned macro percentages you will gain lean muscle mass guaranteed. In fact, if you working out hard and actually following this diet and supplement regime you should gain 5-8 lbs of lean muscle in a month. All that is before taking aas. Im a newb myself but one thing i know is that you need to know your body and how to do whatever you want to it before adding aas.

 

[lionheartxxi]

I cant find my workout book for before christmas, but generally after halfway through the year, after summer when i came back from holidays i was doing 10 sets or so of the main exercises. i put bench press in and kept doing squats, i took out the ring stuff. So basically at the moment i do compound stuff.

 

[lionheartxxi]

Thanks very much reeper.

Do i seriously need to eat that amount. That is close to the equivalent of 10 chicken breasts a day in just protein, and it is expensive to eat that way in the uk, that is about 10 GBP of protein a day if it is done with meats. you see i have always wondered, are we really given the correct information on that amount of protein, maybe that is a way for them to force you to buy protein powders. Bear in my mind this is an uneducated internet guess. I have tried eating huge amounts but i just got fat, that was when i got to 14 stone, however it wasnt in the perfect macronutrient amount.

 

[PrinceDianabol]

Hi Prince, thanks very much for the reply.

Well mostly I will eat at works canteen - the main meals that is

Breakfast - Canteen at work
2 slices of bacon
1 fried egg
serving of canned tomatoes
serving of beans
two slices of toast
cereal, usually bran flakes
small cup of orange juice

mid morning - banana or small snack - sometimes protein shakes, but to be honest im stuffed still at this
time from breakfast, if i take something bigger i usually get bloated as some of my breakfast is still in my
stomach.

Lunch
canteen
varies, but mostly it is like a dinner - can range from chicken wraps, with plenty of chicken, peppers and onions,
or can be a baked potato with beans, cheese and tuna

post workout - a banana - i usually go to the gym before dinner

dinner at the canteen again or sometimes i cook for myself
usually a hearty meal, i definitely dont starve. varies really, from potatoes to meat,
or chilli beef with rice, or curries.

before bed or close to bed, mid evening or late depending on how hungry i am, could be a banana again or
another snack.

Along with all this i love milk, I go through 2-3 litres of milk every two days. I love the stuff. If im hungry throughout the day
in between meals, i will drink milk. I have done the whole protein powders over the years, It may be an uneducated statement,
but i think milk is natural, so i use it as my protein drink.

And i do have a passion for chocolate as snacks and jaffa cakes are my achilles heel, though i have tried to be a bit more conservative, especially for my teeth.

That is my typical week, I dont feel like im starving. I would probably get about 140 grams of protein a day on a good day, no more
than that i reckon. But i never feel hungry and if i do i eat something.

everything was going well until summer i went abroad to an asian country for two weeks, up to then i was making great progress, my squat was at 7 sets of 100kgs - ranging between 10 to 7 reps, for me this was very good, but when i came back i really struggled with squats again. It really really annoyed me, for the whole year i had been making good progress, i go away for two weeks and come back and it all went to crap. Whilst i was there i ate like a king, so why did my body decide you are now going to struggle at lifting a few reps of a 100kgs.

Sorry for the epic drip session again.

In bold above is where your problem lies. You really need consistency with diet - and a clear goal for caloric & macro intake. You need to realise that at the moment you are roughly 70kgs and your eating like a 70kg guy. If you want to gain weight, you gotta eat like a 75kg guy (for example.) Bulking/gaining weight generally means stuffing yourself, you won't be hungry because you will be overfeeding. The brain will defend against it slightly by suppressing your appetite. Choosing more calorically dense foods can help with this (olive oil, peanut butter, oats in your shakes, etc.)

I've gone ahead and worked out a starting point for you. Keep in mind this is only a starting point, and I've based it off your weight and estimated bf% AND I'm assuming your moderately active most days. If your more active or leaner than you thought you may need more cals, but we'll get to that.

At the moment I suggest you look at making up a diet that hits these macros:

Cals: 2800
Pro: 280g
Carb: 280g
Fat: 62g

That's just a basic 40/40/20 split, a good place to start for bulking. Chances are you won't need that much protein, and if you want to adjust you can scale it down and add some extra carbs. See how you go, evaluate, then adjust. If you don't gain any weight after about two weeks hitting those macros every day then you need to up the cals. 10% increase in cals will suffice, so you'd shoot for 3100cals. These should come mainly from carb sources (they usually contain a bit of protein anyway.)

I suggest getting an app or using an online calorie counter and work out a diet plan and stick with it. Good luck.

 

[PrinceDianabol]

Thanks very much reeper.

Do i seriously need to eat that amount. That is close to the equivalent of 10 chicken breasts a day in just protein, and it is expensive to eat that way in the uk, that is about 10 GBP of protein a day if it is done with meats. you see i have always wondered, are we really given the correct information on that amount of protein, maybe that is a way for them to force you to buy protein powders. Bear in my mind this is an uneducated internet guess. I have tried eating huge amounts but i just got fat, that was when i got to 14 stone, however it wasnt in the perfect macronutrient amount.

If you wanna be big, you gotta eat big!

 

[lionheartxxi]

so basically i need a 1kg of chicken breast a day to get that amount. I will give this ago. Carbs will be easy enough, i will go for rice. I would rather do this naturally, rather than protein powders, as i do not trust the supplement industry.

I have never done this before, so lets try this and listen to people who are successful.

I am going to go for

1kilo of chicken breast - marinate it, leave it to marinate over night in the fridge, cook to next day to accompany rice for next day.
basmati rice - equivalent of 280 grams carbs cooked the night before. cooked with cloves, some tumeric and cumin
fats from olive oil.

milk throughout the day.

I will always have to be two days ahead with chicken, if i dont marinate it, i will struggle to eat it.


So yous honestly think this is the way forward? I have never eaten like this, never. I have eaten big, but not with this macronutrient percentage.

 

[reeper167]

Lion,
I can understand not trusting supplement companies, but ignoring protein powders is silly. Natural proteins are a great source, that being said its crazy to eat as much protein as you need in whole foods. Its hard enough even if you were taking 100g of protein a day in powders. Also, it will save you a lot of money. 50g of whey protein will cost about 1.50. I have friends in the supplement industry, namely Glambia Nutrition (they make pretty much all the whey protein you can think of ON, GNC, etc) no need to be concerned the protein you are getting is anything but top notch containing all essential amino acids. Also dont forget that even your sources of carbs contain protein, like quinoa, rice, oats. Make sure you are factoring that into your daily count. Egg whites are the bomb for protein as well, as they are ONLY protein, no fat, no carbs just protein suspended in water basically. The numbers I gave you are a calculated amount because your body needs different things on training days vs non training days. Ill explain.. Carbs are your main source of energy, so on training days naturally you will need more carbs vs non training days. Protein contains your amino acids essential for protein synthesis so on non training days (aka recovery days) you would want more. Fats are what your body use to make hormones, cut out the fat and your natural hormone production goes down = gains like a high school girl. So again on non training days you will want slightly higher % of fats in your diet. The % breakdown is like this:

Training day macros Non-training day macros
30 percent protein 40 percent protein
50 percent carbohydrates 30 percent carbohydrates
20 percent fats 30 percent fats

The numbers in total grams per day i gave you was based on the above percentages and the Mifflin - St. Jeor Equation, assuming your weight is 71kg at 5'7" and what sounds like a very active lifestyle based on how tough you said your work is. Based on that information you need 2800 calories just to maintain your current weight. Add 500 calories to that to gain weight. The reason why this is so much food is because of relatively low fat compared to carbs and protein vs the avg persons diet. Fats account for 9 calories per gram vs carbs and protein which come in at only 4 calories per gram. Takes a lot more carbs and protein to get the calorie number up.

 

[PrinceDianabol]

so basically i need a 1kg of chicken breast a day to get that amount. I will give this ago. Carbs will be easy enough, i will go for rice. I would rather do this naturally, rather than protein powders, as i do not trust the supplement industry.

I have never done this before, so lets try this and listen to people who are successful.

I am going to go for

1kilo of chicken breast - marinate it, leave it to marinate over night in the fridge, cook to next day to accompany rice for next day.
basmati rice - equivalent of 280 grams carbs cooked the night before. cooked with cloves, some tumeric and cumin
fats from olive oil.

milk throughout the day.

I will always have to be two days ahead with chicken, if i dont marinate it, i will struggle to eat it.


So yous honestly think this is the way forward? I have never eaten like this, never. I have eaten big, but not with this macronutrient percentage.

Absolutely. You have never gotten big because you've never eaten big. It'll get easier as time goes on lol... but then you'll have to eat even more to get bigger. Also you should vary your protein sources - don't get it all from chicken breast. Egg whites are great too, turkey breast, etc. You need to vary the sources to get complete proteins.

Don't be afraid of protein powders. They are great, just look for Whey Protein Isolate around aobut 24g pro per serve and no/low carbs & fat. Whey is beneficial post workout.

 

[THE-DET-OAK]

Whey is beneficial post workout.

really? xD

 

[lionheartxxi]

View attachment 560118

Going to marinate chicken courtesy of marinating for dummies book

Teriyaki Marinade
This recipe from the Team N2Que works as well with chicken or fish as it
does with steak.
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: None
Yield: 4 cups
1 tablespoon fresh minced ginger
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 minced shallot
1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 Combine all ingredients in a large freezer bag or plastic bowl with lid and
mix.
2 Refrigerate or use right away.

Leave for 1-3 hours to marinate for chicken, no longer

The rice, I will need 3/4 a bag a day to get recommended carbs.

Going to be pilau rice

1 cup of basmati for each serving
1/2 teaspoon of tumeric for each serving
1/2 teaspoon of cumin per serving
5 cloves per serving
3/4 teaspoon of sea salt
1 and 3/4 cup of water

leave to slowly cook.

And yeah reeper this was crazy expensive, cost me 36 pounds at the supermarket, i did buy some cloves and ginger, but that was only like 2 pounds something. However i could be spending my money on worse things, and to be fair i was willing and probably still willing to take HGH, which is crazy expensive anyhow.

If yous are hanging out for some good taste in your food, i would highly recommend dabbling with spices and herbs, especially spices, they bring out an array of tastes and is cheap if you buy in bulk, at the supermarkets here it is really expensive, usually i buy online, but needed some cloves as i had run out.

A few good books you can get on torrent sites

Cooking the indian way
the best ever indian recipes
indian cooking - 100 easy recipes

Oh and not forgetting my favourite books, i love the dummie books. Again you can get
on torrent sites.

 

[lionheartxxi]

View attachment 560121

todays batch, will run through to 12 tomorrow

Tomorrows sauce

blueberry balsamic bbq sauce

Yield: 2 cups
2 cups fresh (or frozen) blueberries
1 cup balsamic vinegar
1 cup apple juice
3 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon cardamom
1 pinch salt

1 In a saucepan, combine all ingredients.
2 Bring mixture to a boil; then reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes or until
sauce starts to thicken, stirring occasionally.
3 Remove pan from heat, and cool.
4 Transfer sauce to a blender, and process until smooth. Place in a plastic
container with a lid and refrigerate up to 5 days.

Going to do smaller portions and more tubberware boxes tomorrow, so i can have six meals a day instead of 4, they are very big, so going to break them down even smaller. I also need to get more veggies, 1 pepper is not enough for the whole day.

 

[Havasu]

You have to stop relying on some food place at work. Yes some of your off time will be spent prepping food. I cook all my meet 2 weeks in advance, everything I need, break it out into the portions I need and freeze it. The night before I take it out. It's mostly defrosted in fridge, I pack my containers I need, or they were separated out into the containers I use, back them in my lunch bag and take them back. I also make my intra workout shake (just the dry powder) and pack it. I mix it before I use it.

Most people don't plan to fail, they fail to plan. You need to know what your next meal is and where it's coming from. The best way to control that is to BRING YOUR OWN FOOD!