I'm a hardgainer...Is it time for AS use?

[rockape76]

/\/\/\/\/\/ that is an insane amount of work to be doing if your a true "hardgainer"
your problem is that you are overtraining.....and your body does not have the recuperative ability to keep up.....you need to look into low volume strenght orientated routines....im about your age and height and was having the same problems putting on mass until i switched to the lo volume deal.....checkout iron addicts stickies in the training forum or perhaps head to his site www.ironaddicts.com
your diet really is not that bad and even though it could have more calories you should still be gaining mass ..........its in the iron bro......iron addict has help-ed countless supposed "hardgainers" over the years.......

 

[rockape76]

Bingo, here's where the problem probably lies. I'm gonna guess at your weight and activity factors being about 25 years old and moderately active. Based on those two WAGS a bulking diet for you should be 3500 to 4000 cals per day unless you have an insane metabolism. Small muscle groups need 48 hours to recuperate while large muscle groups like quads need 72 hours. Remember you are not building muscle in the gym, your causing damage (micro-tearing) to the muscle cells. Your building muscle on your days off and while sleeping. While natty 3 to 4 days in the gym a week is probably fine. Your strength has increased because your CNS has adapted to the loads its been placed under but has reached a plateau because your muscle mass hasn't increased much.

Bottom line you need to dial some things in before cycling again.

this guys on the money.......

 

[rockape76]

No, its simply time u eat

dude ive seen your photos your like a buck fifty soaking wet.....

 

[backup]

So here is what I've gotten so far...

1) I need to spend some more time dialing in my workouts/diet before cycling again.

2) I need to increase my calories

3) I should try a lower volume workout. (Perhaps staying with3-4 days per week and 3 sets per muscle group?)

Damn...what the hell am I going to do with all my extra time?

 

[Fender]

Damn...what the hell am I going to do with all my extra time?

Eat....

 

[rockape76]

So here is what I've gotten so far...

1) I need to spend some more time dialing in my workouts/diet before cycling again.

2) I need to increase my calories

3) I should try a lower volume workout. (Perhaps staying with3-4 days per week and 3 sets per muscle group?)

Damn...what the hell am I going to do with all my extra time?

spend it resting up and mentally preparing yourself for your next session or go do cardio if you feel you need to be in the gym.....practice your form and mental focus for each lift...learn to get 100% out of each workout....
youll need all the above to be able to lift heavy and hard safely with out injury....i found out the hard way that form is all important.....

 

[Strega]

Backup, you sound alot like me about 10-12 years ago.
Let me help you get to where Im at now which is 6'2 225lbs at about 12-15%bf...

#1 Eat alot more CARBSand get over your fear of having to eat clean. You dont have to eat "clean". Your goal is growth and you need to eat everything you can so long as its not complete garbage. Your protien intake should be about 300grams per day at your starting weight and should increase as you grow. Switch over to micellar casiene as your primary protien. Load up the carbs(oat meal or rice baby food) first thing as you wake up in the am with your protien shake. Your caloric intake should be near 5000 cals a day for bulking with your metabolism.
#2 Only work out THREE times a week. Hit only MAJOR muscle groups and do only compound movements. Excercises like deads, squats, bench press, military press, pull ups etc...Throw some curls in there on one of the days. Hit these muscles hard and intense and get out of the gym. If you are in the gym for two hours your are doing something wrong. Ideally you should be out of there in about an hour. I wouldnt workout on monday wednesday and friday and take the weekend off, id workout mon,tues,wed and take thur, fri, sat, and sunday off. Shock your body and then REST and remember to keep eating the same as #1 all the time.
#3 You need to sleep a solid 8 hours per night minimum. If you dont get this rest, you are wasting your time, energy and money.

After you understand what it means to your body to grow under natural circumstances should you even consider gear. Till then learn to grow natty. Once you do this then you can gear up.

Good luck.

 

[backup]

You all have convinced me on the eating thing. I am just finishing my third day of eating everything I can stuff in my mouth...In fact I am eating as I type this.

Only thing that I am having a hard time with is the idea that I should only work out 3 times a week. It seems like to grow the fastest you would want to work your muscles as soon as they are fully recovered from the last workout. Most literature suggests that major muscles are recovered in 3-5 days and smaller ones (biceps, triceps, etc.) fully recover in 2-3 days.

The other challenge with working out three days a week seems to be how to split the body and get good intensity for all the muscle groups. You have to be working multiple muscled groups each session. It seems as if you are training with maximum intensity, you can hit the first one you work hard but the second ones are going to suffer. Even if you alternate which muscles you hit first you, are potentially only hitting a muscle hard every other week!!!

Again...thank you all for your responses. I am looking at some of the other forums/topics with the goal of dialing in my workouts/diet for a few more months before revisiting the AS idea...

 

[Jimmykick]

regardless of what workout you use, if you get the eating right you will see a difference

 

[tanknc]

you can probably gain on shoulder day if you try switching your split and do them on day one....it could be that simple....and like they said....eat/eat/eat...dont worry so much about the softness, just work in a little cardio and it sounds like you will be fine....remember the harder you work, the bigger your appetite should be, so feed those muscles......

tank