Q&A for: 7-Oct-06
1808. Q:
manboobs
A:
Please read this article.
1809. Q:
Hi mike I am having problems getting my body fat down more. I am 23 about 5'8 and 145 lbs. I am at about 11 or 12% body fat. I have a good diet and I am on your five day a week heavy volume program. and the other two days I do cardio for about 45 minutes. I just can't seem to loose anymore weight or fat. I don't know what to do. Can you help? I can post my diet if that would help at all.
A:
You are at the point, right on the brink of having a six-pack, when further fat loss becomes really hard for most people. Unfortunately there is no easy shortcut to get you past this plateau. There are two basic approaches: keep at it while making sure your diet is even better than it is now OR switch gears, bulk up for some time gaining new muscle and revving up the metabolism before restarting the cut.
I would recommend the second approach, especially since you should be able to put on new muscle at your age and physique relatively easily. After you've gained maybe 15 pounds over the course of 6 months or so you can restart on cutting down again.
The key with this is, of course, to gain this new weight with as little new fat as possible. That means your diet has to be as good or better as it is when you're trying to lose fat and that you gain weight as sloooowly as possible -- no faster than 1 pound every 2 weeks or so (except for the first week when you are likely to gain a couple pounds as your body adjusts to the new diet) Good luck!
1810. Q:
I need to get some heavier dumbbells - as I have taken my set of 16kg as far as they can go - what I would like to know is ,what is the heaviest set of dumbbells I should get - considering that you said that if you lift weights regularly - your body will adapt. What I do not want to do is buy a set of dumbells that are obsolete in a year from now. I want a set of dumbbells that can 'grow' with me as I get stronger. Is there a natural limit to how much a person can lift - surely I will not need to indefinately keep buying weights?
A:
There is certainly a limit to everyone's potential maximum strength, but if you are a guy you're still quite a bit away from that and should expect to grow much stronger.
Your biceps won't get that much stronger, so 20kg or so dumbbells might be all you need for bicep curls, but if you are using dumbbells for a whole-body program (something like my dumbbells-only program) then you should expect to get several times stronger yet on deadlifts/squats, rows, shrugs, and chest presses compared to your 16kg weights now!
If are a guy doing a whole-body program with only the dumbbells as I described, then unfortunately you'll probably want to splurge on several more sets of dumbbells before it's all said and done. Deadlifts, squats, and shrugs will typically be the heaviest weights you can lift and I would expect you to work your way up to 50kg or more dumbbells on those! Not right away of course, you can't jump from 16kg to 50kg overnight, but over a year or two it's very likely.
The next 'level' of weights would typically be for chest presses and back rows at perhaps 35-40kg dumbbells. After that are shoulder presses at maybe 25-30kg and after that various isolation exercises which might require anything from 10kgs to your current 16kgs to 20-25kgs.
Many guys will surpass even those strength levels with time, but this gives you an idea of your likely strength levels in 1-2 years. With that in mind, I would probably recommend that you get a pair of 25kgs and a pair of 35kgs for now and start using different weights for different exercises as I described: 35kgs for the heaviest (deadlift, squat, shrugs -- make sure you learn the proper form with a lighter weight first to avoid injury!), 25kgs for back rows and chest/shoulder presses, your existing dumbbells for the rest.
If you keep at it, you'll almost certainly outgrow the 35kg DBs with time too, but it should suffice for time being. Sorry, unfortunately the only way to keep challenging your body is to keep getting heavier weights :) If you are student, check if your school or university has a weight room you can use. And if you are an adult, perhaps consider joining a gym if one is available and membership costs are not unreasonable (and remember that you can always negotiate your gym membership cost with the gym perhaps slashing the price as much as in half!)
1811. Q:
reply to 1807, ive been doin chest twice a week
secondly, ive been on your 4 day push/pull for a couple months nwo, and its time to change. i mainly want to get bigger, and get a strength increase. i dont want to do any of the 5x5 programs right now, because im not confident enough in my squat and deadlift form to start pounding on heavy weights yet. what would be a good alternative?
how many reps in general should be done for getting bigger/stronger along w/ a bulking diet
A:
I am not sure if this is the program you're wary of, but in actually it's an excellent program for beginners! Notice that in the first few weeks of that program you won't come anywhere close to failure on any of the exercises -- instead you'll be doing several very light sets for each exercise 3 times/week. This will give you an excellent opportunity to learn each exercise before starting to increase the weight.
In general, getting stronger is basically a combination of two things: building more muscle AND getting better at the specific exercise (which means getting your body and your nervous system top optimize themselves). Your bulking already covers the 'building muscle' part. The 'getting better at the exercise' part is best accomplished through a strength-specific program like the one I linked above. But most reasonable bodybuilding programs will benefit you there as well. Keep your reps in 6-12 range with emphasis and I would make most of them in 6-8 range. Going to failure all the time is NOT necessary for developing strength and can in fact be bad if you overdo it, but 10-20 sets per week per muscle group should be OK.
So, really, any of my programs should do the trick, in conjunction with bulking and gaining weight. I would encourage you again to give that strength-specific program a shot, but any of the other programs should give results as well.
1812. Q:
is 30 minutes enough time between post workouto shake and my next meal?
Im bulking
A:
Yes, that's fine. You could also just have the full regular protein- and carb-rich meal as soon as possible after the workout instead of having a separate shake and a meal.
1813. Q:
Does having snacks late at night make you gain weight. I mean like waking up in the middle of the night and eating. It is a habit I have. I do still eat healthy thins like egg whites or nuts.
A:
Any excess calories will make you gain weight. So if during the day you eat just enough calories to maintain your current weight and then you snack in the middle of the night on top of it, then yes, it can lead to weight gains. However keeping night snacks small and healthy like you do will certainly help make sure weight gains aren't dramatic (egg whites by themselves are very unlikely to ever make you gain weight, but nuts can). If you have a scheduled daily diet plan you can simply account for your night snacks in it, eating somewhat fewer calories during the day and 'saving' them for the night snack.
1814. Q:
I have decided to bulk for a little while after having lost abou ten pounds. I just upped my calories by 500 a day, from 1900. At 1900 I was losing about a pound a week. in just a few days I have gain about two or three pounds though. Is this normal? I want to stay at this level for a week or two and then increase again, but if I am already gaining weight do I need to take some calories off? I am hoping this is just water weight since I have been eating more carbs. I have added some whole grain bread, a fruit or two more, more veggies. I am 23 and about 147 at 5'7 or 5'8. Thanks
A:
This is perfectly normal. In the first few days of a bulk you'll always gain a couple pounds as your body adjusts to the extra calories. This new weight is not fat, but actually water -- all carbs retain water in your system and by adding more carbs you're retaining a lot more water than before. Again, this is normal and quick weight gains will stop after those first few days. It sounds like you're doing everything right!
1815. Q:
When bulking, should I continue to avoid carbs in the second half of the day, or eat balanced meals throughout the day?
A:
You should eat balanced meals throughout the day when bulking. Even when cutting you never want to completely cut out carbs in the evening -- you simply eat fewer of them (like green veggies which are light on carbs). When bulking you can also reduce the amount of carbs slightly towards the night, but for the most part keep your meals balanced more or less the same throughout the day.
1816. Q:
i have a hard time gaining weight.i've been taking supplements like mega mass and whey protein,yes,i gained at first but with continuous use it lost its effect.what should i do?i'm thinking of taking creatine now as a supplement because the previous supplements i took doesn't work anymore.
A:
It simply comes down to eating more! Megamass and other weight gainers like that are pretty much sugar + protein which is not at all ideal for gaining lean muscle mass. Instead you need to focus on eating more regular healthy carb-rich foods like oatmeal, brown rice, whole-wheat bread, sweet potatoes, and raw fruits (in addition to the protein and healthy fats, of course).
Creatine also will not help you gain weight by itself (besides some initial water retention) -- it's meant to be used to help gain more muscle and strength when you're ALREADY eating enough to gain weight.
So just focus on eating regular healthy foods more and more often. Forcefeeding yourself not easy or fun, but it's the most effective way to bulk up. Everyone can gain more weight if they want, it's just a matter of eating enough. Good luck!
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