Matt's Mission For Size

Matutu

Matutu

Matutu

Associate
Joined
21 Aug 2008
Posts
956
Hey Guys,

Thought I would actually start a log considering I have been posting in the Arena forum abit.

Basic Stats.

Age - 26
Height - 5'8

Weight
Starting - 1st October - 144lbs
Current - 10th January - 152lbs

Well I suppose I should put some back ground information. I was 21.5stone at the age of 21, started a healthy diet and weight lifting etc and dropped 10stone in 10months…… Felt great. I then discovered cardio! which was amazing to be able to actually cycle etc however unfortunately I never ate more than when I was losing the weight and before I knew it I was down to around 8.2stone and very ill. Hence developed slight anorexia especially with the thought of gaining any weight obviously from losing the about I did.

Its taken a couple of years of trying and accepting but back in 2010 I underwent a Tummy Tuck to get rid of the loose skin, when there I was determined to eat better and get back to somewhat "normal". Got back to 10stone and was happy and good.

Now shift to this year eating is very good, I don't find eating the food hard its the thought of putting on lbs! Hence I am very active in competitive swimming and swim 4miles in the morning 6 days per week (hour 25mins a morning), so I need to eat a lot just to maintain weight!

On October 1st had a word with my trainer who has always wanted me to pack on some lbs and I have wanted to as well, but it would always be hard as it would mean my weight increasing but I bit the bullet and decided to go for it.

So from October 1st (Just come back from a holiday) I have been on 5000-5500kCals and I have gained about albs now in 14 weeks, lifts are up and strong and are increasing!

Heres my weight graph.
2a4nv4o.png


Also ill post the current pics in my other thread:
September 30th
1ot9bt.png


November 19th
ffb86f.jpg


December 10th
4jqti.jpg


January 2nd - Latest
2lk5vs7.jpg


Training:

Monday - Saturday 85Mins Lap Swimming
Monday PM - Weight Training - Lower Body
Thursday PM - Weight Traning - Upper Body

I keep my weight lifting to only 2 days per week to try and give my body maximum time to recover.

I will keep this updated :).
 
Upper body workout tonight quite please. First time using Craze pre-workout felt abit odd especially no when im home and finished, feel like I want to always get up and do something.

Managed 60kG flat press for reps 8x3 sets.

However I find that once I push my chest for this thats it, it goes to pot very quickly it seems my endurance in my chest is very poor as after those 3 sets I struggling to do most of the further chest work :(.

Any ideas?
 
You're up at 24 reps total... So what's the issue? Do you want more?

For mass gains, I noraly head for around 24/25 reps, so ou're on the button.
 
No that exercise went great, for example though after flat bench I move to incline bench, and I struggle with damn 15kg bells! If I did them first I could easy do 25kg each side. What ever I do first is great, but after that exercise it goes.
 
Well I have got to rate Craze!!! Worked out on Upper Body on Thursday, DOMS in my chest have only just started to fade, really intense! Cant wait to try it tomorrow for leg day!
 
I do 4miles of swimming training 6days a week, therefore only weight train 2 sessions a week to try and maximise rest between.
 
Yes I have and found its just too tiring, swimming for 85mins each morning, then an hour walking the dog everyday. Then making it 3 weight sessions per week is just too intense just feel drained.

Also I seem to be hitting each muscle group quite well just with 2 sessions per week
 
I think your possibly just not eating enough if that's the case.

Although I don't do as much cardio as you, I do at least 3 hours on the bike a week. Walk a dog 4-5 times a week. Through in at least 30 minutes worth of running, then some interval training.

My gym time is 4 sessions a week.

I don't ever feel faded enough to not do weight training.

Though it seems like its working for you, kudos :)
 
Matt the reason your finding it really hard to add mass all the swimming. I appreciate you have to walk your dog, and so that is not really going to be adjustable, but if you really want to add that mass can you not reduce the swimming? 4 miles a day, 6 days a week is very impressive but this is really where your sticking point for adding mass is going to be. There is only so much a person can eat as well and your already pushing massive calories so you just cant eat more without the diet turning really dirty/unhealthy.

Would dropping 2 days of swimming a week really hamper your performance? if not then why not try 4 days a week swimming and 3 days a week doing the weights, as again 2 days of weights is quite low as well and will make mass gaining progress even harder.
 
Hi Syla, Yer I do know the swimming will be making this harder etc.

However for the past 3months since this started I have been steadily gaining weight at 0.5-07.lb per week so currently isnt this a good lean gain?

Lifts are getting heavier and going well so I thought to keep just pushing on as I am at the moment. I am not too keen on gaining weight too quickly as well as I would like to keep lean.
 
Your progress is great, so keep at it, however things will slow down especially if you have dropped to 2 days a week of weight training. If, as the log title says, your goal is to add mass, you want to be training for that purpose, and if the swimming is tiring you out to the extent that it is compromising your goals then maybe its worth considering dialing one thing back to help the other. I cant see how 1 day less swimming is going to hinder you, but my experience there is null so it would definatly be something that you would have to think about.

Swimming 5 days a week, weights 3, i cant see this being a hinderance to the swiming goals, and i can definatly see it being a benefit to your mass goals :)
 
Thanks a lot, I will keep that in mind when the progress does slow down.

Although I have now done weights 3 times per week I have not dropped a session I have always done 2 as I like to have a good rest between to recover.

Ill have a think and see how things go in the next few weeks :)
 
Matutu said:
Hi Syla, Yer I do know the swimming will be making this harder etc.

However for the past 3months since this started I have been steadily gaining weight at 0.5-07.lb per week so currently isnt this a good lean gain?

Lifts are getting heavier and going well so I thought to keep just pushing on as I am at the moment. I am not too keen on gaining weight too quickly as well as I would like to keep lean.
Click to expand...

Those will more than likely be 'noob gains' as a result of increased muscle vascularity and water retention with a bit of added 'actual' mass, too. This occurs in everybody, simply because resistance training uses muscles in a very different way to normal, causing the body to chuck more blood at them.

Past the first few months, adding mass becomes a lot more challenging simply because the body adapts to its current regime and needs to get pushed harder. Doing so, however, means it requires more time and energy to recover. In the end, you'll have to decide what is most important to you and your training:

- More mass (resistance training)?
- More fitness/endurance (swimming)?
- More... whatever?
 
Well I would be surprised if they are too much noob gains I have been weight training for the last 2 years, cross fit etc etc. however this is the first time I have ever made a effort to nail my diet and want to gain weight, before all I wanted was to maintain my weight.
 
Well, Crossfit might not be the best example, simply because it's not focussed on mass.

But I understand you point and yes, you will have made muscle mass, but given that you have a structured routine and diet, your body will be making the most of it. A lot of this will be perfusion, simply because of the above.

However, don't give up or lose hope after 3 months: you're already in a crazy regime as it is, so your progress will be a lot slower than somebody JUST doing bodybuilding or whatever.
 
Actually crossfit might have not been the best, mainly my past has been strength training with kettlebells etc rather than size, due to my absolute fear of weight gain.

So this is why now although its killing my head to see the scales go up I am making the effort to do it, as it something I have always stopped myself doing before.
 
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