*** The 2011 Gym Rats Thread ***

[Delvis]

Right everyone, you know what i'm trying to do, bulk in some fashion, potentially without gaining 'too' much fat.

Shall I just scoff anything and everything? While trying to maintain a high protein intake?

Up the carbs? (Pasta for lunch instead of wraps etc)

Or?

 

[Skillmister]

What are your current macros?

 

[GarethSouthgate]

Another vote for milled oats

he already stated peanut butter and flax seed oil, so oats is the obvious choice

Thanks (and to those who I didn't quote).

Are oats really that good for a shake then? Is it OK to eat uncooked oats?

Anything else? Do you reckon I can get ~500 cals from a shake including all that?

Any opinions on this regime, too much?

Sun: Legs (45mins)
Mon: Chest & Trics (over 1hr) + Core
Tue: Biceps (30 mins)
Wed: HIIT
Thur: Shoulders & Back (over an hour) + Core
Fri : Rest (usually out for a few beers)
Sat: Rest

I can't do back and biceps together, I don't have any energy left to do bicep stuff after back!

No need to do biceps at all from what I gather, certainly not 30 mins worth. If you do enough compounds then they will be worked out anyway. I don't quite understand what you mean by core? If you are doing compounds then your core will be hit at the same time?

So after a shoulder injury...

Sounds like you know what you're doing. I've missed 2 sessions in a row now and am feeling pretty bad for it! Trouble is, I'm not even sleeping in a proper bed at the moment so no point in working out, even if I could, because the quality of my sleep is pretty poor! Roll on Friday, new bed arrives.

 

[Skull]

There are some people like Freefaller who do very little direct bicep work but still have big arms - which is fine - but for the majority if people, if you want big arms, it makes no sense at all to avoid training them directly.

Spending a whole workout on biceps is totally excessive though.

 

[GarethSouthgate]

Gym is testing out some new gadget this week, an ultrasonic hand held scanner. So im getting my bodyfat tested on friday No clue how accurate it will be but shall be interesting.

Wow, that sounds pretty good. I'm sure most people on here would love something like that if it's accurate.

Right everyone, you know what i'm trying to do, bulk in some fashion, potentially without gaining 'too' much fat.

Shall I just scoff anything and everything? While trying to maintain a high protein intake?

Up the carbs? (Pasta for lunch instead of wraps etc)

Or?

How about trying different things and seeing how it goes?

 

[Delvis]

What are your current macros?

God knows Yes I know thats bad.

Mainly don't know exactly due to not having enough money to buy enough each week / month, it changes.

The usual however is:

Morning: Porridge
Mid-Morn: Nutri-grain bar (no real reason why, its just something)
Lunch: Two chicken wraps home made, mayo, filling varies (lettuce etc)
Afternoon: Banana - Taken before workout usually

Dinner really varies, again, money. It can be anything from Pizza to Pasta, kievs, Sheppards Pie, Normal Pie, anything basically.

Used to take whey in the morning and evening, and an extra post-workout. Again, none currently as i'm poor this month

 

[Skillmister]

Where does all your job money go? But yeah you dont seem to be eating enough. How much porridge roughly? I have 150g muesli on a morning with 300ml milk which is like 700 calories. Pasta for lunch would probably up it a bit. Get some brown bread and peanut butter? 2 slices covered in peanut butter is 400+ calories, add another glass of milk with that and i'm at half my days calories just from breakfast and a snack

 

[Buffman]

Buy cheap eggs, chicken etc rather than pizzas, pies etc.

 

[Skillmister]

Red meat > chicken. More calories per amount

 

[Barks]

No need to do biceps at all from what I gather, certainly not 30 mins worth. If you do enough compounds then they will be worked out anyway. I don't quite understand what you mean by core? If you are doing compounds then your core will be hit at the same time?

What I want ideally is a regime where I can get everything done during the week, but I very rarely train on Fridays.

Perhaps:

Monday - Bench Press + Overhead pressing
Tues - Squats
Thursday - Deadlifts + Pullups
Sun - HIIT (I only do 20 minutes extremely intense as my focus is bulking at the moment)

Make these the main focus of each workout and then throw in some other isolation work suitable to each workout, maybe changing various exercises week to week? Does the bench press definitely offer advantages over the standard flat bench DB press which I can't get enough of at the moment.

 

[Delvis]

Where does all your job money go? But yeah you dont seem to be eating enough. How much porridge roughly? I have 150g muesli on a morning with 300ml milk which is like 700 calories. Pasta for lunch would probably up it a bit. Get some brown bread and peanut butter? 2 slices covered in peanut butter is 400+ calories, add another glass of milk with that and i'm at half my days calories just from breakfast and a snack

Get paid £900, £440 goes on rent, the rest on food, petrol, other expenditures , so yeah, it soon goes

No idea on the porridge front, a bowls worth with milk, I get a bit retchy if I eat too much.

May try the pasta route for a while and see what happens, just worried if the carbs will have a negative effect?

Buy cheap eggs, chicken etc rather than pizzas, pies etc.

I get frozen chicken currently as it is. Pizzas and pies etc are meals for myself and the partner, it's easy...And sadly cheaper which is why I end up supplementing

Red meat > chicken. More calories per amount

Again, red meat costs more

 

[Skillmister]

Again, red meat costs more

Not really. The cheapest fresh chicken is £7.38/kg(except for whole/thighs which half the weight is bone anyway). You can get any number of beef cuts for cheaper than that. Frozen diced beef is the same price as frozen chicken breasts. Tastes nicer too If you get mince its even better because of the extra fat means you get wayy more calories.

 

[Delvis]

Not really. The cheapest fresh chicken is £7.38/kg(except for whole/thighs which half the weight is bone anyway). You can get any number of beef cuts for cheaper than that. Frozen diced beef is the same price as frozen chicken breasts. Tastes nicer too If you get mince its even better because of the extra fat means you get wayy more calories.

Thats why I buy frozen chicken as it's cheaper in the first place, if I could afford the red meat I wouldn't be having this issue

 

[Skillmister]

So long as you dont buy smartprice frozen chicken my point still stands. If you do then theres no saving you sorry

Filling my online asda basket now to work out what i can afford to buy tomorrow :/

 

[GarethSouthgate]

What I want ideally is a regime where I can get everything done during the week, but I very rarely train on Fridays.

Perhaps:

Monday - Bench Press + Overhead pressing
Tues - Squats
Thursday - Deadlifts + Pullups
Sun - HIIT (I only do 20 minutes extremely intense as my focus is bulking at the moment)

Make these the main focus of each workout and then throw in some other isolation work suitable to each workout, maybe changing various exercises week to week? Does the bench press definitely offer advantages over the standard flat bench DB press which I can't get enough of at the moment.

Sounds good to me but then I'm pretty much a n00b compared to others on here so I'd let someone else add more info too but looks like a good base to me.

 

[RoboCod]

So after a shoulder injury, the birth of my son, a job change and a loss of 3 stone - 19 months later & I'm back in the gym.

Before I left? I was up to 6 x 50KG on the flat DB press, almost maxing out the leg press at the gym and 13.5 stone @ 5"7.

Now it's back to basics, starting very slowly for the next few weeks and finding my way around a gym again. My diet is good, and it's a great feeling to be back in the gym.

I've missed this ache...

Well done. Getting back into it can be harder than actually starting out can't it? Post what your lifting now, then post again in 6 months

 

[Delvis]

So long as you dont buy smartprice frozen chicken my point still stands. If you do then theres no saving you sorry

Filling my online asda basket now to work out what i can afford to buy tomorrow :/

Dunno, some tesco brand.

2 cheap fresh chicken breasts cost £2, I can get frozen ones for 'slightely' cheaper, but at the moment, cheaper is whats good for me

I'll have a look around online as it'll be easier, I know it sounds like i'm making exscuses, but I'm really not

 

[RoboCod]

Thats why I buy frozen chicken as it's cheaper in the first place, if I could afford the red meat I wouldn't be having this issue

I always check the reduced shelf. Catching the supermarket just as the fish or meat counter closes is always a good one - usually half price whole fish or steaks on offer.

 

[RoboCod]

Oh yeah and the meatpacks mentioned earlier, could you not afford to buy in bulk like that? Cheaper than Tesco and less petrol going back and forth

http://www.meatpacks.co.uk/

 

[Skillmister]

Dunno, some tesco brand.

2 cheap fresh chicken breasts cost £2, I can get frozen ones for 'slightely' cheaper, but at the moment, cheaper is whats good for me

I'll have a look around online as it'll be easier, I know it sounds like i'm making exscuses, but I'm really not

I understand dont worry. Thanks to our good friend Will im left paying about £400 more in rent per semester than i get from my student loan. Not entirely sure what i'll be doing after christmas when it next comes around. Maybe selling a kidney or a leg.