Any advice?

[Ironhorse]

Looking to gain as much mass as possable, but am an extremely hard gainer. Im currently taking 2200 cal weight gainer shakes, mass xxx shakes, and 100% whey protein shakes. I always see these mass kits at GNC. Has anyone had really good results from any of those? If so, what was it? Last month when I went into GNC, the sales guy was carring on about how good ANATOR by Muscletech was. He said that he didnt use it personally but read alot about it. Shit Ive read alot of gimmics before too! Any feedback would be really cool.
Thanks........
Ironhorse

 

[role model]

Well, you got to eat regular food also to gain weight and dont skip anything. I mean chicken, fish,PASTA. I KNOW EATING TO MANY CARBS MAY CAUSE FAT BUT ALOT OF THESE HIGH PROTIEN DIETS NEVERE LET YOU GAIN ANY WEIGHT. Look at Ronnie Coleman and Dorian Yates who combined held the Mr O for the last 13 years, both have very similar diets with 60% carbs. Also up your cal's by 5 or 6 hundred a day. Dont over train , always LESS THAN 5 hrs a week in the gym split up however you like. Personally I never had any luck with Muscletech , I like BSN products and Musclemilk by Cytosport. Good luck and read what others have to say and not advertising.

 

[Bob Smith]

Eat some real food and up your calories.

Dont use the weight gainer products, they are complete crap.

 

[Grizzly]

You're not a hardgainer, you're a shitty eater. And don't even try and argue because you just posted your "diet".

Eat a jar of peanut butter a day. Drink a gallon of whole milk a day. Eat 2 lbs of dead cow a day. Eat 2 lbs of pasta a day.

If you do that, you WILL grow.

 

[Beefy]

I love it when Bob and Grizz get down on nutritional/supplement advice. Sometimes it's like people don't like to hear the cold truth about the hyped up supps or that anybody can gain weight or lose fat if they want to.

You save so much money doing it the old fashioned way.

 

[Ironhorse]

You're not a hardgainer, you're a shitty eater. And don't even try and argue because you just posted your "diet".

Eat a jar of peanut butter a day. Drink a gallon of whole milk a day. Eat 2 lbs of dead cow a day. Eat 2 lbs of pasta a day.

If you do that, you WILL grow.

When I posted what you think is my "diet", I didnt mean that thats all I eat everyday. Thats just what Im using in addition to eating good meals. Yeah, if I ate all that I'd fuckin gain for sure, but how healthy would that be? A jar of peanutbutter every day? Are you serious? If you are, I'll try it because I respect your opinion Grizz. Anyhow, thanks for the help guys. Just trying to figure out what supplements Im wasting my money on. I mean if I can replace the gainer shakes with the new GRIZZ diet, I'll do it man.

 

[Beefy]

Don't take offense to Grizz. He's a big mother fucker and he doesn't know what it's like to have trouble putting on mass. His point, I think, is that ANYBODY can gain mass and that eating whole foods is better than buying GNC's over priced garbage.

In the past we've seen a lot of cry baby's whine about how it's "impossible" for them to gain weight and how they eat a ton, blah blah blah....

 

[Ironhorse]

No offense was taken by Grizz, hes obviously been doing this for a while. I respect his opinion what ever he says. Im just seriously trying to find some foods HIGH in cals that arent really bad for me. Anyhow, thanks guys, Take care...

 

[Ramstein II]

First, don't fear the carb when bulking. BUT the amount of carbs in mass shakes is too high. The truth is that it takes time to add good quality muscle protein. You can volumize your muscles with water from supercompensation with carbs (glycogen and creatine phosphate). But, anything beyond the amount of carbs to max out carb storage goes to fat. And if your blood sugar levels get too high in any one eating interval, you will store a signifcant amount of fat.

This is all to say that you shouldn't drink that crap. Multiply your weight by 1.5. That's your protein intake in grams for bulking. Divide by your number of meals. e.g. 6-8. That's how much protein you eat per meal.

Now multiply your weight by 20. That's your total caloric intake for the day when bulking. If you're prone to get fat, then use 15 as the multiplier. This is not an exact science. You may have to adjust up or down depending on feedback from your body. If you start looking puffy, reduce the calories. Now, multiply you protein grams by 4. That gives you how many calories are coming from protein. Subtract that from your total caloric intake. Those calories should come primarily from carbs. 50-60% cals from carbs is pretty standard. Again, divide these calories fairly evenly over 6-8 meals.

Measure your waist weekly. It should not grow more than 1.5 inches above your "normal" amount. If it does, you're getting fat. You can expect some growth simply from being so full and a little more bloated.

Don't attempt to rush your gains. You'll only get fat. Then you'll go on a crash diet and get skinny. I made these mistakes many times in my younger years. Don't mistake increased leverage in your joints from water retention as hypertrophy induced strength gains.

Also, (this advice will go against what others will tell you) I strongly recommend 30-40 minutes of light to moderate cardio (e.g. brisk walking, stationary cycling) 5-7 days a week while bulking. This will burn off the little amount of body fat you put on daily. It'll make your job so much easier in the late winter when you start cutting for spring and summer. Adding cardio to my bulk cycle has been the one of the smartest things I've ever done in bodybuilding. It also gets rid of a lot of water retention.

 

[elgaringo]

First, don't fear the carb when bulking. BUT the amount of carbs in mass shakes is too high. The truth is that it takes time to add good quality muscle protein. You can volumize your muscles with water from supercompensation with carbs (glycogen and creatine phosphate). But, anything beyond the amount of carbs to max out carb storage goes to fat. And if your blood sugar levels get too high in any one eating interval, you will store a signifcant amount of fat.

This is all to say that you shouldn't drink that crap. Multiply your weight by 1.5. That's your protein intake in grams for bulking. Divide by your number of meals. e.g. 6-8. That's how much protein you eat per meal.

Now multiply your weight by 20. That's your total caloric intake for the day when bulking. If you're prone to get fat, then use 15 as the multiplier. This is not an exact science. You may have to adjust up or down depending on feedback from your body. If you start looking puffy, reduce the calories. Now, multiply you protein grams by 4. That gives you how many calories are coming from protein. Subtract that from your total caloric intake. Those calories should come primarily from carbs. 50-60% cals from carbs is pretty standard. Again, divide these calories fairly evenly over 6-8 meals.

Measure your waist weekly. It should not grow more than 1.5 inches above your "normal" amount. If it does, you're getting fat. You can expect some growth simply from being so full and a little more bloated.

Don't attempt to rush your gains. You'll only get fat. Then you'll go on a crash diet and get skinny. I made these mistakes many times in my younger years. Don't mistake increased leverage in your joints from water retention as hypertrophy induced strength gains.

Also, (this advice will go against what others will tell you) I strongly recommend 30-40 minutes of light to moderate cardio (e.g. brisk walking, stationary cycling) 5-7 days a week while bulking. This will burn off the little amount of body fat you put on daily. It'll make your job so much easier in the late winter when you start cutting for spring and summer. Adding cardio to my bulk cycle has been the one of the smartest things I've ever done in bodybuilding. It also gets rid of a lot of water retention.

Top post, right there!

 

[LifeSize]

Grizzly was being serious. a gallon of milk has a ton of good fat, carbs, and protein = lots of calories. think of it like liquid steaks. peanut butter is loaded with protein and healthy fats tons of cals - a lb of natty pb is 4830 cals. lean beef, poultry, fish, pork, oats, whole breads, pasta, rice, snickers, its all calories in vs calories out. eat more than you burn. full body routines should give you all the stimulation you need to grow, and get your lungs and heart in high gear. 15 minutes of a brisk run will mobilize lipids in the blood stream after a work out, should be enough. deadlift, eat, sleep, grow.

 

[LifeSize]

btw, you can make shakes yourself, use a quality protein supplement not weight gainer. mix in some whole milk, peanuts, almonds, peanut butter, almond butter, bananas, berries, oats, ice cream, if you can spare it calorie wise and it fits your macros feel free to blend it. there are even concentrated syrups that add a lot of flavor. do a search, I have some links too. diy.

 

[Bob Smith]

I dont think its possible for most people to eat really clean while trying to pack on any appreciable amount of muscle. People need to get over the fact that they will put on some fat with the muscle. Too freakin bad. Life would be grand if you put on 50 pounds of muscle while simultaneously dropping to 6% bodyfat. Unfortunately thats not reality. Eat big, grow big. Dont let yourself turn into a giant fat slob, but also dont freak out if you put on 5 or 10 pounds of fat.

 

[Grizzly]

When I posted what you think is my "diet", I didnt mean that thats all I eat everyday. Thats just what Im using in addition to eating good meals. Yeah, if I ate all that I'd fuckin gain for sure, but how healthy would that be? A jar of peanutbutter every day? Are you serious? If you are, I'll try it because I respect your opinion Grizz. Anyhow, thanks for the help guys. Just trying to figure out what supplements Im wasting my money on. I mean if I can replace the gainer shakes with the new GRIZZ diet, I'll do it man.

Well, I've never eaten a jar of pb a day, but I have drank 2 gallons of milk a day for 3 or 4 months. Can't hurt too much.

But, let's be honest here, excessive calories, excessive bodyweight, excessive everything that BB's do isn't exactly the healthiest thing in the world. Sure, it's a lot healthier to be 225lbs and 8% bf than 225 and 35% bf, but you're still carrying 225lbs of weight. You'd actually be heatlhier at 185 and 8%.

In summation, I think what I suggested is just fine for your health. I've done stuff very similar to that and I'm a specimen of good health.

 

[Grizzly]

Don't take offense to Grizz. He's a big mother fucker and he doesn't know what it's like to have trouble putting on mass. ..

That's because I'm a friggin' piggie! Never had trouble because I never have trouble feeding my face. 2 weeks ago I had my calories at 3500/day. I was STARVING! I remember one night I had just finished two chicken sandwhiches(6oz chicken breast, 2 pieces of bread, 1 slice provolone and 2 bacon slices apiece) and I was still starving. LMGDAO!

 

[role model]

Kind of a rule of thumb, Take your lean body weight and multiply it by 17.
Anything less than that number = cutting.
Anything over that number = bulking.
BTW the 17 multiplied by your lean body weight thing is from Milos Sarcev. He knows a little about training, right?: Key word LEAN! Important.

 

[Ironhorse]

Christ, Ive been eating 4500 cals, and 340grams of protein every day since I posted this, eating FOOD, not weight gainer shakes and gained 8lbs. Thanks for the advice guys and grizz.

 

[van-man]

I use shakes to float me through a period of time where its not conveinent to eat real food.

GNC is SHIT!
Genrally Nasty Crap!

 

[Grizzly]

Christ, Ive been eating 4500 cals, and 340grams of protein every day since I posted this, eating FOOD, not weight gainer shakes and gained 8lbs. Thanks for the advice guys and grizz.

Great job! Glad to hear it.

 

[Grizzly]

Out of curiousity, have you been eating a jar of PB/day? If you're not too worried about BF, here's what I suggest to get some extra-delicious, but not so "clean" calories.

Take your jar of natural PB. Throw some raisins on it. Put chocolate syrup over the raisins. Get a spoon and eat it. YUUUUUMMMMYYY!!!!! And, if you're so inclined, this goes well on top of a graham cracker.

Not that I would know about this at all or anything. I'm just speculating based on the science of taste buds and stuff.