Thread: Bodybuilding Situation

Originally Posted by DJ Laz

Hi, I am new here and new to this forum stuff. My situation is, that I am a junior in highschool, I am 17 years old, and have been training since freshmen year maybe a little before that. Recently, I have been out for about 10 weeks or so because of a sports related injury and I went from eating like a horse (I think I was eating around 3500-4000 calories a day) to eating very little (prob around 1500 calories). I lost around 20 pounds of muscle and now I'm super skinny and have excess and flabby skin all over.

Some of my friends were telling me this thing called muscle memory (where you gain muscle quicker to where you were previously before your layoff, instead of taking years to put it all back on) I have been back to training for about 2 weeks now and I haven't really felt that much different. My diet is good I'm on a 20/30/50 calorie bulk right now. Is this muscle memory thing going to kick in soon if its real? Or is it just a myth?

Sorry to heart about your injury, at least your back on the horse now.

muscle memory is true but its not some overnight magical occurance you need to train as hard as you did before you got injured and overtime it will come back, faster than when you first aquired it.

longest off period I have had was about 5 weeks due to a rugby tour and rotator cuff injury, within about 5-6 weeks i was back to where i was before i had the layoff.

It's for real; you'll see.

Take some good full-body pix of yourself right now front, side and back, in shorts. Record your weight and some measurements (calf, thigh, hip, waist, chest, bicep) and your training weights. Bury them somewhere so they don't leave you feeling depressed.

Eat like a horse and train like a mofo - and in three months, repeat the photo series and the measurements. Dig up your "skinny bitch" records and compare with where you are now.

I promise you won't be disappointed.

Re your diet - it was working before so I won't criticized it, but start thinking about the grams of these macronutrients and not the percentages. Next time you have trouble keeping your calories up, crank the fats so you don't lose mass.

Originally Posted by Built

Re your diet - it was working before so I won't criticized it, but start thinking about the grams of these macronutrients and not the percentages. Next time you have trouble keeping your calories up, crank the fats so you don't lose mass.

My diet wasn't even that good before, I'm just starting to read about how to have a better diet. I have a question though, what do you mean by the grams of the macronutrients. (sorry im a new to this proper diet stuff to haha).
And what would be the best bulking diet?

Hey, no problem. You've got a good attitude and you're doing this the right way by reading up before you get going.


The link in my sig, homework 1 - it starts out talking about a cutter, but keep reading because I discuss bulking right after that part, and the process is basically the same. Macros are discussed in there too. It's an easy read, go have a peek and get back to us with any other questions.

Originally Posted by Built

Hey, no problem. You've got a good attitude and you're doing this the right way by reading up before you get going.


The link in my sig, homework 1 - it starts out talking about a cutter, but keep reading because I discuss bulking right after that part, and the process is basically the same. Macros are discussed in there too. It's an easy read, go have a peek and get back to us with any other questions.

Alright thanks man, I read it and I do use fitday.com. So, should I just focus more on how many grams of fat, carbs and, protein i'm eating? and should I eat 500 more calories a day? My average as im looking right now is about 230g of protein 381g carbs and 92.2g of fat and about 3400 calories how would you critique this?

Muscle memory definitely is real, that looks like a decent breakdown for calories, how much do you weigh?

Originally Posted by ihateschoolmt

Muscle memory definitely is real, that looks like a decent breakdown for calories, how much do you weigh?

I weight about 164 pounds now

And I used to weight about 179-180. Would bulking be best for activating my muscle memory?

just lift heavy weights, and take ur multi

Originally Posted by DJ Laz

And I used to weight about 179-180. Would bulking be best for activating my muscle memory?

You're going to be eating to gain weight, right? By definition, that's bulking. Lift heavy and eat lots; you get too fat, just dial back the calories a bit.

"Super skinny" with "flabby skin"? How does that happen?

Originally Posted by DJ Laz

And I used to weight about 179-180. Would bulking be best for activating my muscle memory?

Yea, of course, as long as like built said you mean eating a lot to gain weight.

Originally Posted by Hawkins

"Super skinny" with "flabby skin"? How does that happen?

Because I lost 20 pounds of muscle and the skin stays how it used to be when i was a llloott bigger, resulting in loose flabby skin

I don't particularly believe in the theory of muscle memory. In fact, I think someone that hasn't touched a weight in their life has just as much of an opportunity to progress as someone who's had great gains but lost them over time. I think people believe in the idea of muscle memory because those that come back after years of lifting in fact do end up getting better results than those that go at it for the first time but I believe this is because those with experience come in with just that - experience so their quicker gains can be accredited to knowledge of good form (where as a beginner has to master good form), what works for them and don't have to learn on their mistakes like many of us do the first time around.

But speaking relative to your situation, if you've lost that much weight in just 10 weeks your body should be able to recover quickly provided you go back to your previous calorie intake and start to hit the weights consistently. Don't stress over muscle memory. You are young and determined so couple that with a sound diet, rest and training regime and you are up for nothing but good gains and success.

Originally Posted by CaptainNapalm

I don't particularly believe in the theory of muscle memory.

if you've lost that much weight in just 10 weeks your body should be able to recover quickly provided you go back to your previous calorie intake and start to hit the weights consistently.

Recovering muscle quickly after loosing it is muscle memory. But other than that, it's been tested plenty and proven true. I read a few studies, one of which stated they got 100 untrained people and got them to workout for 20 weeks all of them showed a decent increase in strength and size, then they had them not workout at all for 6 months and they came back just as weak as when they started. After 6 weeks they were back to as strong and big as they were after the first 20 weeks of training, I don't feel like finding the article but it was a good read.

just lift heavy weights, and take ur multi

alright so if I get my diet together and I lift heavy, is it possible for me to gain my muscle back over the summer, which is about 3 months?

Ya it's definitely possible.

You'll need more patience than that.

Originally Posted by CaptainNapalm

I don't particularly believe in the theory of muscle memory. In fact, I think someone that hasn't touched a weight in their life has just as much of an opportunity to progress as someone who's had great gains but lost them over time. I think people believe in the idea of muscle memory because those that come back after years of lifting in fact do end up getting better results than those that go at it for the first time but I believe this is because those with experience come in with just that - experience so their quicker gains can be accredited to knowledge of good form (where as a beginner has to master good form), what works for them and don't have to learn on their mistakes like many of us do the first time around.

This is wrong.

Imagine a 6' guy weighing 210lbs. He has a rough time for a few weeks and loses 10lbs. That 10lbs will be a hell of a lot easier to gain back that it was to get it in the first place.

I am just wondering. Is losing 20 pounds of straight muscle a lot for 2 and a half months, if I wasn't eating hardly at all, had a really bad diet, and was very depressed for most of that time. I was thinking today when I was lifting, because all my weights went ssupper down. I have been back for 3 weeks and I feel nothing. I know it takes time to build back up and won't magically happen. But, I am just wondering if thats not normal for my situation.

(sorry if im being a noob haha, I just have a lot of questions since im new to this forum stuff)

2 and a half months of eating poorly and not enough and not training will yield some awful results, so it's normal.

Originally Posted by ihateschoolmt

2 and a half months of eating poorly and not enough and not training will yield some awful results, so it's normal.

Ok thanks a lot bro. Sorry for all this lol, i am just freaking out casue I got soooo damn skinny haha.