Help me out

[yesyes]

Hi. Here's the situation.

I am 22 years old, 6' tall, 225 lbs. Solid build, not fat or flabby.

I use to weight 280 lbs so I took off 55 lbs in a 6 month span. Then I started to hit the gym. I've been going to the gym 4-5 times a week for the past 4 months.

I havn't really noticed any difference in my body yet.

My questions are.

1 - How long should it take before I notice a difference?? i can notice some in my arms but not in my chest.

2 - Should I be doing more than just weight training. how about shakes/supplements/etc??

3 - What kind of training should I do. Basically I work on one body part each day. So one workout a week on each part. Should I be workign on my arms more or my chest more, etc. Also how should I train. I do 3 sets of each excersise with 8-12 reps each time. Should I increase weight and lower reps??

And what type of foods should I eat and what ones should I stay away from.

sorry for all the questions but I'm starting to lose hope in myself. I may have had high expectations too fast. Any help or additional comments is greatly appriciated. Basically I'm just looking for a program to stick to and that works.

Thanks.

 

[RikkiHoon]

If you are not drastically overweight, then you should have begun to see some definate muscular changes by now as long as your diet is correct for mass building, and you are doing the correct excersizes at the correct weight and intensity for your body. You must also ensure that you are not 'cheating' in your exercises by not using the correct forms! Other more experienced lifters will be able to give you more details and perhaps suggest some focused mass building routines.

If you want to grow then you need to eat correctly.

You can hit the gym every day for years but gain nearly nothing (and even decrease muscle size!) because your diet is screwed! Lack of development due to overtraining is a possibility, but it is unlikely if you are only training each body part once per week (which is usually the right way to go, giving muscles time to relax and put to good effect all the good carbs and protein etc. you give your body during the rest period).

Have a read of the 'stickys' and perhaps follow GoPro's routine at the top of the training forum - I have heard that a lot of people find it builds mass pretty quickly. I suspect that your diet may be the main problem, although I may be wrong. Check out the Diet forum and you'll probably find all the info. you need.

As I said, others will be able to give you more detailed info. on all this. Good luck and don't give up!

 

[Yanick]

do you have any decent before pictures? i'd suggest take a look at them and you might be suprised that you made more gains than you think. its difficult to see changes in your body because you see yourself everyday, multiple times a day. i almost quit working out when i was a newbie because i thought i wasn't making gains then i found an old picture and saw a giant difference. you could always go hang out with someone who you haven't seen in 4 months, bet they'll give you a compliment .

this is assuming your form is half way decent, and your w/o is not completely retarded (there is lots of room for error when your a newbie).

 

[mmuscle]

If you are working out as much as you say and still not gaining then I think that your diet does need to be looked at.

You need to eat small and importantly 'regular' meals. Every three hours or so. This should ensure that your body has a constant supply of the nutrients and energy that it requires to train hard and to repair and grow between workouts!!

mmuscle

http://www.makemuscle.net

 

[Squaggleboggin]

I would recommend that you use strictly free weights. They equate to much more muscular development and strength. They also give those stabilizers a great workout and ensure that you won't become unbalanced more so than machines. Also, I find using DBs for chest hits it much harder than BB, but others often have different opinions, so to each his/her own.

 

[yesyes]

so how long should each of my workouts be.

I usually weight train for 40 mins - 1 hour and then do carido for 30 mins - 45 mins.

and should I do high weights/low reps or low weights/high reps

 

[RikkiHoon]

Keeping your workouts under one hour is a good idea; just make sure that you work intensely.

If you are not at all overweight, you could probably ease up on the cardio. Doing cardio 4-5 times per week is a lot and you should be careful not to do it too intensely as you could end up burning muscle, not fat. The fact that you have no fat to burn really means that cardio may be irrelevant, although it is important in terms of maintaining a healthy heart. I would suggest cutting out the cardio for now. If you are lifting intensely and *correctly*, you are giving yourself enough cardio anyway.​

Going heavy with low reps is the way to build mass - just make sure that you are getting sronger every workout, even if it is only by one rep!​

 

[GYM GURU]

Go SEMI HEAVY for a lot of reps (8-12) & heavy for as many reps as you can. Spotter needed of course ! You should be able to do this every other week.
On off weeks do Medium weight until failure.

If you are gettng your protein along with your calories ,good carbs & LOTS OF REST, you should should start seeing results in 5 to 6 weeks & just keep going from there. Most people begin a program for 3 to 4 weeks , don't see the results they want , & then just quit. If lots of muscle could be build in 3 to 4 weeks, everyone would be doing it !!! Good Luck !