Trump supporters: "THE VAX IS BIG FARMA"

Also Trump supporters: "FILL ME UP WITH DUH DR OZ FAT DRUG"

Good call on this - I usually use the upstairs cable machines which have shrouds but the this worked great downstairs. Thanks

Looking in the mirror the other day and I realise I really need to drop another 10lbs - I'm not fat, it's just that as my upper and lower are getting more defined that the belly fat is becoming obvious again. I gotta get better at meal planning so I don't drop so many calorie bombs into my week - bought a bulk pack of chicken thighs and salad parts yesterday so I can easily whip up some easy lighter meals for lunch.

You guys got some easy go-to low-ish calorie meals that you make for lunch?

I skip lunch entirely.

Light breakfast and dinner only.

if you do strictly chicken with veggies you can fill yourself up in a healthier low cal, low fat, low carb meal. i usually at some potatoes in there which also help with satiety. air fryer is your friend.

I hit the gym after a 1 month hiatus because my son's class at the community center had a break. In the mean time I've been doing calisthenics and rowing.

I got on the scale at the gym first thing which is where I've been weighing myself

175.8lbs. I gained roughly 3 lbs. I believe half of that should be muscle as I can actually feel the gains, especially in the chest department from the calisthenics workout.

At the gym, I've gained strength and endurance, being able to up the weights for some of my upper body workouts.

Dumb question -- how do you guys bulk up?

At the most basic level, I know you need the intake calories to exceed the amount of calories you expend. And then it is a matter of consuming enough proteins, doing enough weights, and getting enough rest to build muscles.

I've been plateauing for quite some time now -- probably minimal fluctuations within the past year or more. I suspect my problem is 2-fold:

1) I am not getting enough sleep
2) I am not eating enough

The question I really want to ask is -- how do you get yourself to eat more when I don't really feel like eating anymore? If I am already full, I don't want to eat more. But if I don't eat more, then I don't think I am providing enough fuel and nutrients to build more muscles.

I remember reading about Hollywood stars going on some crazy bulking prep for their roles in MCU superhero roles, where they go through crazy bulking and cutting regimes where they have to force themselves to eat even when they don't want to, or starve themselves even if they are really hungry. Obviously I am no Hollywood star, and I am not auditioning for superhero movie roles, so I'd hardly think those extreme approaches are what I should follow.

In my mind, I have two methods to this madness.

You either do the bulk/cut cycle which I'm guessing is quicker.
Or you do the incremental cycle where you eat enough to just have a bit of excess, and as you build more muscle, your burn rate will increase until you reach equilibrium or start cutting, then you up your calorie count again.

I'm honestly not terrible fussed about this whole thing. When my 1 rep max was some ridiculous number (for my skinny Chinese frame anyways, 215 squat, 155 bench), I was not much or no bigger than before I started. From my experience it's when you do a ton of reps do you get bigger quicker.

You’re probably limited by your frame. Just as I’ll never be a super skinny fuck, you guys will never be super bulky

Speaking about sleep how do we get more deep sleep?

Apple watch tracks 2-2.5 hours of REM but only 1 hour of deep.

I have 2-4 awakenings on average, usually 1 to go pee middle of the night.

drugs.
milk.
jerk off.

mix those 3 above, you'll pass out.

As you mentioned, you probably don't consume enough, especially protein. If you're not supplementing, today is a good time to start.

Something that helped me; don't fill a shaker bottle (its so much liquid to intake)! Just under half fill a shaker, put two scoops of protein powder and slam it (should add creatine as well). Pretty solid way to start the day, then go to the gym and actually lift heavy (reaching technical failure at 6 reps).

When it comes to actors, just remember there is no drug testing required to make a movie. There is a number of very Trenmpting compounds that help them get into movie shape.

Rich

movie industry is pretty messed up honestly. Not sure how a movie can balloon up to 200-300 million dollars and still end up being a total shitty mess.

You gotta give more context Traum.

What's your weight and height again? Have you ever had your body composition checked for BF%?

Keep in mind that eventually you reach your genetic potential in terms of size, also the reality being that even if you can get bigger, would you "feel" better? For example, I tend to find my perfect balance is around 185-190 sitting at 12-13% BF. When I go up to 200, I feel lethargic and tired, so going for simple "mass" might not always be the best outcome health wise.

The one thing you mentioned was lack of sleep, and I'd say that should take precedence over everything else. Lack of sleep affects everything, your testosterone levels, your metabolism, mood, it's all connected by sleep. When sleep fails, everything else does, no matter what.

Get your sleep in order first, I guarantee you'll start seeing better results.

Did you meet him at the previous meet? I suspect you may have already left (while whitev70r was lurking in the background.)

I have been working out on and off since university, used to always focus on strength (starting strength, 5x5 etc.) and totally avoided any sort of aesthetics (no arm stuff, only flat bench, etc.).

In the last 3 years I decided just to see how big I could get and focus less on strength (which also helps as the lower weights are easier on the joints.)

Not to say it will work for everyone, but here's what's worked for me to gain size. You can see past progress here: https://www.revscene.net/forums/7179...ml#post9170732

#1 most important is to track your protein intake. Better if you can track all your macros, but if you are lazy, just make sure you are getting 1g per protein per lb of body weight per day. A serving of protein is ~30g, and so for me, I did one shake when I wake up, lunch, and dinner, and then a slightly larger than full serving of protein for lunch and dinner so thats about 5x30g portions of protein plus other protein snacks to get to about 160-170g per day.

Especially during bulking, don't be afraid of CARBS. Going to lift without enough carbs will make your muscles tire out before your muscles actually get to mechanical failure, thus wasting a workout.

Even if you don't feel like eating more, just eat it. It is not just the discipline and routine required of going to the gym regularly, eating enough is a big part of why gaining muscle is not easy. Find creative ways to get your protein intake without being super boring. Some of my hacks include: Quest protein chips, cottage cheese mixed with jalepeno and green onion to make it into a dip/topping that you can have with rice crackers, adding a few scoops of greek yogurt into protein shake with blended with frozen berries. If you wanna be a dirty boi, get a a double or triple hamburger at McDonalds.

Get through at least 1.5x of your routine each week. e.g. if you have a 3 day routine (push/pull/legs, Upper/Lower/Arms, etc.), you will want to go to the gym at least 4-5 days a week.

Progressive Overload: If you are looking for size only, what worked for me is more traditional hypertrophy routines with progressive overload. Aim for 8-12 reps of an exercise. When you can do 3 sets of 12 reps comfortably at a certain weight, move up to the next weight and do 3 sets of 8. Keep moving up until you can do 3x12 then keep going up in weight back to 3 sets of 8. Rinse and repeat.

Don't ego lift and focus on form, the mind-muscle connection, and really try to get the stretch at the elongated position of the lift. IMHO bottom of the lift is more important than getting the full ROM at the TOP of your lift (the squeeze). Be intentional, think about the weight as resistance for the muscle you are targeting, don't simply think about getting the weight up.

Use creatine.

And yes, sleep is very important. Just imagine that sleep is the time when your body actually grows. So the less sleep you get the less growth you will get.

Helpful youtube channels that I follow, but its important to take each with a grain of salt and see what works best for you: Jeff Nippard, Jeremy Either, Renaissance Periodization, Natural Hypertrophy

Ego lift is the only way to go

I've been a 130 - 140 lbs twig for the longest time. 5'9" at night. Slightly taller in the morning. Online calculators seem to suggest a BF% of 14 - 15, but I have no idea how accurate those online calculators are.

Over the course of deliberately building (lean?) mass, I've probably only picked up around 5 lbs or so? There was zero definition before LOL~ and there is some slight definition now. But keeping to a 4 - 5 days per week exercise routine has made me feel significantly better than doing 0 - 1 workout. I'm probably at the heaviest point I have ever been in my life at this point, and so far, I'd also have to say I am probably feeling my best as well -- except for a period of time in my mid 20's when I was figuring things out between school and work, so I had a ton of free time back then to do a ton of sports and exercises.

Getting more sleep is an on-going goal / challenge. I hope I am not making any excuses, but between supporting my family (wifey + kids), 2 sets of parents, work / chores, and also trying to maintain my own sanity, I always feel like I am spreding myself too thin, and sleep often ends up being one of the things I sacrifice, although it isn't always the thing that I give up.

It sounds like I really need to make an effort in tracking what my daily protein intake is. At this point, working out has also been a form of stress relief / me time, and I didn't want to turn it into yet another administrative / tracking task on top of all the home admin / chores that I'm doing LOL~ But even a ballpark daily estimate is probably much better than flying in blind, and just going by feel.
(And as a parellel to that, not relying on datalogging in motorsports is also why I am far from being a top tier driver like Vancouver240sx, Mark, or Nick is.)

Just ballpark the protein. Once you start measuring you'll get a rough idea how many grams of protein is in the foods you commonly eat and then you can just estimate moving forward.

1 scoop protein is 30g give or take depending on brand. A portion of protein the size of your palm is about 25g. A boneless skinless chicken thigh is about 22g. An egg is 6g.

Isn't it more like 1.5g per KG and not per Lb? I don't know how it'd be possible for me to get 170g of protein a day - on my workout days I'll do a shake along my overnight oats and that gets me to 60g and finding another 110g would take a lot of effort unless I eat 5.5 McDoubles a day (and I'll have another kind of problem at that point).

Nippard is how I imagine a relatively high functioning autistic bodybuilder would be like.

I just make a habit of adding a bit more protein lately in my meals, and hopefully it helps haha.

General recommended range is 0.6g to 1g of protein per lb of body weight per day. 1.5g per kg is 0.68g per lb so it's within the range.

Depends on how intense and how often you workout. I definitely experience have faster recovery and progression with higher protein intake, lifting 5-6 days a week during a bulk.

You hit the spot. Kumail Nanjiani (Silicon Valley) did just that in Eternals and he said the same thing. He thanked the studio who paid him and supported him in bulking up. He got ripped, shredded blah blah blah BECAUSE THEY ARE ACTORS. They get paid to do nothing but get 2 trainers to help.

Don't know how old you are, but surely it'll be easier if you're 20 versus mid 40s. Can it be done, sure. Just takes a bit more time and a TON of research which you don't have time for cause you don't' sleep. Something has to give and it's a tough thing to do.

nearly all of us do not have the privilege of focusing solely on weight lifting and nutrition. it takes some planning and education on your part to reach your food goals. I think I said it towards the beginning of this thread but seeing true results is highly dependent on food management as well as dedication to a gym routine. again, it depends what your goals are but that will determine how disciplined you need to be. if you're just looking to bulk up a bit and feel better about yourself, then rough estimates are good enough. Up your protein, decrease your carbs to a reasonable level, make sure you have fibre in your diet.

https://i.postimg.cc/VNVQq2c4/IMG-7655.jpg
I went to the gym and they fed me this today. thats fucking great.

I have never seen so much sabotage at one gym in my entire life lol. It's just as bad as Planet Fitness offering pizza and donuts at their facilities lol.