Mission: GAIN MUSCLE

[Crazy Asian]

I've been in fairly good shape for most of my life (grade 7 and up).
I'm very happy with my body, but I think it's time for my to step it up.

I am doing this for 2 reasons.

1) To get faster at swimming. More muscle= faster times. Especially for breaststroke (which is what I do) since it takes the most muscle. I really want to be state champ next year, and I'm taking the time now to buff up for next season (season just ended).

2) Looks so I can have a boosted confidence level. But this reason is just a bonus. I wouldn't really do this if it wasn't for swimming.

I will start this weekend by going to the groceries and stocking up on healthy foods with high protein.

I will keep a log on here about the lifts I'm doing, what I'm eating everyday, and I will have an updated picture every 2-3 weeks or so (in the same lighting of course).

I would appreciate it if you guys would guide me a little and see if I'm doing anything wrong. I've read lots of posts on here, but I still don't understand if fully. I'm 16 right now, so I don't want to take anything to the extreme like eating 50 eggs a day.

It's going to be especially tough for me though, cause I'm Asian, and we all know it's hard for Asians to get buff

My goal is to reach 175 by November of next year while keeping my body fat at a low level. I weigh 160 right now cause i just got done being sick for 2 weeks. I used to weigh 165. But I think it's gonna be tough since I swim 2 hours everyday as well.

Thanks.

 

[Quagmire911]

What is your plan>? In detail.

 

[Crazy Asian]

Everyday, i'll get about 3-4 eggs in me for breakfast plus some toast and peanut butter. If not toast, then oatmeal.

For lunch, i'll eat w/e is healthy at the school (i'll be able to make lunch myself once summer starts)

I'll have a protein shake right after swim practice.
follow by a some carbs (like a bagel)

sometime between practice and dinner, i'll be snacking on stuff like cottage cheese, and peanuts, fruits, tuna etc...

Dinner
i'll get a good amount of chicken, ground beef, or steak in me.
My family eats white rice everyday for dinner, is this a problem?
and lots of veggies.

i'll be cooking everything with olive oil.
and i'll take about 2-3 fish oil tablets everyday.
and *try* to get 8 hours of sleep.

for workouts

i'm gonna work out mon, wed, and fri.
(i already do, but i'll increase the weights)

Mon- Deadlifts
bent row - 2X10
tri extensions - 2X10

Wed- Incline press
as many pull ups as i can X 3
shoulder complex- 2X10
biceps - 2X10

Fri - Squat
abs
some exercise that works my chest, cause that's my weakest spot right now.
i'd really like to get my chest bigger.

think i should do 3 sets of 10 for the little workouts?

some suggestions would be nice.
I'd like to focus more on my upper body since my legs are stronger proportionally than my upper body.
So, what some exercise works your lats , pecks and upper back?

 

[Crazy Asian]

btw, for the big 3.
after i do the warm up sets, i'll do 3 sets of 8, 6 and 4.
i'll do that for 2 weeks and on the 3rd week, i'll go for endurance and do 4 X 12 of the big 3.
and repeat

 

[Quagmire911]

Your workouts had some good ideas and some merit, however go with this instead:

http://www.sosuave.net/forum/showthread.php?t=125444

I would choose option B, but it is up to you. If you don't progress well, then we will put you on a two day or change things a little. You do not need to focus on upper body more than lower body, it doesn't work like that. You need to strengthen everything as a whole and make your body grow as a unit.

You have said that you want to gain muscle. You have said yourself that this will be harder for you, especially with the two hours swimming a day. You seem to understand that diet will be crucial to your success, however you have already put limits on what you are willing to do. Ok, 50 eggs a day is extreme and not necessary, but you will have to step things up if you are to have a chance of succeeding.

You need to follow something like this:

http://www.sosuave.net/forum/showthread.php?t=134782

This is not set in stone, but gives you an idea of the amount you are going to have to eat. Aim for two scoops whey+four raw eggs+a little water for the shakes. You can sub in chicken/turkey/pork for one of the meals for variety. As for rice dump it, it is ****. If it is post workout you can maybe have some wholegrain rice, but definitely not white.

As for supps, aim for 1g vit C, 10g fish oil as a minimum, and a multivitamin. These are some basic supps, nothing fancy.

I gotta go, but that will do as a start.

Quagmire

 

[Crazy Asian]

instead of rice, what carbs should replaces them with?
I can't just skip out on carbs can I?

is the vitamin C important?
we have these vitamin C powder packets, but what does it do?
As for fish oil, on the bottle it says to take 2 pills a day, but i guess i'll have to take around 5?

as for the shakes with whey and raw eggs?
that sounds kinda nasty.
but i'll definitely give it a try.
so for the shake : 3 eggs + whey + milk/yogurt?

i'll be going shopping tomorrow.
i already have an idea, but some suggestions on what to buy would be nice.
and i'll post a photo of my body sometime this weekend.

 

[Quagmire911]

Fruits and veggies are good. The idea is to try and stay away from the processed stuff so stick more to whole grains, some potatoes, oats.

The shake is two scoops of flavoured whey, 4 raw eggs, a bit of water. No milk or yoghurt. You could try milk and you may get away with it if you are tolerant and also with all the cardio. It just isn't the best for making lean gains.

Fish oil caps are generally 1g per capsule, so this would be 10 capsules. The serving recommendations on the back are made up and bull**** so ignore them.

Good luck,

Quagmire

 

[J89]

Everyday, i'll get about 3-4 eggs in me for breakfast plus some toast and peanut butter. If not toast, then oatmeal.

For lunch, i'll eat w/e is healthy at the school (i'll be able to make lunch myself once summer starts)

I'll have a protein shake right after swim practice.
follow by a some carbs (like a bagel)

sometime between practice and dinner, i'll be snacking on stuff like cottage cheese, and peanuts, fruits, tuna etc...

Dinner
i'll get a good amount of chicken, ground beef, or steak in me.
My family eats white rice everyday for dinner, is this a problem?
and lots of veggies.

i'll be cooking everything with olive oil.
and i'll take about 2-3 fish oil tablets everyday.
and *try* to get 8 hours of sleep.

for workouts

i'm gonna work out mon, wed, and fri.
(i already do, but i'll increase the weights)

Mon- Deadlifts
bent row - 2X10
tri extensions - 2X10

Wed- Incline press
as many pull ups as i can X 3
shoulder complex- 2X10
biceps - 2X10

Fri - Squat
abs
some exercise that works my chest, cause that's my weakest spot right now.
i'd really like to get my chest bigger.

think i should do 3 sets of 10 for the little workouts?

some suggestions would be nice.
I'd like to focus more on my upper body since my legs are stronger proportionally than my upper body.
So, what some exercise works your lats , pecks and upper back?

Decent routine, but cange it to:

Mon-Back/biceps

Wednesday-Chest shoulders triceps

Fri-Legs (move shoulders here if you want)

 

[Quagmire911]

Decent routine, but cange it to:

Mon-Back/biceps

Wednesday-Chest shoulders triceps

Fri-Legs (move shoulders here if you want)

Check the thread I posted

 

[Touchout]

1) To get faster at swimming. More muscle= faster times. Especially for breaststroke (which is what I do) since it takes the most muscle. I really want to be state champ next year, and I'm taking the time now to buff up for next season (season just ended).

I want to warn you about this, because I'm also a breast stroker who thought this. After my senior year I had about 6 months before my college season started in which I bulked up...big, I went from 150 to about 170, all muscle. Sure, I looked a hell of a lot better and was A LOT stronger (max bench went from 155 to where I was setting 205) but once we started heavy yardage I was hurting...bad. I almost got to the point where I had to stop everyday because the pain was so bad.


Just a warning, try not to overdo it in the gym like I did.

 

[Quagmire911]

Perhaps to rephrase it, more strength=better breaststroke. Therefore keep a maintenance diet and focus on strength gains.

 

[Crazy Asian]

I want to warn you about this, because I'm also a breast stroker who thought this. After my senior year I had about 6 months before my college season started in which I bulked up...big, I went from 150 to about 170, all muscle. Sure, I looked a hell of a lot better and was A LOT stronger (max bench went from 155 to where I was setting 205) but once we started heavy yardage I was hurting...bad. I almost got to the point where I had to stop everyday because the pain was so bad.


Just a warning, try not to overdo it in the gym like I did.

waaa?
do u know why this happened?
i can't imagine more muscle being bad.

oh and what was ur time for the 100?

 

[Crazy Asian]

Perhaps to rephrase it, more strength=better breaststroke. Therefore keep a maintenance diet and focus on strength gains.

yes, i think that would be better.
keeping the same body type, but just increasing strength.
for that, i just cut back on the calories a little right?

also, for the workout u posted :
DAY 1(eg. Monday)
Squats 2 x 5
Squats or Leg Press 1 x 15 (lighter weight)
Good Mornings or Stiff Leg Deadlifts or Sumo Leg Press 2 x 10-15
Glute Ham Raise or Pullthroughs or Hyperextension 2 x 8
Calf Raises 2 x 10

DAY 2(eg. Wednesday)
Incline Press 2 x 5
Dumbbell Press (Flat/Decline) or Dips 2 x 8-10
Shoulder Press 2 x 8-12
Tricep Exercise 2 x 10-15

DAY 3(eg. Friday)
Deadlifts 2 x 5
Row or Chinup/Pulldown 2 x 8
Bicep Curl 2 x 8-10
Forearm Exercise 2 x 10-15

"Good Mornings or Stiff Leg Deadlifts or Sumo Leg Press"- what are those?
Am i supposed to squat twice on Monday?
and what are forearm exercises?

 

[Touchout]

keeping the same body type, but just increasing strength

.

Yep, I think that's more like what you want. My coach and I thought it was because I gained to much mass, particularly in the upper leg and shoulder areas, I actually pulled my groin real bad and was out for over a month this season.

But still, getting stronger is definitely not bad, just don't get really massive. Hell, I just started lifting again now that it's off season and I'm still using most of what is told here. Listen to Quag he has the right idea.

Oh and my best time is 1:02:3, How about you?

 

[Quagmire911]

On the squat you do two heavy sets of five, and then lower the weight and do a set of twenty reps.

You only do one option out of gm's/stifflegs/sumo leg press. This is a GM:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRuJdQDvlOE

Sumo leg press is just using a wide stance on the leg press.

A good forearm exercise is reverse curls. Alternatively do hammer curls and use this as a bicep and forearm exercise.

Too maintain weight, yes you will eat less calories than if you were trying to put on weight. However, with the amount you will be doing you will still have to eat well above average.

 

[Crazy Asian]

so there is a difference between gaining muscle and strength?
you can gain strength w/o gaining too much muscle?

Touchout,
mine is 1:04:56.
hoping to get that under a min. by end of next season.

 

[Crazy Asian]

Grocery List for tomorrow:

-Whole grain bread
-olive oil
-packs of tuna
-lots of lean ground beef
-Potatoes
-bagels*
-peanuts
-cottage cheese
-peanut butter
-eggs
-a variety of veggies
-whey powder
-oats
-hamburger buns*

* should i throw those out?
are they "bad carbs"?

also, should i cut butter out of my diet? I read on this forum that fat isn't bad for you, but i just can't imagine butter being ok to eat.

 

[Touchout]

Not to get too off-topic but you can definitely drop 4 seconds in a season, just work your ass off in and out of the pool.:rockon:

 

[Quagmire911]

I wouldn't worry about the butter.

And yes, you can double your strength and not put on a pound.

 

[Crazy Asian]

Not to get too off-topic but you can definitely drop 4 seconds in a season, just work your ass off in and out of the pool.:rockon:

yeah, i hope so.
i'm also swimming for club during the summer and off season, so i hope to get my time down to a 1:03 high before season starts.

one of my friends went a 1:03 last year w/o working very hard. this year, he worked his @ss off and came to every practice but he got slower by 1.5 seconds. it was really weird.