[bkoguy07]

I've been trying to gain weight, obviously I haven't been eating enough around 3000-4000 cal's a day and I'm still cutting. I started at 6'3" 190 and now I'm down to 6'3" 180 at 5.8% body fat.(looks nice and can run and play basketball forever lol I've never been this cut...). I play basketball 3 times a week for about 2-3 hrs. I also workout extremely intensely so my heart rate is up. I would eat more but I don't have the time to prepare as much food. So should I cut down on the basketball? What should I do? I dont really wanna dirty bulk, but I can't seem to gain much mass despite being extremely lean, and my diet is really clean. Any ideas?

[suncloud]

lean bulking is pretty hard. especially at your low body fat. if you're trying to make gains off that low body fat its going to be slow. post workout shake with carbs and protein, peanut butter pre workout (1 hour before), and the basic exercises - squats, bench, deadlifts, pull ups, clean and press, dips, and military press. with that much cardio, don't expect to gain more than a pound a month. just being honest. course, thats 12 pounds heavier next year, with almost no more body fat.

if you can get your body fat that low naturally, its going to be hard to make gains. i will refer you to this thingy which does have the basics:
Gaining mass in a nutshell (a big nutshell)

[bkoguy07]

Originally Posted by suncloud

lean bulking is pretty hard. especially at your low body fat. if you're trying to make gains off that low body fat its going to be slow. post workout shake with carbs and protein, peanut butter pre workout (1 hour before), and the basic exercises - squats, bench, deadlifts, pull ups, clean and press, dips, and military press. with that much cardio, don't expect to gain more than a pound a month. just being honest. course, thats 12 pounds heavier next year, with almost no more body fat.

if you can get your body fat that low naturally, its going to be hard to make gains. i will refer you to this thingy which does have the basics:
Gaining mass in a nutshell (a big nutshell)

Yeah, I eat a peanutbutter sandwich and a glass of milk be4 workout and doo all those lifts minus cleans. I drink a shake afterworkout and 4 peices of chicken lol with some bread immediately after workout. I can gain weight fast (seem to be mesoish when i eat what ever i want or dont run much) but I'd rather find a nice medium between the two but either I gain too sloppy for my taste or gain barely any at all because of my cardio. I like sittin at 5.8 its kinda cool but its making it hell gaining from playing basketball. I think I'm going to cut out basketball a little and go for more gainage... Thanks for that post too.

[suncloud]

you can also just cut down your basketball to 1 or 2 days a week. just find the number that works for you. maybe just do it twice a week an hour each - that should keep you fairly lean while you're gaining. find what works and do it brotha.

[bkoguy07]

Yeah, that's what I'll prol do, I'm thinking bout switching from American Whey to Cytogainer as well.. Anyone ever use Cytogainer?

[WILL DA BEAST]

i used cytogainer about two years ago. it tasted great and i gained about 8-10 pounds in a month (not all muscle) but it made me uber constipated. that was probably partially due to the fact that it was the first time i bulked and was taking in around 6000cals a day @ 145 bodyweight.

bottom line: cytogainer is in the top 3 gainers i've tried. but i wouldn't take the recommended serving size because it's like four scoops. i'd start with two and go from there.

good luck cuz

[EasyEJL]

another idea is to just add some extra fat intake beyond the pb in terms of cashews, walnuts, pecans or olive oil or coconut oil. a tablespoon of coconut oil is 135 cal, so 2-3tbsp added to a shake 2-3x a day can add a lot of healthy cals

[TexasLifter89]

for fat intake i usually eat my tuna in sunflower oil along with some olive oil added as well as 2 handfuls of peanuts/cashews. Yum and it does the body GREAT things

[KoZyKaKs]

dude i feel you ur 6'3 im 6'5 it hard as hell to gain lean weight at this hight. i looked around for weeks to try to find a diet plan and work out program. i found one on scivation's web sit the lean mass diet it has alot of info but the down fall is that you said you dont have enought time to make all the food.
the work outs in the plan are all compound movements that produce a higher release of GH and TEST. squats dead lfts bench incline,falat rows ect all most every move is compound. maybe you should try doing alot more compound moves in your work out and not just the noobie barbell crul

bsn true mass the weight gainer that i am using right now and i love it. i only take about 2 scoops and not the recomended 3
i also have tryed cytogainer just like will i only use 2 scoops bc of the large cal in a scoop i like it and it taste grt

[bkoguy07]

Originally Posted by KoZyKaKs

dude i feel you ur 6'3 im 6'5 it hard as hell to gain lean weight at this hight. i looked around for weeks to try to find a diet plan and work out program. i found one on scivation's web sit the lean mass diet it has alot of info but the down fall is that you said you dont have enought time to make all the food.
the work outs in the plan are all compound movements that produce a higher release of GH and TEST. squats dead lfts bench incline,falat rows ect all most every move is compound. maybe you should try doing alot more compound moves in your work out and not just the noobie barbell crul

bsn true mass the weight gainer that i am using right now and i love it. i only take about 2 scoops and not the recomended 3
i also have tryed cytogainer just like will i only use 2 scoops bc of the large cal in a scoop i like it and it taste grt

Yeah, I'm goin to start adding more things to my diet as stated above(walnuts almonds stuff like that). Also I do have many compound movements in my workout plan PLUS the noobie barbell curl Yeah I'm def not taking in 4 scoops per sitting, maybe 3 at most but I'm bout to go buy some this week. I also plan on consuming more carbs, this week has been a good week been consuming a lot more carbs cut out basketball and I'm up to a heavier 184-183... I'm not as lean as I was but for now I'm just trying to gain alot of weight...

[dice404]

Originally Posted by bkoguy07

I've been trying to gain weight, obviously I haven't been eating enough around 3000-4000 cal's a day and I'm still cutting. I started at 6'3" 190 and now I'm down to 6'3" 180 at 5.8% body fat.(looks nice and can run and play basketball forever lol I've never been this cut...). I play basketball 3 times a week for about 2-3 hrs. I also workout extremely intensely so my heart rate is up. I would eat more but I don't have the time to prepare as much food. So should I cut down on the basketball? What should I do? I dont really wanna dirty bulk, but I can't seem to gain much mass despite being extremely lean, and my diet is really clean. Any ideas?

One thing that i do is instead of buying a gainer is just buy some cheap whey protien and oats. Just grind up a few cans of oatmeal and add however much to your protien shakes as you need to reach your daily carb goal. not only does this save money (gainers can be expensive if you drink a lot of them), but the oats have a lower GI than the maltodextrin that is in most weight gainers. Its an easy way to get more complex carbs and calories.

Another thing you could do is one night a week make all the food you're going to eat for the next week. I usaually just buy a bunch of chicken, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, and some veggies. On say a Sunday night i measure out all of the portions, cook it, and then put each on in a ziplock bag so later in the week when I'm crunched for time I can just grab it and heat it up.

And another thing, I think that the 2-3 hours you spend in the gym may be counterproductive. Studies show that cortisol rises after about an hour to an hour and a half. Either cut down on volume, or take less rest time between sets. Give this a try and I bet you'll start seeing some better results.

What do your workouts usaully look like?

[bkoguy07]

Originally Posted by dice404

One thing that i do is instead of buying a gainer is just buy some cheap whey protien and oats. Just grind up a few cans of oatmeal and add however much to your protien shakes as you need to reach your daily carb goal. not only does this save money (gainers can be expensive if you drink a lot of them), but the oats have a lower GI than the maltodextrin that is in most weight gainers. Its an easy way to get more complex carbs and calories.

Another thing you could do is one night a week make all the food you're going to eat for the next week. I usaually just buy a bunch of chicken, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, and some veggies. On say a Sunday night i measure out all of the portions, cook it, and then put each on in a ziplock bag so later in the week when I'm crunched for time I can just grab it and heat it up.

And another thing, I think that the 2-3 hours you spend in the gym may be counterproductive. Studies show that cortisol rises after about an hour to an hour and a half. Either cut down on volume, or take less rest time between sets. Give this a try and I bet you'll start seeing some better results.

What do your workouts usaully look like?

That is an extremely helpful post, thanks alot! Also I don't spend 2-3 hours in the gym, I play basketball for that long... My workouts tend to last 1hr 15min at the most. I try to keep them quick because I have heard about the cortisol rises as well. Good idea on creating the portions on like a Sunday night when I'm chillin. My workouts look like this

Monday (Chest, Tris)
DB bench 4x8
DB incline bench 4x8
Flys 4x8
Dips 4x8
Skullcrusher 4x8
Close grip bench 4x15
Cable Pushdown 4x8
Rope Pushdown 4x8
Dumbbell kick back 4x8

Tuesday (Legs, Abs)
Squat 4x8
Leg press 4x8
Leg extension 4x8
Leg curl 4x8
Calfs burnout
Abs do what ever till burn out lol

Wed (Arms)
Barbell curl 4x8
Incline seated curls 4x8
Hammer Curls 4x8
Preacher Curls 4x8
Alternating DB curl 4x8
Skullcrusher 4x8
Close Grip bench 4x8
Rope Pushdown 4x8
Forarms burnout

Thursday(Shoulders)
Military Press 4x8
Shoulder Press 4x8
Side Raises 4x8
Arnolds 4x8
I forget what its called, you like pull a barbell straight up 4x8 lol

Friday(Back, Bi's, Traps)
Deadlift 4x8
Pullups 4x8
Chin ups 4x8
Seated rows 4x8
lateral Pulldowns 4x8
Preacher Curls 4x8
Alternating DB curl 4x8
A little abs here and there


And basketball on the weekends...or during the week for my cardio... but I'm slowing down to maybe 2 times a week now.

I'm going to do the oats thing, thats a great idea. I plan on consuming a protein shake 3 a day, one in the morning, one post workout w/oats and one be4 bed. I also need a preworkout stim, any ideas? How's my workout look?

Thanks for the help!

[dice404]

Workouts look good. Just make sure that every set (except warmups) is done to failure.

I'm not really big on stims as they tend to supress my appitite. Sometimes if i need a little extra boost I'll just take a 200mg caffiene tab (cheap and effective). Although, people on this board have had great results from products like RPM by annabolic innovations and read 4 war (R4W) by get diesel. WTF pumped by ALRI in my opinion, looks pretty solid for a pwo supp, although I've never tried it.

Glad I could help!

[bkoguy07]

Originally Posted by dice404

Workouts look good. Just make sure that every set (except warmups) is done to failure.

I'm not really big on stims as they tend to supress my appitite. Sometimes if i need a little extra boost I'll just take a 200mg caffiene tab (cheap and effective). Although, people on this board have had great results from products like RPM by annabolic innovations and read 4 war (R4W) by get diesel. WTF pumped by ALRI in my opinion, looks pretty solid for a pwo supp, although I've never tried it.

Glad I could help!

Failure as in go heavy enough so that I can't do one more past 8 right? lol Yeah I've never tried any prework supp before like stims or even creatine mono so I'm looking around wondering what people would recommend, can't hurt to try it and see how it works for me.

[footster]

Originally Posted by bkoguy07

Failure as in go heavy enough so that I can't do one more past 8 right? lol Yeah I've never tried any prework supp before like stims or even creatine mono so I'm looking around wondering what people would recommend, can't hurt to try it and see how it works for me.

You've defiently been trying hard, and if you get the cals up, bc I think you said you were eating right. But creatine mono might be something good for you to try dude. If you want to. I love the stuff. You;ll get there.