[locked]

I've gained 17 pounds in about 2 months and i attribute most of that to the whey anabolic protein i have been taking while weightlifting. But to be honest after 3 straight days of taking it i seem to get diarrhea and just crap it out. And i think i may have hit a wall. Im 6'3 180 and have a big frame to add weight. Also im just working out for sports, not for competing. I know theres alot of talk about making your own, is there a good recipe to keep me lean and gaining weight?

Also when i lift weights, I dont work one muscle group a day like ive heard you should. Im a rookie weight lifting wise and dont think i know enough workouts to keep me in the weight room for more than 20 min (with one muscle group).

this is mostly a weight gain question.

[EasyEJL]

try low fat cottage cheese and tuna fish in place of the whey. The diarrhea is relatively "normal" if a lot of your calories are coming from whey rather than solid foods.

Look around for prebuilt workout routines. There are more of them than you can count. SAIS, Madcow, Body For Life, PRRS, GBC, GVT, etc.

[TheAnimalG]

The best thing for gaining muscle mass is food. Its the best anabolic out there!

I recommend knowing how many calories you are eating in all your foods during the day. That way you can adjust it up or down as you see the effects on your body.

At first it will seem like a lot of work to look at all the nutriitonal info, but after a little while, you will start remembering all of it and you will automatically know how many calories you ate. (especially since most people eat the same things every day or every so often)

[locked]

Originally Posted by TheAnimalG

The best thing for gaining muscle mass is food. Its the best anabolic out there!

I recommend knowing how many calories you are eating in all your foods during the day. That way you can adjust it up or down as you see the effects on your body.

At first it will seem like a lot of work to look at all the nutriitonal info, but after a little while, you will start remembering all of it and you will automatically know how many calories you ate. (especially since most people eat the same things every day or every so often)

I eat like nuts.

[T-Bone]

Originally Posted by locked

I eat like nuts.

So you are fed through a tube?

[locked]

Originally Posted by T-Bone

So you are fed through a tube?

I have iv's attached to my body and a tube....

I eat a ton, with my mouth and teeth. I just am interested in gaining weight and not wasting money on protein. Also switching up my workout.

[Nitrox]

Originally Posted by locked

I eat a ton, with my mouth and teeth. I just am interested in gaining weight and not wasting money on protein. Also switching up my workout.

TheAnimalG already gave you the answer. Muscle gains come from:
1) Adaptation stimulus
2) Sufficient building material (protein)
3) Sufficient energy to assemble proteins into muscle (calories)

You can eat all the protein you want but if you are not taking in enough calories you won't build squat. This is why you will repeatedly hear that if you are serious about gains then you have to at least make and follow a meal plan.

Protein from real food sources (meats, dairy, etc) is best. Protein powders are a convenience. As long as you are eating regularly throughout the day, the 'fast acting' aspect of powders is irrelevant.

Good luck

[tattoopierced1]

Originally Posted by EasyEJL

try low fat cottage cheese and tuna fish in place of the whey. The diarrhea is relatively "normal" if a lot of your calories are coming from whey rather than solid foods.

Look around for prebuilt workout routines. There are more of them than you can count. SAIS, Madcow, Body For Life, PRRS, GBC, GVT, etc.

spot on... also, try a good 5x5 routine.

[lgkitfox]

Originally Posted by locked

I just am interested in gaining weight and not wasting money on protein. Also switching up my workout.

First off. Protein is NOT Money wasted. After your newbie gains (and people can make gains doign all sorts of wrong things in the gym just starting off!), things might slow down..this will be because alot of people dont have their eating/sleeping habits dialed in!!! The latter two things should be AS important if not more so, than exercising. Consult or consider any of the various nutritional/dieting threads aroudn the bulking forums here to see examples of what a good 'dialed' in diet can look like!

Your a beginner? Don't overcomplicate what your doing necessarily in the gym, you can make great gains by just makign variations in your lifting habits..there's no need to step outside the tested, proven, tried and true weight lifting methods of training that are sure to guarentee results in the gym with just simple variations to keep your body guessing and adjusting to a chagne in workload/exercise form.

Chest - try incline, decline, dumbell, barbell,

Triceps - try reverse tricep extensions, overhead extensions, push downs, dips.

Biceps - reverse curl, barbell curl, concentration curl, dumbell curl, preacher curl....remember, doing ALOT of heavy compound lifts will hit your biceps, trigering alot of growth. For this reason, alot of guy's dont even train biceps because they get killed doing the more complex lifts that involve the biceps in synergistic movement.

Back - Pull ups, chin ups, suppiniated grip barbell rows, cable rows, one arm dumbell rows, deadlifts <----the KING OF MASS lift, it is worth training. Humble yourself and ask one of the trainers to spot you after researhing the form, and get this down pat if you dont do it!

etc etc..

If your looking for mass over hypertrophy, train in a lower rep range for your heavier lifts..Poliquin claims that most of your muscle fibers are activated within the 90% of your 1RM. Do sets of 3-5 (ie benchpress, squat, deadlifts), and for your isolation lifts 6-8 (biceps, triceps focused lifts for example).

[Cordeen]

Try mixing your whey with other liquids in order to avoid the toilet trips. I find acidic juices like OJ do just that. Even smaller and more frequent servings of the same amount of protein may alleviate this issue.

[delsolrob]

Originally Posted by lgkitfox

If your looking for mass over hypertrophy, train in a lower rep range for your heavier lifts..Poliquin claims that most of your muscle fibers are activated within the 90% of your 1RM. Do sets of 3-5 (ie benchpress, squat, deadlifts), and for your isolation lifts 6-8 (biceps, triceps focused lifts for example).

I like where you went with this (it's on topic), but a beginner who's only been doing 20 minute workouts shouldn't be focusing on lifting heavy just yet.

IMO: if you want to start building a bigger body focus on building the major muscle groups...Core, Legs, Chest, and Back. Don't worry about arms and shoulders just yet because they'll be worked in the process. Once you get a solid framework then you can start focusing on the smaller muscle groups.

start with weights that are challenging for 8-12 reps, as your form and strength improve you can begin thinking about lifting heavier at lower reps (I'd say 6 months to a year of consistant training). Lifting heavy right now is just asking for injuries!

Just my 2 cents

[lgkitfox]

I like where you went with this (it's on topic), but a beginner who's only been doing 20 minute workouts shouldn't be focusing on lifting heavy just yet.

True dat my man, i must have skipped over that vital bit of info...your totally right, if he has only done 20 minute work outs i wouldnt prescribe training in the repitition range i suggested.

Hypertrophy would be much better, per the 8-12 range^^

[Nabisco]

Personally I think a 5x5 program would work great for someone fairly newer but looking to gain weight and strength. I understand that he shouldn't jump into heavy lifting, but a 5x5 program isn't necessarily "jumping" into heavy lifting. In fact the first few weeks of the program are "build up" to your current 5 rep max. I think it would be an excellent program. I used it about 6 months after I first started lifting and I feel like it added a solid amount of lean mass and strength to my chest,back,core, and legs. Search out Bill Starr's 5x5 program and check it out. Maybe it's not for you, but its definitely worth the read.