Hey guys, recently lost a lot of weight, looking to gain back some muscle.

[BossRoss182]

Quick run-down, I used to weigh 240 pounds in the off season of wrestling, and during it i'd wrestle at 215, over this summer however, I began to lose weight gradually from that 240 lbs to 182, I wanted to see if i'd have more success in wrestling at a lower weight. Now that my last season is over, I can focus on the weights again, which is great considering that during my cut i lost around 10 lbs of muscle i'd imagine due to cutting a little too aggressively toward the end.

Anyway, here are some before and after pictures of myself, now in the first one i was considerably stronger than I am now, which is where I want to be, I just don't want to gain any of that fat back.

This is me in May 2011: (23% bf, 240)

This is me in November, and pretty much what I look like now: (8.5% bf, 182)

So some more basic information, my goal is to bulk up all around while still staying under 11% bf. Of course after wrestling ended i was finally able to drink and eat regularly again. So i'm fairly certain i've gained a couple pounds of fat already, no big deal really, my abs don't really matter to me, i'd much rather look like someone who lifts weights than just a skinny guy with abs like i look right now. But anyway, sorry to drag all of this on, but does anyone have any suggestions on how to really ease back into the bulking? I'm right now starting little workouts in the morning with this home gym, not much i can get out of it, but for the time beign, it works alright. I've also increased my calories drastically, i was eating around 1200-1500 a day, (trust me i know its dumb) now i'm eating about 3000, which is currently my maintnance. I've been getting much more protein in my diet as well, now i just need some guidance on things life the best time to lift, what muscle groups and when, cardio or no cardio? etc.


Jesus this was a long thread, ha sorry guys

 

[MidwestBeast]

First of all, congrats, man. I wouldn't say that photo has you looking like a skinny guy who doesn't lift, by any means. There is most certainly muscle there and you don't have "skinny abs" -- that's a great foundation.

How long have you been back up at 3k calories from that 1200 to 1500? I would have advised very slowly increasing calories and not drastically jumping back up (I've done that before and it didn't work well for me). If 3k is still a maintenance level for you and you're not gaining any weight, I would just slowly increase cals by about 200 a day for a week at a time and see what results you get. That way you can find whatever point has you gaining a pound a week or so and that's where I'd stick. As long as you're eating good foods and lifting hard, that one pound per week is more likely to be muscle.

What I see too many people do is try to gain as quickly as possible and that ends up with about half of it being fat and then they have to cut, again. I don't see why more people don't cut to where they wanna be (which I'm assuming you're happy with right now) and then SLOWLY increase weight to ensure you're gaining muscle, not fat, and don't have to do the cycle of cut/bulk/cut/bulk over and over, anymore.

 

[BossRoss182]

First of all, congrats, man. I wouldn't say that photo has you looking like a skinny guy who doesn't lift, by any means. There is most certainly muscle there and you don't have "skinny abs" -- that's a great foundation.

How long have you been back up at 3k calories from that 1200 to 1500? I would have advised very slowly increasing calories and not drastically jumping back up (I've done that before and it didn't work well for me). If 3k is still a maintenance level for you and you're not gaining any weight, I would just slowly increase cals by about 200 a day for a week at a time and see what results you get. That way you can find whatever point has you gaining a pound a week or so and that's where I'd stick. As long as you're eating good foods and lifting hard, that one pound per week is more likely to be muscle.

What I see too many people do is try to gain as quickly as possible and that ends up with about half of it being fat and then they have to cut, again. I don't see why more people don't cut to where they wanna be (which I'm assuming you're happy with right now) and then SLOWLY increase weight to ensure you're gaining muscle, not fat, and don't have to do the cycle of cut/bulk/cut/bulk over and over, anymore.

Thanks, i appreciate that man, but yeah I tried the 3k cals a day for a few days, and started honestly getting sick and lethargic, so now I'm just increasing slowly. I haven't really looked at my scale yet cause I don't want to freak out at the sight of all the water weight I gained and get discouraged, so for now I'm just attempting to get to a comfortable level then check my weight often. During my whole wrestling season I was always dehydrated, I looked like a deflated balloon at times, and already now that i've been getting water in me I notice my strength coming back, which leads me to believe that i may not have necessarily lost the muscle, I just had little water to support it, but that was all kinda besides the point.
Right now i'm waiting to get some money to get a membership at a gym because i no longer have the class at my high school, but as soon as i do i'm going to start hitting the weights again easing into it, I feel like my diet is down pretty good, I am at the point to where i very rarely even crave sweets or junk food, I feel like I've trained my body to eat clean, I'm getting my protein and everything too, should i continue taking subtle amounts of creatine? I don't want to have to rely on it to make gains which is something that kinda happened to me a couple years ago, so i keep the doses relatively small spread throughout the day.

One more thing, this is kinda what I plan to start working out with pretty soon, any suggestions on what I should change feel free to throw my way.:

Monday: 30 min cardio prior to workout,
Back & Bis

Tuesday: Legs (I really need to build my legs back up) & Abs post workout

Wednesday: 30 min cardio
Chest & Tris

Thursday: Shoulders & Abs

Friday: possibly low weight high burn out sets of various lifts, not to gain or anything, just to get that feel-good feeling and kinda take it easy that day for encouragement, Idk, just throwing that idea out there.

Does that look like a decent plan?

 

[mkretz]

im subbed in here, looks like u got a good thing bout to happen....ill chime in when im back form work.... g/l bro!

 

[BossRoss182]

im subbed in here, looks like u got a good thing bout to happen....ill chime in when im back form work.... g/l bro!

Thanks for the support man, I'll probably keep updating with progress if i ever get the damn money to get a gym membership. I don't think i've ever been so restless before!

 

[MidwestBeast]

As far as the creatine goes; if you're eating plenty of red meat, I wouldn't worry about it. However, adding it in doesn't hurt and it's cheap enough to get a kilo or so of mono that will last quite a while (but that comes after you have enough for your gym membership lol).

 

[BossRoss182]

As far as the creatine goes; if you're eating plenty of red meat, I wouldn't worry about it. However, adding it in doesn't hurt and it's cheap enough to get a kilo or so of mono that will last quite a while (but that comes after you have enough for your gym membership lol).

Ha luckily for me i have a tub and some pills leftover from before wrestling started. So i wont have to worry about getting any more, and really i mainly eat white meats, like chicken and tuna a lot, not too often do i have a nice steak or anything so ill definitely keep that in. My concern is that during wrestling i was constantly working out which kept my weight down, i literally had to get up at 430 to get on my exercise bike before school, then i'd do high rep low weight reps of lifts along with some windsprints n the hall during class, and i's have to sometimes still stay after practice to just make sure my weight didnt freak out, and i'm so scared that i'm going to be really sensitive to fat gain. I kinda just ate like crap for two days after state, but right away i got back on with my diet. Do you guys think i should still be too concerned?