Post: #26

I start and end the day with 500ml of whole milk mixed with gold standard protein powder (it contains lactase, which will help you digest it). This will add 80g of protein and 800 calories to your day. Otherwise, I just eat 3 mid to large sized meals and keep almonds, cashews and dried fruit around for snacking. I make sure one of my meals is 0.75 to 1lb of meat (salmon, beef or chicken). I eat whatever I want for the other meals but focus on high protein sources (eggs, greek yogurt, meat). I've gained about 20 lbs over the last 6 months.

Post: #27

(12-13-2012 11:02 AM)Scarecr0w Wrote:  Hi guys

What advice can you give me to gain weight, i'm a skinny hardgainer in my early 30s and i'm having trouble gaining weight. is it good to eat high calories food like crazy?
what about whey protein? is it safe?
what type of gym routine should be better for people like me?

thanks

buy a weight exercise book with illustrations of the exercises so you know what to do in the gym free weights are best but machines are good for starting. make sure you workout every body part and do compound lifts (squat, deadlift and bench-press) mixed with isolation exercises.
make a 12 week training program split your training program into 3 parts (4 weeks each)
1 light weight high reps 12-14
2 mid weight mid reps 8-10
3 heavy weight low reps 4-8
this insures that your body and muscles are always tested in new ways and will continue to grow. If your a hard gainer (like me) eat as much as you can (limit sugar) try to have 30 grams of protein every 3 hours i,e 9am 12 3pm 6pm 9pm this is the most your body can handle any more and its just wasted protein. Whey protein is the best quality protein you can get (it is absorbed fastest) therefore consume immediately after workout.
It will take a long time to add noticeable weight i have gained 17kg in two years but your strength will likely triple in that time if you are consistent with the program. good luck

Post: #28

Lots of good advice here. Just a comment on the mindset: it may help to let go of the idea of staying lean while you are doing this. I think for years, even though I was trying to get bigger, I had in the back of my mind a desire to also avoid putting on fat. That had me subconsciously working at cross purposes. You can't run in two directions at once.

It is a bit old-school, but the 'bulk, then cut' method has a lot to recommend it. The idea is once you have the muscle, it isn't that hard, especially for a person with a fast metabolism, to lose a few pounds of extra fat.

Maybe fitness pros with dedicated nutritionists can gain bulk while staying super-lean, but for the rest of us, I think reconciling yourself to a bit of a dirty bulk helps. Once I really adopted this mindset, I was able to put on 38 lbs over the last couple of years and gain considerable strength in the process.

Post: #29

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Post: #30

You will have to go with GOMAD and also eat every 3 hours, if you are an ectomorph you will want to focus on bulking because the cutting part should be easy for you(low percentage body fat). What that means is just eat as much as you can, every 3 hours and get in a lot of protien. You should also try casine before you sleep or cottage cheese so then your body can get protien when you are sleeping.