Need to gain weight.... but the oppositeis happneing. Please Help

K

Kutusov

0
Hi,

I've posted this in another thread but since I'm getting no replys I'll try this one...

I’m new to this fitness thing and I do need your help. Here’s the thing… I started training with free weights and rowing machine to gain weight. The problem is that I’m loosing even more weight. I know this should be normal, I just started a couple of months ago… But then I read a all lot of stuff and I got the impression that I really do risk achieving exactly the opposite of my goal… I’m really new at this and don’t know much technical stuff, so this is going to be a big post. This is the full story….

I’m 30 years old, 1,80 meters (5ft 11 in), a small frame (I think) and I used to weight about 75 Kgs (11st 11lb). This was maybe 8 to 6 years ago. Then I had some bad years, with lots of stressful events in my life, and I was a heavy drinker (2/3s of a wiskey bottle per day) and heavy smoker (3 packs Marlboro reds a day – 20 cigarrets per pack). I was always drunk or hanged over, not eating and a complete mess. No drugs involved. I ended up losing a lot of weight and in the worst part of it I was with maybe 60 Kgs (9st 6 lb). I did stop drinking but I still smoke 3 packs a day. Got my life organized the best that I could and is now more or less stable. I gained some weight and was around 70 kgs (11st). Nonetheless, I felt really weak and not good about my self, seeing my self in the mirror so much thinner then I used to be. I asked around and people said I should begin lifting weights. They advised me that free weights were better for that and cheaper too. I cant afford the time and money to go to a multigym right now. Given my past years, I checked a doctor and he said that I was fine and could train this way.

This is what I’m doing so far. I have 3 routines that I rotate, and I do 2 every day (before dinner and going to bed).

1st routine (rowing machine) – 50 pushing forward, 50 pushing backwards

2nd routine: Press Ups – 20 reps; Crunches – 20 reps; Leg Raises 25 reps; Press Ups – 20 reps; V crunches – 20 reps; Press Ups – 20 reps; Hyperextensions 20 reps; Triceps Dips – 20 reps; Crossover crunches – 20 reps; Triceps Dips- 20 reps; leg raises 25 reps.

3rd routine (Dumb bells – 2kgs each – 20 reps in everything); Dumb-bell Press, side lateral raise, bent lateral raise, concentration curls, bench press, squats, seated shoulder press, upright row, pullover and triceps extensions.

So far, the positive things are that I fell more energy and more resistant. But I lost almost 5 kgs and am now with 65 kgs (10st 3lb).

So, what are your thoughts regarding my situation? Oh and btw, don’t say “quite smoking”, I can’t do that right now, keeping away from alcohol is still hard enough…
Thanks!
 
Number 1: Eat more. You don't mention your diet, but if you eat enough you'll eventually gain weight.

***Begin gross generalization***

Eat fried foods, candy and doughnuts without exercise and you'll gain fat.

Eat lean proteins, good carbs and fats in the right proportions (above your daily caloric needs) while consistently maintaining a strength routine and you'll gain muscle.

***End gross generalization***

I would work in some free weights and make sure you're eating enough. Go here and read it. Then calculate your BMR. Then go here and see what your diet really consists of. After that, you'll have a better idea of why you're not gaining weight.
 
one pound of muscle is 2500 cal so to put on a pound of muscle you would have to intake at least that much past your daily caloric expenditure per week
 
Hi!

Thanks again for the previous help. I’m going to ask for it once again, though….
But first, here’s the update. Since I’ve been trying to lift more weight and eat more, I’ve managed to recover a lot of weight. I’m now 72 Kgs (but with a bit of stucked out belly… ~I understand that this is normal in the beginning). I’ve also recovered a lot of strength and I’m lifting a more weight than back then (newbie gains but also a lot of recoveries from the past) and managing to do 3 sets instead of just one.

So, for the help... I’ve looked for fbw in the search bar but there’s so many people starting threads asking for this, that most of the results point to posts where you say “we’ve covered this before, look for it”. I’ve searched a lot and came up this one from testosteronenation, I think… The original one has just the sequence of body zones but I only have dumbbells, so I tried to adapt it. It has some isolation exercises in between, so I don’t know what you might think of this…. So here it goes…

Day 1
Chest: Dumbell flys (chest press better, no?…)
Shoulders: Dumbell upright row
Back: one arm dumbell row
Biceps: I don’t know the name for this but what I do is like bar-bell curls, only with dumbbells
Triceps: Tricep Dumbells kickbacks
Abs: sit-ups (whats the difference to a crunch?)
Legs: dumbell squats

Day 2 (same exercises, different order)
Legs
Back
Abs
Shoulders
Chest
Biceps
Triceps

Day 3
Back
Chest
Legs
Triceps
Biceps
Shoulders
Abs

I feel the need of a bar-bell specially for the squats. Doing them with dumbbells is really hard because they keep on hitting my sides…

Oh, and I almost forgot… that’s 3 sets of 12 reps for everything except legs (3sets 20reps) and abs (3 sets 25 sit-ups).

Sorry for so many questions and my poorly organized post…
You guys are the best! Cheers!

PS: I have an unread message in my inbox that for some reason wont open. If it is from any of you, sorry for not replying…
 
your routine can be better:
DumbBell FULL BODY ROUTINE
(MON)- 3X12
(WED- 3X8
(FRI)- 5X5

WORKOUT A
DB squats
DB bench
DB rows

WORKOUT B
DB Deadlifts
Dips
Chinups

WORKOUT A2
Bulgarian split squats
One handed db bench (great unilateral movement)
One handed Dumbbell rows

WORKOUT B2
DB Sumo Deadlift
DB Military press
Pull-ups

WEEK1
A
B
A2

WEEK 2
B2
A
B

WEEK3
A2
B2
A

WEEK 4
B
A2
B2

WEEKS 5-8
Repeat weeks 1-4.

RULES
-Just like before, workout on non consecutive days, 3 days a week.
-Eat clean, eat a surplus to allow muscle growth
-Track your progress!
-REMEMBER: if you feel bunt out after week 4, take a week off!!! This can be VERY beneficial!!! DO NOT OVER TRAIN!!!
-Sleep at least 8 hours a day
-Lift fast while maintaining perfect form and using controlled movements
-Perform a couple sets of rotator cuff work every workout.
-Isolation is optional
-You choose the isolation movements
have fun

and for the squats, you can clean them to your shoulders and do front squats so they wont rub agianst your sides
 
Thanks, that seams a lot more complete routine! Let me just ask you a couple of things that aren’t very clear to me… The variations in the number of sets/reps through the week involve any kind of variation in the weight lifted? Say, just 8 reps on the second day but with more weight?
Concerning the rotator cuff… I used to do bent over lateral raises and then changed to Cuban raises. I think I was using a lot more weight than I should because I started to have this nagging slight pain in that area. So, is Cuban raises a good exercise for rotary cuff if done with lighter weights?
I would also like to ask you for an alternative to the pull-ups and chinups, as I don’t see where I can get a bar to perform them…

Thanks again!
 
you have to increase weight whenever you can.
strength is a tool used to gain muscle
more strength=more potential for muscle
more muscle=more potential for strength

you have to use progressional overload. increase the weights whenever you can, while still completing the volume
yes, use lighter weights on the cuban press

and i am going to have to say "get a chinup bar"
walmart sells them, target does too. it shouldnt be hard to find one online either. chinups and pullups are incredible exercises...theres not really a verticle pull replacement
 
cuban press are awsome, if they hurt though, do a different external rotation exercise. If your shoulders hurt during ext rotation where the elbows are not supported, you have a problem with one of your rotator cuff muscles, I can't remember which one though..
 
Well Karky, what I think I have is a problem in the joints... And it really PMO!!! Whenever I do lateral or Cuban raises, my shoulders pop and crack like my arms are not properly set in the sockets. I think the pain comes from this as I believe that there’s some kind of tearing… It’s also a lot of distraction… and fear or hurting myself. And if this was not enough, I also experience this pops and cracks on my spine during sit-ups (lower back, I think in the insertion point of spine and pelvic bones)! There’s no pain there afterwards, but still…. I don’t want to end up like superman… in the worst sense of it lol (bad joke, sorry…). I’ve read somewhere that after some time and new muscle mass, this things tend to go away (probably just my wishful thinking, as I really don’t see how this could de done except weight forcing joints to a proper position as an osteopath snap).

Btw, for what I understand so far… isolation exercises should be done after compound, no? As not to waist a lot of energy on those and being drained once you get to compounds?

Oh, as a side note… I was never much into fitness stuff although I had done a lot of sports when I was a teen. But I feel better than never now that I have started this thing. So thanks a lot for helping me on the (a) right path!
 
I think the post is a bit confusing because he mentions days and weeks but I also fond that information elsewhere. It’s in this site: . Is it wrong info?

Oh, sorry, let me edit that... the right figure is 3500 calories. 500 calories more than your daily BMI for an extra pound in a week.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top