I get stronger, but not bigger?

C

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I am 6'4 about 200lb, im gonna guess about 18%bf (about a year ago i was 178 at 15.5%). I always have definately been making consitent gains in strength ever since i started working out, way back when i started i could probably not hit 100lb on bench, but now my max is about 200lb. Maybe it is because I am tall and that causes the muscle to be spread over more area, but I am still pretty darn skinny looking even though I am 40lb more than what I was a few years back.

I figure it cant have to do with being tall, because I always see other guys my height that have pretty big arms and stuff, where as my arms seem like sticks compared to my chest and most the rest of me. Arms are 13 inches around, which is pretty skinny. I curl about as much as my friends whose arms are alot bigger than mine, so I dont see why mine shouldnt be bigger too. My workouts consist of mostly doing a good weight at 3x8 and then upper body one day, next,lower body, core and cardio the next, then rest day.

What are some good ways to actually get alot bigger and not just stronger? I get a good amount of protein throughout the day, probably 150g. I am thinking about taking creatine, but from what I hear you lose most the gains when you stop taking it. So any suggestions are welcome, thanks.
 
Eat more, including more protein. 1gram/lb of body weight. Keep in mind that when you start (first few months) most gains are neurological.
 
calories and you might be doing too few reps. Shoot for 10 per set, not 8.

Also, creatine gains won't go away when you stop (like 'roids), but you will lose ~5 pounds in water weight.

Creatine is a great was to push past plateaus, etc.

Also, try a push-pull-legs routine where you can focus more energy on a specific region.
 
how many calories do you think I should be getting? That could be a problem because I am a real slacker when it comes to eating. The last few weeks I have been eating no fast food, probably getting it every other day before that. That was alot of calories, but I really dont eat too much throughout the day. Id say i probably dont get too much over 2000 calories a day, and eating healthy it is alot harder too.
 
You sound like me man, I have a hard time getting calories down too. There really is nothing you can do though you gotta eat hard. probably harder than you even train. The sad thing about gaining weight is you put in what you get out. Just because you are having a good workout day in and day out doesn't mean that you are going to gain anything. you have to Pile on the carbs, protein, and healthy fats to gain mass. Creatine works for some people and others not. The most important thing is food food food. your metabolism will adjust over time to the caloric increase and then what once seemed to be way too much food will seem sufficient for you.
 
So for today I tried to eat a lot (didnt have classes, so it wasnt too hard) and recorded it at the thing.

cals % total
Total: 3890
Basal: 2119 54%
Lifestyle: 1311 34%
Activities: 460 12%

I just entered activities for things I did at the gym. Then my food intake was:

grams cals %total
Total: 3975
Fat: 100 902 23%
Carbs: 505 1889 48%
Protein: 279 1115 29%

I have been pretty full all day, haven't really eaten any junk food for the day. Is this sufficient for gaining some good bulk? Definately have never eaten like this when working out. BTW I also have easily drank a gallon of water today.
 
going from 2000 to 4000 is too big a jump. go up roughly 300 a week and see how you do. keep adding until the scale goes up.
 
gotcha, now that i record that thing on fitday though, I must have been getting well over 2000 calories, more like 3000, i never realized how food builds up throughout the day, never counted calories before.

I got a my a body fat test today (hydrostatic) and went up 10lbs of lean from last year when I had one, also went up about 2% in body fat, but I dont really care about that for now. I am 161 of lean, i figure once im above 180 then maybe I will slim down. Thanks for the help.
 
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