Looking for advice

Hey everyone,

My name is Ken and I'm 39 yrs. old. This quest for advice and even encouragement starts with a short story to give a little background.

As I said, I am 39 and have been under a doctor’s care for over a year. I was diagnosed with Hepatitis C in April of 2000 and was told at the time that even with a good liver I have at best 5 years until failure begins and maybe 2 after that until it’s all over. Keeping in mind this is the best of the worst case.

I then had been in and out of the hospital since November of 2002. The last trip cased something in my body to start to destroy muscle fiber down to near nothing, which has left me very week (not that I can’t carry myself around or anything). I also started treatment for the hepatitis around 6 months ago.

December of last month marked a red-letter day for me. I found out that I was in full remission and the meds are working and the hepatitis virus was no longer traceable in my blood!

So on December 29th 2003 I started a little strength training and this is how I started. I first started to force feed myself (The meds I take wreck my appetite and cause weight loss) to start putting on weight and loading up on high protein and high carb. foods. I then started to keep a journal of what I was doing and when.

I started with pushups to help build up strength and stamina. I have been doing this now for a little over 4 weeks and have just started to add weight routines to my workout and my appetite and diet have already improved greatly. The pushups no longer cause a sufficient burn but there has been an increase of strength. I am also adding cardiovascular to my routine as well.

Now before I get to the questions I think you need a little description of my build and all. I have never been very big at all. My bone structure is very small. Lets face it, I am the guy everyone in a gym that could stand sideways and never be seen (yes that small). I am 5’8” tall and currently weigh around 116 pounds (last doctor appointment).

Now with all that dull stuff out of the way, here are some questions:

I have consulted my doctor with a though of going on a steroid cycle in about 5 weeks to help build a little quick mass. But only if I have regained control of my diet by then (looks good so far). He says it isn’t a bad idea to cycle but as a doctor he warns me to be careful. The cycle I would go on is a 6 week cycle and then I would cycle off and consider another cycle 90 days after and then maintain naturally. Any thoughts or advice on the use of steroids to regain lost muscle?

I did an arm routine yesterday and found that I currently can’t work at 80% of my max. I also found that my left arm is about 10 pounds weaker than my right. Is it ok to work at 60-70 percent to build enough strength to get the 80 percent up and go from there?

Last, How about weight gainers and supplements? I was looking at using a weight gainer high in protein and using Calcium, Glutamine, and Preatine supplements to help enhance my diet and muscle growth. Any advice here as well would be helpful.

Over all it’s like this. I’m 39 and have a second chance to live a healthy life and I’m not happy with my size and the way my body looks. I wish I had a picture so you could see and you all would know what I mean. So I figured the only answer is to do something about it, which I have started to do.

Any help or encouragement is welcome.

Thanks
 
Kaz, thats quite a story. you should be very proud for coming so far. if you can overcome those challenges, building up your body will be another challenge you will conquer.

personally, i cant help you about steroids as i have no experience. i do have some info i put together years ago on gaining weight. its in this post:

http://training.fitness.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=43&highlight=weight+gain+massive+member

i hope you'll find some of the info in there useful. :)
 
second chance, quite lucky.

anywho, since your starting over, and pretty much fatless, start by not gaining much fat, and lots of muscle. ie eat lots-o-protein, but dont go nuts with the fat. anyways, your on the right track. a (good) body builder builder has osmething like 7% body fat or lower, so not much fat isnt necesarily a bad thing. its alot easier to gain fat than lose it. so unless ur doctor says so dont gain fat, but do gain muscle.
 
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