I am not male, but i have been qualified in health and fitness for about 14 years and I've trained with some pretty solid men myself.
Firstly, i just want to share that one of the best bodies i've ever come across was the body of the middle weight world muay thai champion.
He was 26 and solid as a rock. lean and ripped and it all worked!! Flexible , strong explosively fast and so on .
It really depends on your goals around building and for what purpose you want to do that. When i first walked into that gym and saw the photos on his wall of him at 15 and 16 the first thing that struck me was how tiny he was then compartivetly. like reaal skinny.
Anyway, he says that a few kgs a year is probably the best you can hope to do at most safe. Unless you're into to steriods or trying to build to be a bodybuilder, as opposedt to someone with more muscle that functions for more than lifting things.. ( ug btw..but each to their own), gaining isn't something that's going to happen overnight.
Anyway the basic rule is that carbs make up and build your tissue.. and protein is the mortar that holds it all together and also is responsible for te solid in your fluids ( as in the ones in every cell in your body including your blood) and carbs which alll break down into sugar are responsible for the grease or syrup in the fluid that stop it from becoming a chunk of plasmic rock .. hence why if yo have too much protein and can't break it down you probably are't going t feel so fabulous. .. and breaking it down acidicly with simple sugared acids is what i mean by that..also helping it metabolise and catabolise and so on.
To make the most of the way you bond your protein and carbs, you need liquid sugars ..like fruit and other similar acids..because it's these that help the break down to inject those carbs deep into your muscle fibre. ..but without calcium and vit c, then the muscle fibre cannot perform the function neccessary to lengthen split and repair meaning you can't perform the contraction which is what we call strength. the calcium /vit c combo being like the neccessary cords to hold it together and bring it back when the protein/carb combo splits under the load of the weight. ..and that's the way the process goes. It's during that time when it splits that it reaches for the extra tissue and providing you can get some more in there ( protein within an hr, carb within 2 ) a sweet liquid asap.. to restore your glycogen, over the period it has too keep ticking ,like on a slow feed drip, then you will build muscle.
Carb + protein = mass
Complex carb + simple carb = bulk ..because sugar stops the carb from metabolising too soon ... and why ppl trying to loose wait should probably avoid this combination at the same sitting.
Fat + Complex Carb also equals bulk ..but to make the most out of that , you need clear hot preferabley sugar free fluid to metabolise and move it. I don't know many ppl who can get away with this too long though without it ending up in places they 'd rather not see it , but lol .. good luck with that one anyway. From the sounds of things, you'd likely be fine.
Anyway, Do get the book , or a few different ones if you can to make sure they're agreeing or get different ideas on different systems ppl have had work for them, because If you're serious, then at some stage, you really need to get yourself some more indepth information you can keep and go back to as your body changes.
Just don't feel bad about it and know that if you move slowly toward it, providing you do it properly and maintain it, then you only have to do each mile stone once.
..oh and don't forget to stretch..or you'll just end up with a whole buncha muscle that can't move more than a several inch rom...unless of course that's what you're going for .
cheers
Blooming Lotus
