Struggling body building

Hey! So I have started working out January 1st 2018, 5 days a week, 1.5-2 hours a day. I lost 40 pounds (now weighing 109 at a height of 5’4) but I want to gain weight and tone up at my core, legs, and arms. I take protein shakes twice a day and cut out all sweets. Any advice, motivation tips, or helpful stories?

Replies

  • mkarencastillo
    mkarencastillo Posts: 8 Member
    Thank you. Currently I just use the gym at my house. (I’m not much of a public person) I’ll definitely look into a lifting programme!
  • SabAteNine
    SabAteNine Posts: 1,867 Member
    First off, congratulations on your determination and results with weight loss!

    7.5 - 10 hrs of training per week is quite a lot! Do you follow a specific routine /programme? If so, which?

    Cutting out sweets is not necessary. Just make sure you get sufficient protein and fat in, fill the rest with carbs. For a lean bulk you can try a 200-300 calorie surplus per day. Of course, it goes hand in hand with lifting moderate to high weights and progressively adding more to that.
  • mkarencastillo
    mkarencastillo Posts: 8 Member
    SabAteNine wrote: »
    First off, congratulations on your determination and results with weight loss!

    7.5 - 10 hrs of training per week is quite a lot! Do you follow a specific routine /programme? If so, which?

    Cutting out sweets is not necessary. Just make sure you get sufficient protein and fat in, fill the rest with carbs. For a lean bulk you can try a 200-300 calorie surplus per day. Of course, it goes hand in hand with lifting moderate to high weights and progressively adding more to that.

    Well it’s my routine changed over the year because I wanted to see what fit best. I’m seeing more results with my current one. I set it up by day of the week. Monday I’ll do cardio- a mile of running and a mile of cycling. Then I’ll jump rope, jumping jacks, mountain climbers. And I’ll switch up on cardio activities. Tuesday’s I’ll foucus on my core. Wednesday’s it’s all about my legs so a do a lot of heavy lifting and squating along with lunges and such. Thursday I’ll do my upper body. And Friday I’ll do a combination of my whole week. Each day contains a lot of stretching of course. And thank you!
  • mkarencastillo
    mkarencastillo Posts: 8 Member
    If you want to gain muscle mass you need to cut down on cardio (max 30-min. a day), and increase weight training. Really the only 4-weight training exercises you should focus on are Bench Press, Squat, Deadlift, and O/H Press the first year or so (this will help protect your muscle groups), after that you can break down to individual muscles. And remember use low weight, do 12 - 20 reps, start with 3-sets of each exercise, use full range of motion. (Look to Youtube to find correct way to do the exercises).
    I disagree, keep carbs out of the picture, Keto Diet is the way to go if you want that shredded look.

    Always bring it to every workout you do!

    Peace and Love...

    Thank you! When I wanted my weight lost I did a lot more cardio so I am now cutting down on it. I’ll make sure to do less running and more lifting💪🏼
  • mkarencastillo
    mkarencastillo Posts: 8 Member
    SabAteNine wrote: »
    ^ the thread shared by Tavistock is THE resource to be read when trying to identify a programme :smile:

    My advice would be to re-focus on your strength training programme of choice (can be 3x full body, or an upper-lower split, or a push/pull/legs split, whatever fits you and your current abilities) and leave cardio as a secondary workout. Don't cut it out, just make sure your focus is on strength building.

    Regarding the post above, keto is in my opinion suboptimal for building mass, for the vast majority of people. Trying to build on very low carb is like striving for progress in spite of, not with the assistance of proper nutrition.

    Honestly I like my eating habits now at first it felt like a diet but now it’s just natural? If that makes sense? But thanks I’ll be focusing more on weight training. I’ll update in a month or so!
  • JBanx256
    JBanx256 Posts: 1,479 Member
    Some people love keto, some people don't. I know some people who are legit jacked & shredded on it; I know people who are jacked & shredded on other diets. I have been able to achieve what I believe is a physique with more muscle/size than average for a female, but also with considerably lower bodyfat and I don't use keto. I manipulate my carb and fat intake, so I get to enjoy the foods I like (pasta? check!) and still make satisfactory progress.
  • jellebeandesigns
    jellebeandesigns Posts: 347 Member
    I lift heavy and run far. It depends on goals but I have been a runner for a long time (several years of long distance running) and a body builder on and off, this time with a trainer to start and now without one. My trainer always, ALWAYS had me doing dynamics lifts with higher weight (within good form) and lower reps. I'm not shredded yet but my body has the beginnings of gorgeous tone. I adore aubrieb on instagram for workouts. I wouldn't do low weights/high reps...but that's just me.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,431 MFP Moderator
    MDC2957 wrote: »
    Really good video:

    https://youtu.be/yB0YhPg7o7E

    I much prefer using lighter weights with higher reps to failure. Can feel the muscle working way better than heavy weight low reps.

    I have seen a ton more evidence to the contrary of what this guy is saying. Not saying people can't get big using high rep but a lot of his justification is regarding bodybuilders, who are largely "supplemented".

    Speaking from personal experience and experience of working with a wide range of people now, most see more gains when incorporating heavy weight. The benefits of adding higher weight low rep work, is that it can complement your lower weight higher rep work. If you only practice within a single rep range, you are going to leave a bunch on the table. Heck, even Layne Norton, who is a pro powerlifter and bodybuilder, discusses how he gain 4" in his legs when he got away from bodybuilding routines and intermixed powerlifting.

    We should never be as narrow as to only do one style of lifting.
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  • GaryRuns
    GaryRuns Posts: 508 Member
    psuLemon wrote: »
    I have seen a ton more evidence to the contrary of what this guy is saying. Not saying people can't get big using high rep but a lot of his justification is regarding bodybuilders, who are largely "supplemented".

    Speaking from personal experience and experience of working with a wide range of people now, most see more gains when incorporating heavy weight. The benefits of adding higher weight low rep work, is that it can complement your lower weight higher rep work. If you only practice within a single rep range, you are going to leave a bunch on the table. Heck, even Layne Norton, who is a pro powerlifter and bodybuilder, discusses how he gain 4" in his legs when he got away from bodybuilding routines and intermixed powerlifting.

    We should never be as narrow as to only do one style of lifting.

    This summary of some scientific studies on the topic seems to indicate that high rep, low weight is just as effective as low rep, high weight, when taken to failure, for building muscle mass, particularly in beginners.

    I did read another meta-analysis on the topic that also supported that contention but I can't find the ref now. In that one the authors pointed out that, in general, people are more comfortable when doing low rep, high weight workouts because they tend to be less exhausting (I would assume because there's less cardio involved) and that would mean that most people trying to build muscle with high rep, low weight may not really be going to, or close to, failure because they're becoming exhausted and thus aren't building as much muscle. So while the two approaches, when done correctly, may lead to equivalent muscle mass increases it's "harder" to do the high rep, low weight approach in the proper way in order to increase muscle mass.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    edited November 2018
    From Eric Helms:

    “Except for extremely light loads (<30% 1RM), light, moderate and heavy loads can effectively stimulate hypertrophy given sufficient effort (i.e. reasonable proximity to failure ~5+ RPE). However, heavy low rep training (<6 reps) requires more sets be performed compared to higher rep training to compensate for the short length of time muscles are put under tension. Likewise, high rep training (over 12 reps) is probably unsuitable on skilled compound exercises that train much of the body simultaneously (squats and deadlifts for example) due to their technical demand and high risk, coupled with high metabolic fatigue which can be detrimental to the performance of subsequent exercises and a tendency to underestimate proximity to true muscular failure due to sensations of discomfort and fatigue.”

    Source: https://3dmusclejourney.com/times-wrong-7-things-ive-changed-mind-evidence-based-professional/?fbclid=IwAR1a4BOzNgYg8Y8b99hYBlFYw_K4AdvIOzGF_IxD24KzsGjBq-E1s_82CWo
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,431 MFP Moderator
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    From Eric Helms:

    “Except for extremely light loads (<30% 1RM), light, moderate and heavy loads can effectively stimulate hypertrophy given sufficient effort (i.e. reasonable proximity to failure ~5+ RPE). However, heavy low rep training (<6 reps) requires more sets be performed compared to higher rep training to compensate for the short length of time muscles are put under tension. Likewise, high rep training (over 12 reps) is probably unsuitable on skilled compound exercises that train much of the body simultaneously (squats and deadlifts for example) due to their technical demand and high risk, coupled with high metabolic fatigue which can be detrimental to the performance of subsequent exercises and a tendency to underestimate proximity to true muscular failure due to sensations of discomfort and fatigue.”

    Source: https://3dmusclejourney.com/times-wrong-7-things-ive-changed-mind-evidence-based-professional/?fbclid=IwAR1a4BOzNgYg8Y8b99hYBlFYw_K4AdvIOzGF_IxD24KzsGjBq-E1s_82CWo

    This is essentially why i program my core big lifts at lower reps and higher weight. Taking a deadlift or squat to failure would increase the chance of injury. And its why i program accessories with higher reps.
  • mreichard
    mreichard Posts: 235 Member
    edited November 2018
    GaryRuns wrote: »
    psuLemon wrote: »
    I have seen a ton more evidence to the contrary of what this guy is saying. Not saying people can't get big using high rep but a lot of his justification is regarding bodybuilders, who are largely "supplemented".

    Speaking from personal experience and experience of working with a wide range of people now, most see more gains when incorporating heavy weight. The benefits of adding higher weight low rep work, is that it can complement your lower weight higher rep work. If you only practice within a single rep range, you are going to leave a bunch on the table. Heck, even Layne Norton, who is a pro powerlifter and bodybuilder, discusses how he gain 4" in his legs when he got away from bodybuilding routines and intermixed powerlifting.

    We should never be as narrow as to only do one style of lifting.

    This summary of some scientific studies on the topic seems to indicate that high rep, low weight is just as effective as low rep, high weight, when taken to failure, for building muscle mass, particularly in beginners.

    I did read another meta-analysis on the topic that also supported that contention but I can't find the ref now. In that one the authors pointed out that, in general, people are more comfortable when doing low rep, high weight workouts because they tend to be less exhausting (I would assume because there's less cardio involved) and that would mean that most people trying to build muscle with high rep, low weight may not really be going to, or close to, failure because they're becoming exhausted and thus aren't building as much muscle. So while the two approaches, when done correctly, may lead to equivalent muscle mass increases it's "harder" to do the high rep, low weight approach in the proper way in order to increase muscle mass.

    For trained lifters, not really just as effective:

    « The average amount of muscle mass gained in the high rep group was 2.2 pounds (1 kilogram), compared with 3.5 pounds (1.6 kilograms) in the low rep group. »

    Also, they define « low rep » as 8-10 reps. The last meta analysis that I read on this topic included the more typical power lifter low rep range of 4-6. Similar to the paragraph that I quoted above from your link, it found that low rep provided more mass gains and (and this isn’t addressed in the studies quoted in your link) significantly greater increases in one rep max lifts.
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