Help for maintaining weight and gaining lean muscle?

domcarrigan

Hi all,

New to MFP from Brisbane, Australia. Successfully logging meals and exercise for just over two weeks and really getting into the routine. The fitness lifestyle is already quickly becoming an obsession and I'm loving it!

A bit of back story. I lived in Germany for 6 months from Sep 2012 to Feb 2013 and gained about 22 lb reaching 180 lb. Considering I'm 6 ft its not very heavy, but my problem is all my fat collects around my stomach, which everyone knows is very unhealthy. Since coming back I started running without really changing my diet, and lost a few kg. My main goal is to look and feel good. I can run 10km without stopping (best time is only about 57 minutes) but I still wouldn't consider myself very fit. Fast-forward to now and I'm at about 167 lb and 6 ft. My new goal is to maintain my weight while gaining some lean muscle. I'm at about 23% BF and would like to be about 16%. After doing a bit of research, I discovered Insanity and have started that (only on Day 2). In the last two weeks I've also started some basic weights, and when I say basic I mean REALLY basic. Until two weeks ago, I'd never touched a barbell.

Here is my currently diet and fitness schedule below. Any helpful criticism would be really appreciated.

DIET

I am basing my diet around the paleo diet. I'm not 100% strict, for example, the day before a big 10km run I'll have some pasta. This might be once a fortnight. Also I'll have a splash of low fat milk in an omelette, for example. Up until today I was following 40% carbs 40% protein and 20% fat, but today have changed to 40% protein and 30% for both fat and carbs. I was finding it very difficult to eat enough carbs to make the quota.

As for supplements, I take a standard Whey Protein Isolate (36.1 grams of protein for every 40) after each workout. I'm also taking 9000mg of fish oil (4500 mg in morning and evening), as well as a daily multivitamin called Centrum (not sure if its international or only in Australia). The multivitamin is mainly for my iron, as I'm not eating much red meat to reduce my fat intake.

MFP gives me a calorie goal of 1900 which I'm usually under about 5 days out of 7. Each week I'm usually at about a net 2000 calories under my weekly goal.

EXERCISE

As mentioned earlier, I have just started Insanity. So that is 6 days per week, Sundays off. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I have started doing a BASIC weights program set out below. Takes about 40 minutes with 45-60 second rests between sets.

Bench 3 sets 10 reps, 80% mass
Bench 3 sets 5 reps, 80% mass
Bench 3 sets 10 reps, 70% mass
Bench 3 sets 5 reps, 70% mass
Biceps curl, dumbell, 3 sets 20 reps
Biceps curl, dumbell, 3 sets 10 reps
Lateral raise, dumbbell, side, 3 sets 10 reps
Lateral raise, dumbbell, side, 3 sets 5 reps
Lunge with dumbbell raise above head, 3 sets 10 reps
Lunge with dumbbell raise above head, 3 sets 5 reps

Note that this is something that I have completely made up. My only home equipment, as you can probably tell, is a bench and some dumbbells. I can't afford a gym but will consider one when I start a new job in February next year. What are the essential strength exercises that I'm missing from my workout to gain lean muscle to look and feel good? Any comments on the number of sets and reps?

TL;DR

6 ft and 167 lb wanting to get healthier and fitter, gaining lean muscle while maintaining current weight. I'm at about 23% BF and would like to be about 16%. Eating a mostly Paleo diet, doing Insanity 6 days a week and a crapping weights routine 3 times a week. Looking for friends with similar goals or helpful advice, particularly for the weights routine.

kornaco

Yes, just 3-5 sets, typically. This isn't set in stone, but a fairly standard starting place. WIth DBs you should be reasonably safe, in terms of not getting "stuck" as with a barbell. With your DBs, if you get in trouble just drop them to the floor while doing your chest presses on the bench...

In general, when you increase the weights or load your reps with naturally go down. If you are adding weight and still knocking out the same amount of reps; you need more weight. When you lighten it up you should be able to set those target reps higher. There's more detailed info all over the web, but you get the general picture. Heavier weights usually target muscle growth more where lighter weights focus on increasing strength. It's ALL good. :drinker:

retrobyte

Dom, sounds like you have the right idea about how to reach your goals.

I'll add that the most effective weight training for gaining muscle mass are compound exercises that work multiple muscles at once. Examples of the best all round compound exercises are bench press (which is already in your routine), deadlift, squat, pullups (or chinups), barbell row, dips (if you have no niggling shoulder complaints), and hang clean press (ditto) or standing push press.

If you incorporate these movements into your regular workouts, you will make progress faster than doing isolation exercises and machine exercises.

That's not to say that there aren't excellent machine-based exercises - there are. Some of the most useful are lat pulldowns, triceps pressdowns, and low pulley row.

Looking at your current workout, I would replace the lunges with squats, the lateral raise with either military press or the hang/clean/press, and the biceps curl with deadlift or lat pulldown. Biceps are a small muscle compared to many other body parts (the triceps have more mass, and are the shortcut to bigger arms, for example) and if you are doing heavy back exercises (which all involve pulling movements) your biceps will get a decent workout without a specific biceps isolation exercise in your routine.

Edit: I just reread your post and realised that you have a home setup with just bench and dumbbells. Here's what I would do for a full body dumbbell workout at home -

Bench press
One armed dumbell row
Standing shoulder press
Dips (use a chair, retaining wall or fence)
Squats (you can hold one dumbell in front of your neck with two hands, or hold one dumbbell in each hand on your shoulders)
Deadlifts (one dumbbell in each hand)

The_Enginerd

If you are looking to maintain your weight, first thing first is you should be meeting your calorie goal over the week. 2000 under for the week would result in slightly more than 1/2 lb/week of weight loss over the long term.

As far as beginner weight programs, I would recommend an all over body program with compound lifts, no need to do isolation exercises at this point. Stronglifts 5x5, Starting Strength, Allpro are the most popular. There are groups for all of these programs on MFP.

Bubbl3s25

Edit: I just reread your post and realised that you have a home setup with just bench and dumbbells. Here's what I would do for a full body dumbbell workout at home -

Bench press
One armed dumbell row
Standing shoulder press
Dips (use a chair, retaining wall or fence)
Squats (you can hold one dumbell in front of your neck with two hands, or hold one dumbbell in each hand on your shoulders)
Deadlifts (one dumbbell in each hand)

Just wanted to comment on how helpful you have been retro :happy:

domcarrigan

If you are looking to maintain your weight, first thing first is you should be meeting your calorie goal over the week. 2000 under for the week would result in slightly more than 1/2 lb/week of weight loss over the long term.

As far as beginner weight programs, I would recommend an all over body program with compound lifts, no need to do isolation exercises at this point. Stronglifts 5x5, Starting Strength, Allpro are the most popular. There are groups for all of these programs on MFP.

Note taken, eat as close to calorie goal as possible.

So I've done a bit of research on dumbbell full body workouts and found this. Thoughts?

http://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/frankoman-dumbbell-only-split.html

retrobyte

So I've done a bit of research on dumbbell full body workouts and found this. Thoughts?

http://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/frankoman-dumbbell-only-split.html

That's a pretty good plan. Some improvements I'd make -

1. Replace the Triceps Kickbacks with Dips, because it's a compound exercise (kickbacks are foofoo) - the only equipment you need is your bench, a brick fence, or a retaining wall

2. On back day, once you are strong enough, try and add chin ups or pull ups into the routine - depending on your setup, you can easily add a pullup bar to your garage wall, for example. I'd also replace the dumbbell pullovers with deadlifts

Otherwise, that plan is quite well structured.

domcarrigan

Yeah they also recommended chin-ups in the workout description at the top.

I just gave the first exercise (one arm dumbbell row) a go, and realised my dumbbells are nowhere near heavy enough. Currently surfing gumtree for some cheap 2nd hand ones. Also now its making me considering getting a gym membership ... >.<

retrobyte

I just gave the first exercise (one arm dumbbell row) a go, and realised my dumbbells are nowhere near heavy enough. Currently surfing gumtree for some cheap 2nd hand ones. Also now its making me considering getting a gym membership ... >.<

You can pick up dumbbell handles (the short bars) easily enough on eBay, and then I'd look on Gumtree or eBay for someone selling a bunch of weight plates cheaply. You don't really want to be wasting time adjusting dumbbells between each exercise or set, so it's great if you have a few pairs ready to go - more handles are good.

spammarino

Also now its making me considering getting a gym membership ... >.<

There are a lot of low-cost gym's popping up all over the states. Not sure if that has caught on yet there in Australia. Im currently paying $99 USD per year.

So hopefully you can find something affordable there. Of course make sure to they have all or most of the equipment you'll need for your routines. Good luck.

domcarrigan

There's definitely nothing that cheap here yet, and I don't think there ever will be due to the rent most gyms have to pay is quite high here in Australia (renting or buying any space in general is quite expensive). The 'budget' gyms are usually about $10 pw for membership, so $520 AU a year.

katherine611

Dom, sounds like you have the right idea about how to reach your goals.

I'll add that the most effective weight training for gaining muscle mass are compound exercises that work multiple muscles at once. Examples of the best all round compound exercises are bench press (which is already in your routine), deadlift, squat, pullups (or chinups), barbell row, dips (if you have no niggling shoulder complaints), and hang clean press (ditto) or standing push press.

If you incorporate these movements into your regular workouts, you will make progress faster than doing isolation exercises and machine exercises.

That's not to say that there aren't excellent machine-based exercises - there are. Some of the most useful are lat pulldowns, triceps pressdowns, and low pulley row.

Looking at your current workout, I would replace the lunges with squats, the lateral raise with either military press or the hang/clean/press, and the biceps curl with deadlift or lat pulldown. Biceps are a small muscle compared to many other body parts (the triceps have more mass, and are the shortcut to bigger arms, for example) and if you are doing heavy back exercises (which all involve pulling movements) your biceps will get a decent workout without a specific biceps isolation exercise in your routine.

Edit: I just reread your post and realised that you have a home setup with just bench and dumbbells. Here's what I would do for a full body dumbbell workout at home -

Bench press
One armed dumbell row
Standing shoulder press
Dips (use a chair, retaining wall or fence)
Squats (you can hold one dumbell in front of your neck with two hands, or hold one dumbbell in each hand on your shoulders)
Deadlifts (one dumbbell in each hand)

Would you like to join the September circuit challenge. It's fun and we add on every week to the routine.

GODfidence

I'm sorry but how would you "maintain weight" yet gain muscle?
If you're goal is to gain muscle then you need to be in a surplus,period.
Being in a deficit or maintenance isn't going to add weight or magically turn fat
Into muscle. I would say find a solid lifting program, follow it and make sure it's
Progressive overload and eat at a small surplus; 200-400 calories to minimize fat gain.
It's impossible to gain muscle without gaining fat,let alone gain muscle while maintaining weight.
You can do this!

Btw,id recommend if you're new to lifting strong lifts or starting strength, both are good for beginners and
Focus in compound lifts.

spammarino

Another cheap alternative is resistance bands. I picked some up for my p90x workout. You can get fairly good resistance workout especially if you stack them. I still prefer free weights at the gym, but they are great in a pinch.

spammarino

Edit: double post

domcarrigan

I'm sorry but how would you "maintain weight" yet gain muscle?
If you're goal is to gain muscle then you need to be in a surplus,period.
Being in a deficit or maintenance isn't going to add weight or magically turn fat
Into muscle. I would say find a solid lifting program, follow it and make sure it's
Progressive overload and eat at a small surplus; 200-400 calories to minimize fat gain.
It's impossible to gain muscle without gaining fat,let alone gain muscle while maintaining weight.
You can do this!

Btw,id recommend if you're new to lifting strong lifts or starting strength, both are good for beginners and
Focus in compound lifts.

By maintain weight, I mean I'm already close to a weight that I want to stay at. My primary goal is to lower my BF% from 22-23 to 16-17 by converting fat to muscle.

Thanks for the tips

The_Enginerd

Yeah they also recommended chin-ups in the workout description at the top.

I just gave the first exercise (one arm dumbbell row) a go, and realised my dumbbells are nowhere near heavy enough. Currently surfing gumtree for some cheap 2nd hand ones. Also now its making me considering getting a gym membership ... >.<

Can you get a inexpensive barbell and plates second hand? I looked at that exercise routine, and it seemed to concentrate more on isolation exercises and splits compared to more popular beginner programs. However, I'm not experienced enough to really judge it well, and you will probably get getter better advice on program recommendations in the other sections of the forums.

I'm sorry but how would you "maintain weight" yet gain muscle?
If you're goal is to gain muscle then you need to be in a surplus,period.
Being in a deficit or maintenance isn't going to add weight or magically turn fat
Into muscle. I would say find a solid lifting program, follow it and make sure it's
Progressive overload and eat at a small surplus; 200-400 calories to minimize fat gain.
It's impossible to gain muscle without gaining fat,let alone gain muscle while maintaining weight.
You can do this!

Btw,id recommend if you're new to lifting strong lifts or starting strength, both are good for beginners and
Focus in compound lifts.

By maintain weight, I mean I'm already close to a weight that I want to stay at. My primary goal is to lower my BF% from 22-23 to 16-17 by converting fat to muscle.

Thanks for the tips

The research I've seen indicates it can be done, but trying to gain muscle/lose fat while eating at maintenance will be SLOW and difficult. It is faster and more effective to go through bulk and cut cycles.

sijomial

You can lose fat and gain muscle at maintenance despite what some have said in this thread - it's called recomp.
The downside is that it's generally slower and less efficient than doing bulk/cut cycles.

You have to be accurate with your nutrition and accept that changes will be slow. You may also find that after a while your gains stall.

As a beginner to strength training, being young and male, you have quite a few factors in your favour and can probably make some good gains.

wibblefps

Hi,

Your goals and approach, except for one big exception, sound EXACTLY like mine just now.

I'm going to be controversial, based on my 26 years of being in the gym and changing goals numerous times and I totally, disagree with what people are saying about exercise (However I acknowledge that this is just my own personal experience and opinion). The reason I saw fit to comment is that your goals and eating habits are the same as mine, right down to the protein and Centrum supplements and paleo diet.

I'm 5'11" and I've dropped from being an 84kg fat boy (thin frame so don't carry fat well) to being 76kg (and dropping) in three months. Now I can see five muscles on my abs but can't quite get the sixth - doh! I've got from a 36" waist to a 32" and all my friends tell me I look much better.

What did I change (aside from eating habits)? My gym workout was totally wrong for toning and lean muscle. Like you I was doing bench exercises, various reps blah blah and sure, I got stronger but it didn't really tone me or drop my waistline.

So.. I abandoned the weights completely and switched to running (indoors and outdoors). It should be noted here that I was the kid at school who was soo bad at running that the fat kids who stopped for cigarettes would beat me. I did NOT like running.

My goodness it works. I had to build up slowly because I had no endurance and if, at the beginning, someone had said to me then that I could run 10k every other day I would've laughed my @ss of at them but now I can do it and in three months I've dropped 8kg, I can count abs without flexing and I look faaar more muscular than when I was doing weights but my recovery time is far faster and I don't have to be religious about the workout regimen. Plus I sleep better and people tell me (without any prompting) that my shape looks better.

But for me, the icing on the cake insofar as seeing that it's working is that I used to look at the guys in the health club, pumping weights, thinking wow, they look toned. Now I just think they look fat.

The only downside, for me, is that I have soo much energy that I feel wired most of the time. Just sitting here now, I'm in the mood to go and run for an hour or two, yet I used to be the lard @*kitten* king of video games! If I can do this at 40, it would be gravy for you should you decide to give it a go.

Just my two pence worth

I know this goes against what some of the other good folks suggest. As mentioned, this is merely based on my own personal experience.

jeffpettis

I'm sorry but how would you "maintain weight" yet gain muscle?
If you're goal is to gain muscle then you need to be in a surplus,period.
Being in a deficit or maintenance isn't going to add weight or magically turn fat
Into muscle. I would say find a solid lifting program, follow it and make sure it's
Progressive overload and eat at a small surplus; 200-400 calories to minimize fat gain.
It's impossible to gain muscle without gaining fat,let alone gain muscle while maintaining weight.
You can do this!

Btw,id recommend if you're new to lifting strong lifts or starting strength, both are good for beginners and
Focus in compound lifts.

By maintain weight, I mean I'm already close to a weight that I want to stay at. My primary goal is to lower my BF% from 22-23 to 16-17 by converting fat to muscle.

Thanks for the tips

If you are around 23% BF I would suggest that you keep cutting until you reach the BF% you want then start building some lean muscle. I did the same thing a couple of years ago. Got tired of cutting. Convinced myself that at around 20% BF if I built muscle I would be okay with a little fat around my belly. I was wrong!!! To build muscle you MUST be in a calorie surplus, and you are going to gain a little fat as well. So if you start bulking with a little extra fat you are going to wind up with more fat on top of the fat you already have. Focus on one thing at a time. Fat loss, then building muscle. Body recomp can be done, but it is painfully slow and everything must be just right all the time. Just my opinion, but I wish I would have done it right the first time around. Good Luck!

Something else that I should have added is, try as hard as you can to hang onto as much muscle as you possibly can while cutting or you're just spinning your wheels. Your goal while cutting should be at the end of your cut to be lifting the same poundage or a little more at the end of your cut. In other words you must give your body a reason to hang onto the muscle you have while you are cutting.