Beginner. ..Need some help/tips

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MrUNC15
MrUNC15 Posts: 6
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
I am looking to get into gaining muscle as I have chicken arms. I am 31 years old. 6'2 an d 185ish. I have lost weight the past few months and feel it is more muscle then anything. It may be related to my medical things but feel going to the gym could counter this. I am looking at 2830 cals per day as this site says. Should I be eating 500 plus that? the gym at my place doesn't have a barbell only free weights. Will this be effective to gain muscle at a good clip? How long is too long of a workout with dumbbells? How many days a week would see the best results? I am not completely in the dark about working out, as researching has been going on for a few months but just need that final push to get this going.

Thanks! *The pics I upload always are sideways..any ideas why?*
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  • XxZachAttackxX
    XxZachAttackxX Posts: 16
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    Listen to your body about the calories if you feel you are putting not putting on muscle then increase calories by 250 and see if thats better and how long you train doesnt matter as long as you ate a good meal before so your body does not use your muscle as fuel just have a nice meal before like eggs and oat meal mabye a few sausages or something with it and then in about half an hour or an hour go work out and have a protein shake or a meal after your done even if you spend hours in the gym its okay train hard you wanna go until failure and find a weight you can do at least 5 reps or more and barbells are better then dumbells but dumbells are okay just grab one it each hand and do a soupanation curl and you can work a lot of your body with dumbells you can work your biceps triceps quads and even back just about every thing with just a pair of dumbells ill comment again after i look at your weight then ill tell you how many grams of protein carbs and fats you should be taking and ill post a video so you know what soupanation curls are
  • XxZachAttackxX
    XxZachAttackxX Posts: 16
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    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAuOsw9D7Hc&list=PL_UAXxDwtUkEexoG8TO-WXjJlfD8ScnwW&feature=c4-overview-vl

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRgxYX2Ve9w

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTfhYeYXcy8

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xwGFn-J_Q4

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4qRntuXBSc

    For all of these you can just use dumbells and also just throwing this out there you could buy some cheap used weights and work out at home when i got started i bought about 80 pounds of weight at play it again sports and i bought a 6 foot barbell and a curl bar
  • XxZachAttackxX
    XxZachAttackxX Posts: 16
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    If i were you i would aim for 3000 calories , 150-200 grams of protein per day , about 300 carbs , a 100 grams of fats and 157 grams of sugar .. the sugar isnt important you dont need the sugar it doesnt benifet you in a good way but if you want a treat its fine but carbs are mainly used for energy try to get complex carbs like whole wheat bread rolled oats and stuff like that those are good carbs , protein is a must for adding muscle protein gets converted to amino acids that help rebuild your muscles and help you grow and fats are good for horomone production all fats are good except trans fats .. trans fats are the only bad kind of fats and if you add this to your my fitness pal and you try it and it isnt working for you then add 250 more calories and please dont expect results right away like in a week or two you will be built like a brick house it takes time and you gotta stick to what your doing stick to your work outs and your macros you will see results over time your strength will go up your muscle size will go up and i must stress this again find a weight you can perform about 8 reps with that you struggle to get all the reps with about 8-12 would be a good range and if you wanna look into buying a protein shake or some kinda supplement let me know because a lot of products are all scams or garbage theres good products out there and online is the best place to get them cheap
  • XxZachAttackxX
    XxZachAttackxX Posts: 16
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    what medical things are you worried about countering your progress also
  • MrUNC15
    MrUNC15 Posts: 6
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    I have low T and adrenal issues. I think my not taking my testosterone gel is the reason for the muscle mass lose.

    Are these videos credible?? I am thinking of following them..

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcY3QHLsSnw

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_GHdAs3DCY
  • Springfield1970
    Springfield1970 Posts: 1,945 Member
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    Zach! You're cool and full of info! I like you, but please get some punctuation going on. My heart rate is sky high reading your posts!
    Haha!
  • XxZachAttackxX
    XxZachAttackxX Posts: 16
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    I looked at the titles of the videos i think i have seen them both a long time a go but i dont like that six pack short cuts guy i think he is a scam trying to make money off people but i digress ... As for the dieting thing unless your planning on being a model , body builder or a professional athlete then you dont have to worry about never touching sugar or this or that ... If you are just a regular guy trying to get in shape then you dont have to deprive your self of sugars , trans fats , fast digesting carbs (white rice , white bread ect) Just have all of that kind of stuff in moderation be conscious of what your consuming dont have a sugary treat every day but every week is great . If your at diner and there is white bread or you just like white bread dont worry about it or your going out to eat at like a damn mc donalds or some thing thats fine just dont make it often and a pattern . Try to eat clean but if you want some thing just for that one time dont worry about it and if your going to have some thing that is ''bad'' just try and keep the portion down but try and eat clean the majority of the time . (Steak , chicken salmon brown rice beans ect )

    Compound movements are the best for muscle growth and you can see a lot of strength gains too but isolation work can be use full as well to fill in the cracks . I have not touched a bench press since i was about 14 years old and the bench press is on of the best ways to build up your chest (Depending on your grip whether it be close grip or a wide grip ) but i did chest flies cause that was all i could do and i built a gorilla like chest from just doing chest flies on the floor . Basically use compound movements for every thing and isolation if you or your gym dont have what is needed you can get where ever your trying to go with isolation work its possible . Overall compound movements are best . As for the best muscle building moves compound movement like dead lifting , bench pressing , squatting rowing some thing that takes more of your body parts or muscles to do the exercise the compound movements i listed are the best exercises ever for gaining muscle and if you wanna do any cardio i would just walk or go at a moderate pace on an elliptical or some thing if your doing high intensity cardio you can lose a lot of weight and often its all muscle thats lost

    I have a question also did your doctor say you have Low T or do you suspect it ? And adrenal issues like your adrenalin glan burned up ? Also sorry for the long answers and im working on the punctuation . And by lifting heavy you can boost your testosterone i dont know by how much but your body starts producing more when lifting heavy
  • MrUNC15
    MrUNC15 Posts: 6
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    Lots of good info thanks. Chest flies on the floor? With dumbbells? Are compound exercises strictly w a barbell or can you do those with dumbbells? The gym Im going to only as dumbbells, some treadmills and a few machines. I have low T and have for awhile now. Im suppose to take Androgel but dont due to it being costly plus well Im lazy haha I have hypothyroidism. I take pills daily for it. Im gonna try and break my kazy streak so hopefully getting a set schedule workout wise will help.
  • XxZachAttackxX
    XxZachAttackxX Posts: 16
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    Here are some good youtube channels

    http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKf0UqBiCQI4Ol0To9V0pKQ
    The link above has exercise tutorials , recipes for food it is a pretty entertaining channel

    http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaHx0T1LWrVKWF1XfWWLSuw
    This link that is above has muscle anatomy videos telling you how to target a muscle as well as exercise tutorials another entertaining channel

    http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNqbcf-5nORpyfzrqQNLSVw
    Link above is a great channel lots of information

    http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNi6v2iv_jMxCoYRBQQi7zg
    Link above great recipes (protein shake recipes food recipes good channel )

    All of theese youtube channels are very credible and im subscribed too all of them
  • XxZachAttackxX
    XxZachAttackxX Posts: 16
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    I do chest flies on the floor .. If you are on a bench you can set the bench so it is set to an incline or decline (angle of the bench) people said you get hit the chest muscles better but i dont own a bench and i got fine results from just laying on the floor with a pair of dumbbells watch a video or two on the exercise so you dont hurt your shoulders and you could do compound movements with dumbbells you could do a dumbbell press (just like a bench press) its pretty much the same thing and what kinda machines do they have .. They might have like a hammer press machine just like a bench press machines have benefits like having constant pressure but they take away the stabilizers muscles that are used .. i havent ever used a machine but i think they could help a lot and there are machines for just about every thing
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,139 Member
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    what is your current body fat? what is your goal weight?

    You probably should do a bulk until you are about sub 15% body fat….

    A better method would be to start living heavy now so that you can preserve lean muscle and lose body fat. I would recommend picking up a copy of starting strength and then develop a program around compound movements and lifting heavy.

    compound movements = barbell squat, deadlift, overhead press, rows, pull up/chin up, bench press. Once you have the form down build a program around these moves where you are working out three days a week and doing cardio about three days a week. I would say four sets of 6-10 reps ….
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,139 Member
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    is 2830 your maintenance level calories? If yes, I would say cut to 2330 and eat in 500 per day deficit until you get to sub 15% body fat..
  • RaspberryKeytoneBoondoggle
    RaspberryKeytoneBoondoggle Posts: 1,349 Member
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    is 2830 your maintenance level calories? If yes, I would say cut to 2330 and eat in 500 per day deficit until you get to sub 15% body fat..

    ^shouldn't he be eating at a surplus, or at least maintenance if he wants to gain muscle mass and is worried that he has lost muscle.
    185 and 6'2 sounds pretty lean to me.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,139 Member
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    is 2830 your maintenance level calories? If yes, I would say cut to 2330 and eat in 500 per day deficit until you get to sub 15% body fat..

    ^shouldn't he be eating at a surplus, or at least maintenance if he wants to gain muscle mass and is worried that he has lost muscle.
    185 and 6'2 sounds pretty lean to me.

    whoops, I missed the 6-2 part…for some reason I was thinking OP was more in beginner phase...
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,139 Member
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    is 2830 your maintenance level calories? If yes, I would say cut to 2330 and eat in 500 per day deficit until you get to sub 15% body fat..

    OP if 2830 is maintenance level then go to 300 and see how that work with heavy lifting program….

    sorry I misread your post...
  • XxZachAttackxX
    XxZachAttackxX Posts: 16
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    Dont limit your self on sets and say i am only going to do 4 sets .. I never limit myself on how many sets i do i stick with a weight lets say 100 pounds and after a number of sets and i cant get past 5 reps then i lower it and knock it down 10 pounds or some thing and i keep lowering it until i am down to just a plate on each side of the barbell i do at least 10 sets filled with clean reps controlling the negative (controlling the weight on the way down making it go very very slow) .. some times you have to dig deep and squeeze out another rep even when you dont think you have it in you getting stronger is all about progressive over load
  • MrUNC15
    MrUNC15 Posts: 6
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    I would say I am in beginner phase. I am lean but not lean muscle just skinny lean haha I have no real muscle tone on my arms like I did in the past. I am going to try and get this workout program going here soon. Thanks for all the tips. Keep them coming if there are anymore.
  • MrUNC15
    MrUNC15 Posts: 6
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    Would doing all these exercises at one time be too much overkill?

    One-Arm Dumbbell Rows
    Dual Dumbbell Rows
    Braced Dumbbell Rows
    Incline Dumbbell Press
    Flat Dumbbell Press
    Incline Dumbbell Flyes
    Flat Dumbbell Flyes
    Decline Dumbbell Press
    Decline Dumbbell Flyes
    Seated Dumbbell Press
    Standing Dumbbell Press
    Dumbbell Side Laterals
    Dumbbell Rear Delt Flyes
    One-Arm Dumbbell Clean and Press
    Dumbbell Squats
    Dumbbell Lunges
    Dumbbell Step-Ups
    Dumbbell Split Squats
  • jeffpettis
    jeffpettis Posts: 865 Member
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    Would doing all these exercises at one time be too much overkill?

    One-Arm Dumbbell Rows
    Dual Dumbbell Rows
    Braced Dumbbell Rows
    Incline Dumbbell Press
    Flat Dumbbell Press
    Incline Dumbbell Flyes
    Flat Dumbbell Flyes
    Decline Dumbbell Press
    Decline Dumbbell Flyes
    Seated Dumbbell Press
    Standing Dumbbell Press
    Dumbbell Side Laterals
    Dumbbell Rear Delt Flyes
    One-Arm Dumbbell Clean and Press
    Dumbbell Squats
    Dumbbell Lunges
    Dumbbell Step-Ups
    Dumbbell Split Squats

    Yes... Doing all of that in one workout is going to be way too much!

    Check out this site http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/
    It has some very good beginner routines and a ton of good info...
  • crazyvermont
    crazyvermont Posts: 171 Member
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    If ou truly have low T, you will be hard pressed to see any visible results until getting those levels up. Spent year lifting with buddy who had that issue and once resolve, the results are becoming noticeable. Some great advice on this thread from some people lifting but I always advise people new to lifting to get with a "good trainer" at least once. The little money you might have to spend for advice on proper techniques, routine and reps is priceless. Nothing worse than seeing someone in the gym daily with poor form, which eventually leads to injury

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