Gaining muscle

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justicebrewster
justicebrewster Posts: 7 Member
in Introduce Yourself
Hello, I've had this app for a while but unsure on how to use it so I'm going to start taking the time and effort to see what it's all about. May 2017 I was weighing in at about 145 lbs and now Oct 2017 I sit about about 129 lbs. I've been eating 1500-1800 calories per day and I do heavy weight lifting. With that's being said since I lost all the fat now it's pretty much all muscle I have left but I'm finding it hard to gain muscle in my lower body. I've never struggle with my lower body size before because of the fat I had before but now that it's all gone I'm getting a bit insecure about it. What can I do to gain muscle in my lower body faster/more efficiently? Any advice is helpful :)

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  • Morgaath
    Morgaath Posts: 679 Member
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    Once you are out of fat, and eating at a deficit like that, where exactly would the materials to build muscle come from?
    What I am saying is, you need to eat at maintenance (TDEE) or above to add muscle mass. This becomes more and more important the less excess fat you have on your body. When you have excess fat, the body can at least use some of it to make up for what you are burning.

    Look at adding cals (call it 100-350 over your TDEE) to what you eat, go heavy on protein.
    Do some research on "bulking and cutting"
  • Barfly57
    Barfly57 Posts: 333 Member
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    You're a lifter, you know what to do: squats and deadliest. Low reps, high weight. And make sure you're getting suffucient protein.
  • justicebrewster
    justicebrewster Posts: 7 Member
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    Morgaath wrote: »
    Once you are out of fat, and eating at a deficit like that, where exactly would the materials to build muscle come from?
    What I am saying is, you need to eat at maintenance (TDEE) or above to add muscle mass. This becomes more and more important the less excess fat you have on your body. When you have excess fat, the body can at least use some of it to make up for what you are burning.

    Look at adding cals (call it 100-350 over your TDEE) to what you eat, go heavy on protein.
    Do some research on "bulking and cutting"

    So I should be consuming more than 2000 calories in a day? As for exercise, at this point should I be putting more emphasis on training lower body more often if I want those muscles to grow more? Like I've been putting on muscle but I'm still very new to this whole weight lifting thing, hasn't even been 6 months yet, but I've seen a dramatic difference in my physique. Thanks again for the insight!
  • justicebrewster
    justicebrewster Posts: 7 Member
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    Barfly57 wrote: »
    You're a lifter, you know what to do: squats and deadliest. Low reps, high weight. And make sure you're getting suffucient protein.

    Another issue I suffer from is weak knees. I have an problem with the muscle under my patella(knee cap) so when I squat my knees naturally go inwards. I can't go heavy on squats for that reason. Are there any other exercises you recommend that helps builds leg muscles other than squats or just quads in general?
  • tarachristina8686
    tarachristina8686 Posts: 6 Member
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    Have you found some leg exercises? Protein helps too. Squats help. You're in the right direction.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    What kind of lifting program are you doing?
  • Barfly57
    Barfly57 Posts: 333 Member
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    justicebrewster wrote: »
    Another issue I suffer from is weak knees. I have an problem with the muscle under my patella(knee cap) so when I squat my knees naturally go inwards. I can't go heavy on squats for that reason. Are there any other exercises you recommend that helps builds leg muscles other than squats or just quads in general?

    Do you have access to gym equipment? Leg extensions and hamstring curls.
    Also, Exrx.com lists exercises for every muscle group.
  • justicebrewster
    justicebrewster Posts: 7 Member
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    tarachristina8686 wrote: »
    Have you found some leg exercises? Protein helps too. Squats help. You're in the right direction.

    Yeah I've found other leg exercises to do instead of squats but I guess I just wanted to know which ones were more effective for muscle gain over others. I usually do leg press, leg extensions, reverse hack squats, deadlifts, hamstring curls.. just to name a few.
  • justicebrewster
    justicebrewster Posts: 7 Member
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    malibu927 wrote: »
    What kind of lifting program are you doing?

    I'm not doing any specific "program" per day. I just split my days up per muscle group.
    Mondays- legs&abs
    Tuesdays- back&bis
    Wednesdays- chest&tris
    Thursdays-shoulders&abs
    Fridays-cardio
  • justicebrewster
    justicebrewster Posts: 7 Member
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    Barfly57 wrote: »
    justicebrewster wrote: »
    Another issue I suffer from is weak knees. I have an problem with the muscle under my patella(knee cap) so when I squat my knees naturally go inwards. I can't go heavy on squats for that reason. Are there any other exercises you recommend that helps builds leg muscles other than squats or just quads in general?

    Do you have access to gym equipment? Leg extensions and hamstring curls.
    Also, Exrx.com lists exercises for every muscle group.

    I do have gym access, I was just wondering if leg extensions and hamstring curls were just as effective for mass building compared to squats

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