NobbyTheLion
12-16-2009, 02:44 PM
Cheers folks, Hope you're all doing well...
So, 2010 is the year I gain some mass back! While my main focus is Strength & Conditioning, putting that mass back on is almost as important. I am currently around 158, looking to get to the 185-190 neighberhood.
Now everyone knows that the biggest part of putting on the mass is your diet. As I recently finished cutting and learning from past mistakes, I don't want to push it too hard, too fast. I also realize this means gaining at a much slower rate. I also believe this will lead to a higher quality of gains and better ratio of muscles vs. fat. I'm not concerned with being super-ripped or anything, I just don't wanna have a gut or a soft waist. What I'm saying is, right now I'm about 8-9% BF, and I'm looking to stay as lean as I can.
I pretty much stopped counting calories after being around maintenance intake for three weeks. I now just eat sensible and clean, just larger portions. Now I train pretty intense, 6 times per week, sometimes twice daily. looks something like this:
Sunday: Strength & core + finisher (stuff like a couple of intense jump rope intervals or some dumbbell swings)
Monday: Conditioning + isometrics, grip & light core work
Tuesday: Strength & core + finisher
Wednesday: Conditioning + isometrics & grip
Thursday: Strength + core + finisher
Friday: Conditioning (this might be a little less intense than the other sessions) + (optional) isometrics, grip and light core work
Saturday: Active Rest (calisthenics, long walks, play rugby or football with mates)
This is a sample week, so the work varies. I sometimes move workouts around, vary and such. I also used to work the heavy bag alot but I hurt my fingers and knuckles from overuse so I'm backing off on that a little bit...
As you can imagine, this gives me a fairly high maintenance intake. Most calculators I used put me around the 2750-2950 area, with one going up to about 3050. After all this rambling, let me give you a sample day of my diet and ask what I wanted... Am I eating enough to gain? I'm talking 2lbs a month, 2.5-3lbs tops, but still, GAIN!
(I used to train fasted first thing in the morning when I was cutting but I stopped that. If I do train before breakfast I'd usually have a banana and some cottage cheese or yogurt before)
Breakfast:
4 scrambled eggs w/ tomatoes, mushrooms, onions
1 cup of oatmeal w/ 1tbsp of honey, 1 tbsp of natural PB, 1 diced apple or banana, tiny bit of 1% milk, tad of cinnamon and a handful of cranberries
Snack:
1 pear
handful of almonds or walnuts
fishoil capsule
1/2 cup of lowfat cottage cheese
1 cucumber
PWO Shake:
100ml 1% fat milk, 100ml water, 1 cup of crushed ice, 1 scoop of Universal Ultra Whey Pro, 1 Banana, 5 Red grapes, 1-2 dates, 1 dried fig (Farkin' delicious... though I sometimes skip the grapes)
Snack:
2 slices of whole grain bread with approx 1 tbsp of natural PB or almond butter
1 fruit (apple, kiwi, banana, pear... whatever I got around)
some cottage cheese (less than 1/2 cup I think, like I said, I don't count...)
Dinner:
6-7 oz of chicken (I'm guessing since I don't count...)
salad (lettuce, mushrooms, sprouts... the usual stuff)
tomato soup
a couple of dry figs
Snack:
0% fat yogurt (around 400gm) with a handful of almonds, 3-4 strawberries, 1 kiwi and a handful of cranberries
Basically I keep my complex carbs for breakfast and my post workout meal. The rest of the day it's mostly fats and carbs from fruits and veggies.
I should note that I had alot of red meat this week. This doesn't happen often during the week since I'm not home often.
So what do you guys think? I feel like this ain't nearly enough food, even with my lean gains approach. Also, I'm thinking I might have too much conditioning work in there, but that's a slightly different topic. I would appreciate comments and feedback on both though.
Thanks in advance folks, Cheers!
So, 2010 is the year I gain some mass back! While my main focus is Strength & Conditioning, putting that mass back on is almost as important. I am currently around 158, looking to get to the 185-190 neighberhood.
Now everyone knows that the biggest part of putting on the mass is your diet. As I recently finished cutting and learning from past mistakes, I don't want to push it too hard, too fast. I also realize this means gaining at a much slower rate. I also believe this will lead to a higher quality of gains and better ratio of muscles vs. fat. I'm not concerned with being super-ripped or anything, I just don't wanna have a gut or a soft waist. What I'm saying is, right now I'm about 8-9% BF, and I'm looking to stay as lean as I can.
I pretty much stopped counting calories after being around maintenance intake for three weeks. I now just eat sensible and clean, just larger portions. Now I train pretty intense, 6 times per week, sometimes twice daily. looks something like this:
Sunday: Strength & core + finisher (stuff like a couple of intense jump rope intervals or some dumbbell swings)
Monday: Conditioning + isometrics, grip & light core work
Tuesday: Strength & core + finisher
Wednesday: Conditioning + isometrics & grip
Thursday: Strength + core + finisher
Friday: Conditioning (this might be a little less intense than the other sessions) + (optional) isometrics, grip and light core work
Saturday: Active Rest (calisthenics, long walks, play rugby or football with mates)
This is a sample week, so the work varies. I sometimes move workouts around, vary and such. I also used to work the heavy bag alot but I hurt my fingers and knuckles from overuse so I'm backing off on that a little bit...
As you can imagine, this gives me a fairly high maintenance intake. Most calculators I used put me around the 2750-2950 area, with one going up to about 3050. After all this rambling, let me give you a sample day of my diet and ask what I wanted... Am I eating enough to gain? I'm talking 2lbs a month, 2.5-3lbs tops, but still, GAIN!
(I used to train fasted first thing in the morning when I was cutting but I stopped that. If I do train before breakfast I'd usually have a banana and some cottage cheese or yogurt before)
Breakfast:
4 scrambled eggs w/ tomatoes, mushrooms, onions
1 cup of oatmeal w/ 1tbsp of honey, 1 tbsp of natural PB, 1 diced apple or banana, tiny bit of 1% milk, tad of cinnamon and a handful of cranberries
Snack:
1 pear
handful of almonds or walnuts
fishoil capsule
1/2 cup of lowfat cottage cheese
1 cucumber
PWO Shake:
100ml 1% fat milk, 100ml water, 1 cup of crushed ice, 1 scoop of Universal Ultra Whey Pro, 1 Banana, 5 Red grapes, 1-2 dates, 1 dried fig (Farkin' delicious... though I sometimes skip the grapes)
Snack:
2 slices of whole grain bread with approx 1 tbsp of natural PB or almond butter
1 fruit (apple, kiwi, banana, pear... whatever I got around)
some cottage cheese (less than 1/2 cup I think, like I said, I don't count...)
Dinner:
6-7 oz of chicken (I'm guessing since I don't count...)
salad (lettuce, mushrooms, sprouts... the usual stuff)
tomato soup
a couple of dry figs
Snack:
0% fat yogurt (around 400gm) with a handful of almonds, 3-4 strawberries, 1 kiwi and a handful of cranberries
Basically I keep my complex carbs for breakfast and my post workout meal. The rest of the day it's mostly fats and carbs from fruits and veggies.
I should note that I had alot of red meat this week. This doesn't happen often during the week since I'm not home often.
So what do you guys think? I feel like this ain't nearly enough food, even with my lean gains approach. Also, I'm thinking I might have too much conditioning work in there, but that's a slightly different topic. I would appreciate comments and feedback on both though.
Thanks in advance folks, Cheers!