Please help me achieve my goals

[obarrera]

What's up everyone, Im trying to look more define and im not sure what to do. I used to weigh 125lbs when I first came here(looked way skinnier), now I weigh 138lbs cause I've been lifting for just a little over a year. So I improved, and this was by eating whatever, now I want to get more serious and have a diet so I can do what I really want, which is be more define, but still build some more muscle at the same time.

What should my diet be like?
how much water should I drink, right now I drink a gallon everyday.

I mean I can read some threads about how to do this, but isn't every person diffrent? How do I know how many calories I should eat, etc?

The first two pics is how I look now, I put the read lines on the second one cause that kinda where I want my shoulders to be, right now I look like a friggen ectomorph. And the last pic is how I want to look.

Thanks

[texan_rb_34]

Dude thats not bad for 138 but you need to wrk you back more .Eats lots of proteins carbs and calories...but make sure there good calories and not emoty ones. Since you weigh 138 try an start off at 2000 calories a day then if your gaining fat cut it down a bit or if your not gaining enuff add some calories.

[sl4vik]

What's up everyone, Im trying to look more define and im not sure what to do. I used to weigh 125lbs when I first came here(looked way skinnier), now I weigh 138lbs cause I've been lifting for just a little over a year. So I improved, and this was by eating whatever, now I want to get more serious and have a diet so I can do what I really want, which is be more define, but still build some more muscle at the same time.

What should my diet be like?
how much water should I drink, right now I drink a gallon everyday.

I mean I can read some threads about how to do this, but isn't every person diffrent? How do I know how many calories I should eat, etc?

The first two pics is how I look now, I put the read lines on the second one cause that kinda where I want my shoulders to be, right now I look like a friggen ectomorph. And the last pic is how I want to look.

Thanks

A year to get to 138 from 125? Dude thats ****ty progress.....

I started this january at 130, and now 150. Thats from a ****ty diet too.

[jpw5021]

Well you have a long way to go to reach your goals not to discourage you but that is a big jump. Anyhow as far as water you are on the right track. I would say a gallon a day is minimum. As far as diet goes you can find diet calculators online that will tell you about how many calories you should eat a day in order to gain weight. Your diet should consist of high quality nutrients such as whole wheat bread products as far as carbs go. What you want to avoid is empty calories that come from refined sugar. Things like pop, candy and most desserts just contain empty calories. You also want to eat a high protein diet (1 gram of protein for every pound of body weight) so good foods are chicken, tuna, and beef. To help give you an idea of your calorie intake I weigh 175 pounds and eat about 3500 calories a day and I'm a hard gainer. Which means I require a lot of food in order to build any muscle mass. This is just enough for me to put on muscle but not so much extra I put on fat. Hope this helps you figure things out.

[obarrera]

Dude thats not bad for 138 but you need to wrk you back more .Eats lots of proteins carbs and calories...but make sure there good calories and not emoty ones. Since you weigh 138 try an start off at 2000 calories a day then if your gaining fat cut it down a bit or if your not gaining enuff add some calories.

Yeah I don't really work on my back, im gonna start working on it though, I just haven't had time. How many carbs do you think I should eat a day?
2000 calories is what I was thinking I should eat, tommorow im gonna go buy some healthy food, cause I don't want to eat 2000 calories of fat, im trying to get a "skinnier" face too so I wanna do a clean bulk.

Well you have a long way to go to reach your goals not to discourage you but that is a big jump. Anyhow as far as water you are on the right track. I would say a gallon a day is minimum. As far as diet goes you can find diet calculators online that will tell you about how many calories you should eat a day in order to gain weight. Your diet should consist of high quality nutrients such as whole wheat bread products as far as carbs go. What you want to avoid is empty calories that come from refined sugar. Things like pop, candy and most desserts just contain empty calories. You also want to eat a high protein diet (1 gram of protein for every pound of body weight) so good foods are chicken, tuna, and beef. To help give you an idea of your calorie intake I weigh 175 pounds and eat about 3500 calories a day and I'm a hard gainer. Which means I require a lot of food in order to build any muscle mass. This is just enough for me to put on muscle but not so much extra I put on fat. Hope this helps you figure things out.

Yeah I know im no where near how I want to be, but around how long do you think it would take?
Is there any links to threads with a bunch of good diets?

[obarrera]

Any more advice?

[epilp]

I think you could work your chest more. The good picture's model had nice pecs. Your arms are how I wish mine were, but your pecs are lacking between them.

[obarrera]

I totally agree with you, I hate my chest. Im not sure what to do for chest though, I can't bench cause I don't have anyone to spot me, and I like lifting untill I can barely lift the last rep, so I don't want to end hurting my self lol. all I do is decline flys(3 sets of 8/9 reps), that's it.=/

[epilp]

I totally agree with you, I hate my chest. Im not sure what to do for chest though, I can't bench cause I don't have anyone to spot me, and I like lifting untill I can barely lift the last rep, so I don't want to end hurting my self lol. all I do is decline flys(3 sets of 8/9 reps), that's it.=/

I've been using the cable towers to get a nice fly and crossover workout. I ask people in the gym to spot me when I'm alone because I'm less afraid of asking someone I don't know than wasting potential tearing and recovering/growth time.

If you TOTALLY can't find anyone, look for a smith machine where the bar is on cables, and you can turn it with your wrists to lock it in place. Without that, I can't really think of anything. Sometimes I would bench to failure without a spotter. We should all be strong enough (and smart enough with our weights) so that if we get it up, bring it down, and cannot manage to get it back up, to put it on the safety rack. My gym's bench racks have the standard holster and then another one a few inches down as a means of desperate measure.

[Leethal]

Lookin good though. Suprised you're around my weight :S

[jpw5021]

Do dumbell bench rather than barbell bench. By doing so you can drop the weights if need be.

[obarrera]

IM just going to start benching, I workout at home, can't go to a gym unfortunately so it's harder to get a spotter.

I'll try what jpw5021 said too.

Thanks

[xxbigdavexx117]

that 3rd picture is the body fat% that I wanna get down to

what do you guys think that is?? 5 6%??

[DieselNZ]

that 3rd picture is the body fat% that I wanna get down to

what do you guys think that is?? 5 6%??

ya 5-6%, it looks as though hes been neglecting ab work tho

[xxbigdavexx117]

what's the lowest healthy body fat%?

[obarrera]

ya 5-6%, it looks as though hes been neglecting ab work tho

That's true, his abs are alright, but I've seen other's with around the same bodyfat % and their abs show alot more.

[Stevo1111]

Diet is the key to every muscular body, training is only a spark for the fire, food is the fuel. At your current weight, you have several options. Most people perfer to lift and "clean bulk" over a long period of time. For most hard gainers and people who want results fast this really isn't going to work. Short, hardcore bulks seem to work the best for adding true mass.
At 140lbs or so i'd suggest an 8 week bulk to get you up to 150lbs.
Your current intake is probably around 2000 calories to sustain your weight.
I would suggest an intake something like this:
Weeks 1-3: 2500 calories daily
Weeks 4-6: 2800 calories daily
Weeks 7&8: 3100 calories daily
Keep the protein intake at or above 200 grams a day. Protein is difficult to keep track of, even if you believe you're intaking enough, after counting your grams you often find yourself far bellow what you expected.
As for foods, keys to your diet should be : egg whites, lean beef, chicken, fish, beans, legumes, vegitables, whole grain rice, wheat pasta.
If you keep your diet clean, stick to clean whole foods, you will not gain alot of unwanted body fat. To keep body fat off during the bulk, do cardio if you don't already do it. High intensity, short duration cardio works the best for keeping fat off yet still gaining muscle. Perhaps, as an idea, you can do sprints for about 10-15 minutes daily.

I know this is alot to read, but i have alot of time on my hands and i'm bored, haha.

As for working out, keep it basic!
Nothing will beat the basic lifts for adding muscle.

Chest- dumbell or barbell flat and incline bench press
Triceps- close grip benchpress or skull crushers
Back- Deadlifts, Chinups, Pullups (pull downs if you must) and rows
Biceps- Barbell and dumbell curls, nothing fancy, go heavy
Shoulders- Overhead press, side raises, bent raises and shrugs.
Legs- squats, straight leg deadlifts.

3 sets of 8-12 reps per exercise.

Simple, effective and time tested.

Now that i'm winded, its just my two cents. Other people may argue for a altered approach to adding mass. There are two schools of bodybuilding. I come from the old school hardcore approach, others the modern pretty boy approach. Each has their own ups and downs.