Protein and building muscle mass

[Marxlaws]

I started working out to lose weight a few weeks ago but changed it up to gaining muscle. My max bench was down from 300 or so to 210 and pull-ups and dips were an extreme effort! If you ever worked out before you know how much effort it takes to add 100 pounds to your max bench. But suprisingly it took only a year or two and absolutly no effort at all to lose it.

So for the first time since hmm... okay since I played football I am going to try to seriously build muscle. But I am hitting a wall when it comes to recovery - 4 to 5 days! I am old ...er and to speed up the process so I am taking huge amounts of natural protien and whey protien (Probolic-SR) and it seems to help but nobody (and I mean NOBODY) has agreed on how much protein I need and when.

Do any of you have any personal experiences that you have gone through that might guide me to the golden path of physical fitness?


I am still struggling with the "why" of weight training also. Vanity, self-consciousness and my drastic puerile attempts to hold on to my youth are right there neck and neck with my desire of personal fitness. A big part of me wants to say hell with it all and be one of those brazen skinny legged, pot bellyed guys that are happy to take their shirt off every chance they get and seem so damn comfortable in their skin, but I am just too neurotic.
Lucky shirtless bastards.
My "let my body go to hell" date is 2023 but that can change.

[Marxlaws]

Let me add to that I am 37 or 38, 6'3 230 and very new to the site! So a big how do from sunny Florida is in order. I am power lifting and waiting for the pain to subside and then doing it again about every 4 to 5 days. Upper body Monday lower body Tuesday and thursday and upper body friday or Saturday.

And if I take in this protein and gain muscle and my BF goes from 21 % (now) to 30 or so % how lond does it take to get down to 10% (what I consider "in good shape" for me)?

[fitness4fun]

Hey, I am 39 years old, and have been lifting for three months now (and off and on in the past). The rule of thumb is 1.5g of protien per pound of body weight (no more than 2g or your body just gets rid of it). It's not the protien that pumps up your muscles, it's the calories to feed them. Your body already keeps stored protien, and will use up the carbs first. All you need to do is make sure that the tank stays full, so to speak. Also, to get bigger muscles, you need to be lifting heavy enough.

Hope this helps you. Good luck!

[Aquilius]

nobody (and I mean NOBODY) has agreed on how much protein I need and when.

If not already known to you, you may wish to read up on: http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1268956

Regards,
Aquilius

[Marxlaws]

Thank's guys. I think I am going to try and stay lean and slowly gain mass That was a good artical.

M