I've decided to start lifting... however will it take me years to see any progress?

[bnutty187]

Re: I've decided to start lifting... however will it take me years to see any progres

Yes, great post radar. I'm glad that I got to read that!!

 

[blut wump]

Like casualbb said, you should start to notice results within a couple of weeks: a general firming up. Within a couple more weeks you find odd little muscles you never suspected existed and a girlfriend or similar will be noticing changes. After about three months people close to you will notice that you've changed. Six months onwards and anyone will be able to tell that you work out. After about a year you'll be unable to hide it.

 

[WalkingBeast]

Great posts! I myself was 105-115lbs when I started lifting. I couldnt bench the bar unassisted. At my peak of 203lbs I nearly doubled my starting weight and bench strength was 9X what I started at. I did this without drugs, only supplements you can get at GNC. Some worked better then others, most helped none at all. Ive been training nearly 11 years now, so it takes time,perserverance and hard work. You have to be willing to make this your new lifestyle, and a huge part of that is eating. It takes alot longer without the drugs, but ALOT of size can be gained with patience,hard work,consistancy and eating. I gain very slow, and lose size very fast, but all the gains add up over the years. Only by being consistent was I able to maintain any of my gains. Consistent for me was only a week missed in 9 years of straight training. And that was due to some unplanned event. After some injuries I had no choice but to lay off some. The best motivation for me personally was to chart my measurement relaxed and flexed every year. Keep records of bodyweight and increases etc. Body fat percentage I didnt bother with since I started with bone, and it was hard for me to gain anything, including fat. I would just record your flexed and relaxed measurements once per year with pictures if possible. This motivated me alot. The measurements were very important since I couldnt see the increases in pictures alone. Ultimately you have to find what drives you to do this and dig down deep to lift weights consistently and get your meals in. Force feeding is the hardest part of this for me, and my weakest point. Bad nerves and stomache make eating undesirable for me. I prefer not to eat. Also I can only hold so much food. But it is possible. You just have to find ways. Ive found milk to be very helpful for me. 1/2 a gallon a day, or even a gallon a day will help alot with your calories and protein. Protein shakes are also very useful, but be sure to get in some solid foods as well. Peanut butter,string cheese, sliced meats are some easy non cook solutions. I dont eat many sit down type meals per day. I drink 1/2 a gallon to a gallon of milk per day and peanut butter,string cheese,sliced meats, plus maybe one sit down meal and a protein shake. Most of my intake is from my refridgerator on my desk. Non cook foods throughout the entire day. Thats the way Ive found to get my meals in. Eventually youll find ways to accomplish your goals the longer you stay with it. The boards are a great place for information and encouragement. Also helps to record all your meals in a notebook along with some key information like bodyweight and certain routines you may want to list. I list all of mine now. All the information is very helpful to look back on, and also serves as motivation to improve. Keep at it!

 

[WalkingBeast]

Getting back to the topic: The gains are very gradual. They wont all hit you at some set time point. Thats why the measurements and pictures help to see the improvements. Its so gradual you wont likely notice it. My growth was very slow. But depending on how your body reacts to the training, and how you feed it you can see results within a few months. These are not massive increases, but over time it adds up. You will have to adapt your training accordingly to stimulate the larger amount of muscle, as well as more food. Over time I increased my intensity and even volume (which was already high) because I need to really destroy the target muscle to see any type of response. This is highly individual however, so dont get discouraged when you reach plateaus. Often a small change in the routine, or just time itself will take care of the plateau. Time with hard training and eating, I mean.

 

[Subzeero]

Thank you soo soo sooo very much for all this. It seems like you have been in my shoes. Radar what a great post, it makes hanging out here all worth it. I will post my current and progress pictures soon. Thank you once again for all the great posts. I wish i can meet some of you in person.

 

[WalkingBeast]

Anytime brother!

 

[NormanNormal]

Wow this post really came back from the dead. I logged on here after a long time and my jaw dropped to the floor when I saw the thread I started 7 months ago on the FIRST PAGE!

Anyway I don't have much good news to report. After I started this thread I started lifting and eating a very clean 6 meal a day diet at exact times, ect. I lifted for about two months until I hurt my leg and I started getting burnt out on my extrememly clean and supplement heavy diet. It was all just too much for me and I had made almost no strength gains whatsoever in 2 months. I had gained about 10lbs but I swear it was all water weight or it went to my gut. I compared before and after pictures and all I saw was a bigger stomach.

That basicly got me so frustrated and depressed I just gave up. I lifted on and off for the next 5 months but nothing serious. I ended up losing all of the gains I had made in ONE WEEK. I went back to my original weight so fast it was incredible.

I am going to make a round number two here... I think my problem was my extrememly clean diet with all boring plain foods and I only ate 2.6K - 3K calories a day which barely got me .5lbs a week if I was lucky.

I think I need up to 4K cals and ate whatever nessassary to get my cals for the day because I can't put on any type of weight. In my old 1x bodypart a week routine I gained no strength. I am going to try the madcow 5x5 routine for beginners and eat 4k cals or so.

My current stats are 5'8" 105lbs, depressing huh? My measurements are 13.5" neck, 31.5" chest, 16" quads, 27" waist, 8.5" biceps.. its really bad.

Thanks for all the help guys

 

[NormanNormal]

Great posts! I myself was 105-115lbs when I started lifting. I couldnt bench the bar unassisted. At my peak of 203lbs I nearly doubled my starting weight and bench strength was 9X what I started at. I did this without drugs, only supplements you can get at GNC. Some worked better then others, most helped none at all. Ive been training nearly 11 years now, so it takes time,perserverance and hard work. You have to be willing to make this your new lifestyle, and a huge part of that is eating. It takes alot longer without the drugs, but ALOT of size can be gained with patience,hard work,consistancy and eating. I gain very slow, and lose size very fast, but all the gains add up over the years. Only by being consistent was I able to maintain any of my gains. Consistent for me was only a week missed in 9 years of straight training. And that was due to some unplanned event. After some injuries I had no choice but to lay off some. The best motivation for me personally was to chart my measurement relaxed and flexed every year. Keep records of bodyweight and increases etc. Body fat percentage I didnt bother with since I started with bone, and it was hard for me to gain anything, including fat. I would just record your flexed and relaxed measurements once per year with pictures if possible. This motivated me alot. The measurements were very important since I couldnt see the increases in pictures alone. Ultimately you have to find what drives you to do this and dig down deep to lift weights consistently and get your meals in. Force feeding is the hardest part of this for me, and my weakest point. Bad nerves and stomache make eating undesirable for me. I prefer not to eat. Also I can only hold so much food. But it is possible. You just have to find ways. Ive found milk to be very helpful for me. 1/2 a gallon a day, or even a gallon a day will help alot with your calories and protein. Protein shakes are also very useful, but be sure to get in some solid foods as well. Peanut butter,string cheese, sliced meats are some easy non cook solutions. I dont eat many sit down type meals per day. I drink 1/2 a gallon to a gallon of milk per day and peanut butter,string cheese,sliced meats, plus maybe one sit down meal and a protein shake. Most of my intake is from my refridgerator on my desk. Non cook foods throughout the entire day. Thats the way Ive found to get my meals in. Eventually youll find ways to accomplish your goals the longer you stay with it. The boards are a great place for information and encouragement. Also helps to record all your meals in a notebook along with some key information like bodyweight and certain routines you may want to list. I list all of mine now. All the information is very helpful to look back on, and also serves as motivation to improve. Keep at it!

Man this post is here best in the thread... I am glad to see someone out there was like me at one point and the progress you have made. I too have that same problem with eating food.. I just can't stuff myself and I don't like eating period. I don't like a ton of solid food. the only way I can get lots of cals in one day if half of it is from liquid cals, I need something like big 1000cal shakes to get anywhere I believe.

Question... in your first year when you couldnt bench the bar and weighed 105 who much did you gain in your first year? Thanks so much friend.

 

[Madcow2]

Re: I've decided to start lifting... however will it take me years to see any progres

It was all just too much for me and I had made almost no strength gains whatsoever in 2 months. I had gained about 10lbs but I swear it was all water weight or it went to my gut. I compared before and after pictures and all I saw was a bigger stomach.

The fact that you gained weight means that there were enough calories to support some muscle growth (i.e. caloric excess must be present and obviously it was because you gained something - fat or muscle or some combo, you will gain something). Whether those calories are clean or not doesn't mean too much, you need a decent balance of nutrients and more than your body requires to currently maintain itself. So if eating clean makes you feel good then you are doing something for your health but no amount of cleanliness can make up for caloric excess and to be honest, cleanliness isn't all that important as long as the diet is reasonable (i.e. lots of people have put on a lot of muscle eating relative garbage).

The point where you made no strength gains and only saw it in your gut points to your workout program not being setup properly to increase your capacity in the lifts (i.e. muscles get bigger to make themselves stronger).

So, your diet was good enough to supply some extra cals but your training and program didn't stimulate any strength or muscle gain (and it's not just a matter of working hard, it's working smart so better to use the door knob than give yourself brain damage raming your head through if you get my drift). Rather than stress too much over your diet, why don't you try something that is time tested and has worked accross just about every bodytype, gender, and genetic makeup. If it doesn't look like most BBing programs to you, now you know why it works. Lots of people in this forum have adopted similar templates after having a lot of success training like this.

Here's a program: http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showpost.php?p=4497774&postcount=15
Here's something that goes into more detail on diet: http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showpost.php?p=4866519&postcount=465
Here's writeups on the squat, bench, and dead - very good ones so read them thoroughly: http://www.midwestbarbell.com/totalelite/index.php?showtopic=14
Here's a thread with a lot of information and some links to videos for the lifts and other programs and such: http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showthread.php?t=375215

 

[NormanNormal]

madcow thanks for the reply. That was the exact program I was going to try. You seem to have a lot of respect around here so I'll take your advice very much to heart.

I did gain weight but I will tell you I think most of it was just simply from having a load of food in me all the time. after 7 days of eating normal again it all went away. I did seem to gain about .5lbs every week or two but I honestly don't believe I was eating enough.

What do you think about trying 4K cals? I think it was a combo of not enough cals and a poor training program that did it. I was just not eating enough, I have a problem with eating a lot of food. I just plain don't like to eat. I however don't mind drinkin shakes and such. I think I need to use my blender and drink maybe 3 of 1K cal shakes a day to get anywhere.

Would it be OK if I PMed you some pics so you know who you are working with? Thanks again