Need a little help here...

[fitness4life]

I agree with Sassy ... you sound like you are eating enough calories for a CUTTING cycle - not a bulking one.

Cutting is usually around 10xBW calories, which sounds like where you are right now. You would likely benefit from an increase to around 13-15xBW if your goal is to gain.

Als0 - training 5x a week is not really necessary. What is your split like? Rep range? Sets? Exercise choices?

I only train for about 45 mins and I do a diff body part each day. Mon - Chest, Tues - Arms, Wed - Legs, Thurs - Shoulders, & Fri - Back

I do about 3 to 4 diff exercises, 3 sets each, and my reps would depend on how heavy i'm lifting. Every now and then, I will try my max for 1 or 2 reps. I've been planning on making a log of my training but didn't get to it yet. I think i'll be getting myself a notebook after work today and i'll start a log this monday!!

Since i've been on the var, i've noticed a big diff in my shoulders, which I love!! I'm doing an 8 week cycle but i've heard u can go up to 12 weeks, what do u think??? I'd like to do 10 to 12 weeks only if it's safe for a woman.

So far, my plan is 15mg for another 2 weeks, then start coming off, 10mg for one week, then 5mg for my last week. I started off with 10mg for one week and went up to 20mg for 1 1/2 weeks but had to lower my dosage, I was seeing if I could handle that much but can't.

 

[Daisy_Girl]

You do not have to taper your dose. Once you find the optimal dose for you, then you can stay there.

It is really silly to take so much Var - there is no added benefit. Additional Var will not necessarily better your results, it might only increase the chance for sides. In all honesty, if your diet and training is tight, then 10mg is more than enough.

I think it would be a good idea to list out the exercises. That might also help us better give you advice ... sounds like your sets/reps are okay, but I am not sure because we don't know your exercise CHOICES.

Also, is there is a reason you train 1 body part per day? Not saying that is necessarily wrong, but sometimes people see better results if you combine body parts and have a few resting days between lifting sessions. Just a thought.

 

[fitness4life]

You do not have to taper your dose. Once you find the optimal dose for you, then you can stay there.

It is really silly to take so much Var - there is no added benefit. Additional Var will not necessarily better your results, it might only increase the chance for sides. In all honesty, if your diet and training is tight, then 10mg is more than enough.

I think it would be a good idea to list out the exercises. That might also help us better give you advice ... sounds like your sets/reps are okay, but I am not sure because we don't know your exercise CHOICES.

Also, is there is a reason you train 1 body part per day? Not saying that is necessarily wrong, but sometimes people see better results if you combine body parts and have a few resting days between lifting sessions. Just a thought.

I've been training like that for years, or i'll do chest bi's, on monday, legs tuesday, wed off, thurs shoulders, tri's and friday back. Here is a list of exerices I do:

Chest

Flat Bench

1 set 12 reps warm up
2 sets x 8 95 lbs
1 set x 10 75 lbs

Incline DB

2 sets x 10 35 lbs
1 set x 10 30

Incline flyes

2 X 10 25 lbs
1 X 12 20 lbs

Cable flyes

3 x 10 25 lbs

Arms (Superset)

Curls 3 x 10 40 lbs
Dips 3 x 10

seated incline DB curls
3x10 20 lbs
overhead exentions
1 x 12 35 lbs
2 x 8 50 lbs

hammer curls
3 x 10 15lbs
kickbacks
3 x 12 15 lbs

This is just a sample of what I usually do. I would love to mix it up starting monday if anyone can give me any pointers. The less time in the gym the better!!!

 

[heavy_duty]

on a scale of 1-10 how intense are your work-outs?

 

[Sassy69]

40/30/30 = 40% protein / 30% carb / 30% fat --- you need to run that at least 3 weeks to make a call on whether or not you think its working for you - but u need to gauge by do you have enough energy to do the lifting (and I mean balls to the muthfukkin wall lifting) to allow you to grow but also sleep well at night, not feel exhausted or run down.

I'm not going to comment on the "i feel fat" -- I'm a little militant about how I approach fitness and all the things we do to change our bodies - because its always a phased approach, its a constant journey and even when you think you achieved what you want, you have to determine if what you want is maitainable - I"m sure every girl would love to maintain that "on stage" look but the fact of the matter is that 7-10% bf is NOT a healthy thing to maintain and it is a given that if your goal is to look a certain way on a target show day, you have to accommodate a rebound so that your body can find a natural balance again after you pushed to this extreme that your body can absorb for a day or two - but to think you can maintain it (I'm assuming typical "normal good health") is suicide. Or if you want to maintain a very lean look then you have to spend a lot of time slowly adjusting your body down so that it is comfortable living off of x calories (not starvation) w/ a level of activity that it has adjusted to.

But if your goal is to 1) "get the most out of your var" and 2) for strength or size and the 3) cut down later --- make like you're doing a hypertrophy cycle -- it takes food to grow. If you also dont want to "feel fat", those are two diametrically opposed goals and trying to accommodate them both is a guranteed failure of your first two goals.

Getting a targeted change out of your body is a phased approach and you will achieve your goal if you are determined and patient and consistent in your program to achieve the goal - anything less and you won't achieve that goal, or you will achieve it but not to the degree that you probably had in mind -i.e. if you don't get what you want out of it, why bother at all?

 

[fitness4life]

Well, it's not that I feel fat, just feel bigger overall, but hey, that's what I want!! As for my work outs, it depends, last week i'd give them 7 to 9, but the weeks before, I wasted my time, only rate about 5 to 6. I had no energy, tired all the time. I had to start taking 8 mg Ephedrine and 50 mg caffine before my afternoon workout. I've been lifting heavier, getting a way better pump!! I've made some changes to my eating today and going to carry it out for next week and see how my energy levels are. This should get me some size now. As for sleep, not getting a whole lot of that, i'm averaging about 6 to 7 hrs if i'm lucky and I think that plays a role in my training.

 

[T-Cake]

I'm also on var and the same height/weight as you. My diet is 1550 -1700 a day because I'm cutting... so that means you need to eat more (I'm following Ulter's advice as well as the ladies on here). I find that I am making gains in the gym each week -- my weights are increasing in most evertyhing -- but I do way more cardio than you (1 hour a day, 6 days a week).

So I think the advice to eat more is a good one... and as for feeling big/fat... I'm with you! I'm not that tall but sometimes I stand next to smaller girls in the gym and just feel like an amazon, but I have to keep telling myself that my size is my muscle, NOT fat. It's hard, but I know how you feel on that.

Also, when I started on the 'var, Ulter advised me to set my macro goals to 50% protein, 25% carbs, 25% fat per day, rather than 40/30/30. Now I'm not competing in the near future, so realistically my day is 40/30/30... but that extra protein really does help with my gains AND the smaller carbs kept my water weight down, so I definitely felt less puffy/large. Maybe that will help you out too.

Hope some of this helps. You are working really hard; good for you!!!

 

[superqt4u2nv]

I've been training like that for years, or i'll do chest bi's, on monday, legs tuesday, wed off, thurs shoulders, tri's and friday back. Here is a list of exerices I do:

Chest

Flat Bench

1 set 12 reps warm up
2 sets x 8 95 lbs
1 set x 10 75 lbs

Incline DB

2 sets x 10 35 lbs
1 set x 10 30

Incline flyes

2 X 10 25 lbs
1 X 12 20 lbs

Cable flyes

3 x 10 25 lbs

Arms (Superset)

Curls 3 x 10 40 lbs
Dips 3 x 10

seated incline DB curls
3x10 20 lbs
overhead exentions
1 x 12 35 lbs
2 x 8 50 lbs

hammer curls
3 x 10 15lbs
kickbacks
3 x 12 15 lbs

This is just a sample of what I usually do. I would love to mix it up starting monday if anyone can give me any pointers. The less time in the gym the better!!!

If your trying to gain I would lower the rep range and increas the weight I typicaly work 3-8 when trying to put on mass also no more then 6 work sets per body part.

As everyone has stated you're curretly not eating enough to gain all the gear in the world wont produce results if your diet is not on track with your goals.

 

[Sassy69]

Well, it's not that I feel fat, just feel bigger overall, but hey, that's what I want!! As for my work outs, it depends, last week i'd give them 7 to 9, but the weeks before, I wasted my time, only rate about 5 to 6. I had no energy, tired all the time. I had to start taking 8 mg Ephedrine and 50 mg caffine before my afternoon workout. I've been lifting heavier, getting a way better pump!! I've made some changes to my eating today and going to carry it out for next week and see how my energy levels are. This should get me some size now. As for sleep, not getting a whole lot of that, i'm averaging about 6 to 7 hrs if i'm lucky and I think that plays a role in my training.

I didnt' want to come across like I was getting up in your shit - its just this thing that I've gone thru when I discuss w/ women who sit & complain about how they want this & that goal, but then they either won't train / eat to get to that goal or start whining about "I feel fat". Competition takes that situation to the extreme where the consequence is that you simply won't achieve your goal in your time frame and you either go on stage unprepared & fat or you don't go on stage --- its very simple. But its also a mind set about focusing on your goals. You can do amazing things w/ your body but its really all about slow, consistent & calculated changes so that your body can respond to the changes, adjust to the changes and then make those the "norm" and just give it time to get to your goal so that your body can maitain it instead of reboundign like crazy once you get there if you are looking for the quicky way.

Trust me - there is no experience that will challenge your mind, body & soul more than a physique competition - any other even extreme sport on the planet can't touch it. The hardest part is the day to day living w/ the structured program you are in and waiting to pass thru the changes your body has to make to get to the goal. And once you go thru that -- trust me - I was the whiniest bitch on the planet -- I literally cannot discuss diet or training w/ my mom any more because I called her on a daily basis just to deal w/ the whole experience, my emotions, my feelings, how I interacted w/ people, etc etc etc. I dont' tell her I'm competing anymore until AFTER the show is over.

Anyway - just making the point - esp if you are goign to put your body thru the stress of introducing an unnatural amount of male hormones, make like you're going to do use it so the whole effort isn't a waste.

 

[fitness4life]

Thanks for all your feedback. I'd like to get some help on a new routine. I have max 50 mins a day to spare for the gym, any suggestions?