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best way to get big in 4 weeks?

jimN said:
I said that because his goal is stupid. He wants to get bigger for the sake of vanity. Seems most of the guys who have posted here don't even seem to keep fit for sports and if they do it's for solitary ones. The original poster needs to join a team, keep running and learn to be comfortable with who he is rather than buying into to all this body building crap.
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Ah, I thought you meant to keep running to get big. :) Actually.. most guys get into bodybuilding because of the vanity factor.. but, half of them probably go on further because they become passionate about it. Think about it, you bought your first mac out of curiosity or it looked good or whatever.. but then you get smitten by it.

That obsession with vanity soon changes into discipline and dedication. I've done it all btw.. running, swimming, etc.. bodybuilding is the hardest because of the routine you have to stick to. The lifestyle changes, dietary changes, etc. Most people drop it because they want instant results or are just not willing to make changes. It's pretty hard, but absolutely worth it.

Running wears down the joints.. bodybuilding keeps your muscles and joints strong. I think there should always be a good mix of everything. Lift weights, and continue running.
 
thx for all the responses folks. :)

Music_Producer, while i'm aware of various body-building sites, i've always been somewhat reluctant to post on those forums. mainly because i don't consider myself a bodybuilder. also, i kinda know what kind of advices will be offered. i guess i was looking for suggestions that are somewhat less hardcore. man, i'm such a wimp... haha.

btw, how do you eat 6000 cal/day? that just seems a lot! :p i used to eat < 2k cal/day before hitting the gym, and i still find it quite hard to eat 2100+cal/day... i like food but there's only so much you can eat, and it gets tired after a few weeks. not to mention the time issue - i kinda force myself to finish 300-350cal in 20mins, i wouldn't know what to do if the target was more than 3000 cal/day.

Greasyman, thx for the link. mr. sparkle is teh funnee.

viccles, i usually eat a cup of peanuts before bed every night. but i'm gonna replace that w/ peanut butter.

jimN, i see what you mean. i kinda told my friend the same thing when she wanted to get breast implants. now i wish that if only gaining weight was as easy as getting a boob job. :eek: in any case, i do feel stronger and i seem to fight off colds more easily, even though i've only been working out for ~5 months. so i guess this isn't so bad even if it's just for vanity. :)

again, thx for all the responses. :)
 
You won't be able to get to 6000 calories overnight, nor will you need to. You likely won't be able to stand an increase of more than 500 daily calories per week. So, work up in increments.

It will be a real challenge to get enough calories, but it's more important to make sure that you're getting those calories from protein. I mean, think of it this way... calories are kind of overall important, but macronutrients are most important. If you get your macronutrients right, especially the protein, the calories will fall into place--but not necessarily the other way around. Macronutrients, as you may know, are the types of nutrient calories you can consume. The important ones are carbohydrates, protein, and fats.

For instance, if you're getting 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight (or some even say per pound of target bodyweight, i.e. what you want your weight to be), that should be roughly 30% of your calories. Whether you're under or overweight, this protein is important. If you're overweight, it's even more important, and protein may make up as much as 40%+ of your macronutrient ratio. Protein has 4 calories per gram, so...

180lbs = 180 grams of protein = 720 calories
220lbs = 210 grams of protein = 840 calories
260lbs = 260 grams of protein = 1040 calories
etc.

Then, when you're bulking, go for about twice that amount in carbohydrates. If you're trying to do a "clean bulk," where you may not have as much energy and gains but will gain less fat, you can bump it down so that you're only getting 50-55% of your calories from carbohydrates. Or, if you're trying to cut or lose weight, you'll only have about 40-45% of your calories from carbs. So adjust carbs accordingly.

Examples:
A 160lb person, trying to get to 180lbs+ while gaining muscle might consume 180 grams of protein and 340 grams of carbohydrates per day.
A 220lb person, trying to stay in the 200-240lbs range while gaining muscle and losing fat might consume 240 grams of protein and 380 grams of carbohydrates per day.
A 260lb person, trying to lose fat and maintain or gain muscle might consume 260-300 grams of protein per day and 300-340 grams of carbohydrates per day.

It is important to be discretionary in your consumption of carbohydrates, though. Realize your body uses these for energy, and consuming simple carbs, especially refined sugars, are not going to be ideal because it will be too much energy at once, and your body will store it or be degraded in processing them; too simple of carbohydrates causes an insulin spike, which is almost always bad. The exception is after you've worked out and your muscles are starving for nutrition... this is why a Gatorade (powder-based, not bottled) or one of those NoXplode drinks along with 40-50g of protein is a great idea within an hour of working out. Insulin enhances nutrient, energy, and creatine reuptake in your muscles. (Also, since I don't know how much many here know about creatine, NO, it is not a steroid or anything like that, it is a substance your body naturally produces in moderate amounts when you have 110% correct nutrition. Supplementing it is totally natural and healthy.)

Fats are best to avoid, but make sure you get your healthy fats. You'll probably get enough from just consuming normal meats, like chicken, fish, beef, as well as dairy products like milk, and such. Many take their "healthy fats" or EFAs (Essential Fatty Acids) daily in the form of fish or flax oil caplets. I recommend flax oil caplets, because they don't taste NEARLY as bad as fish ones.. big mistake srsly). You could also *eat* crushed flax seeds or take tablespoons of the oil daily.. but again, I don't recommend it.

You specifically, BiTurbo, will have to eat everything and the kitchen sink... instead of Muscle Milk type stuff (a really lean protein shake), look for full "Meal Replacement Powders" or shakes, and meal replacement bars, such as MetRx's Big 100 bars. You need all of the cals you can get. Obvious stuff also applies, like pre-packing your lunches, a variety of RTD (Ready To Drink) solutions for when you forget, and breaking your calories out into as many smaller meals per day as you can handle. 6 or 7 is totally doable, including both pre- and post-workout meals. Eat as soon as you wake up and right before you go to sleep... your body needs all of the nutrients it can get.
 
I'm not sure that the term vanity, which is being bandied about here, necessarily applies. The word vanity includes components of excess. I'm not sure what the excess is, in trying to be as fit as possible. True, there are different variants of ideal fitness, and there are different rationales for wanting to achieve them. But there's nothing wrong or excessive about it, at least as described by the posters in this thread.

I think that self-improvement is admirable, and should be lauded, not discouraged. Hopefully this has been a lesson in pushing through resistance, to achieve ones goals, for the original poster.
 
thx for the responses guys. :)

wongulous - you are right, it has been a challenge to eat. i don't consider myself a food snob exactly, but i just hate most of the cardboard-tasting MREs (Meal, Rejected by Everybody :D) out there. but i'm gonna get some big 100s later today. i like promax bars and used to down 4-6 of them everyday, but after a while they are like fingers of death...

currently, i'm only taking vitamin C, omega 3 fatty acid, and an iron-free multi-vitamin-and-mineral supplement. i also try to eat a cup of peanuts for healthy fat before sleep each night, hoping that they will elevate my testosterone level. thx for reminding me to take creatine (i used to get it from muscle milk) and the dietary ratio suggestion. i don't think i'm gettin enough carbs so i'd be setting up a new diet plan this weekend. :)
 
BiTurboMunkie said:
thx for all the responses folks. :)

Music_Producer, while i'm aware of various body-building sites, i've always been somewhat reluctant to post on those forums. mainly because i don't consider myself a bodybuilder. also, i kinda know what kind of advices will be offered. i guess i was looking for suggestions that are somewhat less hardcore. man, i'm such a wimp... haha.

btw, how do you eat 6000 cal/day? that just seems a lot! :p
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See, the thing is.. when you aim hardcore.. you will probably achieve something like 10% of that goal. My goal is to be strong like Ronnie Coleman.. am I going to make it? Heck no.. I can't possibly eat the way he does (2 big burger patties.. whole chicken.. and mashed potatoes.. and that's one meal!!).. the dedication that he has.. and obviously the fact that he was naturally stronger before he started lifting.

But, I know that if I even aim that high.. I'll get somewhere in the middle.

6,000 calories is very hard - but it's something I only do when I feel like I want to bulk up .. when I hit a plateau for example. Your body gets used to workouts, food, etc. really fast - always have to prod it, shock it to go on further.

Again, the hardest part of keeping fit is *not* the gym.. it's nutrition. :)

Edit - Btw, I love Myoplex ready to drink shakes. You have to get a little used to the flavor.. but when you do.. they're addictive. Those have helped me the most compared to other crappy stuff out there. They're expensive though, but they work. I used to have 4 shakes a day.. so that was 120 gm of protein from shakes.. the rest was all from food.
 
A lot of weight gain has to do with age... I'm 5'11" also, I know that in high school I weighed between 145 to 165 pounds. I was working out daily (I was a sprinter/hurdler, and also weight trained a lot), but gaining weight wasn't easy for me. I continued to compete until I was 23, and the intensity of my workouts hardly varied... yet by that last season I was 185 pounds at 8% body fat.

What isn't generally talked about is the fact that your body is still growing even after you reach your final height, and after you leave high school. My frame is now much larger than it was my senior year, and consequently can hold much more weight than would normally be associated with someone my height. I'm currently 212 pounds, and had inadvertently reached 250 pounds at one time because I don't show my weight the way most people do. My doctor starts worrying about me getting too thin if I drop much below 200 these days (my target is supposed to be between 200 and 210). Additionally, because of spending those 10 years training, my body actually remembers being in shape... which makes getting back in shape quite easy now.

Of course back then I wanted to be bigger to be faster... not to be bigger in and of itself. What is funny is that I know a lot of sprinters who when they finish with track end up in body building. Me, I ended up doing math, physics and later computer related stuff. These aren't your average areas for finding body conscious people. :rolleyes:
 
Music_Producer said:
To the OP..

You should have posted this question in a fitness forum or something like bodybuilding.com forums. I have seen terrible advice so far in this thread. Who was that poster with the "Why stop running? That's stupid" Lol. If you want to get big, you can't run.

And : Muscle does NOT convert into flab.. nor does fat convert into muscle. Like some poster said that guys get big.. then they don't work out.. and all that muscle converts into fat.. haha. :D

Genetics play a big part obviously.. but don't be discouraged by that factor. I was 6 ft tall and 120 lbs when I was 24 (yeah, I used to go to gym) I tried all sorts of weight gainers, protein shakes, etc.. nothing worked. I was almost resigned to the fact that maybe it's bad genes (my parents are Indian.. so they're 5'4.. and very very skinny)

Everything changed when I started lifting heavier, and doubled my calorie intake and ate clean. It's easier said than done, but try eating 6,000 calories in one day - and all of it being clean food!

Oatmeal, eggs (yes, the yolks as well - and please, not raw - raw eggs are not assimilated by the intestines) chicken, meat. Avoid fish if you can while you are bulking up.. fish is great when you're on a cutting diet. Make sure your protein intake is at least 200 gms a day.. whole foods preferably but a protein drink is ok. Complex carbs are your friend obviously, and so are good fats (fish oils, flaxseed oil, almonds, etc)

If you don't eat and don't lift heavy.. you won't grow. You will put on a bit of fat, but that is VERY easy to get rid of. I got rid of 9 pounds of excess fat (post-holiday meals!) in 7 days by just changing my diet. The body responds in an amazing manner if you know how to tune it.

Please avoid junk food - it's easy to get 6,000 calories by eating McD's .. but I really don't recommend that at all. When I talk about lifting heavy I'll give you an example..

Most people you see at the gym, lift the same weight - it's a routine. For e.g. if you're doing bicep curls with a barbell.. you might start with a 15 lb plate on each side, then go 20 lbs.. then 25.. people do 3 sets, and that's it for them.

You *have* to go heavier than usual if you want to grow. If your last set is 25 lbs plates on each side.. and you can do maybe 4-5 reps.. do another set with 30 lbs on each side. Doesn't matter if you can only do 2. That's fine. Do the same thing next time. Your muscles will adapt, and pretty soon you will be doing 6-8 reps with the weight.

Then I could get into power training and stuff.. but that's not really required here. Don't lift too heavy either that you injure a tendon or something. Just put 5 lbs more on your max weight.

Last thing to get big - squats. Do squats the right way i.e. deep.. till your thighs are parallel to the floor. Trust me, try squats.. and see what a difference it makes. Good luck!

Edit - Ahh, don't forget the rest factor. When you lift heavy you stress your nervous system pretty good.. so sleep a good 8 hours or so every day.
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i just wanted to add on this excellent post:
the myth behind muscle turning into fat is because the body will eat muscle first when it needs energy if it's not being fed properly (ie. enough protein).
hence, the reason for a high caloric diet made of protein as the highest % part.
 
killerrobot said:
I keep getting these emails that say by taking these Vi4gr4 pilz that you'll gain a few inches in a few weeks. I send you the link if you want.
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beat me to it... haha (wow talk about pun..) I was going to say enzyte.


But seriously, I am about 6'0" and 140-145 so I am pretty small but I can actually bench a lot and curl about 85-90 roughly ten times so I like to think I am pretty fit.

Though, I have been doing crunches forever and haven't even seen an image of abs.. I definitely have muscle if i flex my stomach it is as hard as a rock.. and I have had blows there since (just playing around) but nothing felt at all just wondering if there is a trick at all to seeing actual abs... Is there a diet I should be on? for now i just eat what I want, because I usually run (winter is horrible here though I can't even drag myself the mile to the gym because I will freeze)... I don't really know any suggestions, or anything else I need to tell you guys to help me start to look "ripped", not bigger but just like I actually care about myself.
 
Ignore everything in this thread best way to gain weight is to go out and punch kittens. Every kitten you punch is a guarenteed 1 lb. You have to punch 20 seperate kittens though so good hunting.

if you need help go to

www.punchkittenweightgain.com
 
Rhosfelt said:
Though, I have been doing crunches forever and haven't even seen an image of abs.. I definitely have muscle if i flex my stomach it is as hard as a rock.. and I have had blows there since (just playing around) but nothing felt at all just wondering if there is a trick at all to seeing actual abs... Is there a diet I should be on? for now i just eat what I want, because I usually run (winter is horrible here though I can't even drag myself the mile to the gym because I will freeze)... I don't really know any suggestions, or anything else I need to tell you guys to help me start to look "ripped", not bigger but just like I actually care about myself.
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here you go. :)

galganog said:
Ignore everything in this thread best way to gain weight is to go out and punch kittens. Every kitten you punch is a guarenteed 1 lb. You have to punch 20 seperate kittens though so good hunting.

if you need help go to

www.punchkittenweightgain.com
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LOL :D
 
Rhosfelt said:
Thank you! bookmarked and I am definitely going to get off of this "eat once a day thing" in the next week >_>
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actually, eating fewer meals can get you fat. thinking that you are being starved, your body could be in panic mode and converts whatever it gets to fat for future use.

best is to devise a caloric diet plan w/ reduced carbs (you still need carbs!), and spread the calories to ~6 meals a day (or eat every ~3 hrs). this will keep your metabolism going, which helps to burn fat. it'll also make you feel energetic throughout the day. :)
 
BiTurboMunkie said:
actually, eating less meals can get you fat. thinking that you are being starved, your body could be in panic mode and converts whatever it gets to fat for future use.

best is to devise a caloric diet plan w/ reduced carbs (you still need carbs!), and spread the calories to ~6 meals a day (or eat every ~3 hrs). this will keep your metabolism going, which helps to burn fat. it'll also make you feel energetic throughout the day. :)
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Its not that I do it to make myself skinny its just that is all that I am hungry.. I need to eat like really tiny meals..at least in the winter, because I am about 70% less active.
 
Good responses here. BTM, how is it going so far? Stuffing those cals?

Besides an update, I wanted to bump this thread; there is another "how to gain weight" thread on the front page and this thread has TONS more info than the other.
 
cc bcc said:
You're problems will be over when you reach the age of 24. :D
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^ this

I never put weight on no matter how much rubbish I ate and drank... until I hit the 20s... then BAM, on piled the pounds.

"When you're younger you can eat what you like, drink what you like, and still climb into your 26" waist trousers and zip them closed. Then you reach that age, 24-25, your muscles give up, they wave a little white flag, and without any warning at all you're suddenly a fat bastard" -- Arnold J Rimmer

Try being 3-4 stone overweight with a huge beer gut, and trying to get rid of it. No fun!

Enjoy being small and agile while you can.
 
Cloudane said:
^ this

I never put weight on no matter how much rubbish I ate and drank... until I hit the 20s... then BAM, on piled the pounds.

"When you're younger you can eat what you like, drink what you like, and still climb into your 26" waist trousers and zip them closed. Then you reach that age, 24-25, your muscles give up, they wave a little white flag, and without any warning at all you're suddenly a fat bastard" -- Arnold J Rimmer

Try being 3-4 stone overweight with a huge beer gut, and trying to get rid of it. No fun!

Enjoy being small and agile while you can.
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whats a stone in kgs?
 
wongulous said:
Good responses here. BTM, how is it going so far? Stuffing those cals?
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yeah i have been stuffing myself... my roomie was :eek: when he woke up and saw me having two chicken breasts+a tall glass of milk for breakfast ... haha.

i'm also very surprised by the power of full fat milk, which i've started drinking about 6 wks ago. i weighted myself a couple times this past week and the avg was 151lbs! a significant gain from 143lbs back in late Nov, and very impressive considering i was at 133lbs in summer '07 (i'm 5' 11"). i then tried on my slim-fit dress shirts and they were TIGHT! kinda pissed though cos i don't wanna spend $$$ on expensive clothes again...ugh...

now i'm considering cutting the consumption of milk. at the rate that i'm gaining, i'll become that puffy marshmallow dude in ghostbusters in no time. the thought of flabs is not exactly appealing. but then again, my old personal trainer told me that getting a big(ger) tummy is almost inevitable during this bulking phase.
 
It is inevitable.. that's why it's called bulking and then cutting phases. At least it's not summer yet--cut when April-May come around. If you aren't storing some fat, then you're not getting enough protein/carbs for your body to build muscle (or, occasionally, when everything is completely perfect, you may have just enough but not more.. but variable-wise that is unlikely). Gotta lose the abs for a few months to gain other places.

But I highly doubt that in the 150-170lb range you'll turn into the Stapuft marshmallow man... lol.

But IMHO the offseason look is healthier. I'd give up ever having abs if I could have the 18" arms and a 40" chest.
 
Look for meal replacements that include "plus" or "extra protein" in the title. While far from the best way to consume extra calories or protein because many have more sugar than you'd like, they can be a great way to tie up a "loose end" day where you've been unable to hit your calories for the day and need to pack it in.

Ensure Plus, which is what I drink if I miss a meal (happens about once every 1-2 weeks) has 355 calories and 13 grams of protein per 235mL serving. 3 cans, which I can easily chug in one sitting, brings in 1050 calories and 39 grams of protein.
 
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