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Hi Everyone,

This is my first post to the forum. I first visited this site after it had gotten farked, and I was blown away as to the transformation that John made in a relatively short amount of time.

I've been working out for a while. I started to work out about a year ago when I was close to 170 and 20% body fat (I'm about 5'9"). I've cut down to 150 and close to 12% BF and I've managed to gain some muscle mass (atleast more definition), but I can't seem to achieve any substantial growth. Ever since I visited this site, I decided to give Max OT a try and have been following it pretty closely and been watching what I eat, and I feel like I haven't made much advances considering that I've been doing the program for 8 weeks. I think I workout pretty hard. I push myself, and try to lift heavy within reason (don't want to get hurt!), but I can't seem to make progress.

Any advice? Should I eat more? I take in about 2000 calories now, spread over 4 or 5 meals. I also don't take any supplements, but do use Whey protein. I just really wish I could have some growth, like maybe add 5 pounds of muscle. Any advice??

HELP!!!

These pictures are what I currently look like...sorry I'm so white!

Welcome to the forums and good job losing the 20lbs. :tu:

First off 8 weeks isnt really that long and it takes a while to put on nocticable muscle mass. Have you been closely measuring your progress? Do girth measurements and keep and eye on your lean body mass. You may have made improvements but just not noticed them.

Also 2000 calories is not enough when bulking. I weigh the same as you and I'm cutting and I often eat more than that. So definitely eat more.

Just use this site to keep learning and keep yourself motivated :tucool:

Marcus

2000 is way too low. Keep track up what you eat and bump your daily calories up 2500. If you're still not gaining at the end of the week, bump it up to 3000, and measure you results then..And so on.

You have the exact same body as my bro (from the pic, the resemblance is scary), and I honestly think you have great potential for putting on quite a bit of lean mass.

To gain lean mass, you need to fuel your body, and just like you, my bro doesn't do that, and that's the reason why he looks "skinny" or tiny. All he eats is carbs all day, and that simply doesn't do it.

You need to increase your diet to at the very least 2500 k cal a day, but probably more like 3000-3200 depending on your age.

Agreed. Just EAT, EAT, EAT!

Like everyone else said, you need to eat ALOT more than 2000 calories when you're trying to add muscle. I'm eating 2500 calories per day, and I'm cutting! I'm an ectomorph like you, so I know where you're coming from.

A couple years ago, I used to think I was a hard-gainer too, and thought the slow muscle gains were just due to bad genetics. Then I started eating 3500 calories per day, supplementing with glutamine and whey, and working out with Max-OT. I put on more muscle and strength in 4 weeks than I'd ever done before. These weren't newbie gains either, since I'd been training for about 4 years before this with minimal gains. Your training isn't the problem, it's your nutrition. Food is extremely important to us ectomorphs; take your nutrition seriously and your muscles will reward you.

Dude you can do it. One of the most famous body builders ever was an ectomorph.
http://www.bruni.us/misc/zane.jpg

Forgive my ignorance but who is that body builder in that picture?

AJ

Mr. Frank Zane. He's pretty small for a Mr. Olympia but proves you don't have to be the biggest there to win one.

Mr. Frank Zane. He's pretty small for a Mr. Olympia but proves you don't have to be the biggest there to win one.
Very true. Plus if you compare the Mr. Olympia's of the 70's and 80's with the current ones, its like a night and day contrast. Today's Mr. Olympia's are full-fledged steroid users with extremely large physiques, whereas Zane's generation competitors were much smaller.

Although steroids were rampant back then, the levels now used today are unimaginably greater then what the lifters in the 70's and 80's used.

Eat!!!!

Eat 3000 calories a day. If you're not gaining a 1lb a week then eat 3200 a day etc etc.

One more thing, eat!!!!

:eat:

The fork is your friend!

I'm definitely not an ectomorph, so not as qualified as others may be to give advice on how to gain. But, I did want to add that your caloric intake should be in the 40/40/20 range for macronutrients. This would also insure that you are getting enough protein, though you did say you are taking whey.

You need to stay with the program. I have read that it can take up to three years to achieve anything even close to your genetic potential, and that's doing everything right.

Keep reading, learning and applying. No doubt that you'll reach your goals, though you may need to give it some time.