hey whats good people, i've been going through these forums for sometime now and decided that the best start to reaching my goals is just by setting up my own journal. i've been a relatively skinny dude for my whole life and i'm looking to bulk up and put on some weight for the first time of my life haha.

all that i have in my way now is food and weight training, and we'll see where i can go from there.

stats -

height - 6'0 tall
weight - 135lbs
body fat - around 10% last time i checked

nutrition plan -

okay so im a college student so i'm can't afford that much, but through some budgeting i think i can pull through with a decent diet.. but i still dont know how i should divide the meals and such..

oat cereal and milk
three nutrigrain bars
three pb&j sandwiches
three glasses of milk
whey protein shake
two cans of tuna
spaghetti pasta and meat sauce
chicken breast and rice meal

i'm going to be using fitday.com to make sure im hitting at least 2500 calories, should that be enough for the first couple weeks to ease into the bulking process?

work out plan:

1. triceps and chest
2. biceps and shoulders
3. legs and back
4. rest

and repeat and such

anything i should add or work on? i'm going to commit myself and try to start by next year

height - 6'0 tall
weight - 135lbs
body fat - around 10% last time i checked

Bulk that.

2500 calories should be enough to eventually get up to 150 or 160 pounds, assuming a normal metabolism and moderate, but not excessive cardio. But for faster gains, you might want to go higher after a couple of weeks, depending on how you feel, and how you're most comfortable (faster muscle gains, or keeping fat more to a minimum)

I'd really like to see more vegetables in your diet. Nutrigrain bars are mainly just sugar. There aren't many nutrients, not much protein, and only just average for fibre intake. A better choice (bost cost- and nutrition-wise) would be something like a equivalent calories in a microwaved sweet potato or in Shredded Wheat biscuits. If you can bake at all, some homemade muffins (http://www.delicious-low-fat-recipes.com/low-fat-muffins-low-carb.html) or homemade protein bars would be a good choice. Or you could replace this snack with almonds and cottage cheese, or fruit and yogurt, or hard boiled eggs, or something else, depending on the timing of this meal and your needs at the time.

Pb&j sandwiches are okay, but they're not ideal. That meal is quite carb-heavy; I'd suggest a vegetable and ham omelet (with one or two whole eggs, plus a few egg whites) instead if possible.

Your breakfast also is low in protein, which is not ideal. Can you add some egg whites to the oats?

Screw the nutrigrain bars; eat some whole pieces of fruit. And don't neglect your fibrous vegetables for their health benefits.

Divide the meals so you're getting an intelligent surplus of calories in a manner that's appealing to you. Don't overthink things and come up with a can of tuna, an orange, and a tbsp of peanut butter as a "meal". Those might be OK individual food items, but does that sound appealing in any way whatsoever? Would taste like shit to me. :)

Eggs, oatmeal, a piece of fruit, and a glass of milk is a meal.
Steak, yams, and a green vegetable is a meal.
Chicken, fibrous vegetables, and a couple handfuls of walnuts is a meal.

Think of how you would fill your plate at a buffet; it's really not that hard. Track your results and adjust accordingly based on 3-4 week blocks of data.

You can use some PB&J sandwhiches as calories fillers if you want, but I'd make sure they're surrounded by some better quality nutrients.

Give more details on your workout. Just the split doesn't give us much to go on.

What's your 3-5 rep max for squats? Can you squat 2-3 times a week and make progress? If you don't know, find out. Have a good reason why a Starting Strength / Rippetoe workout is not appropriate for you. It looks boring or it doesn't resemble what you read in online/print magazines are not good reasons.

Lift something heavy -> Eat -> Rest

Lift something heavier -> Eat -> Rest -> Repeat

Bulk that.

oh thats guaranteed haha :p

thanks for the nutritional advice guava and goonie, i guess the nutrigrain bars are a weak way of filling out calories, i'll try the fruit and yogurt, it sounds more fullfilling either way, pehaps a piece of fruit alongside it also?

And i'm not quite sure about my 3-5 rep max for squats, i've been able to do two caddies and a ten for some time now, but ive never done squats as frequently as 2-3 times a week..

and ive just read the starting strength / Rippetoe workout on http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/wotw52.htm
it sounds really interesting to do a considerable amount of squats per week. i've never done full-body workouts before, but then again i think it's worth a shot..

WORKOUT PLAN

workout a -

3x5 Squat
3x5 Bench Press
1x5 Deadlifts
2x8 Dips

workout b -

3x5 squat
3x5 standing military press
3x5 bent rows
2x8 chin ups

monday - workout a
wednesday - workout b
friday - workout a

then next week..

monday - workout b
wednesday - workout a
friday - workout b

Im gonna start using this as my follow-through diet.. hopefully i wont get sick of it soon hahaha..

Breakfast

1 glass of lowfat milk
1 bowl of oat cereal
2 cups of fruit yogurt
2 eggs hard-boiled (will vary if necessary)
1 piece of fruit.. whatever i find

Midday Snack

3 PB&J Sandwiches

Lunch

spaghetti or other complex carb pasta
with ground beef, sauce all the jazz

Before Evening

1-2 cans of tuna/mayo salad mix
glass of milk
(need to add some sort of greens here)

Nighttime

chicken breast and broccoli with brown rice

1/3/2008

today I had my first workout in about 4-5 months, and i stuck directly to the plan. I had someone at the gym help me correctly perform the squats and dead lifts and the results were.. marginal to say the most, but i expect to get back to better numbers as my body gets used to everything again...

workout a -

3x5 Squat - 70lbs
3x5 Bench Press - 70lbs
1x5 Deadlifts - 70lbs

will most likely add 10lbs on the squat and deadlifts next time, because i was trying to gauge how much i could do without having a partner to spot me.. bench.. will probably stay the same sadly for this week

staying pretty consistant with the diet, im happy that im hitting around 2500, hopefully ill see a shift in weight.. my only qualm is i still do alot of cardio activity via basketball.. and i kind of refuse to ever let that go hahaha.. lets see how tommorow's workout goes

my only qualm is i still do alot of cardio activity via basketball.. and i kind of refuse to ever let that go hahaha..

I think you're better off staying active as long as you get good sleep and have some rest days.

so i just worked out today.. wasnt that bad

did 3x5 squats - 110lb
3x5 military press - 50lb
lat pull downs - 100lb

ugh..

milk, cereal
3 yogurts
2 nutrigrain bars
1 banana
1 egg
2 tuna cans
3 pbjs
whey protein
tilapia pasta and greens

Greetings, Cambo. Best wishes on bulking up. I am also 6' and weighed 135# in college (too many years ago to count). I recently came across my sophomore college ID with photo and I was soooooo skinny. But I have to give you credit for wanting to change that now. I waited until I was over 50 to get fit and muscular. I would have loved to have had this body while going through my adulthood. I've put on 50 pounds since college and I can assure you that you can easily carry 185# on that 6' frame and not be fat. Up those calories (cleanly) and lift those weights and go easy on the cardio until you've added some lean muscle mass. As the scale weight goes up you'll see your strength increasing and your ability to lift heavier weights will become a reality and muscles will show up you didn't know you had. :tu: Keep us posted.

Aww man you're one of my inspirations to partake in bulking and getting bigger.. thanks for the heads up on everything, i'll definately try to keep balanced the diet and the workouts

another workout a:

3x5 Squat - 120lbs
3x5 Bench Press - 70lbs (i actually failed a set, this is pretty disappointing)
1x5 Deadlifts - 90lbs

damn im slipping up diet and working outwise..
i needa re prioritize, gonna work out today for sure, then find a way to add calories everywhere urggh!!

still slacking, gotta pull my diet and working out back up this monday...
i did goto the gym real quick and did 130 in squats so im happy with that.. kinda

ahh.. yeah
slipped up..

getting back on track completely this morning, big breakfast, lunch dinner, snack everything jeez man this is kinda hard