I'm officially going to be one of those guys . . . newbie needs help!

[mynameis_matt]

Disclaimers first: I know countless people have already asked this question and countless people have started threads, but having the opportunity to pick some brains here myself would be wonderful, hence starting a new thread. So here it goes . . .

27, 6'1", and weighing in at 145 pounds, the heaviest I've ever been in my life is 150. No matter what I eat, what my activity levels, I've never been able to gain weight. I recently joined a gym and set myself up with a personal trainer to try and do just that. This was about 3 weeks ago and his first recommendation was to eat more. Nutritiously of course, but otherwise severely increase the calories in. I've done that successfully (fortunately I've always had the nutritious whole foods thing locked down, it was just a matter of rebalancing nutrients and increasing portions). The trainer looks just as I want to and participates in natural bodybuilding competitions, so I have no doubt in his merits or knowledge.

Question at this point is that I'm seeing him twice a week and had been going in on my own when not seeing him, isolating things on the days I was without him while he would do total body workouts the days I saw him. While it was unspoken, I don't think he knew about my days in there without him until recently, and as of this morning he's asked me to scale it back to 3 days a week, the 2 with him and 1 day where he's essentially going to set up a workout plan for me to do on my own.

I know rest days are necessary and don't necessarily want to second guess him, but I love doing something active in the morning as it really does motivate me to get going. Are the rest days truly that necessary? He's specifically said to take tomorrow off after kicking my ass today.

Additionally, on the days that I train with him, my breakfast includes 5 egg whites, vegetables, whey protein, orange juice, oatmeal, and some fruit (the quantities are fine, I just don't know them off the top of my head at the moment). But this amount seems excessive on days I'm not training? Also, on those days, is there ANYTHING physical that I could do that would still fall in line with his recommendations?

I guess I could ask him all of this as well, but why not get some outside opinions as well. Thank you everyone!

 

[Goldfish]

You haven't been gaining weight, right? Start gaining weight, and then decide if that sort of breakfast is excessive on your off-days. Your muscles are recovering and growing for +48hrs after training, so they need the big, nutritious, calorie dense meals even on days you're not training.

You can do stuff on your non-training days, but try to avoid anything high intensity. Some light cardio is fine, some active recovery training is fine, bicep curls and calf raises are not. Think of it this way: you want to get the best out of the 2 sessions you do with him, and out of the 1 session he'll organise for you to do on your own, right? So as soon as you've finished each of those sessions, the time between then and the next session is dedicated to preparing yourself physically and mentally for that session.

When I was doing the program Starting Strength, part of the program was that you add weight to the bar every time you train. So if you squat 3x5x40kg one day, the next training day you'll be squatting 3x5x42.5kg, and then 3x5x47.5kg, and so on. Early on it's no big deal, because you start with light weights. After about a month on the program, however, it all starts adding up. To get past the first month and make it through the second month, I really had to be thinking "Okay, today I squatted 75kg. What do I have to do to make sure that 2 days from now I can squat 77.5kg?" All the nutrition and off-day activities quickly fell into place.

 

[mynameis_matt]

Thank you for the help!

I did my first rest day today to see what happens, 50 minutes of light cardio, and feel so lazy. But! I'm giving it a go, as what I've been doing hasn't helped any and in fact resulted in DIMINISHED capacity based on Monday's workout (which I'd say is the opposite of the intent).

I may have put on maybe a pound, and that's on a heavy day - suffice it to say, no I've not put on any weight. I'm going to maintain these eating levels (including the massive breakfast) to see what the effect is and continue to make adjustments from there. Realizing that all of this is going to constantly fluctuate, I think I need to also improve upon my patience and understanding that it all takes a little bit of time as it's all so new. As I told the trainer in the beginning, he's working basically from scratch. His workouts are proving just how little muscle I have happening and so I'm willing to put some faith in him in the beginning in terms of the 3-times-a-week total body workout.

As I adjust to this, I'll approach the idea of targeting muscle groups on individual days, but this seems like a decent place to start for now.I AM doing a protein supplement in the form of optimum nutrition whey gold standard, what would be the benefit of switching to the serious mass supplement?

I completely understand that all of the big guys are in there 7 days/week, maybe twice a day. But they've also been going at it for years, who knows what other things might be happening behind the scenes. As it stands, I'd like to transition into that rather than jumping straight into 7 days/week intense workouts. We'll see how this method goes, but worse comes to worse, things can always be changed up?

 

[ICONFitness]

Hi Matt,

It sounds like you have your priorities out of wack. Do you want to gain weight or do you want to focus on cardiovascular health? Doing 50 minutes of light cardio is not going to help you gain any weight at all. You are burning calories in the form of sugars and fats, and MUSCLE.... Diet yes is the most important factor here in gaining weight meaning you need to take in the right amount of calories at the correct times to increase your caloric intake while decreasing you caloric expenditure. Doing 50 minutes of cardio on your off day is not going to decrease your caloric output, but your trainer should have told you this anyway. If you feel the need to be active on an "off day" try working on core exercises and stretching. Lengthend muscles will grow and adapt quicker then unstretched muscles. When I say core not just ab work but balance and stability work.
The key to gaining muscle weight is nutrition, rest, stretching and a properly periodized workout program. Gaining weight naturally isn't easy so don't get discouraged it will come as long as you stick with it. Just be sure to get your rest it is very important when trying to build muscle and gain weight. Ask your trainer if he is taking you through the proper steps to promote change in your body. I'm sure he is.
Hope this helps.

JJ