Jake,
I had a question. Now that I'm out of the Army, I've become focused on getting into good shape. I actually haven't smoked in over 2 weeks and have been running almost every day.
What I need help with is I'd like to put on about 15 pounds of weight. Mixed between my chest, arms, and legs. I just don't know how I should eat or what types of lifts I should be doing. Supplements are an issue due to the carbohydrates in them and me being diabetic, but I'm open to some suggestions.
Any help you can give me when you have the time would be awesome.
I hope you are well.
Best,
Nate
Nate!
Awesome to hear that you're cutting out the smoking. Aside from the fact that your lungs hate it, you can't put on any quality muscle unless you're smoke free. Kudo's!
As for lifting and eating to gain a little quality muscle: I actually recommend a pretty low carb diet for anyone, but for you it sounds like a must for you. I would generally recommend around 1.5 to 2grams of carbs per pound of bodyweight (from complex sources like whole wheat, sweet potatoes, etc). Also, I'd be taking in a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight that you would like to be (red meat, fish, chicken, eggs, protein powder etc are all great choices)... and keep your fats fairly low. Good sources of fat usually include sources that maintain a liquid state at room temp (olive oil, coconut oil, etc)...and also fats that you get from animal sources. Believe it or not, bacon and marbled cuts of steak are actually good for you as long as you try not to eat carbs with it.
As far as lifts go... I'd recommend your base lifts being "compound" lifts...meaning that you recruit multiple body parts to perform a rep. Deadlifts, clean and presses, thrusters, pull-ups, lunges, squats, etc are excellent. They all recruit alot of muscle fibers per rep, which drives up your metabolism, testosterone and human growth hormone production, and allows your body to respond with muscle growth. Doing these with proper form also help things like flexibility, which are an important component of overall health.
The more isolated exercises like curls and stuff should wait til the end of your workout after your body is kind of tired from the compound lifts.
Let me know what your gym set-up is and I can help program you a workout schedule.
Hope this helps! If you don't mind, I'd like to use your message to post on my fitness blog...alot of times I'll address different questions that people ask, and I would love to post yours...good stuff.
Hope you're well bro! Stay in touch and hit me up with questions anytime!
-Jake
Awesome to hear that you're cutting out the smoking. Aside from the fact that your lungs hate it, you can't put on any quality muscle unless you're smoke free. Kudo's!
As for lifting and eating to gain a little quality muscle: I actually recommend a pretty low carb diet for anyone, but for you it sounds like a must for you. I would generally recommend around 1.5 to 2grams of carbs per pound of bodyweight (from complex sources like whole wheat, sweet potatoes, etc). Also, I'd be taking in a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight that you would like to be (red meat, fish, chicken, eggs, protein powder etc are all great choices)... and keep your fats fairly low. Good sources of fat usually include sources that maintain a liquid state at room temp (olive oil, coconut oil, etc)...and also fats that you get from animal sources. Believe it or not, bacon and marbled cuts of steak are actually good for you as long as you try not to eat carbs with it.
As far as lifts go... I'd recommend your base lifts being "compound" lifts...meaning that you recruit multiple body parts to perform a rep. Deadlifts, clean and presses, thrusters, pull-ups, lunges, squats, etc are excellent. They all recruit alot of muscle fibers per rep, which drives up your metabolism, testosterone and human growth hormone production, and allows your body to respond with muscle growth. Doing these with proper form also help things like flexibility, which are an important component of overall health.
The more isolated exercises like curls and stuff should wait til the end of your workout after your body is kind of tired from the compound lifts.
Let me know what your gym set-up is and I can help program you a workout schedule.
Hope this helps! If you don't mind, I'd like to use your message to post on my fitness blog...alot of times I'll address different questions that people ask, and I would love to post yours...good stuff.
Hope you're well bro! Stay in touch and hit me up with questions anytime!
-Jake
