Thursday, August 18, 2011

Muscle Progress

This post may be a little off-topic (it's not about recipes. I guess this falls under "Other Ramblings" from the title of my blog). In fact this blog post is about as far off-topic as possible seeing as it's about fitness, and not about delicious food. About 6 months ago, as part of my New Year's Resoultion, I started lifting weights. The problem is that I haven't been able to gain much muscle. I lift weights every other day and eat plenty of food(with plenty of calories! just look at some of my recipes! increasing caloric intake is essential for muscle gain) and consume more than enough protein, but I still haven't seen much in the way of results. I had a chat with my sister who is a personal trainer(she does not approve of the recipes in this blog!) and it turns out I actually do way too much cardio! I'm on the elliptical trainer for at least 30 minutes everyday. This is hindering my muscle progress because the calories I'm burning during cardio could have been used towards building muscle instead. So now I have lowered my cardio workout to only 15 minutes every OTHER day. I hope I see some results! I'm not trying to look like a body builder or anything, just want to look good for the ladies haha.

35 comments:

  1. Hope this works :) Good luck man. I've turned into a fat lard since the beginning of the summer I really need to start running or something :P

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  2. i working on toning down fat% n looking fit

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  3. need to start running... seriously :D

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  4. i heard someone talk about muscle gain, and they said ITS EASIER TO GET MUSCLE FROM FAT THAN NOT HAVING ANY . gained some weight to turn to muscle, never felt better

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  5. Do not do cardio if you want to gain weight. First bulk up, then clean, that's the way its done

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  6. I'm more interested in my cardio than strength right now. I'm interested in losing weight, not really strength, but all I have right now is weights, so...yeah. If you're interested in muscles then yes it does good to lower cardio and raise strength, but without cardio you probably won't have the stamina for all those weights :P It's a balance. Still, you have a personal trainer for a sister. Awesome.

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  7. i'm still trying to gain weight, after that i'll lift weights and work on my muscle. good luck with your workout :)

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  8. Thats good news, after eating all the junk food from the other posts, a good excercise is extremely important.

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  9. ha, I understand wanting to look good for the ladies!

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  10. Good luck, man. It's a slow process, but totally worth it.

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  11. Good advice, gotta "carbo load" to work it into muscle. But yeah, that also jives with how I've heard how to lose muscle... Cardio!

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  12. 6 months of hard training wasted... damn, thats hard

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  13. Good luck with that.
    Muscles are magnets for girls.

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  14. I was having the same problem, and I also thought I was eating enough protein. My friend, who's a huge bodybuilder told me I need to eat even more protein.. I thought he was crazy because I was eating about 150-180 grams a day, but I tried it, and I gained 5 pounds of lean muscle in two months.

    I also switched from lighter weights with higher reps to the heaviest weight I can do 8 reps with for 3-4 sets.

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  15. Keep at it man, you'll see results soon enough.

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  16. Ive been working out for a while now myself, and for the love of god I can't put on any muscle. I mean hell im faster and stronger but I still look like a twig wrapped in clothes lol.

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  17. You should do a pasta recipe since that's really good food for working out!

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  18. This is a good, but ironic, post! I hate how sometimes losing weight/gaining muscle becomes such a balancing act; when running a bazillion miles alone won't help. Switching up your routine helps a ton, but it seems that you already knew that. Good luck broski.

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  19. I hate the balancing part of muscle-building. That's where I usually ended up failing. :P

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  20. we al want o tlook good for the ladies. keep up the work... you may end up looking like T-2 Schwarzenegger.

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  21. wow, great info mate! thank u ;)

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  22. Lucky me, I was blessed with good genes and a great metabolism.

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  23. yh its a slow process but its definitely worth it though, just keep it up and soon see the results :D i do understand ur frustration though:/

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  24. Same thing happened to me last summer, but by the time I realized I was running too much, summer was almost over so decided to continue for a couple more days instead of change. But this summer I just became a lazy bum and I gained like 15 pounds.

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  25. She's right. Too much cardio can kill muscle gains.

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  26. Get an appointment with an instructor, tell him your goals and what you've done so far. He'll help you out!

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  27. I just quit smoking and I too am planning to put some weight, doing cardio for 15 minutes does make sense. Good luck on your training

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  28. You gods that made me man, and sway in love.

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  29. Not everyone can gain a large amount of muscle. Much as others can have problems with extra mass. But work with what you have till you reach what you think is your limit, then push past. You will either die, or be rewarded.

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