New to R.X!!

[TGandsey]

Hey everyone just wanted to say hi and introduce myself. My name is Taylor and i live in Oregon. I have competed in 2 figure competitions so far and plan on competing again in April at the Emerlad cup in Washington. My plan is to put on 5-10lbs of muscle hopefully while staying as lean as possibe, I eat clean all year so thats not an issue!! If anyone has any advice or personal experience with needing to put on weight feel free to let me know. Im definatly a hardgainer, during my last lean down i was only doing 5 hours of cardio a week and still eatin 1800 calories!

[SallyAnne]

Hey everyone just wanted to say hi and introduce myself. My name is Taylor and i live in Oregon. I have competed in 2 figure competitions so far and plan on competing again in April at the Emerlad cup in Washington. My plan is to put on 5-10lbs of muscle hopefully while staying as lean as possibe, I eat clean all year so thats not an issue!! If anyone has any advice or personal experience with needing to put on weight feel free to let me know. Im definatly a hardgainer, during my last lean down i was only doing 5 hours of cardio a week and still eatin 1800 calories!

I know that Gen Strobo has the same kind of metabolism. She was eating waffles coming into the Olympia because she gets too lean, too fast. I don't have this problem - I just get fat looking at waffles. ;) I'm betting there is someone here who can advise you, though.

Welcome to the forums!

[sassy69]

LOL -- me too - I was at 1200 cals & 2 hrs of cardio / day. Lucky you! (relatively speaking of course ;) )

Welcome to the forums!

How do you change your cals or macro intake and training for growth? Have you followed any specific hypertrophy programs?

[tight booty]

Welcome to rxmuscle Taylor! :)

[Sledge]

Welcome to Rx Taylor. Great to have you here. Join in and have some fun.

[TGandsey]

Thank you everyone!! and sassy this is the first week of my "off season" and my coach has me doing 50% carbs 25% fat and 25% protein and im starting at 22x my b.w in calories so around 2200, with a big focus on nutrient timing getting in the bulk of my carbs around my workout. I do a carb cycle as well in relation to my workouts so low day(110g) med(231) and high(331). and no i have not followed a hypertrophy program, and examples?

[tammyp]

welcome:)

[sassy69]

Thank you everyone!! and sassy this is the first week of my "off season" and my coach has me doing 50% carbs 25% fat and 25% protein and im starting at 22x my b.w in calories so around 2200, with a big focus on nutrient timing getting in the bulk of my carbs around my workout. I do a carb cycle as well in relation to my workouts so low day(110g) med(231) and high(331). and no i have not followed a hypertrophy program, and examples?

One of the foundation hypertrophy programs is 5x5 (you can probably search it on RX or online). But given you're getting this specific carb cycle, do I also assume you're getting a program that will support this schedule / be supported by this schedule?

Here's my recent conclusion - if you've got a coach, esp for an off-season, is he/she giving you the whole thing? DIet & Training? Or just giving you a muscle group split and you go figure it out? I"ve kinda been doing that most of my life - on the good side, I've been lifting for nearly 30 years so just sheer time spent has added to my base, but in recent discussions w/ my new coach, it has become apparent that I know lots of different methodologies, but not a lot of the functional specifics of building a training program for specific needs. I have always been more like - this / that muscle group, get bored w/ a program or play it out, and then go looking for something else. I think you lose the full power of a prep schedule (off or on season) if you don't have ALL the details about trainign, diet & cardio. I've always had a coach for prep time - 3-4 months where the focus was on the diet &cardio and I"d just keep training w/ whatever split i had going, and switching from low /heavy to high / light as I dialed in.

[TGandsey]

I am working with a coach who is doing both my diet and my workout split. I have a lot of work to do on my upper body so she has designed my workouts, i.e reps and sets to specifically hit those body parts i need help with as well as placing my high carb days on those same days. The way she has it set up is day 1( medium carbs) chest and back, day 2 (low carbs) cardio, day 3(high carbs) arms, day 4(medium carbs) legs, day 5(low carbs) cardio, day 6 shoulders and abs(high carbs), and day 7 cardio. Im doing 3-4 exercises per body part and for my upper body doing around 6 sets. Really focusing on lifting heavy and getting my strength back after competiting. my main focus is my back, lats and rear delts.

[sassy69]

I am working with a coach who is doing both my diet and my workout split. I have a lot of work to do on my upper body so she has designed my workouts, i.e reps and sets to specifically hit those body parts i need help with as well as placing my high carb days on those same days. The way she has it set up is day 1( medium carbs) chest and back, day 2 (low carbs) cardio, day 3(high carbs) arms, day 4(medium carbs) legs, day 5(low carbs) cardio, day 6 shoulders and abs(high carbs), and day 7 cardio. Im doing 3-4 exercises per body part and for my upper body doing around 6 sets. Really focusing on lifting heavy and getting my strength back after competiting. my main focus is my back, lats and rear delts.

The best I can tell you is just train w/ consistency, intensity & passion - balls to the wall, and just keep at it and you'll get your results. It takes time to not just grow muscle mass but also to establish it as part of your body's supported mass - keep your eye on the long view and when you aren't looking for it, you'll start to see improvements in strength, recovery, energy. Make sure you first master your form before going for the weights or you'll be inviting injury (and stuff like tendonitis and bursitis never really goes away).

Good luck! Its a journey not a destination so enjoy the ride!