[Jamison]

What do you all use to help your body get bigger. I train and i train and i can't get bigger but I keep getting stronger and more cut. I've tried protein shakes and creatine, they do not help much at all. I've been recommended fish oil and stuff high in OMEGA-3. Let me know please.

[xMenace]

Unfortunately bulking up is largely based on genetics. Not everyone can do it.

[Scratch]

Lift big, eat big.

Lift big means stuff like squatting and deadlifting where you are moving about as heavy of weights as you can. Nothing gives your body signals to grow like squatting and deadlifting.

Eat big means you've got to eat protein along with the lifting big.

[Scratch]

From my own personal experience, I thought I was a guy who couldn't put on weight or muscle. I was doing some strengthening work last year, got stronger and more cut so to speak, but actually dropped some pounds during the year.

This year from January through the end of May, I put on around 8 to 10 lbs. The keys were squatting and deadlifting, doing other heavy compound lifts like overhead presses and weighted pull ups and every chance I could do it I would make myself consume some more protein. I didn't need any supplements or stuff like that.

Now I'm 38 years old. If you're younger, it'll likely be easier for you to put on some weight with a lift big and eat big type of program -- you'll get more of a testosterone response to those lifts than I could.

[Ronin]

Hi Jamison!

While Scratch and I disagree on the "need" to get bigger I can say that the research says that if you lift really heavy and over-eat by a significant amount you will probably add muscle mass. How much mass will be determined by the available testosterone in your system.

I am curious though, how big is "big enough?" Your self description indicates that you seem to be both strong and, despite your Type-1 diabetes, healthy.

I can give you one warning though -- don't go down the steroid route. While they can give almost instant results that you want, the long term results are really nasty and can leave you in much worse condition than you are now. Of course, this is an old-man speaking as I'm over 60 and no longer have the vanity of looking for a "perfect body." Also, I'm a cyclist so additional pounds that don't add to my ability to ride faster are wasted pounds.

[Jamison]

Hahahahaha, don't go down the steroid route. I wasn't planning on it. And I try to eat as many calories as i can, though not "empty calories". Right now, I am 5' 7 1/2'', 132 pounds. I have been this weight for a while but I am continuing to get stronger. I am disappointed that I can only do about 11 chin-ups, 18 dips, and bench 115 10 times. I am happy with my muscle definition but I would like to be 150 pounds.

[Scratch]

Originally Posted by Jamison

Hahahahaha, don't go down the steroid route. I wasn't planning on it. And I try to eat as many calories as i can, though not "empty calories". Right now, I am 5' 7 1/2'', 132 pounds. I have been this weight for a while but I am continuing to get stronger. I am disappointed that I can only do about 11 chin-ups, 18 dips, and bench 115 10 times. I am happy with my muscle definition but I would like to be 150 pounds.

Ahh, see, it's interesting what you don't mention, like how much you can squat. No supplement is going to take the place of squatting and/or deadlifting. There are two key ingredients to grow muscle -- protein and testosterone. Omega-3 and fish oil are more like frosting on cake, but if there's no cake to put the frosting on, you're mostly tossing money at something that's not going to be able to do anything if you aren't producing testosterone that will build muscle if you're eating enough protein.

That's why squats are good for that. Squats do two important things -- they stimulate neuroendorine response to make you produce your own body's testosterone and they traumatize the muscle fibers so the body has to go about rebuilding them and trying to adapt to handle the stress you put your body through with squatting.

The biggest muscles in your body are the glutes, quads, and hamstrings. When you squat, you hit all of them, plus the muscles responsible for keeping your torso stable will get a workout too. If you deadlift, your arms will get something of a workout too while stabilizing that heavy weight as the glutes and hamstrings work on extending the hip to stand you up straight with as heavy of a weight as you can move. Hitting all your big muscles like that along with the stabilizing muscle work up top is the best thing you can do to tell your body to grow.

It's important to hit those posterior muscles of the glutes and hamstrings. Proper deep squatting and deadlifting will get those, squatting will take care of the quads.

It's also worth remembering that guys could grow big long before the time of supplements, creatine, omega-3 and fish oils. Heck, they could grow big before steroids. And you aren't really looking to grow big, 150 lbs at 5'7.5" is good, but not big really.

Seriously, take some time to learn proper squat and deadlift form, then get to work at it. If you start training those now, I think you should easily be able to put on 10 lbs by year's end, barring some sort of problem where your body can't produce much testosterone. I don't think that's likely though, you sound much like me, you just need to start squatting.

In about 3 or 4 months, consider putting some weeks in to doing the squats-and-milk routine. It's brutal, but in some ways, you haven't really lived or lifted maybe if you haven't done some sets of 20-rep squats. When you do 20-rep squats, you take a weight you can normally squat 10x, but you do it 20. You do it 20 by when you get past 10, taking time between reps and breathing because you need to breathe -- your legs will be screaming at you to stop but you keep that heavy weight supported, and fight to make the next rep.

You do something like that, eat a good diet with plenty of protein, you should grow.

[Scratch]

Oh yeah, Brian Cohen will likely be along and have more to say, but if you can, get the book Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe. With that book you can get a good solid explanation of these things along with descriptions of how to do the basic compound lifts. Money spent on that book will do more to make you grow than a year's worth of omega-3 and fish oils.

[BrianSCohen]

Sorry it took me so long. Yes as Scratch noted, I really had great results with the methods advocated by Mark Rippetoe in Amazon.com: Starting Strength (2nd edition): Mark Rippetoe, Lon Kilgore: Books. This will really teach you the important lifts. Squat, deadlift, bench press, clean and more. The basic program steps you through begining weight training, increasing weights every workout.

As a diabetic, the point is not to make yourself into a 300 lb mass monster, but to recompose your body. Your goals is to have a low body fat (fat increases insulin resistance) and a healthy muscle mass (it increases insulin sensitivity). Ongoing exercise also greatly improves your overall diabetic condition.

To gain muscle mass le lift heavy and eat lots of protein (1-1.5g/lb of bodyweight) everday, eat enough calories (just slightly above what you need). As a beginner, you will be able to actually gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. That magic will evade you as you become more fit, enjoy it while it lasts. To deal with the protein, I supplement with now carb protein shakes. I get 6 lb bags from Costco for $30. Every shake has 25g, do a couple of those a day. I also take fish oil, again the mega jar from Costco. I take 10-12 1.2g fish oil pills a day. I also take flaxseed oil. Both Fish and Flaxseed are Omega-3, but only Fish contains the key DHA and EPA Omega-3s. I take creatine, but to a first order it is not going to make a difference.

What you need to do is lift heavy and eat big. I was never big when young, I weighed 150-160 in college at 5'11''. Pretty skinny. By the time I was diagnosed with diabetes, I was officially skinny fat. I've made good progress getting into shape.

[Jamison]

I think I should have mentioned, I have not had a single empty calorie since diagnose and I now have 3% body fat (down from 6). And I do squat sometimes, I have been running every day for 3 miles the past 2 months and varying the course of the run. My only problem about squatting is I don't have a squat rack, so I can't lift the weight over my head to squat it. When I squatted at my school's gym, I did 175 six times. This was immediately following soccer season which included 4 hours of running a day. I will try to get into squatting, and I have never dead lifted, so I guess I'll try that.

[BrianSCohen]

Jamison,

It sounds like you are already on the road to fitness. Since you say you are already lean, you should be able to move directly into some serious "bulking." You may just need to eat until you just can't stuff anymore in your mouth. Another thing that helped me was to make sure that I timed my nutrition. I really liked the book Amazon.com: Nutrient Timing: The Future of Sports Nutrition: John Ivy, Robert Portman: Books. Eat a big breakfast (I mean big), half a dozen eggs, some meat and a cup or two of oatmeal. Eat big after workout, same sort of deal. Make sure you take in 30-50 g carbs after workout along with a goodly dose of protein. Enter your daily consumption into a tool like fitday.com to keep track of what you are eating. I bet you are eating less protein and calories then you should and perhaps less than you think.

You may find you have to cut the aerobic level down. Think of your cardio as a recovery tool and something you do at a maintenance level to keep up your general fitness levels.

On the whole squat thing, I sympathize. I spent money getting stuff for home workouts only to conclude I just had to join a gym. You can get a good power rack for $300, but you will need weights as well. Think about the whole gym thing. You are in Baltimore, there are lots around. I actually had my doctor write me a prescription to exercise 3 times a week at the gym and the gym is paid for out of my health care spending account.

ps. 3% bodyfat is actually below healthy levels. I would target 10-15% as a healthy level.
pps. I have to admit, I have been purposefully taking in empty calories. After my workouts, I have been adding sugar to may shakes and snacks to get definite measured carbs into my body.

[Jamison]

Maybe it's 4% body fat. I'm 16, I would think it is hard to have more body fat. Even when I wasn't diabetic, I ate terrible junk food and had like 6% body fat. I think you all are right with the not eating enough. I also have plenty of weights at home, that isn't a problem. I have a weight bench and I bench whenever I had a spotter. I do dummy flies on it and bench presses obviously. I do dips, 6 different kinds of chin-ups, lots of different kinds of push ups, Shoulder presses, tricep curls, Squats (i want to try getting into dead lifts because of Scratch haha), bicep curls, and a lot of ab-work (i like having a washboard, the body fat helps). I will try to eat more until I can not eat anymore. It is really hard though when I can't just grab anything I want, I have to worry about insulin or find something with no carbs. Thanks for the advice and I will let it all sink in

[BrianSCohen]

Jamison,

It sounds like you are going quite well on the exercise front. It takes some creativity to manage the eating thing as a diabetic, but once you get some things in your "toolbox" it will be easier. What I might suggest is that you plan on eating 6 times a day, instead of 3. You can cover your big three meals a day with your normal bolus. But plan on three additional snacks, morning, afternoon and evening. Collect up a series of things for your snack that you can buy/make in bulk. I already mentioned the protein shake. I also snack on cottage cheese, nuts, tuna, beef jerky, and cheese. These are all virtually no carb and are good sources of protein. The key is to put some thought into it ahead of time, add it to the shopping list, buy in quantity and always keep it in your backpack on hand. Good luck.

[Ronin]

Hi Jamison!

You last post confirmed my suspisions that you are a teenager. Now I fully understand your desire to "get big." Now I will say -- Go For It! However, I would recommend that you get some coaching even if you don't use a professional gym. Books, videos, et cetera are great but having an occasional coach to watch you do the exercises adds a whole larger dimension to your training.

Good luck.

[Scratch]

Reading through this a bit more again, you might be all primed to put on some muscle. I'm guessing your big challenge will be eating enough, that was the hardest thing for me to do this year to put some muscle on -- it became an all day task putting down more protein. Cans of tuna and hardboiled eggs are good getting extra protein in.

You'll probably want to consider cutting back on the running too while you try to build some mass. You should be able to maintain your cardio fitness with a schedule of 3 runs a week. You may also find if you do the squatting and deadlifting that it may be impossible to run much more than that. The squatting and deadlifting can take a lot out of you.

I recommend that if you aren't already, keep a log, make notes about what you do, what you eat, and how you feel. It'll help you learn what works for you and help you spot trends.

Like Ronin said, it might be good to get some instruction on the lifts if you can. The deadlift is a great lift, but done incorrectly can put your lower back at risk. You want to do it right.