How much carbs should i be eating?

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Passive Jay

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Oct 21, 2015
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As most of you know I am trying to gain weight with out adding fat. It has been pretty easy to find out how much protein I should be eating but the internet has not been able to give me a simple answer for how many carbs. I have posted it before but for anyone that wants to give me some advice on this that has missed the stats I am 42, 6'7 194lbs and workout for an hour a day 7 days a week with a 3 day workout rotation of 2 days of different lifts and one day of cardio.

Any suggestions would be appreciated since the internet has told me everything from about 200grams to 500 grams.
 

Leigh

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Leigh @Leigh Pitbull9 @Pitbull3744 we need advice here.

I am in the exact opposite situation but this is interesting to me nonetheless.
I don't want to be a dick but giving advice to Jay is like using a chocolate teapot ;) He'll argue and then post the same question again a month later. Just easier to let him do his own thing.

No offense, Jay mate.
 

Passive Jay

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I don't want to be a dick but giving advice to Jay is like using a chocolate teapot ;) He'll argue and then post the same question again a month later. Just easier to let him do his own thing.

No offense, Jay mate.
None taken, but I dont see it that way. I dont argue with peoples advice and I take a lot of it and use it! I have made a great many changes in the last year or two based on peoples advice. For example I do Bulgarian split squats instead of hack squats based on your advice.
 

Leigh

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None taken, but I dont see it that way. I dont argue with peoples advice and I take a lot of it and use it! I have made a great many changes in the last year or two based on peoples advice. For example I do Bulgarian split squats instead of hack squats based on your advice.
Haha ok.

You still working out every day doing loads of exercises and cardio twice a week?
 

Passive Jay

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Haha ok.

You still working out every day doing loads of exercises and cardio twice a week?
yes. Other than a couple people telling me I should not do cardio if I am trying to gain weight I dont recall anyone saying that it was not ok. Did I miss a post?

I dont know about "loads" of exercises. I guess it depends on what you consider a lot. Its an hour every morning

I know I have posted this a bunch but I changed things up a bit here and there so just so we are both on the same page.

Day one: i do each set as many times as i can
5 sets of seated overhead press, right now its normally 7,5,5,5,5. give or take a rep.
3 sets of bent over rows, around 7,5,5
3 sets of tricep extensions, about 8,7,6.
3 sets of hammer curls, about 12,8,7

Day two:
Bench Press. I do this one a little different. I load it up to 170lbs ( I know I am not strong yet) and do 3 reps. then i lower it to 160lb and do 4. then I lower it to 150lb and do 3 sets of 5
Deadlift, 3 sets of 5
Just added lateral dumbell lifts, 3 sets of 5
and finish with bulgarian splits squats, 3 set of as many as I can do while holding a 25lb dumbell, It was 3 sets of 10 until i moved it to deadlift day, now its closer to 3 sets of 5

Day 3:
45 minutes on the stationary bike and then 3 sets of pull ups and push ups.

Then I go back to day one and start over.
 

Passive Jay

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If you gave me advice opposed to what I have going on and I missed it or forgot it I do apologize. I dont want people to feel like they are wasting their time when I ask for advice.
 

Leigh

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If you gave me advice opposed to what I have going on and I missed it or forgot it I do apologize. I dont want people to feel like they are wasting their time when I ask for advice.
Ok well I'll give you my advice very clearly and then you can do with it as you want.

Weights: 4 days of weight training and 2 days of cardio is way too much if you're a hard gainer looking to add muscle. I would drop all your isolation work (lateral raises, biceps, triceps etc). Actually, I would (and do) follow the workout I outlined in my Strength thread. I would do a maximum of 3 days per week strength training and 2 would be better.

Cardio: maximum one day a week.

Diet: lots of protein (probably 1.5g/lb of bodyweight or similar), lots of good carbs and don't be shy of natural fats. Stay away from processed and junk food, including soft drinks and alcohol.

If you want to gain muscle, you are going to have to EAT. You might gain a little fat but not too much if your carb sources are clean. Yes calories in vs calories out is true but you won't get fat eating a shed load of fruit, veg, meat, eggs and nuts.

To give you some perspective, I was skinny and couldn't gain weight (I'm now 40 and still can't get fat even on pizza and icecream every day). I lift for 1 hour per week and I'd consider myself pretty muscular.
 

Passive Jay

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i just read your strength thread. If I read it correctly you recommend doing all of the lifts listed only once a week?
 

Leigh

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i just read your strength thread. If I read it correctly you recommend doing all of the lifts listed only once a week?
Once or twice per week. Keeping the intensity at 60% 1rm, twice a week is fine. Remember, you're only looking to illicit a growth response. That's it. Once you trigger that response, any further training will just impede recovery. So train to grow, recover and train again.
 

regular john

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May 21, 2015
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I'm a nobody in the subject but just want to add numbers to Leigh's advice:

iirc Passive Jay @Passive Jay became a lifting freak and man you're doing too much exercise for someone looking to gain weight. you seem to enjoy lifting but everybody I've ever heard or read talking about building muscle recommends one day lifting-one day rest. as far as I know that's how muscles grow.

then if you do cardio that's counterproductive for muscle growth too isn't it? so I'm just curious: Why do you want to gain weight? I've gone that route for some time and for some people that is really hard and takes a lot of work! you're constantly worrying about buying milk, eating beefs and if you miss one meal it's like your world fell apart.

OTOH I always feel like Leigh's workout is designed for someone who's maxed out his strenght and is in top shape like himself.
 

Passive Jay

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Once or twice per week. Keeping the intensity at 60% 1rm, twice a week is fine. Remember, you're only looking to illicit a growth response. That's it. Once you trigger that response, any further training will just impede recovery. So train to grow, recover and train again.

Interesting. If I break down my workouts it appears I am only doing each individual lift 2times a week anyway, every once in awhile it ends up 3 times in a week because its a 3 day cycle and the week has seven days but it seems like the only real changes would be dropping cardio to once a week and dropping the accessory lifts. Oh and moving to 5x5 at 60% instead of the reps to exhaustion I have been doing. I just really like working out every day so at first I was like "oh hell no" but it looks like if I break up my lifts and spread them out I can still workout every day, just not as much.
 

Passive Jay

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I'm a nobody in the subject but just want to add numbers to Leigh's advice:

iirc Passive Jay @Passive Jay became a lifting freak and man you're doing too much exercise for someone looking to gain weight. you seem to enjoy lifting but everybody I've ever heard or read talking about building muscle recommends one day lifting-one day rest. as far as I know that's how muscles grow.

then if you do cardio that's counterproductive for muscle growth too isn't it? so I'm just curious: Why do you want to gain weight? I've gone that route for some time and for some people that is really hard and takes a lot of work! you're constantly worrying about buying milk, eating beefs and if you miss one meal it's like your world fell apart.

OTOH I always feel like Leigh's workout is designed for someone who's maxed out his strenght and is in top shape like himself.

I want to gain weight because I am 6'7 and currently weigh around 193-194, that is just too skinny!
 

regular john

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I want to gain weight because I am 6'7 and currently weigh around 193-194, that is just too skinny!
oh yeah I forgot that you're a giraffe. you could be a beast fighter;

(...) if I break up my lifts and spread them out I can still workout every day, just not as much.
that's what you should do IMHO.

looks like you get a kick out of lifting so you could do squat day/chest day/deadlift day/back day with accessory lifts and really slow, concentrated reps.
 

Leigh

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Interesting. If I break down my workouts it appears I am only doing each individual lift 2times a week anyway, every once in awhile it ends up 3 times in a week because its a 3 day cycle and the week has seven days but it seems like the only real changes would be dropping cardio to once a week and dropping the accessory lifts. Oh and moving to 5x5 at 60% instead of the reps to exhaustion I have been doing. I just really like working out every day so at first I was like "oh hell no" but it looks like if I break up my lifts and spread them out I can still workout every day, just not as much.
Well I would not be working out every day. 3 days a week max IMHO. You aren't allowing yourself to recover.

Now, maybe you like working out every morning for an hour and that's as good a goal as any. But if you want to gain muscle, it's going to impede your progress unless you start using PEDs.

I workout one day a week for an hour at submaximal weights and the athletes I train have got great gains doing the same thing. I recently did a mini bulk (I posted about it here) and as such, I added a steak to my diet every day and ate more in general and increased my strength work to 2 days per week. I can't remember my exact results, something like 7lbs gained in 4 weeks with no body fat increase.
 

Passive Jay

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Well I would not be working out every day. 3 days a week max IMHO. You aren't allowing yourself to recover.

Now, maybe you like working out every morning for an hour and that's as good a goal as any. But if you want to gain muscle, it's going to impede your progress unless you start using PEDs.

I workout one day a week for an hour at submaximal weights and the athletes I train have got great gains doing the same thing. I recently did a mini bulk (I posted about it here) and as such, I added a steak to my diet every day and ate more in general and increased my strength work to 2 days per week. I can't remember my exact results, something like 7lbs gained in 4 weeks with no body fat increase.
Sorry if i keep asking variations of the same question, just want to make sure I understand properly.

So you are saying for best results you should have a rest days even if you are not doing the same lifts two days in a row?

Say for example I want to do overhead press on monday, benchpress on tuesday, deadlifts on wednesday, squats on thursday and cardio on saturday that would not be a good idea?

Or another example if I was going to do bench and overhead press on monday I should not do deadlift and squats on tuesday and instead wait until wednesday?
 

Passive Jay

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damn. Looks I like I have some hard decisions to make. On one hand I really like working out every day. On the other hand you clearly know what you are talking about.
 

regular john

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umm... no? but i would like to look like one! (ok at 42 years old that might not be realistic)
hummm you got me...

but still, if the answer is "no" then I say do what you like to do which is lifting every morning. that's much more healthier and useful than trying to bulk up.
 

Wintermute

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Apr 24, 2015
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Set an alarm on your phone to eat. Force-feed yourself until your stomach grows. Use my fitness pal to track calories, I guarantee you're eating less than you think.

Do compound lifts with heavy weight. Pyramid if you want, whatever, just make sure your next deadlift day you pull more than you did today, every time. Drop the isolation shit.

Get a large voss water bottle (the glass reusable kind). Fill it and drink it 3x a day, at least.

Do this for 2 months and report back.
 

Leigh

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hummm you got me...

but still, if the answer is "no" then I say do what you like to do which is lifting every morning. that's much more healthier and useful than trying to bulk up.
Just cos he's not a bodybuilder, doesn't mean his goal of wanting to gain muscle isn't valid.