Newbie: advice welcomed

Hi all. Well I never ever thought I would post my pic on here, but having lurked in the shadows for some time you seem like a really nice bunch, so here goes.

I was a competitive swimmer for many years but started lifting about 3 years ago, more seriously for the past 2 (I know it doesn't look like it from the pics but bear in mind I am naturally extremely slim.)

However for 2yrs I made only small gains until I up'd my calorie intake from 3000 to 3500 per day. I always make sure I am getting at least 1gm of protein per pound of bodyweight. I eat 5 times a day, trying to get good protein in each meal (turkey, chicken, tuna, cottage cheese) or a whey shake.

Since I started eating properly I've gone from 155lb, 16%bf to 168lbs, 12.5% bf .. pathetic by some of your standards I know but it's been consistent! I work out 4 times a week and I stick to pretty standard basic compound movements training each part once a week, usually going 3 weeks heavy then 1 week light.

Problem is I've been stuck at 168 for months now and not sure what to do. I was hoping to get up to at least 180 naturally before even thinking about a cycle but I'm thinking that's going to take another 2 years! I've tried eating even more (like 4000-4500 per day) but I'm an IBS sufferer and my colon just won't take that much.

Any advice?

Oh, great forum btw.

Slightly more in focus ....

Oh in case it's not really obvious from the pic, chest is 40", waist 28", bi's 14.5" (all cold) .. yeah yeah yeah I know .. skinny b*stard

hey bro

can't really tell much from those pics man... what sort of advice are you looking for?

looks like you know what you're doing with your diet and all so there isn't much to critique there... what kinds of lifts are you doing?

yeah sorry about the pics, hard to do with a webcam on your own!

i'm looking to get to 180 and get the bf down a bit .. as for lifts I stick to

chest - bench press (bar or smiths machine), dumbell press, dumbell flys (cable flys sometime)
shoulders - dumbell press, overhead bar, etc
back - chins, lat pulldown, barbell rows, etc
arms - preacher curl, seated barbell, dips, french press, etc
legs - deadlift, squats, curls ..

pretty basic stuff.

I tried MAG-10 earlier in the year and put on about 10lb in 2 weeks, but I only managed to retain a pound or two once I came off it.

you're looking pretty good, how tall are you

as long as you keep your body guessing by not doing the same workouts over and over you should still be gaining, you look relatively young

try to stick to heavy weights with 6-8 reps to put on mass and eat like a madman if you're natrually realllllly skinny.... you may need to eat more than you are

Hey you've made me feel better already .. I'm 31!!

Actually some of my gain in weight is probably due to my metabolism slowing down .. about time .. when I was younger it was out of control .. I would just eat and eat and not gain any weight.

You've given me some advice tho .. I reckon my reps are too high. I'm usually somewhere around 10-12 and four sets. Problem is that at 6-8 reps I never feel a pump, which I thought was important.

How do you feel about negative and forced reps? I'm thinking I might do them too often and should cut back a bit .. I'm not saying I'm overtraining but because I do them quite a lot perhaps it getting difficult to 'shock' the muscle. Would that make any sense? I'm 5'11 btw.

if you're not feeling a pump on heavy weights, one of two things may be happening

1) you're not sufficiently warming up
2) you're not performing the rep correctly

also, try flexing in between sets to localize the blood the the muscle group you are working

im sure you know this because you were a swimmer but stretch before you work out to really loosen up the muscle

if you put your exact plan i may be able to help more

i don't normally do forced reps but i think that changes from person to person, also you mentioned shocking your muslces, it sounds like you need to change up your work out dramatically for a week or two to shock your body

at 31 im sure your metabolism is slowing down some but im sure a lot of 31 year olds would kill to be that slim

ps negatives work really well for the advanced lifter, i don't know how advanced you are but they have helped me get over a plateau, strength gain wise but not weight gain