I been lifting for a year+.  Thanks to it and the effects of one of those bad break ups (nothing like the stress of a broken heart to speed up the metabolism and kill the appetite!) I have been able to drop about 30lbs while putting on a few lbs of muscle.  Currently I am 42 @ 5’9 162lb at about 12-14 BF.  Never been one of those genetic mutants when it comes to muscle in fact since childhood putting on the fat comes easy and keeping it off has required contestant attention.  I do basics supplements of fish oil, creatine, whey, a multi and few other here and there (for no good reason other then the poor vitamin companies need to make a dollar too.) 

So here is the questions.  As long I am constantly working with intensity and progression, clean diet with enough calories of micros, proper rest and occasional variety to keep it all interesting, does issues like effort vs weight, higher reps vs low reps, number of set, and all those interesting nuanced training variances really make that great of a difference in a course of a year regarding the amount of LBM / size I will gain? Or is the difference between doing all of the big things right vs doing all of the possible things right going to give me 20lb muscle over the year rather then 7lbs?  And finally, and possibly more important does asking such a question means those hard core serious BBs will never allow me to post on the roid rage manly man T-nation’s forum?

And as much as I enjoy the learning about the particulars of it all and find it to be quite interesting, at the end of the day the last thing I really need is to make something else more complicated then it needs to be.  I would be quite happy to get to around 175 @ 12% over the next year or so. I suspect the combination of a natural predisposition towards endomorphism, never being able to put on muscle easily and age will effect outcome more then doing 5x5 vs 3x12 program, though it is always good to ask those who are wiser.

BTW it good to know that muscle and intelligence does not have to be contradictory terms.  Good site.

double post

Roo - 17 December 2010 05:02 AM

I been lifting for a year+.  Thanks to it and the effects of one of those bad break ups (nothing like the stress of a broken heart to speed up the metabolism and kill the appetite!) I have been able to drop about 30lbs while putting on a few lbs of muscle.  Currently I am 42 @ 5’9 162lb at about 12-14 BF.  Never been one of those genetic mutants when it comes to muscle in fact since childhood putting on the fat comes easy and keeping it off has required contestant attention.  I do basics supplements of fish oil, creatine, whey, a multi and few other here and there (for no good reason other then the poor vitamin companies need to make a dollar too.) 

So here is the questions.  As long I am constantly working with intensity and progression, clean diet with enough calories of micros, proper rest and occasional variety to keep it all interesting, does issues like effort vs weight, higher reps vs low reps, number of set, and all those interesting nuanced training variances really make that great of a difference in a course of a year regarding the amount of LBM / size I will gain? Or is the difference between doing all of the big things right vs doing all of the possible things right going to give me 20lb muscle over the year rather then 7lbs?  And finally, and possibly more important does asking such a question means those hard core serious BBs will never allow me to post on the roid rage manly man T-nation’s forum?

And as much as I enjoy the learning about the particulars of it all and find it to be quite interesting, at the end of the day the last thing I really need is to make something else more complicated then it needs to be.  I would be quite happy to get to around 175 @ 12% over the next year or so. I suspect the combination of a natural predisposition towards endomorphism, never being able to put on muscle easily and age will effect outcome more then doing 5x5 vs 3x12 program, though it is always good to ask those who are wiser.

BTW it good to know that muscle and intelligence does not have to be contradictory terms.  Good site.

I don´t really get what your direct question is…

Regarding the point with programming you mentioned-let say it this way:
The more you progress in training from newb to intermediate to advanced the more you need to progress from “doing all of the big things right” to “doing all possible things right”.

Read the 3 parts of this:

http://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/interview-casey-butt-part-2.html

For the given person - consistency + effort means much more then other small things

Thank you both for your responses.  Apologies for the the rambling for the first post.

Anatoly basically summed up my question with his answer.  Or as it stated in the link:

“What most naturals need to do is stop concerning themselves with every new flashy training theory that comes along and just devote themselves to simply getting stronger for reps on a few basic exercises for each major body part - even to the point of ignoring practically everything else and allowing no distractions from that goal.” 

I guess I am not immune to the pride of making gains follow by the impatience of then wanting much more, much more quickly, so one hits the “net” looking for the holy grail for gains be it a super supplement or the optimum work out.  I guess that is why steroids are attractive to many. 

While I understand there is no hard and fast lines of demarcations, when does a person go from beginner to intermediate, then from intermediate to advance?

Hi Roo,

Welcome to exercise biology!

First focus on your diet and being consistent. Once you get that down, you can worry about high reps/low reps and all other minutae.

I agree with anoop. I used to look for the best rep range or the perfect workout. I spent more time reading than lifting(doesn’t work). This summer I picked a simple workout and just made it my goal to stick with it for 10 weeks and just worried about increasing the load as I could. These are the best gains I have ever made. I feel that as long as your diet is right, and your not an advanced lifter, you should just concentrate on CONSISTENTLY getting to the gym and working hard.

Thanks everyone.

The responses pretty much confirms my thoughts of being constant with intensity and progression is the forest and everything else is just trees, except the other biggie; diet.

I find the biggest challenge of diet is not so much of what to eat, micro and all that, but quantity.  It is real difficult to allow yourself to eat to grow when you just worked so hard to take the pounds of fat off.  Plus being the fact my genetics mean man boobs, belly and love handles are first to grow, going from fit to flabby seems to happen within 5lbs. 

I suspect my attempt to manage the balance of lean vs non lean mass gains holds me back.  Though if I am still making progression with my lift amounts but not seeing much increase in my overall weight does that mean I gaining LBM or am I just kidding myself?

Roo - 30 December 2010 10:44 PM

Thanks everyone.

The responses pretty much confirms my thoughts of being constant with intensity and progression is the forest and everything else is just trees, except the other biggie; diet.

I find the biggest challenge of diet is not so much of what to eat, micro and all that, but quantity.  It is real difficult to allow yourself to eat to grow when you just worked so hard to take the pounds of fat off.  Plus being the fact my genetics mean man boobs, belly and love handles are first to grow, going from fit to flabby seems to happen within 5lbs. 

I suspect my attempt to manage the balance of lean vs non lean mass gains holds me back.  Though if I am still making progression with my lift amounts but not seeing much increase in my overall weight does that mean I gaining LBM or am I just kidding myself?

my hint:

cut down to 10¿ (use mirror,calipers/bodyfat scale-even if its not accurate-the relation and difference counts) and maintain your working weights.start with a slight deficit. when the scale doesn´t move down after some weeks decrease again your kcals. do it slowly.

then at 10% slightly “overeat” start with about 300-500kcals a day.try to make prs and get stronger- you should see on mirror and scale (over time’) a increase in weight which will be fat and muscle.
When you reach 15¿ make it a call. maintain the working weights again and cut down to 10¿ slowly.

repeat.

Make sure you stick with either gaining mass or losing fat long enough to actually make a difference. This is something I have sturggled with.