What is wrong here?

[Chris15]

Okay, I have always been a pretty lanky kid. When I first started lifting I was around 5'9 and 140lbs. After about a year and a half Im at 5'9 150lbs. Which constantly goes up and down. The problem here is that I cant seem to gain any muscle mass anywhere. My forearms,biceps, and calves bother me the most though. My chest is pretty decent. No matter how much food I eat. Or how many times I change my routine nothing helps. Half the time I dont even have DOMS. I sleep for 10 hours a night. I eat and eat and eat. And recently I have lost mass on my arms. They went from 13.6inches to 13inches(same size as my calves /forum/images/graemlins/mad.gif) Its crazy...I can eat non stop and work out like a madman and nothing happens. Its a wonder if my excercises even stay consistant. By the way I also take Whey Protein. I get about 150-160gs of protein per day. And at least 3200 calories. Not to mention I have a really small bone structure. I look like I weigh more like 120lbs. Also I am 15 years old. Would creatine be worth the money? If so what kind? Also is the low reps more weight thing best for mass, or is that bull****? Because I tried higher reps(6-12) and I ended up losing strength. So whats going on?

[SteveO]

your only 15, don't sweat it.. I personally think you should keep playing with your calories until you atart seeing results and keep on lifting hard. You have to find what rep range works best for you, I swear by low reps(4-6)/heavy weights others will say higher reps(6-12)/moderate weight

[sta63bmx]

Take heart, Chris. We have a little story for you, buddy. By the way, a 170 bench on a 150 lb. kid at barely fifteen years old is NOT something to be embarassed about. But read on. This is a good be time story, the kind that ends with kicking a$$.

[ QUOTE ]
Once upon a time, there was a scrawny kid named John. After two years of training, at 5’8", scrawny John had only managed to hit an embarrassing 150 pounds at 10% body fat. With a goal of bench pressing his body weight, scrawny John toiled away for two years without reaching this achievement. Cursing the gods, believing he was doing "everything in his power" to gain muscle mass, scrawny John was about ready to give up and take up an endurance sport or something.

But just before exchanging his weight lifting belt for some cycling tights, he had an epiphany! A friend of scrawny John’s went away to a football training camp for a month and came back 15 pounds heavier. Begging for the secrets produced nothing. The friend told scrawny John that there weren’t any. Simply, he and the other guys at camp were taught to eat five or six big meals per day. Angry, scrawny John told him that he already did that.

But when scrawny John realized that he’d need to eat breakfast meals that consist of 12 whole eggs, four packets of plain instant oatmeal, and four slices of rye toast; lunches that consisted of three whole grain bagels, a pound of lean beef, and a huge salad; and dinners that consisted of a full pound of pasta, a few cups of broccoli, and a half pound of lean ground beef, he understood where he was going wrong. And not only did he adopt these breakfast, lunch, and dinner strategies, he began eating five whole grain bagels slathered with natural peanut butter and drinking a couple of liters of protein drink throughout the rest of the day.

Sound absurd? Well, not only does it sound absurd, it looked absurd. But, after two more years, scrawny John wasn’t so scrawny any longer.

As you can imagine, scrawny John was me. Utilizing these feeding techniques, I went from a 5’8" 150 pound guy (at 10% body fat) aspiring to bench press my own body weight, to a 210 pound guy (at 12% body fat) bench pressing 315 for multiple reps.

If you think you’ve "tried everything," think again. You’ve gotta eat big to get big.

[/ QUOTE ]

Preach on, Brother John! Read the rest of this article and see what you think, and see if anything sounds familiar to you.

Dr. John Berardi's Top 10 Tips (http://www.t-nation.com/findArticle.do;jsessionid=C5054BED1DC63621B0BA74D3 585B2D15.titan?article=04-092-diet)

I'm not gaining weight real fast either and I've been floating between 176-179 for at least a month. But I'm sure I'm just not eating enough yet, and gaining mass isn't my #1 goal right now. 3200 calories isn't enough for me, either.

I would focus on big, compound movements and lifting with perfect form in the squat, bench, and deadlift. Olympic lifts wouldn't hurt you. The most important thing for you right now is probably working your core, lower back and abs, and all the proximally located muscles. Quads, hams, hip flexors, delts, pecs, upper back. Old-fashioned, compound movements are probably your best bet.

Good luck.

[pal]

Have you tried taking a rest? What I'm reading is that your training "like a madman" and if your constantly training and switching up your routine and eating it sounds as if your overtraining... just try taking a break and then hit the weights hard. I wouldn't recommend taking creatine until you've maximized all the gains you can get by just having a multi-vitamin and whey.

[Chris15]

I was thinking that I probably wasnt eating enough. But how am I supposed to buy all this food without going broke? I recently took a week rest because of Christmas and all that. When I got back I noticed my arms shrunk about half an inch. Whats up with that? I wouldnt think a week would effect my mass but it did. I kept about the same diet the whole time too. I maxed tonight on the bench press at 185lbs. Also I have started to deadlift regularly. Is 4-6reps of 185lbs on deadlifts pretty decent for a 150lb kid? Do deadlifts mainly work your lower back?

[SteveO]

[ QUOTE ]
I was thinking that I probably wasnt eating enough. But how am I supposed to buy all this food without going broke? I recently took a week rest because of Christmas and all that. When I got back I noticed my arms shrunk about half an inch. Whats up with that? I wouldnt think a week would effect my mass but it did. I kept about the same diet the whole time too. I maxed tonight on the bench press at 185lbs. Also I have started to deadlift regularly. Is 4-6reps of 185lbs on deadlifts pretty decent for a 150lb kid? Do deadlifts mainly work your lower back?

[/ QUOTE ]

water retention can really change everything, my arms can very an inch on some days. Working out causes you to hold more water, since you took a week off you dropped some of this water you were holding causing your arms to "shrink"

Muscle takes a long time to burn/go away, don't sweat the little things. 185 for 4-6 is decent, keep on doing what your doing and you'll be huge around 18-19 years old

[Chris15]

I thought you only had much water retention if you took creatine. I wasnt aware of this. What causes it to remain more water? If I buy creatine..any ideas on what one would be best?

[rev]

Optimum Nutrition's creatine is probably the best bang for the buck. Anything with the Creapure logo's good, some brands don't have any purity testing.

[Sundog316]

i think you should do a little reading up on creatine just so you know all about it. theres heaps of info on this site.

i recommend you read this
http://abcbodybuilding.com/creatine%20myths%20and_facts.php
and this
http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=870836&an=0&page=0#87083 6


as for brand, im using prolab's monohydrate. basically anything with the creapure logo is good though.

[SteveO]

[ QUOTE ]
I thought you only had much water retention if you took creatine. I wasnt aware of this. What causes it to remain more water? If I buy creatine..any ideas on what one would be best?

[/ QUOTE ]

nope, working out in general causes you to carry more water. When you pack on a little more mass you'll see what I'm talking about

[sta63bmx]

Making sure you stay carbed will also cause you to retain more water. It might not help if you were trying to look ripped for a contest, but when it comes to being strong in the gym, being as hydrated as possible and being carbed up for water retention is GREAT!

Don't make lifting weights and getting bigger more complicated than it is. If you're doing squat, bench, and deadlift with good form and then following those movements with other exercises you are on the right track for sure. Those are the holy trinity of bodybuilding.

Doing the basic movements and striving for balance between opposing bodyparts (lower back and abs, chest and upper back, quads and hams, triceps and biceps, etc.) will help keep your posture good as you get bigger and bigger.

The fact that you're deadlifting, period, puts you ahead of the game.

[diamondtim]

that scrwany John story always brings a tear to my eyes

[sta63bmx]

Me too.

EDIT: How about instead of these dumb-!@#$%^&* chick movies like Steel Magnolias where everyone dies and people are crying because Julie's Mom's stepdad had pancreatic ovary cancer from saving a drowning boy and then having a near-death experience while building a movie theater with angels and doing massive amounts of estrogen, we have one called Scrawny John where they just do a documentary on somebody who goes through that kind of change? That weould be more heartening AND informative. We could have some random unrelated scenes with hot chicks, fast cars, comedy, and stuff blowing up, too.

[Coz]

[ QUOTE ]
Okay, I have always been a pretty lanky kid. When I first started lifting I was around 5'9 and 140lbs. After about a year and a half Im at 5'9 150lbs. Which constantly goes up and down. The problem here is that I cant seem to gain any muscle mass anywhere. My forearms,biceps, and calves bother me the most though. My chest is pretty decent. No matter how much food I eat. Or how many times I change my routine nothing helps. Half the time I dont even have DOMS. I sleep for 10 hours a night. I eat and eat and eat. And recently I have lost mass on my arms. They went from 13.6inches to 13inches(same size as my calves /forum/images/graemlins/mad.gif) Its crazy...I can eat non stop and work out like a madman and nothing happens. Its a wonder if my excercises even stay consistant. By the way I also take Whey Protein. I get about 150-160gs of protein per day. And at least 3200 calories. Not to mention I have a really small bone structure. I look like I weigh more like 120lbs. Also I am 15 years old. Would creatine be worth the money? If so what kind? Also is the low reps more weight thing best for mass, or is that bull****? Because I tried higher reps(6-12) and I ended up losing strength. So whats going on?

[/ QUOTE ]

What I have found is that many times you think you are eating enough but when you put it all on paper it really isn't. I think you should do some calorie counting and let us know.

[Ultra Man]

i wouldn't sweat it. it could just be that your a late bloomer. and you don't have optimal amounts of testosterone. that will change with time. but for now, i suggest you learn as much as you can and apply it. this is the right place to be. poke around the articles in the mainpage. learn the shocks, the splits, the excercises, the diets. you'll start gaining like crazy

[BKujo]

My little brother had the same problem early in high school. He ate like a mad man, supplemented, and worked out regularly but couldn't grow much at all. He hit puberty late, but when he did he sprouted like crazy, he put on something like 30 pounds in six months and set a few school records in the weight room as well. Don't lose heart, keep learning and don't hurt yourself being too crazy, dedication and patience go a long way in this game.

[B.A.M.]

[ QUOTE ]

But when scrawny John realized that he’d need to eat breakfast meals that consist of 12 whole eggs, four packets of plain instant oatmeal, and four slices of rye toast; lunches that consisted of three whole grain bagels, a pound of lean beef, and a huge salad; and dinners that consisted of a full pound of pasta, a few cups of broccoli, and a half pound of lean ground beef

[/ QUOTE ]

wow that made me so hungry /forum/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

[B.A.M.]

chris15, post for us what you eat in a day.

[Ultra Man]

yes, i too am curious. BTW bam i love the picking the flying V with your teeth pic

[Coz]

[ QUOTE ]
chris15, post for us what you eat in a day.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yah that would be the best advice.

[Jedi]

You can try supplementing with one of those weight gainers, when I started I used one and it helped me loads.

[Steel Warrior]

[ QUOTE ]
I can eat non stop and work out like a madman and nothing happens. Its a wonder if my excercises even stay consistant. By the way I also take Whey Protein. I get about 150-160gs of protein per day. And at least 3200 calories. Not to mention I have a really small bone structure. I look like I weigh more like 120lbs. Also I am 15 years old. Would creatine be worth the money? If so what kind? Also is the low reps more weight thing best for mass, or is that bull****? Because I tried higher reps(6-12) and I ended up losing strength. So whats going on?

[/ QUOTE ]

Pfft your barely eating :P That's how much I eat during cuts and even then still more protien. You need alot more food. Remember, your supporting bone growth and muscle growth. Try upping your protien to up over 200 grams a day and calories up over 4000.

[Ultra Man]

yeah, thats less calories than i cut on /forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif read the get big diet off the homepage

[JKDphil]

you only STARTED doing deadlifts? there's your problem there. You should have been been squatting and deadlifting from point 1. I didn't start seeing gains till i did that.