I'll be honest mate I'm still cutting at the moment the Serious Mass has gone on the shelf for another 2 weeks yet so I honestly couldn't tell you yet. But online it does get good reviews on taste but apparently it's poor mixability, well.. It's 3XXmg servings so if people are dumping one 300+mg scoop into a shaker at once expecting it to mix thats probably why. But I'll let you know as soon as I start bulking what it's like. You only get 16 full servings per sack which is quite poor but it does still work out damn good value for money if you look at what you get. Prior to Serious Mass I used to use PhD (Love their products) Pharma Gain and PhD Synergy ISO 7. and I used to add my own Maltodextrin and crush up some weetabix or add oats for extra carbs.
Hey mate, I'm not being funny but you've blanked out your face in the 2nd image only for it to be clearly visible in the 3rd!!?? Did you not realise that lol? Thought the whole reason for blanking out your face was so it couldn't be seen but then blam picture 3 it's there..
Coming from a skinny kid; 6'0",9.5 stone, and 5% body fat; the quickest way I have found to gain muscle, learn a trade, and earn some cash is working in construction. For me, it is renovating my rental house for the new tenants moving in. Since I am mostly the only one working on it at a time I have to be able to lift objects (like a fridge) and get them into place by myself. So far I have put on about 6lbs of pure muscle just from doing the construction over the past month. that and also skyrocket my food bill...
Interesting thread - some really good info, some not-so-good info lol. Absolute tripe, demonstrably so. The people who market supplements will of course tell you that "supplements are as good as/better than food"... go figure - they have a product to sell LOL. Dieticians have nothing to sell, and most of them will acknowledge that the primary source of nutrients should be food. Sups are not food, and this is true from the name they bear: they are designed to supplement an existing diet, not make up a diet by themselves.
At no point did I say that supplements are a suitable replacement for a balanced diet, I said supplements are PERFECT if you can't make and eat something every 2 hours. But regardless of how you want to view it, your body doesn't care where your calories / protein / carbs come from, your body doesn't give two hoots if it was just in a shake you drank or if it was in a nice tasting succulent chicken breast. Calories are Calories, Carbohydrates are Carbohydrates, Protein is Protein - Food is food. Trust me I'm on my 4'th week of a liquid diet and I'm doing fine.
You said they are food, and that's what a balanced diet is made up of... you can't have it both ways! Either they can make up a diet, or they cannot make up a diet and therefore are not food. I have nothing against sups which is why I drink a whey protein shake every day, but everything else I eat is food: whether a meal or a snack, I eat good healthy food. Again, not true - when you eat food, your body uses everything it contains: carbs, fat, protein, fibre, vitamins, minerals. A protein shake is just precision engineered protein whereas a chicken breast or a meal with chicken contains a lot more nutrients than just the protein. It is a lot more complicated in terms of how the body actually absorbs the nutrients etc but food is always better than supplements as far as the body is concerned. Supplements might be convenient but there is a trade-off, as there usually is with every convenience
Guys forget supplements, especially when you're starting out. Becoming reliant upon glutamine and creatine to train is not only unhealthy but also demonstrates an extremely skewed view of what training and nutrition is about for some people who are thinking about working out and exercising for the first time (and also demonstrates the affects of multi-billion dollar supplement advertising). ANY supplement you are considering taking should be in the context of an understanding of what your body needs for its level of activity and diet - you shouldn't just go out and buy a tub of creatine because you think its Popeyes spinach. That kind of mentality is completely misguided and not advisable. Not only are they expensive, there are health concerns with using them and negligible performance benefits. They are often produced with toxins, pesticides, and all kinds of chemicals which border on the unhealthy in the short term and defo unhealthy in the long term. They are also often packed with 'stimulants', which basically means caffeine, which you can get from other cheaper sources (that is if you want to take caffiene in the first place). Dont become reliant on supplments guys when a natural and high-protein diet can be achieved cheaply AND healthily and you can workout just as intensely without any side effects from using dubious supplements. Maybe if you are feeling that you cannot get the required amount of protein in your diet to build muscle (you will need between 100g-200g a day depending on weight and activity) then consider a whey protein isolate. Put one scoop with porridge or in a shake with water, and have one before you go to bed or when you wake up in the morning. You should work out how much protein you need, and whatever you cant have naturally, you 'supplement' with the whey protein. Again, unless you want to be using them all the time, you should look for natural alternatives within your diet. Im not interested with arguing with Steve about whether or not to take this stuff, he takes them and thats his choice. That's the kind of food you should be eating for a balanced diet
Great advice. I bought the above to help with low enegry levels after a long day at work. And would only take on training days. I agree with everything u said, and yes it can be done on a heathly balance diet. I think I might make my own scrap book of meals. Im no good at cooking, but would love to learn. I also think I need to count my intake on protien and carbs. But hard for me since my mum cooks all this Indian food, which is manily chappatis. Either way be strict is what I need to do and plan well, and also be ok control. That's the advice i would give.
I'm sure when I get a nice wifey that is happy to prepare meals for me I'll nom nom on stuff like that all day, but truth is I just don't have the time for it. It's home from work which is mentally exhausting, to the gym to physically exhaust my self and home for 8ish if I'm lucky. I've then got to sort my Husky out, catch up with friends, sort out computers for friends and family, finish side projects off, fight off all the ladies, etc. it's just all too time consuming and I know it's a lifestyle not a hobby etc. but it's like buying a bag for life, I can't commit to that just yet. I'm still too young still living life etc. Which I know is a shame when I've got this beast at my disposal : My ex girlfriend was furious, she loves to cook and I can't stand it she even said "Why the **** do you get a cooker like that when all you needs a nice microwave". But by the time I've made a meal I don't want to chuffing eat it. It's like starring in your own porno, you're not going to want to fap to it afterwards. I'm not saying a balanced diet is a bad thing, I'm just saying don't discredit and shun somebody's hard work for using supplements when they're all some people have the time / need for.
Nobody is shunning or discrediting anything; just don't make claims about sups that you can't substantiate. Sups serve a purpose, but they aren't food nor are they better than food - as long as you have a good, balanced diet behind all the sups, that's fine. The problem for most people is lifestyle: as you said, you just don't have the time to prepare meals so you have to make compromises. FWIW I though I'd share what I do: I try to take protein in small amounts regularly throughout the day which usually works out at about 30g per "meal": 1. Breakfast 30g 2. Shake 30g 3. Lunch 30g 4. Dinner 30g 5. Snack (usually peanuts) 30g 6. Supper 30g And there you have it: five meals, one supplement, somewhere between 175g and 200g protein per day (determined by my body's requirement, as per what 3lusive said), and when I'm on a bulking phase I seriously pile on the pounds.
Sorry I haven't been able to check back on this til now guys but I've been quite busy. I didn't really need training advice as I've done and still am doing my research but more info is never a bad thing and I'm sure it will be helpful to others. Just wanted to know what I could expect to achieve and I'm sure now that my goals for now are achievable. Hope we can keep this thread going as a way to keep ourselves motivated etc and help out any others just starting out with weight training. There is a question I have actually: I've been sticking to machines mainly because at least to begin with I don't want to be put off by any extra time it takes setting up the weights and also I would ideally need a spotter for some exercise using free weights which wouldn't be possible with being a constant pain to other random gym-goers. I know a lot of people recommend using free weights and doing compound exercise but how much do you think I'm really missing out on if I just stick to machines for now at least.
I would say where possible try to use free weights, there's various benefits to using them over machines, but machines are safer and easier for beginners and if you dont have a gym partner then it is more practical to use a machine for some exercises. I would still suggest incorporating free weights into your workout routine though, like for chest (dumbbell flies and press), for arms (dumbbell/barbell curls, skullcrushers, dumbbell kickbacks, tricep extensions, reverse barbell curls), for shoulders (military press, shrugs, front raises), for back (dumbbell/barbell rows, dumbbell pullovers). Even if it is just one free weight exercise for each muscle group (alongside your machines exercises) it is still beneficial to use them as well, because they require more stabilizer muscles to control the form of the movement (whereas with machines you dont have to focus on form as much). You will also find that you are not waiting around as much with free weights because there will generally be dumbbells/barbells free Also, dont be afraid to ask guys at the gym to spot you, they will usually help out if you're polite
Stick with free weights whenever possible. Use the time setting up the weights between sets as a rest period. Instead of using spotters on areas like chest, combine exercises. Example, do a set of flat dumbell presses - 10 reps, push them back up to arms length and do a set of flat flyes - 10 reps, then rest. Do 3 sets and don't expect to be able to move your chest area easily tomorrow. Breathing squats are also a killer. The only machine I use is the lat pulldown, do 1 set of 10 overhand grip wide grip pulddowns, followed immediately by 1 set of 10 close grip under hand grip pulldowns followed immediately by 1 set of 10 overhand grip close grip pulldowns, making a giant set of 30.
So far I've been sticking to my routine which consists of doing around 3x6 for each exercise and then gradually increasing either the weight, or if an increase in weight is too much, increasing reps, and then maybe increasing the reps again until I can lift a greater weight for 6 reps per set or close to which I think is a good way to go about it. However, to help keep myself motivated I am thinking of setting my self small goals with (flexible) deadlines. For example, 1st day 3x6 40kg, 2nd 3x8 40kg, 3rd day 3x10 40, 4th day 3x6 45kg. Just wondering, if I follow this pattern, what would you guys think would be realistic? As above only instead of each day every week (assuming I go AT LEAST 3 times a week)? As I said these wouldn't be strict dealines but I'd like to set myself some as keeping motivated is the key thing for me.
