What’s the fastest way to gain weight/muscle without steroids?
Question:
I’m 38yrs, 5’8″ and 145lbs. I’m looking for a “home” program, something I can do when I get home from my full time job (sitting on the phone all day), at least 3 times a week. I have my evenings open, so I almost could do it nightly.
I have a treadmill and a weight set, although I have never really lifted weights regularly nor do I know the proper techniques to make the workout worth while…for instance how much weight, how many reps for how long?
I have been told to eat a lot carbs and protein, what kinds of foods contain these? I also bought a 4lb jar of “Weight Gainer” powder mix from GNC and have drank more than half of it without any weight change so I obviously need some direction.
Answer:
The carbs you want are the good carbs that come from whole grains, not the white flour refined carbs or sugar. Protein, yes. Lean protein from white meat, fish, even all types of beans.
Skip the treadmill. Sell it. cardio workouts are the worst thing for building muscle. They are for heart health.
About the amount of resistance you should be lifting. Do circuits. Those are exercises for specific body parts. You can do total body workouts 3x a week or do upper one day and lower the next. Start with 10 reps per exercise with enough resistance so you can barely finish the last rep. That’s how you know if you’re using enough resistance. Then very quickly set up for the next exercise and do 10 reps of that. When you complete all the exercises, that’s one full circuit. That’s all you can probably do to begin with. Then gradually workup to 2, then 3 circuits.
There is an excellent beginners resistance training workout show called TX2. It’s for teens and people who haven’t worked out before. It uses Bodylastics resistance bands. Once you get good at TX2, then graduate to the Chiseled workouts. They are more intense.
The Bodylastics bands are adjustable with clips on the ends, so changing resistance is hella easy and quick. Oh, and each Bodylastics set comes with a circuit training DVD. Complete sets start at under $30, but I recommend the Super Strong Man set for you. It’s got enough bands for a total of 202 lbs of tension. You can always buy additional individual bands later on if you need to expand.
Click here to access the Bodylastics free workouts.
