Hari phoned me `cos he had a sticking point in his training. He’s about 19 years old and works out pretty hard at a bodyweight of about 65kg he’s stuck at a 135kg DL and a 90kg Squat although that’s very well going he could do so much better. His limiting factor however is nutrition. He trains hard twice a week, rests enough and doesn’t drink or smoke, but he just doesn’t eat enough to fuel his workouts or to gain weight. That is what limits his progress, his limiting factor.
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What I refer to by limiting factors can be split into 3 categories.
Exercise
The biggie. Now I’ve said it before and i`ll say it again, any exercise will build muscle but some build a lot more than others. So what I’m referring to is a sensible weight training regime. Which will be based around the COMPOUND EXERCISES.
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Depending on what schedule you follow it could be based on progression or intensity. For the most part POUNDAGE PROGRESSION in good form is the key. At least in the early stages.
The other consideration is Exercise FORM, you gotta learn good form so as to not get injured
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Sean Toohey who used to post on this board had as his signature line something like this "Injury through bad form is unacceptable" It makes sense, think about it.
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Diet
Eat a substantial diet. At least enough calories should be eaten to suit your goal. Now just like exercise there are many interpretations of what is considered essential/necessary in a diet So the basic guideline is this and although its simple its practice is proving one of the hardest things to do.
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If you want to gain weight, eat enough to produce a measurable weight gain. This is a sample dialogue........
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: Wannabe Heavyweight "But, but Faheem I already eat loads really I do, and I don’t gain"
: Faheem "WHAT, I don’t care how much you eat, its obviously not enough, eat more until you do gain".
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If you want to lose weight eat as much as is necessary to reduce BW by the required amount a week.
If you want to neither lose or gain weight then eat enough to keep your bodyweight the same.
The exact ratio of protein to carbs to fat is highly suspect and many people will give you many answers which will all differ.
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Try eating a gram of protein for every pound of bodyweight and enough calories to suit your goals.
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Rest & Recuperation
A minimum of 8 hours of sleep seems to be the ready answer, yet as we’ve seen there are many interpretations of this old question. A good rule of thumb is to sleep so you wake up on your own accord in the morning, without any alarms.
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Also if you have trouble gaining weight, don’t make your life harder by doing all kinds of aerobics activities, come on people!!!
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So work hard at the above and make sure you identify what your limiting factor is and do your best to even it out. You will only gain in direct proportion to YOUR limiting factor. So for your own sake make sure there’s nothing amiss.
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