Discussion Board

Hello,

I've been working out for about 6 weeks now following a program my brother is helping me with. He won heavyweight and overall in a recent bodybuilding competition, so I'm pretty happy with the results of the workouts. Unfortunately my brother has never gotten into eating a vegan based diet, and I know that vegan is the only way.

I'd like to gain about 20-30 pounds (right now at 166), I've been using a supplement called true mass by bsn. It's helped in gaining weight but I know it's hurting me, i'm breaking out more than ever because of all the animal products they put in that stuff.

My question is what can I be eating to assist in gaining mass?

If you pound down enough calories, of course you can gain 'mass'. But fast gain of muscle does not happen and if you are gaining on the scale rapidly, you can count on it being maybe a little muscle, some water, and perhaps a whole lotta fat.

Muscle building is a slow process, and varies from person to person. I never emphasize quick gains. As stated above, quick gains usually turn out to be fat. Training is a long term process.

If you are looking for muscle mass, train with progressive resistance and work so that at the end of your sets you have would struggle to do another repetition in proper form. Forget heavy, think effort!

Lani

You can't rush muscle gain. It takes years. Vin Diesel started weights in high school to look like he does now. He said he worked out very regularly.

Plus some people bulk up easily.. (like me which being a female, I don't want) and others don't . That has a lot to do with results as well.

I have read that under ideal conditions, depending of course in individual physiology and of course based on proper physical training, absolute maximum muscle gain (without steroids) is maybe 1 lb/week, tops. Anything beyond that is fat for sure.

And even that's a stretch - more like 1 -2 lbs a month when au naturelle, and you're right about individual physio and genetics!

Lani

Yikes! 1-2/month. Have to recalibrate my fantasies...on a weight gaining program right now. Hard to titrate for me because I have something screwy in my "appestate" and am always hungry, even with stomach full of food! Not so bad since I switched to beans as my main starch source as when I was trying to do it on sweet potatoes and barley but still annoying and difficult to know when to stop eating, how calories dense to go etc. Oh well, life's little burdens...