Souldriver said:
First; meat is very expensive and I live on a tight budget. So I should have to eat more and more expensive. It's just not feasible. Is the meat-suggestion because it has lots of proteins in it? If so, can I substitute that with fish and dairy perhaps?
The reason why I say to eat red meat is because it packs more calories than fish. It's a helluva lot harder to eat at a calorie surplus eating fish.
I'm in the same boat as you, as meat can get pretty expensive. What I do is shop around for deals. For instance, tomorrow there will have a sale of boneless chicken legs at a Mexican supermarket for $.99 a lbs. Gonna stock up and try to get 40 lbs worth. If there are no deals, I try to drink milk(stopped though because I'm lactose intolerant and didn't like spending money on lactose pills). If you go to the fitness thread, the OP talks about the GOMAD bulking diet, where you basically drink a gallon every other day or so.
Also, if I understand, you're telling me to focus more on short but powerful sets of heavy lifting rather than doing endless exercises that never really become "too much"? I'm foreign tot the body building jargon though, and I'm not native english, so stuff like "compound exercises" aren't exactly clear. I'll google it though, so no need to explain everything.
But what I take away from that is that I can only get close to the body I want by joining a gym and not by doing exercises at home, because I need heavy weights. Right?
Compound exercises are moves which target more than 1 muscle(squats, bench, press, rows,etc.). Your bicep curls basically works out 1 muscle, which makes it an isolation exercise.
It would be ideal if you join a gym so that you have access to the tools to build your muscles, but you can also do it doing body moves(p90x is a good example). I'd only recommend body moves if you can create a routine that is intense and can stimulate the muscles without access to heavy weights. Having heavy weights makes muscle building so much easier.
I do wonder though: what are the carbs for? Because I always thought that carbs were counterproductive when you want to tone your body. Or is this simply to reach a higher calorie count and therefore be able to build up muscle mass?
Carbs are used to help fuel your workouts, as well as reach a calorie surplus if you're bulking. When you gain muscle, you'll gain a little bit of fat. What bodybuilders do is they gain as much muscle in a certain time frame(say 6 month bulking), where they eat at a calorie surplus AND lift heavy weights. Once they reach their desired bulk weight, they go on a cutting diet. Cutting involves going on a calorie deficit, where the person on the cut loses 1-2 lbs a week. This phase usually lasts 2-3 months, or until desired look. While cutting, some muscle loss will occur, but for the most part, you will be shedding fat. By the end of your cutting phase, the muscles you worked hard on those past 6 months(which were covered by the fat you gained), will start to pop out. Cut to single digit bodyfat and you'll start getting your abs.
I think this is another example of me completely lacking an understanding of how to gain muscle AND lose fat at the same time. Haha.
I'm also reading up on the P90X stuff (but that's expensive as well).
Thanks again for the advice.
Though it is possible, gaining muscle AND losing fat at the same time is inefficient(I've tried it and it sucks). It involves a longer period of progress, one where you try to maintain weight or lose weight at a slower pace, all the while working out hard at the gym. Instead of it taking 9 or so months of a bulk/cut cycle, it could take a year or more, since the muscle gains and fat loss will be slower.
As Bronze suggested, hit up the fitness thread. The OP is full of info for noobies, and the people on there are really knowledgeable.
