I am 18, in college, and am looking for a way to increase my gains this year while minimizing fat. I am small, oly 5'3" 125 lbs currently, and 4% b/f. I keep a strick diet, I keep a lot of chicken, fish and lean beef in a freezer in my dorm, so I am able to get a variey of protein sources. I just need a strategy to follow for someone who is as small as i am. Should i incorporate cardio into my training?

If you are only 125 and 4% bodyfat, you probably should keep cardio to a minimum - especially if you want to pack on some size. If you don't want to stop cardio, make sure you up your calories even more to make up for the calorie loss.

Have you talked with a Bev advisor?

I agree - I doubt that you need to have any cardio in your program, it will work against your ability to add LBM. If you have not done so, complete the Bev client profile form and send it to them with your current goals and information. They will normally get back to you within three business days. It can be downloaded from their main web site bevnut.com

Your training plan should be based on lower volume, continual progression and core exercises. Stay away from too many sets or reps. If you can use good form and slowly add strength by increasing the amount of weight that you can handle you will be adding muscle. To support that process your nutrition plan needs to be adequate, with 5-6 meals a day and the right macronutrient mix.

Good luck in meeting your goals. At your age you are in a position where you can see great gains and progress if you do your homework to design a good training and nutritional plan and then stay consistent with both. You may not see overnight results, no one does, but over the course of a few months you should be able to see a positive trend beginning. Good luck to you.

quote:

Your training plan should be based on lower volume, continual progression and core exercises. Stay away from too many sets or reps. If you can use good form and slowly add strength by increasing the amount of weight that you can handle you will be adding muscle.

Just to add to this:

Try and stay away from too many isolation exercises:
Deallifts, BB Rows, BB Bench, Military Press, A2G SQUATS, SLDL's, Pull-ups, A2G Squats (that one is important ), Calf Raises...

And just as he said, try to add weight to the bar slowly over time.

eat. eat as much as you can.

i dunno if you have a food card, but most campus have a cafeteria or two that offers healthy selections. I go to UK and we had one that did have baked potatoes and sweet potatoes (next to sides of butter, sour cream, and brown sugar..but leave those out). It wasn't uncommon to get a plain salad with low fat dressings a piece of chicken (~3 oz).

Having a job makes it difficult to get 6 meals in so protein powders become very effective if on the go. If you have the option use as many whole food meals as you can. I found a rice/vegetable steamer to be a very easy/quick way to cook virutally anything in my dorm room.

I have talked with bev advisors, and am currently using a training program designed by fitdoc. So far it's been about 2 weeks without cardio and i am starting to see differences in my lats and quads. Without the cardio my separation seems to be more pronounced. I am also recovering faster from my workouts. I do have a meal plan, the only thing i use it for is eggs, veges, chicken and whole wheat bread. Otherwise, i usually make food in my room or in the common room. How much do the rice cookers cost? That seems like it might be a worthwhile investment. What seems like a reasonable esimate of how much weight i should gain over a period of 4 months?

Kris - You have to look at this in terms of months not weeks. FitDoc knows what he is doing so I'm sure that you will have success following his plan if your nutrition is solid behind it.

For most natural BBer's a real gain of 1/2 to 1 lb of LBM per month would be considered excellent progress. You can certainly gain a lot more weight than that, but it won't be LBM. For the most part, if your exercise form is good and you are consistent in your training program if you see regular strength gains you will also see slow and steady LBM gains. It will be very important to include adequate recovery time in your program. You are actually breaking down muscle, not building it when in the gym. The added muscle comes AFTER your workout while the muscle is recovering and only if you are providing it with sufficient nutrients to build itself stronger/larger.

Have patience, follow the program for three months or so and then let us know what progress you have made. Good luck to you in meeting your goals.

Thanx for all the advice! Currently my ratios are: carbs 40% protein 40% fats 20% I was considering indreasing my fats (of course healthy fats), do u think this would be beneficial to me since i have been on this diet for a very long time?