My new ambition: biggity.

OK, so I've been doing crossfit for a while and not really getting anywhere. Putting all the debate to one side, I've decided my main problem is lack of muscle mass and strength. So I've seen the light, been converted and jumped ship. My new ambition is to be as large and strong as possible, to the exclusion of other goals. I propose to devote a year to Mark Riptoe's 'starting strength' (http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/most_lifters_are_still_beginners).
I will keep a log of my bodyweight, the weight I use for each exercise and the number of chins I manage every week.
I will eat lots. I propose to have 4 meals a day. I've heard 4-6 thousand calories is a good figure to aim for, and I'd appreciate some hints as to how to achieve that. Does anyone have a good link to a site that tells you how many calories are in various things?
Also, should I do any cardio besides walking the dog (which takes up about half an hour every day) and martial arts practice, or is that enough already?
Any other thoughts/comments/suggestions as to how to achieve maximum size?

 

Good luck with your new path!

 

Read it wrong I thought you were getting married. Twice

 

Yes my best wishes also to you in your goals I know you can do it.

 

Perhaps I should have said 'bigness'

 

I keep getting those emails as well

 

Fitday.com for generic calorie index (it's American i think so there are some strange things in there but no Baked Beans pfft ). I would imagine you would put on a lot of fat with a 6k calorie intake; that sounds really high.

As for easy intake of high calories in a four meal spread, well i'd go for oils, red meats and nuts.

 

Drink a gallon of whole milk per day =]

 

Seconded. If you can handle it, milk is brilliant. It adds a lot of calories, lots of good protein, and you can always fit in a glass here and there.

 

Third-ed.
I get about 5-6 pints a day an I'm stuck in a weight class.

Most weight gainners are crap by the way but a decent casein shake will help you along the way.
Don't forget to sleep extra

Have you considered squats and milk?

 

Your blender is your friend you will probably start to enjoy more fruit mixes and try to create your own.The milk is a great idea you can add a vanilla flavored protein power with your own exploration of fruits bananas,strawberries, mangos etc

 

Cron-o-Meter is another one--and they have many of the measures in metric.

paz,

dormindo

 

KE, I posted this on Blabber but I'll toss it up here too. I find these two to be rather thorough for gathering not only cals but nutritional content as well.... I just copied and pasted my original post so forgive the lack of a custom feel, lol...

In the past it was always difficult to accurately talley everything I was eating (ie sodium, protein, carbs, etc). The link below is to a GREAT little data base very similar to the one I have linked to the bottom of my blog.

Just type in the type of food you need to know about like "steak" or "Fish" and it will walk you through options until you can get to an option thats damn close if not exact. You can set it up to give you the value by ounce as well which I find very valuable!

I've included a screen capture of what you end up seeing....




http://www.coheso.com/nutridata/




Here's another one. I think I might like this one better as the choices are much more specific, though a bit cluttered. Still... this is a pretty thorough calculator. Pretty much type in whatever it is you're looking for and hit enter. Once the selection appears you can view results based on particular ounces or several other criteria which makes it very helpful.

http://www.dietandfitnesstoday.com/foodSearch.php

Also, for those who may not know the calorie per gram breakdown is as follows - pay attention to the information on alcohol, it might surprise you:

Fat: 1 gram = 9 calories
Protein: 1 gram = 4 calories
Carbohydrates: 1 gram = 4 calories
Alcohol: 1 gram = 7 calories

 

4-6 thousand calories seems way too much, you will get big but carry a lot of fat too! 500-1000 calories above maintainance is all that's required. Good quality food, 2g of protien per lb of bodyweight, train hard and rest properly.

 

A person is going to gain fat on a decent hypertrophy cycle.
It happens, it can be cut later.
4-6 thousand sounds about right to me.

Also bulgar wheat is mint, swap any couscous, rice, pasta etc. for it, more calories and extra protein as well as zinc and other T boosting minerals.

BCAA's are your friend, take them before MA training to prevent excessive catabolism of muscle.

 

forgive me, but what's a BCAA?

 

Ah. Assume you're talking to a moron. These are some kind of supplements, right?

I have to say that this kind of training is fun. I'm really enjoying eating whatever I like and more and playing with big weights.

 

When I was a at my best as a bodybuilder I would routinely consume nearly 6500 calories a day and I carred VERY little fat. The thing is, the possibility TO get fat is ever present at that level of food consumption. Trainng intensity becomes paramount as does total daily caloric expenditure. Train too little, too lightly and daddy's gonna need a bigger pair of pants.