Andro was ed up... now it's illegal at least in Illinois. Maybe thats where your side effects came from. Creatine does almost nothing but fill your muscles with water (you get bigger mass but no power out of it).

 

I've found that at least for me, working out 4 times in a week is most effective. Get a lot of rest during workouts and drink a ton of water. This is the only way your muscles are going to get bigger. When you do work out, switch through excercises and mainly work out a different part of your body every day (unless you're trying to gain muscle in a specific area). Eat a ton of anything, 2-3 eggs a day is good for you, but don't get carried away with them.

 

I am dismayed by the last couple statements, work out to be healthy and exercise and realize you are what you are, no need to compete with guys at the gym.

But as to the first part, I read an article in muscle fitness at a barbershop a few years ago about how to increase you bench max by 20%.

Don't remember all of it but it was basically setting up a schedule to follow.

Start a routine that includes regular bench, decline bench, and incline bench. Also do flys and/or peck machine. Last concentrate on military press and shoulder exercise.

It suggested about three sets of 8 reps on each exercise. Find your starting point for each exercise with comfortable wieght that brings you to or near failure at the end of the third set. When you have got all of your levels set for each exercise, try to do the routine three times w week for three weeks. At the end of the cycle, add 5% weight to each exercise. At the end of 12 weeks you are supposed to increase your max by 20%. If you have not been a regular at working out your increase will probably be MUCH higher because the gains you make at the beginning are the easiest.

I did the whole routine and got much stronger but never tested the theory because I never do a "max" bench. I work out alot but never no what my max is because it is not a goal. Just want to stay in shape and look & feel good.

 

I don't do supplements and I don't think anyone needs to for improvement on lift.

Maybe vitamins but that is still not needed compared to just eating right.

My bench max is 200lbs and I attained that supplement free (I'm 140lbs)

 

I like to take Myoplex meal replacement shakes. They provide a decent amount of protein (~40g) per serving, and include some carbs and vitamins. I use the shakes as a way to consume 4-5 meals/day (3 regular meals + 1-2 Myoplex shakes). I don't take creatine or any other supplement, other than the protein. (truth be told, I don't really follow this advice anymore - mostly because I'm stuck in hotels all week and don't have the time to work out or eat properly)

Other than that, just try to eat a healthy diet. Lots of chicken and veggies, and don't be afraid to consume some fat.

As far as working out goes, weight training 3 days/week and doing cardio 2-3 days/week worked well for me. Just try to set up a schedule where you work individual muscle groups on separate days. I prefered to do Chest/Back, Biceps/Shoulders, and Legs/Triceps, you may like something different. Buy Men's Health for a few months and get ideas from them.

When I was a little more serious about working out, I was at 4.9% body fat, weighed about 145 lbs, and could bench press 250 lbs. My goal was to bench double my weight. . . but it never happend.

Anyway, I haven't followed that schedule at all anymore, and I can definitely tell the difference in ability to put on lean muscle. Just had to buy a new suit because I'm a fatty. Damn.

 

Not many supplementers on this forum , I have taken creatine and protein shakes along with other supplements, and I absolutely saw a difference (could possibly have been my dedication knowing i was taking supplements), thats my take on supplements.

Your body is composed of a certain amount of muscle when you are born, only a certain amount can be white muscle (show muscle) and the rest red (endurance runners muscle). It is up to you to what combination you want, but if you are training hard to be a marathon runner you are not going to have a huge chest.

Also its seems like you are limiting your caloric intake to stay thin, the first thing you start to break down to make energy is muscle then fat, so....... if you are dieting it is going to be very hard to make muscle, as people have said before, do one at a time. A minor solution to this is taking in ridiculous amounts of protein so your body digests that protein and not yours.

hope that made sense, just spitting out some college info i absorbed during my five year torture of getting a BS in BIO

 

I used to take protein shakes for about 3 weeks straight, and just got fatter (without muscle) because of 400 calorie and tons of carbs in the shake. Maby I wasn't lifting hard enough?

So instead of that, I eat alot of foods with high protein. Healthy burritos (lots of chicken, rice, beans, vegetables) is a great source of protein with the chicken and beans without eating an extra meal for a shake.

The only way I can see a protein shake being helpful is to have it replace your breakfast. It would give you energy in the morning like breakfast does and provide alot of protein.

What I have seen work is using energy drinks before/during working out. I have used one and I guess it helps (might just be me thinking its helping, don't know)

 

Working out for 2 hours is crazy unless you are already 280lbs and getting ready for a show or power comp. If you're lifting at a high intensity (which you should be for max gains) then you should be spent within the hour.

As was mentioned earlier, creatine is only useful if you're already eating a really good diet and you want to work out at your max and get good recovery but if you're not exhausting your muscles you'll just crap it out. The reason that creatine raises water retention is because that's how nutrients are carried to your muscles.

My advice would be to work your chest monday and friday each week and run 4 weeks of lifting ~12 reps with whatever weight you can manage to just get that many. Then drop to 4-6 reps for 4 weeks and raise your weight to max out at that many reps.

Get a good mix of carbs and protein especially in your post workout meal. Your body will only use up the protein if you are breaking it down for muscle growth so shoot for around 1-1.2g per lb of body mass and take most of that in with natural foods like salmon, chicken, cod low fat cottage cheese etc. but if you can't eat 160g of protein per day then you may need to supplement with a shake or bar.

Unless your workout is perfect for you specifically then you're going to have areas that fall behind to some degree. Everyone has this issue and if you watch pumping iron Arnie talks about bodybuilding symmetry as an art form that requires ongoing attention. If your chest is falling behind then concentrate on it for a while as necessary but dont let it get you down.

For me at least, weightlifting is 30%confidence 30% commitment and consistency and 50% ing hard work. 110% all the way

 

BTW I use two different protein supplements which are both low carbs since I get enough of them through my diet. Once of my powders is slow release and each serve is 45g protein and only 6g carb and the other is fast release and its 24g protein and 2g of carb. I take the fast release as I'm leaving the gym and the other during the day and/or in the morning with a cup of oats.

I also take a multi in the morning and vit c and magnesium before bed. The vit c and mag are because I have late nights and my nutritionist frien recommended these to help my body handle it. Not too sure it they do anything but I get them cheap so *shrug*

 

I completely agree