GoodAsh said:
Malphas said:
Make a plan, make sure the plan is decent - and quite importantly, make sure the plan is simple and foolproof, then follow it with stubborn diligence and it will work regardless of shit genetics. Obviously we all have our differing limits of potential but I've never met a person that wasn't able to dramatically improve their physique if they followed these steps.
Nice to meet you!
Okay seriously, I do appreciate your willingness to help. You are not wrong: every person can improve ones physique through rigorous exercise. The hitch comes in quantifying what you mean by "dramatically".
After I graduated from high school, I took some courses at the local community college before leaving home for university. During the summer, this included a gym class. I decided that since I was paying for access to an excellent gym anyway, I should take this opportunity and get serious about elevating my own strength as much as possible. For the next three months, I basically lived in that gym's weight room. I visited every day and worked there for one to four hours per day. By the end of the summer, my lifting capacity has increased by maybe ten percent. I don't remember the exact math. I had been carefully weighing myself through the process, and I discovered that I had indeed gained muscle mass. I gained exactly one pound. I concluded that the effort and expense were simply not worth the results that I was getting.
I still exercise, but I do so now for general health, not for purposefully improving my strength or appearance.
This is my exact point though, you fucked up (and I don't mean that to be insulting). For starters the fact you were there that often and for that length of time indicates your programming was totally out of whack. A suitable amount of time to be in the gym for a beginner through to intermediate would be more like three to four hours a week. The frequency and time you were there was more like something a competitive athlete loaded with steroids would be doing. The fact you gained some strength and not much weight would be exactly what I'd expect in that scenario.
Secondly you weren't eating enough, if you had you would have gained weight due to simple laws of thermodynamics. Everyone will gain weight if they eat enough (barring certain diseases), and it's other factors that dictate whether you gain muscle or fat. You should have counted calories and turned it up each week you didn't gain weight until you were gaining around half a pound to one pound a week.
You're right that the effort you were putting in wasn't worth the results, but sadly weren't aware that you would actually have gotten better results for less effort and the dedication you were putting in was actually hindering your progress.
