Vitamins and Minerals: How much is too much?

First of all, I think weight gainer powders are a rip off. If you can afford them though, go for it. If not, try to gradually increase the amount of food you take in until you notice you're slowly gaining weight. You do not want to gain weight fast (more than one or max two pounds a week) because the majority of that gain will be lard.

If you do get it though, you don't necessarily have to go by the serving size. 2200 calories? Yeah, the thing probably has 20 servings at most. Just split that serving into four parts and you have yourself four different meals. Don't worry about the vitamins and minerals the shit has, just read the label for any sort of warning.

Personally, I think it'd be a ton better if you started taking Whey again (drink 1-2 servings immediately after your workout), take a decent multivitamin (if money isn't too big of an issue GNC has some great multis) and try to slowly increase your food intake until you reach a point where you are steadily gaining weight. If you're a hardgainer you have nothing to lose: If you reach a point you feel "fat" at, just go back to your regular diet and you'll be back to normal in a week or so. =o

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Because we have enough members here that are bound to be able to handle most topics.

Originally Posted by Garret

Just to give you fair warning.

There was a recent new story about a study in which men who basically overdosed on vitamins *multivitamins etc..* would have cancer spread almost 3x faster than those who didn't. While the men who took the vitamins were not more likely to get cancer, those who did simply had the cancer spread faster in other words. Probably due to, as you stated, wearing out the kidney etc...

I am still a believer in good food > supplements. I buy the normal stuff *whey protein, multi vitamins, and Creatine *, but putting more money into good food, like chicken *or tuna if the funds are low*. Creatine is another thing to look into if you want a bit more bulk, but some people just can't handle it *kidney's*, or it simply doesn't really do anything for them.

Any links to this study? These things usually have ridiculous settings. And creatine, protein, water etc. will only have a profound effect on your kidneys if you're already predisposed.

Originally Posted by Void

most supplements aren't proven or fda approved, so it's pretty much a placebo-like faith thing.

Well, those omega fats you're taking are also not FDA approved. What backs up a lot of supplements are the studies behind them. The FDA doesn't mean jack shit in the supplement world unless they're out to ban something, they can stick to approving things prescription addicts take for all I care.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Ayos

Yes, but there are those of us (and granted, we are few, but we exist, though you can't see us when we turn sideways) that have tried EVERYTHING and can't seem to gain a single pound. This weight gainer stuff actually looks pretty enticing to me, if taken with a "proper balanced diet" it could help me and other skinny dudes where simply taking protein supplements didn't.

• Try and sleep 6-8 hours a day and try to keep the same sleeping hours so your body can adapt and perform at full capacity.
• Try and eat 5-8 small meals throughout the day. Even better: If you have the patience (it's worth it) count your calories per individual meal. After a week of eating this way check if you've gained or lost weight. If you've lost, add a good handful of food to each of your 6-8 meals. If you've stayed the same, a half a handful, if you've gained keep it the same. That sounds silly, redundant, whatever but it's the easiest and most logical way. People that want to gain weight have this "I'm gonna eat more meat and potatoes" mentality of pure stupidity. Try to eat well, and gradually adjust the amount you eat each time a day. This way you never overload your body with more calories than it can handle at once. I'd eat every 2-3 hours.
• Focus on compound exercises for any bodypart. Squats and presses for your quads, dumbell and barbell benches (at various angles) for chest, barbell curls for biceps, stifflegged deadlifts or heavy curls for your hams, etc. Don't spend a lot of time at the gym and DO NOT DO EXCESSIVE CARDIO. A good 30 minutes a day, three times a week is more than enough.

I gotta get out of here but I'll give you more advice if you'd like later.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Gumby

I do however disagree with him on the cardio part. Increasing your heart rate burns more calories but at the same time it strengthens your heart and lungs, being physically fit isn't about how big or buff you are it is about how well conditioned your body is to do work. So unless your only goal is to get larger I would include some cardio in your workout.

Hey, I have absolutely nothing against cardio. I do plenty of it myself through interval sprints like Furious here just mentioned. I even mentioned he should do, at most, 30 minutes a day a few times a week. Even fucking better would be for Ayos to do sprints three times a week, ten minutes a session. There's a world of difference between a ripped olympic sprinter and a soft looking long distance runner.

Originally Posted by Ayos

I'm very fit, I don't care about how strong I am. I've got plenty of that lean muscle. I need MASS. Also, Omi-Cron, I HAVE tried the whole lots of small meals throughout the day thing, like I said I've tried basically everything.

There are a ton of bodybuilders, past and present, that had this problem. I've heard shit about these people consuming anywhere between four and six thousand calories a day. THAT is the possible sacrifice you'd have to make if you felt it was worth it. There's also the problem that once you reach the weight you want you'll have to eat to maintain that bodyweight.

I'm not trying to advocate an extremely high protein diet but you gotta get at least .8 grams per pound of weight. So, with that and proper training (focus on exercises that stimulate the most muscles at once) you should be able to get somwhere. The trick to any diet or exercise plan is consistency.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Gumby

There is some middle ground between the sprinters and long distance runners, which is what I am personally aiming for. Many marines are the perfect example of that, many of them are HUGE but are able to run 3 - 5 miles daily and not have any problems with it.

I guess my thing against long distance running is that you see these guys that can run an hour straight a few times a week. Yet, in their ordinary lives, they run up a few flight of stairs and they're already out of breath. I think doing your cardio for short, intense periods is also a greater help as far as a type of training that can enhance ordinary areas of our lives. At least to a much greater extent than long distance running. Jogging really. A good middle ground would probably be running at a good pace for 10-15 minutes, 20 tops. But, I mean, why do all that if you can get great benefits from doing sprints like this: Spint :30 seconds, walk briskly 1:30, repeat up to four more times. Bam, the shit is done between 6 and ten minutes and you're done.

Originally Posted by Will

You can also try supplementing with zinc in the form of ZMA.

Oh hell yeah motherfucker. I've been talking about this shit to some people this last week and now youmention. ZMA is just about the only supplement I've ever taken that I felt and noticed the results almost immediately. To sum it down briefly for anyone that doesn't know, the specific mineral levels the shit gives you (you take it before you go to bed) naturally raise your testosterone. Fucking awesome stuff. I think it's the stuff Barry Bonds hid behind when he was really taking steroids.

And yeah, advocating fast food doesn't come off right but it'd be a good strategy. If he's exercising and resting well his calorie sources don't matter that much. Ideally he'd get it from better sources but 1. that takes more work 2. potentially costs more 3. can be seen as a hassle. Fast food is cheap, fast, and you don't really have to do anything other than buy it. There are also healthier alternatives he can choose at these places and ways around the dirtier calories.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Boxers can also get away with it because they're not solely building a career around jogging. Jogging's probably the easiest part of their routine.

I'm not really in any condition to give your sources right now, but I know metabolically you get greater benefits from sprints than jogging, and supposedly aquire the same long distance stamina benefits. Now while all that's well and fine the original point here was what sort of cardio routine, if any, Ayos should do? Recommending someone start throwing 45 minute jogging marathons into their life, as part of their overall health and bodyweight improvement program, would probably be the sort of shit that makes someone not bother. As long as he leads a relatively active life I don't think he should waste his time and calories doing any cardio.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

That's all good shit, though it does explain why you wouldn't be gaining much, if any, weight.

FELIPE NO

Well, GNC here sells it under the GNC brand so I'm sure any GNC has to have it if Guatemala does. I think the one I used in 2001 was Weider brand though.

And you're basically telling him to gain muscle, but not large amounts of it. There's no real difference in muscle between bulk and lean, unless you mean he's better off gaining some muscle without getting to the point where a lot of the "mass" weight he's gaining is also fat.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

No, no, it's just that the way you worded that made me think you were doing all that stuff on a weekly basis. You'd have to eat a whole hell of a lot than you already do if that were the case.

How ya doing, buddy?

Well, that's a direction more along the lines of muscle fibers. Which, taking that into account, can be a very effective way to weight train through periodization. Check this Wiki link out for a very basic idea. Basically those fiber types give you a better understanding of how muscles work (stamina, explosive power, or a combo of both). Though the fiber composition changes from muscle to muscle, person to person.

There's nowhere I can't reach.