[quote name='ricknub']Definitely! I'm still getting sore after each workout, but especially after my legs day. I've seen increases in the weight I'm doing for squats, deadlifts, and hang cleans among other exercises, but I think my lack of commitment to focusing on the nutrition at the same level of some of the CAGs here is probably hindering my improvement a little bit. Since I'm not looking to get too close to 170, I think that's alright for now, and the routine you suggested to me is leading to many more improvements than my previous workout routine was giving me.
By the standards posted here:
http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.html
I'm still hovering around the Novice-Intermediate region (except for bench, which is Intermediate-Advanced), but the routine has helped me gain a lot of ground in the squat and deadlift in particular, which I got a late start on. Thanks again.
I certainly admire all of you who are able to remain disciplined on the nutritional side. It's far easier to just cop out and eat something easy/unhealthy. This is a question for HowStern and other CAG nutrition-savvy people: would doing something like having 34g of protein + 68g carbs post-workout (like in the example above) result in muscle gain + weight gain, or just muscle gain with some weight loss? I always get the impression that taking in a lot of protein is for bulking up, rather than maintaining the current approximate body weight, but building muscle.
Sorry if these are elementary questions, but my family believed in ordering out, cooking hot dogs, and sometimes having shepherd's pie on a healthy night. I blame my upbringing (it's the easiest solution)![/quote]
Hey, no worries about "elementary-ness" of questions. Yeah, my mom was a huge shepherds pie type.
The protein is for rebuilding muscle. The carbs are for refueling muscles glycogen.
After workout you need to replenish these quickly to keep your body in an anabolic state. So, simple carbs(baked potato, rice cakes, etc.) are needed because they digest quickly and make the glycogen available asap.
This alone won't induce fat gain. The thing is though, this should be the only time you eat simple carbs in such a large ammount.
The rest of the day stick with complex carbs like brown rice, steel cut oatmeal (the kind with no added sugar), whole grains, etc, as much as possible.
The only simple carbs I eat that aren't post-workout is first thing when I wake up, a half hour before eating oatmeal and veggie sausages, I will have a "liquid breakfast" of fat free milk and lightnfit yogurt. Just because I haven't eaten all night I want to get some protein quick. Some people will even just have a scoop of whey first thing.
But the big big thing is calories. If you eat more than you burn, you will gain weight. If you burn more than you eat, you will lose weight. It gets tricky though because you need calories for muscle growth. Check this article/graphs thing out
http://scoobysworkshop.com/gainingMuscle.htm
It's got some good info, on eating on a caloric deficit to lose fat/maintain body fat % but not so much that you hinder your gains. It's got charts for different body weights and everything. Hope this helps!
! I just got set back 4 pounds. I knew eating at Mexican food at 9pm last night wasn't a good idea. 
