Thomas

Exactly! I just don't understand what am I supposed to feel, I've never thought of myself as a Polish guy. I don't identify with the history of my country even though maybe I should feel some sense of gratitude for those who were fighting for it in WW II. I feel here no different than I felt in other countries I've been to.

"These tiny enclosures, these boundaries and fences, have troubled man too much. In three thousand years, five thousand wars have been fought. In the past when they fought wars with bows and arrows it was okay, there was not much harm done; if a few people died there was no problem. But now war is total war. Now, it is the suicide of all of mankind. Now, the whole place can become a Hiroshima - any day, at any moment.. Consider the horror of such a war and think of how much energy is going into it. This same energy could fill the entire earth with greenery, could fill it with prosperity. For the first time man could dance absorbed in bliss, could sing songs of ecstasy, could follow the quest of meditation. But this will not happen. Your so-called patriots, these nationalists.." ~OSHO I don't think people's nationality matters to me more than their haircut. What does matter is if they're dogmatic in regard to any subject: religion, race, philosophy to the point of manifesting it to me by agression, placing judgement and trying to make me act against my will. Like some meme says: Belief is like penis - It's perfectly fine to have one and it's fine to be proud of it, but please don't whip it out in public and start waving it around. Waving might be not that harmful, but if I make a drawing and say it's a Mahomet or let's say the flag of my country - I may suffer physically, because in some person's perception I profaned sacred/national symbol of the virtue he/she sees in it. All these symbols are protected against criticism and making fun of one is judged by big part of the society as immoral, etc. That is double standard.

Time Under Tension is a variable. You can't say the interchangeable variable is legit since its effectiveness or importance depends on its value. It depends how You use it - when You neglect other factors like intensity, total workload, volume, ROM, it is not "legit" ;P In that context I said that people overlook to TUT and misuse it, by doing 3 to 10 seconds long just on eccentric portion of the movement, when they just could've done more volume (which is a variable too) in the same amount time. By saying that Time Under Tension is legit, without given context there is an open room to interpretation and potential of misguiding people.

@Rares The TUT (Time Under Tension) role and importance as a factor for inducing muscular hypertrophy is... really misunderstood and misused. Dr. Layne Norton explained in depth the issue about it in this video: You don't have to watch it, but thing to know about it is most people are actually increasing their time spent in the gym and decreasing efficacy of their workouts with no benefit or even limiting their potential growth. @Yourreputationisoutthere.c Training: I would recommend any 5x5 program, begginer athletes tend to do really well on them: 5x5 Stronglifts or more fresh (not necessarily better) Jason Blaha's 5x5 Novice Program or my favourite Mark Rippetoe's Texas Method, but the first two are better to start IMO. Keep it simple, adding weight to your lifts each week will increase the total workload and the training volume which is a primary factor to increasing muscle hypertrophy a.k.a muscle growth. Focus on resistance training and cut out cardio if You don't find yourself gaining weight. Food: If You struggle to gain weight and happen to be called a hardgainer or have a body type of an ectomorph (the whole somatotype idea is a semi myth at best, invented & introduced by a psychologist William Herbert Sheldon almost 80 years ago). What I find from working with people is they just have a small apetite and tend to think they eat a lot. When we actually start to measure their macronutrient intake and calorie input, it turns out they're eating below or at their maintenance - they were just undereaters, overestimating their food intake. Here are the best tips that come to my mind right now and in fact, one of them has been given by @Leo Gura in a specific form, that I'm going to play with: Which can be transformed into more universal rule: "Drinking your calories helps a lot" It doesn't have to be whey protein, consuming anything in liquid helps You gain weight for 2 reasons: 1) It's easier to drink a cup of mixed oatmeal and veggies, whatever You like, than to eat the same amount on plate. 2) It doesn't make as You satiated which leads to You being able to eat more without getting feeling sick Eat more calorically dense food like for example: peanut butter if You're allergic to dairy or find the type of food that You like and try to overeat on it. (It wasn't a question about how to keep your blood markes or fasting glucose good, You want to gain weight - consume more calories. As long as 80% of your diet makes up to deliver fiber and necessary micronutrients, the other 20% has marginal significance). If You're really into that (most people're not and find it boring unlike me), You could measure Your food intake by counting macronutrients or/and calories in MyFitnessPal for example. I'm just spitting ideas at You. When it comes to meal frequency, You'll have to experiment as fewer meals (Intermittent Fasting) tend to change Your leptin (goes up) : ghrelin (goes down) hormones ratio which leads to decrease of apetite over the course of the time, so I would start with 3 - 4 meals, since saying to eat when You're hungry wouldn't do much because that's probably the same thing You've been doing and struggling with gaining weight - It wouldn't apply. Generally try to eat often. Inner game: When I first started lifting, my main reason for taking actions in direction of building muscle & getting fit was shallow, long story-short - I just wanted to look good for girls. If that's remained as the primary motivating factor I would've probably given up after a month. But the funny thing is that I really started to enjoy the grind, looking in the mirror, loading more weight to the bar, being able to help in mundane stuff like carrying groceries, moving big ass sofas without needing any help and carrying your drunk, half-conscious friend out of the club to make sure he won't get robbed or beaten. Working out to look great may be shallow, but so is wearing makeup, taking selfies, and grooming of any sort. Pick your shallow. Looking good naked is cool, but nothing compared to being stronger than You were. For me, a young, growing man, strength is a value associated with the personal growth, exploiting your potential in one more area. By being stronger, You can bring more to the table, be more useful. Plus after almost every session I'm in state of mind close to the one obtained through meditation - like still water after storm. Okay, so if You don't want my Woo woo stuff , I will give You very specific reasons and benefits associated with lifting weights, which are based on scientific studies (I will probably regret that, since everybody would require a link to every single study. You know how many there are? ^.^): It reduces cancer risk considerably and increases the chances of survivng the cancer. Factors below also have impact on cancer risk reduction. Moderate amounts of regular resistance training and aerobic activity have been shown to reduce risk of diabetes to a very high degree. e.g. http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1307571 Is associated with better bone mineral density and/or bone width, which amongst others means it protects You against osteoporosis or osteopenia and suggests lower risk of physical injury e.g. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9809388 Having more muscles allows You to eat more, unlike adipose tissue, lean tissue burns energy - You are burning more calories (increasing TDEE - Total Daily Energetic Expenditure), just by having more muscle mass instead of fat. It increases insulin sensitivity, which is also associated with better nutrient partitioning and how well your body utilizes food in some cases, helps also people with impaired glucose tolerance e.g. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20351587 It reduces resting blood pressure, decreases low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides, which is good for longevity and avoiding cardiovascular diseases e.g. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1756170/ If You really want to dig deep, there is so much information, You'll be confused and overthink stuff to a degree it'll become procrastination. Start doing, pick a program, eat what seems to be healthy and slowly gather information or You'll kill yourself with thought processes and questions like: "Does whey protein has to be cold, since enzymes are denaturalized in over 40 degrees?", "Is my current aminoacid ingestion timing optimal for getting maximum muscle-protein-synthesis?" or "I don't know if doing a ketogenic diet will help me preserve muscle mass more than high carb". Don't worry. Don't get obsessive. It's okay to be wrong and the details will not affect the big picture. Do the best that You can with all that You have and don't worry about the rest. Science is science, some guy's story on the forum is just a story. You have to find Your own reasons and deeper value derived from engaging in those actions. What's Your WHY? The bigger the reason, the better.