This was extremely helpful. Thanks mister.

No problem. I'm just glad a lifetime of having it drilled into my head helped someone.

I've been looking to gain weight recently, as I've been cursed with an ectomorph bodytype. I'm 5'11 or so and 140 pounds. I've been told that in order to know how many calories you need to eat per day, you multiply your weight by 25. That would make it 3500 calories a day for me. Would I see weight gains over time following this method (I've been lifting as well, so hopefully the weight will be muscle)?

Big3, I assume once you get to that desired figure by doing high weight low reps you can transform the workout to low weight high reps to tone what you've just developed, without losing any great deal of muscle mass? Also, by going from heavyweight low reps to lightweight high reps, thats the way to increased stamina? I like stamina.

I know you are asking Big3 but that's right about the toning side of it and you can also throw in calisthenics as well to help with toning.

I'm basically just working on not being a fat ass right now.

Eating better, rather than my usual Pizza, Double Cheeseburger, and Taco Bell diet; and trying to do some cardio for at least 25 minutes 3 times a week. Plus my softball league which is every Tuesday night, I'm risking failing my next fitness test.

Increase stamina insofar as you're lifting. I don't think its going to help your lung capacity, so gains in running or swimming won't be massive. And you're not going to maintain size. Depending on your height, a large amount of strength can hide in svelt muscles. The lankier you are, the hard it is to appear strong.

If you're looking for stamina then Dj's right, doing cals will help. Push-ups, pull-ups, lunges, crunches, full-body pushups...

What are you going for specifically?

I do 5x5s. They're intense. I wanted to balance strength and size, so I figure I'll be good. I hope so anyway.

I'm pretty much perfect it's just I like to nail down the science before the time comes to put it into practise.

Right. Well I'm not sure. People who go for the big look (that I know) have never crossed over. And I'd imagine its a huge psychological change. When you make your self big and bulky it becomes innately harder to excel at things like pull ups or swimming and running.

Ultimately, your body is an incredibly adaptive machine. To do more work, muscles tear and grow to be able to do more work. When your goal is to get from A to B in X amount of time, or to get from A to B and still complete job X, your muscles become more striated. This isn't incidental.

Bigger muscles weigh a lot. And you want to keep in mind that if you're trying to carry that weight over a considerable distance, your joints, bones, and tendons are going to get brutalized. When that issue normally comes up I suggest people swim. Nothing removes stress on the cogs and gears like swimming. But if you've made yourself bulky, you're going to sink. The other down side is that unlike muscles, bones don't heal as easily or as well. I can stop using my left pec. Its a bitch not to stand for 4-6 weeks.

Theres a premium on being huge. Men think it makes them look better and be of a higher value. Men certainly believe woman think that. I can't speak to that but sizeable bulk is used for primarily 1 thing - force. Unless you're a professional mover or a body builder, your options are limited beyond appearance.

Every gym rat in the country has their own theory on whats best. But for over all health, its hard to beat regular exercise, cardio, and a healthy diet. Like most things, Balance always wins out. It might be nice to be huge in your 20's, but over a lifetime, for health in general endurance has no equal. We're all just cheating death anyway, and you don't get the opportunity to fistfight death. Its best to run away. The faster, the better.