How to bulk up?

[hilts]

Excuses Hilts......

Train yourself to eat,i did.

Start with a protein/fruit shake on waking,make it the night before.Slowly introduce solids,again prepared the night before,and gradually your appetite will increase especially as youre training heavier and harder - youll soon be waking starving!

During the day snack on boiled eggs,almonds,tinned fish,fruit,protein shakes etc. - all can be consumed in a 'toilet' break if need be - no excuses if the desire is there.

Preperation is key,make food the night before.

In fairness i don't do excuses, i wanted to lose 2 stone in a couple of months i did it, i get six hours kip, am out of the house for 14 hours a days and am generally knackered all week, i could just do nothing but i didnt i ran and did weights 3 times a week, i fucked my leg up, could have given in but i have done exercises for it everyday for 3 months and have started running all over again starting from the beginning, i gave my food intake before and i am eating pretty much everything you mentioned already

I drive buses i don't have a toilet break, if i have never been able to eat in the morning that is life not an excuse, as of now getting up at 5, work, run, weights, work all on sometimes 1000 calories, if i was going to wake up starving it would have happened by now trust me

I wish i could do the weights and running together and all body parts on the same day, this is not possible from this thread, i need to do free weights which thanks to you and others i also accept, so i need a plan on how to do this and have had some good input, think i will get a instructor to show me the ropes

how i get around access i am not sure yet but a workmate says he goes to a gym which is dead during the day so might switch

my only concern food wise is that after getting rid of my body fat i will not put it back on to bulk up, i don't want to be massive just defined and healthy

five days legs run push run pull seems a good starting point

This is where your diet is key, and you shouldn't let it hold you back from packing on some muscle.

You will almost certainly, to some degree, add a little bit of fat whilst you're bulking up. You'll never get your calorie intake perfectly in sync with your calorie expenditure, but it's no worries. As long as you're sensible, you won't wake up having put your gut back on overnight, but also as I mentioned earlier, as the rest of you grows, the level of body fat you can get away with increases.

Plus, you've lost it once, you know you can do it. That's a step up on many people already.

Cheers fella think i will start on the legs, pull push programme reduce my running from 3 to 2 times a week, i am off in a couple of weeks so will get to the gym with my lad to have a go on the free weights at a gym he was a member of

will make a smoothie up for the morning and try and get it down my neck during the morning, this will add 500-600 cals to my diet, just need to look into warm ups which i have never done before and decide on 3x8 or 5x5, always started at highest weight and reduce per set, most seem to recommend keeping the same weight

 

[idahoblues]

Guinness...and lots of it

 

[adrianr]

In fairness i don't do excuses, i wanted to lose 2 stone in a couple of months i did it, i get six hours kip, am out of the house for 14 hours a days and am generally knackered all week, i could just do nothing but i didnt i ran and did weights 3 times a week, i fucked my leg up, could have given in but i have done exercises for it everyday for 3 months and have started running all over again starting from the beginning, i gave my food intake before and i am eating pretty much everything you mentioned already

I drive buses i don't have a toilet break, if i have never been able to eat in the morning that is life not an excuse, as of now getting up at 5, work, run, weights, work all on sometimes 1000 calories, if i was going to wake up starving it would have happened by now trust me

I wish i could do the weights and running together and all body parts on the same day, this is not possible from this thread, i need to do free weights which thanks to you and others i also accept, so i need a plan on how to do this and have had some good input, think i will get a instructor to show me the ropes

how i get around access i am not sure yet but a workmate says he goes to a gym which is dead during the day so might switch

my only concern food wise is that after getting rid of my body fat i will not put it back on to bulk up, i don't want to be massive just defined and healthy

five days legs run push run pull seems a good starting point

This is where your diet is key, and you shouldn't let it hold you back from packing on some muscle.

You will almost certainly, to some degree, add a little bit of fat whilst you're bulking up. You'll never get your calorie intake perfectly in sync with your calorie expenditure, but it's no worries. As long as you're sensible, you won't wake up having put your gut back on overnight, but also as I mentioned earlier, as the rest of you grows, the level of body fat you can get away with increases.

Plus, you've lost it once, you know you can do it. That's a step up on many people already.

Cheers fella think i will start on the legs, pull push programme reduce my running from 3 to 2 times a week, i am off in a couple of weeks so will get to the gym with my lad to have a go on the free weights at a gym he was a member of

will make a smoothie up for the morning and try and get it down my neck during the morning, this will add 500-600 cals to my diet, just need to look into warm ups which i have never done before and decide on 3x8 or 5x5, always started at highest weight and reduce per set, most seem to recommend keeping the same weight

I drop weight and increase reps, but everyone has their own preference. There is an insane amount of opinion out there masquerading as accepted scientific fact so keep an open mind. What is always a benefit at the beginning is keeping it simple. Whether 3x8 or 5x5, they're nice easy programs to follow, just remember to keep a little notebook log of what you're lifting to track your progress (Mentally, I find this a great aid. Not only does it remind me where to start for a given workout, but it gives me targets to beat and shows clear progress if it's feeling stagnant).

 

[decmancity]

Dirty Harry, a while ago you wrote out a gym plan for me and I just wanted to say thanks again for that.

Just a few questions, I have been doing the benchpress and the dumbbell curls with just the free weights..

My gym though has a bicep curl machine and also the proper bench press with the bar and weights.

Would I be best off using these instead of the free weights or does it not matter?

 

[Dirty Harry]

Dirty Harry, a while ago you wrote out a gym plan for me and I just wanted to say thanks again for that.

Just a few questions, I have been doing the benchpress and the dumbbell curls with just the free weights..

My gym though has a bicep curl machine and also the proper bench press with the bar and weights.

Would I be best off using these instead of the free weights or does it not matter?

Was it this one mate :-

Monday
Bench press of some form with a slight incline
Standing military barbell press
Dips (weighted when you get strong enough)

Weds
Squat
Leg press
Leg curl (do a minimum of 8 reps on this one though)

Friday
Deadlift (use the free weights you have and nail form, but keep reps in the lower region ie 6 and below )
Chins/pull-ups or lat pulldowns (stick at it if you do chins/pull-ups :-) and the same a dips when you can do 5x5)
Dumbbell curls

And finish off with some cardio-vascular exercise for 20-30 minutes.


Tbh, it matters little really but using a bench set-up designed specifically for bench pressing will probably aid you as you start using heavier weight and get you comfortable/accustomed to it, (and I'm assuming it's not a fixed flat bench style set-up, if it is I'd alternate it with some slight incline stuff ), the machine curls as opposed to dumbbell curls, pretty much the same, what ever you prefer, in the grand scheme of things it isn't worth worrying about :-)

The main thing is just making sure you're progressing in each exercise really CTID.

 

[SiMCFC]

Dirty Harry, a while ago you wrote out a gym plan for me and I just wanted to say thanks again for that.

Just a few questions, I have been doing the benchpress and the dumbbell curls with just the free weights..

My gym though has a bicep curl machine and also the proper bench press with the bar and weights.

Would I be best off using these instead of the free weights or does it not matter?

Was it this one mate :-

Monday
Bench press of some form with a slight incline
Standing military barbell press
Dips (weighted when you get strong enough)

Weds
Squat
Leg press
Leg curl (do a minimum of 8 reps on this one though)

Friday
Deadlift (use the free weights you have and nail form, but keep reps in the lower region ie 6 and below )
Chins/pull-ups or lat pulldowns (stick at it if you do chins/pull-ups :-) and the same a dips when you can do 5x5)
Dumbbell curls

And finish off with some cardio-vascular exercise for 20-30 minutes.


Tbh, it matters little really but using a bench set-up designed specifically for bench pressing will probably aid you as you start using heavier weight and get you comfortable/accustomed to it, (and I'm assuming it's not a fixed flat bench style set-up, if it is I'd alternate it with some slight incline stuff ), the machine curls as opposed to dumbbell curls, pretty much the same, what ever you prefer, in the grand scheme of things it isn't worth worrying about :-)

The main thing is just making sure you're progressing in each exercise really CTID.

Interesting point you made there DH regarding machine curls etc. A couple of weeks ago in the gym I go to, I got the piss ripped outa me big style for using the curls machine by a group of lads.

Ordinarily it wouldn't have bothered me but i'd had an awful nights sleep so was in a bit of a grump, I watched these lads in the free weights area and not one of them did a 'proper' dumbell curl, there form was shite and the movement was very jerky. It made me think afterwards, surely using a machine for some exercises must be better as you can't cheat the form? I also find I push myself harder when I know i'm not going to drop a heavy weight in the middle of the gym!

What are your thoughts mate?

 

[Dirty Harry]

Interesting point you made there DH regarding machine curls etc. A couple of weeks ago in the gym I go to, I got the piss ripped outa me big style for using the curls machine by a group of lads.

Ordinarily it wouldn't have bothered me but i'd had an awful nights sleep so was in a bit of a grump, I watched these lads in the free weights area and not one of them did a 'proper' dumbell curl, there form was shite and the movement was very jerky. It made me think afterwards, surely using a machine for some exercises must be better as you can't cheat the form? I also find I push myself harder when I know i'm not going to drop a heavy weight in the middle of the gym!

What are your thoughts mate?

My first thoughts are that that night, there were some right wankers training at your gym Si ;-).

Seriously though, ok, standing curls with free weights may offer slightly more in that it will involve core/stabilizing muscles during it, whereas machine curls won't, but the fact remains, if your routine is decent enough, then you shouldn't be having to rely on standing curls with free weights as a means to work any core/stabilizing muscles, it should already have been taken care of with compounds in their various forms.

Truth is Si, a muscle doesn't know whether you're lifting a free weight or using a machine, it doesn't have the capacity to think like that, it just performs the movement from A to B, simple as really, so if you enjoy doing them on the machine, then carry on mate :-).

 

[decmancity]

Yeh that was it DH.
Cheers mate will see if I can get on the bench press (which does have incline) or the other which is decline.

Will use the curl machine as well if possible!

 

[FantasyIreland]

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGxpaHlJ9k0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGxpaHlJ9k0</a>

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2mlr_p8MOc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2mlr_p8MOc</a>

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUud4MUwyIo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUud4MUwyIo</a>


Wow,even i'm not that awesome......

 

[BlueHammer85]

Dirty Harry, a while ago you wrote out a gym plan for me and I just wanted to say thanks again for that.

Just a few questions, I have been doing the benchpress and the dumbbell curls with just the free weights..

My gym though has a bicep curl machine and also the proper bench press with the bar and weights.

Would I be best off using these instead of the free weights or does it not matter?

Free weights are much better for muscle growth