How to bulk up?

[BoyBlue_1985]

Sorry to butt in.

I'd split it if I was you. In my opinion full body training wouldn't give you the gains your looking for as you wouldn't be focusing all you energy on a specific muscle group, might work for some tho.

I currently do:-
Back / Biceps
Chest / Triceps
Legs
Shoulders / Core

In and out of the gym in 45 mins max, keep the workout intense and no more than 60/90secs rest between sets.

And eat lots!

Loads of great advice on here from the likes of FI, Didactic & Co so have a good read through the whole thread (if you have time).

I have to split my chest and triceps work outs otherwise i cant lift my arms the next day

I used to do that but then took up a new routine (above) and stuck with it and have made some good progress. For the first few weeks the following day my arms struggled but after a few weeks the doms became less.

From by basic and limited knowledge you need to work the muscle enough to create small rips in the muscle fibres, as the muscle fibres heal they become bigger and stronger but you need to make sure that you leave enought time for the muscle to repear it's self. Using that theory is why I do chest and triceps on the same day, as then the triceps get enough rest before being worked again.

But everyone is different and what works for one might not work another. My mate does a split over 6 days Mon - chest, Tue - back, Wed - legs, Thur - shoulders, Fri - biceps, Sat - triceps and Sunday as a rest, really short intense workouts it works for him as he is huge (he also eats like a horse) but for me I can only get to the gym 4 times a week at the min.

Im the same i used to hang around the gym for an hour, hour and a half doing my work out then my PT said to me you could do you work out in 40 minutes instead of hanging around, from that i have seen much better improvement in my weight, stamina and form which is all great. With the saved time i have also managed to bang in a compound movement for a specific area at the end just to finish me off. Oh and kettle bells are the bollocks for all over workouts

 

[itsnevereasy]

I have to split my chest and triceps work outs otherwise i cant lift my arms the next day

I used to do that but then took up a new routine (above) and stuck with it and have made some good progress. For the first few weeks the following day my arms struggled but after a few weeks the doms became less.

From by basic and limited knowledge you need to work the muscle enough to create small rips in the muscle fibres, as the muscle fibres heal they become bigger and stronger but you need to make sure that you leave enought time for the muscle to repear it's self. Using that theory is why I do chest and triceps on the same day, as then the triceps get enough rest before being worked again.

But everyone is different and what works for one might not work another. My mate does a split over 6 days Mon - chest, Tue - back, Wed - legs, Thur - shoulders, Fri - biceps, Sat - triceps and Sunday as a rest, really short intense workouts it works for him as he is huge (he also eats like a horse) but for me I can only get to the gym 4 times a week at the min.

Im the same i used to hang around the gym for an hour, hour and a half doing my work out then my PT said to me you could do you work out in 40 minutes instead of hanging around, from that i have seen much better improvement in my weight, stamina and form which is all great. With the saved time i have also managed to bang in a compound movement for a specific area at the end just to finish me off. Oh and kettle bells are the bollocks for all over workouts

Never used kettle bells, I've looked at them a few times but all I can see is one ending up on my foot and a lot of swearing. Was bad enough when once I was in a world of my own and managed to unload one side of a barbell on the rack in one go, as I pulled the last plate off the barbell almost took my head off as the other side tipped and fell to the floor.

 

[Blue>Red]

Squat, squat, then squat again.

as in on a 3 day all body, 4 day upper/lower split?

Sorry to butt in.

I'd split it if I was you. In my opinion full body training wouldn't give you the gains your looking for as you wouldn't be focusing all you energy on a specific muscle group, might work for some tho.

I currently do:-
Back / Biceps
Chest / Triceps
Legs
Shoulders / Core

In and out of the gym in 45 mins max, keep the workout intense and no more than 60/90secs rest between sets.

And eat lots!

Loads of great advice on here from the likes of FI, Didactic & Co so have a good read through the whole thread (if you have time).

Last month or so I've actually been doing:
mon- chest
tue- back
wed- off
thur- shoulders
fri- arms
sat- legs

which is going ok, just not sure how much gain I'll get in my legs working them once a week. I understand that my tris and bis will get indirect work off chest/shoulders and back so it has enough arm work.

Cheers, I'll have a skim through the thread

 

[didactic]

out of interest didactic, what in your opinion would be best workout to gain mass whilst the football season has stopped? Im a young centre half (20) looking to bulk a bit, i suppose like Kompany did when he got moved back, id like to improve definitely in my legs and arms. Ive posted before but got mixed responses from people, any help appreciated.

Some good advice you have been given so far but since you are an athlete I would say the main focus is keeping you quick and not too bulky. So besides the deadlifts and squats you will need to do resistence exercises. These will require you to purchase an resistance band which you can find on many websites.http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk...ds-and-tubes?gclid=CLuAxOi2-K8CFYpjfAod-hggGw There are some wonderful videos on youtube on a wide range of things you can do with these. I am not saying do not do weights completely but alternate and throw in exercises where you use your own body weight. Pullups, dips to keep your body strong but to increase your stamina without using weights. Do not forget your posterior core training that will hit your back, abs and glutes and again you can find many videos on youtube on the best exercises for this.

Most important thing blue the diet and sleep. I know its hard at 20 but you cannot be training and partying hard. Restrict your drinking and eat clean there are many great examples of good foods in this thread as well as online. Get your rest and do not over extend your body its not the more you do the more results. Its the correct form and hitting the right muscle groups and then resting the muscles and allowing them to heal and grow that brings results.


Give the lads in here a shout if you have any questions and I hope you get the results you are looking for.<br /><br />-- Fri May 11, 2012 3:26 pm --<br /><br />

as in on a 3 day all body, 4 day upper/lower split?

Sorry to butt in.

I'd split it if I was you. In my opinion full body training wouldn't give you the gains your looking for as you wouldn't be focusing all you energy on a specific muscle group, might work for some tho.

I currently do:-
Back / Biceps
Chest / Triceps
Legs
Shoulders / Core

In and out of the gym in 45 mins max, keep the workout intense and no more than 60/90secs rest between sets.

And eat lots!

Loads of great advice on here from the likes of FI, Didactic & Co so have a good read through the whole thread (if you have time).

Last month or so I've actually been doing:
mon- chest
tue- back
wed- off
thur- shoulders
fri- arms
sat- legs

which is going ok, just not sure how much gain I'll get in my legs working them once a week. I understand that my tris and bis will get indirect work off chest/shoulders and back so it has enough arm work.

Cheers, I'll have a skim through the thread

What are you doing for each muscle group can you list the exercises?.

 

[Dirty Harry]

as in on a 3 day all body, 4 day upper/lower split?

Sorry to butt in.

I'd split it if I was you. In my opinion full body training wouldn't give you the gains your looking for as you wouldn't be focusing all you energy on a specific muscle group, might work for some tho.

I currently do:-
Back / Biceps
Chest / Triceps
Legs
Shoulders / Core

In and out of the gym in 45 mins max, keep the workout intense and no more than 60/90secs rest between sets.

And eat lots!

Loads of great advice on here from the likes of FI, Didactic & Co so have a good read through the whole thread (if you have time).

Last month or so I've actually been doing:
mon- chest
tue- back
wed- off
thur- shoulders
fri- arms
sat- legs

which is going ok, just not sure how much gain I'll get in my legs working them once a week. I understand that my tris and bis will get indirect work off chest/shoulders and back so it has enough arm work.

Cheers, I'll have a skim through the thread

If it's to improve your strength, performance and gain some muscle etc for football mate you'd be better sticking to something very simple, base it around squats, deads, bench, overhead press, cleans or clean and press, use a lower rep range of 3 reps and aim for around (ideally) 8 sets of each and concentrate on explosive power when lifting.

Do it a couple of times a week and keep the workouts seperate from any football so you're fresh when going to the gym, take a protein shake for afterwards and generally tidy up your diet and slightly increase your macronutrients (ie Protein, fats, carbs) using good sources.

Remember mate, you're not a bodybuilder/strength athlete, you're doing it to improve for a specific sport thus your routine and diet needs to be tailored as such.

Good luck.

 

[Blue>Red]

What are you doing for each muscle group can you list the exercises?.

Sorry, bit of a long post to give you a full idea.

Cheers, appreciate the help a lot. My flatmate has resistance bands so thats not a problem and Ill have a look into that. Basically, im 6 foot 3 and 13 stone,(was 11 stone 11 lbs a year ago before started weight training, but hit a bit of a wall atm) bf at about 10-11 per cent a few months ago, and play semi pro, and some of the strikers i come up against are a fair bit stronger. Im not looking to be massive by any means, my upper body isnt too bad, i have quite thin legs.
But my target would be inbetween 13 and a half to 14 stone, looking at professional centre halves, they're big and powerful and I could do with reaching that. Look at Lescott and Vinnie for example. I dont know how big you are so dont know how big they seem to you haha, anyway here's what im doing atm:

Chest:
Bench Press (3 sets, 8-10 reps)
Incline Chest Press (3 sets, 8 reps)
Decline Chest Press (3 sets, 8 reps)
Flies (3 sets, 10 reps)

Back:
Pullups (3 sets, 8 reps)
Barbell Rows overhand grip (3 sets, 8 reps)
Lat Pull Downs behind neck (3 sets,8 reps)
Lat Pull Downs infront (3 sets, 8 reps)
Barbell Rows underhand grip (3 sets, 8 reps)
Dumbbell rows (3 sets, 8 reps)

Shoulders:
Dumbbell press (3 sets, 8 reps)
Overhead Press (3 sets, 8 reps)
Lateral raises (3 sets, 10 reps)
cable machine pull across, no idea what its called (3 sets, 10 reps)
then some other variant exercise

Arms:
Skullcrushers (3 sets, 8 reps)
weighted Chin Ups (3 sets, 8 reps)
A tricep extension above head with dumbbell (3 sets, 8 reps)
incline dumbbell curls (3 sets, 8 reps)
Rope Pulldowns (3 sets, 8 reps)
Hammers/regular/preacher curls (3 sets, 8 reps)

Legs:
Squat (4-5 sets, 8-10 reps)
Leg Press (3 sets, 10 reps)
Straight leg deadlifts (3 sets, 8 reps)
Leg extensions (3 sets, 8 reps)
hamstring curls (3 sets, 8 reps)
calf raises on smith machine/leg press machine (3 sets, 15 reps)

In terms of diet on an average day:
Morning - porridge and protein shake
snack - tin of tuna, 2 slices of maltloaf and peanut butter
lunch - tuna and cheese sandwich on wholemeal bread
snack - about 100g cashew nuts, protein shake with milk
tea - mince/chicken with brown rice/brown pasta and veg
before bed - cottage cheese and crackers

any helps appreciated, Im not a complete beginner but looking for assistance to reach my target size and then maintain

f it's to improve your strength, performance and gain some muscle etc for football mate you'd be better sticking to something very simple, base it around squats, deads, bench, overhead press, cleans or clean and press, use a lower rep range of 3 reps and aim for around (ideally) 8 sets of each and concentrate on explosive power when lifting.

Do it a couple of times a week and keep the workouts seperate from any football so you're fresh when going to the gym, take a protein shake for afterwards and generally tidy up your diet and slightly increase your macronutrients (ie Protein, fats, carbs) using good sources.

Remember mate, you're not a bodybuilder/strength athlete, you're doing it to improve for a specific sport thus your routine and diet needs to be tailored as such.

Good luck.

Thanks, will that explosive 3 rep stuff build any more mass? obviously I take it will require progressive overload? Yeah cheers I have to remind myself that sometimes too, just there's a lot of contrasting information on the internet when it comes to articles etc

 

[didactic]

What are you doing for each muscle group can you list the exercises?.

Sorry, bit of a long post to give you a full idea.

Cheers, appreciate the help a lot. My flatmate has resistance bands so thats not a problem and Ill have a look into that. Basically, im 6 foot 3 and 13 stone,(was 11 stone 11 lbs a year ago before started weight training, but hit a bit of a wall atm) bf at about 10-11 per cent a few months ago, and play semi pro, and some of the strikers i come up against are a fair bit stronger. Im not looking to be massive by any means, my upper body isnt too bad, i have quite thin legs.
But my target would be inbetween 13 and a half to 14 stone, looking at professional centre halves, they're big and powerful and I could do with reaching that. Look at Lescott and Vinnie for example. I dont know how big you are so dont know how big they seem to you haha, anyway here's what im doing atm:

Chest:
Bench Press (3 sets, 8-10 reps)
Incline Chest Press (3 sets, 8 reps)
Decline Chest Press (3 sets, 8 reps)
Flies (3 sets, 10 reps)

Back:
Pullups (3 sets, 8 reps)
Barbell Rows overhand grip (3 sets, 8 reps)
Lat Pull Downs behind neck (3 sets,8 reps)
Lat Pull Downs infront (3 sets, 8 reps)
Barbell Rows underhand grip (3 sets, 8 reps)
Dumbbell rows (3 sets, 8 reps)

Shoulders:
Dumbbell press (3 sets, 8 reps)
Overhead Press (3 sets, 8 reps)
Lateral raises (3 sets, 10 reps)
cable machine pull across, no idea what its called (3 sets, 10 reps)
then some other variant exercise

Arms:
Skullcrushers (3 sets, 8 reps)
weighted Chin Ups (3 sets, 8 reps)
A tricep extension above head with dumbbell (3 sets, 8 reps)
incline dumbbell curls (3 sets, 8 reps)
Rope Pulldowns (3 sets, 8 reps)
Hammers/regular/preacher curls (3 sets, 8 reps)

Legs:
Squat (4-5 sets, 8-10 reps)
Leg Press (3 sets, 10 reps)
Straight leg deadlifts (3 sets, 8 reps)
Leg extensions (3 sets, 8 reps)
hamstring curls (3 sets, 8 reps)
calf raises on smith machine/leg press machine (3 sets, 15 reps)

In terms of diet on an average day:
Morning - porridge and protein shake
snack - tin of tuna, 2 slices of maltloaf and peanut butter
lunch - tuna and cheese sandwich on wholemeal bread
snack - about 100g cashew nuts, protein shake with milk
tea - mince/chicken with brown rice/brown pasta and veg
before bed - cottage cheese and crackers

any helps appreciated, Im not a complete beginner but looking for assistance to reach my target size and then maintain

Ok the way you are training you going to gain size and lose speed. Also you did not list your cardio so I am assuming as you are semi pro you must train fairly regularly?

That routine is not for an athlete I would suggest alternating by week so one week you do that routine. Next week you substitute the exercises using ones that do not require weights but only your body and a resistance band. Also when are you resting if you do all that during the week as well as play football?

Throw in posterior core training on back and leg day too. I think you may be over working yourself a tad but as I do not know your football training pattern I am unsure.

 

[Blue>Red]

Ok the way you are training you going to gain size and lose speed. Also you did not list your cardio so I am assuming as you are semi pro you must train fairly regularly?

That routine is not for an athlete I would suggest alternating by week so one week you do that routine. Next week you substitute the exercises using ones that do not require weights but only your body and a resistance band. Also when are you resting if you do all that during the week as well as play football.

Throw in posterior core training on back and leg day too. I think you may be over working yourself a tad but as I do not know your football training pattern I am unsure.

sorry i should have been more clear. Thats what I am doing at the moment whilst Im playing football for uni but my semi-pro football season has finished. I will be starting pre season again in July and wanted to gain a bit of size whilst not doing as much cardio. Yeah, there's no need for me to do cardio in the gym, I get enough done at training.

During the season I play for my club and also for uni, so usually looks like this:

Monday- training for uni
tuesday - training for club
wed - uni game
thur - strength and conditioning with uni or training with club
fri - nothing
sat - game for club
sun - nothing

Clearly I wouldnt throw in a 5 day split over that. In season I was doing 3 day all body workouts (monday-wednesday-friday). But for now Im not doing much and see it as an ideal time to add half a stone or so, as this will be very difficult in season. What do you reckon? What exercises do you suggest for posterior core work? Also forgot to mention I do abs 2-3 times a week in terms of core, usually in the evenings though.

 

[Challenger1978]

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+

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Or find someone that has a thyroid problem and is willing to sell you some of their human growth hormone medication.

 

[Dirty Harry]

f it's to improve your strength, performance and gain some muscle etc for football mate you'd be better sticking to something very simple, base it around squats, deads, bench, overhead press, cleans or clean and press, use a lower rep range of 3 reps and aim for around (ideally) 8 sets of each and concentrate on explosive power when lifting.

Do it a couple of times a week and keep the workouts seperate from any football so you're fresh when going to the gym, take a protein shake for afterwards and generally tidy up your diet and slightly increase your macronutrients (ie Protein, fats, carbs) using good sources.

Remember mate, you're not a bodybuilder/strength athlete, you're doing it to improve for a specific sport thus your routine and diet needs to be tailored as such.

Good luck.

Thanks, will that explosive 3 rep stuff build any more mass? obviously I take it will require progressive overload? Yeah cheers I have to remind myself that sometimes too, just there's a lot of contrasting information on the internet when it comes to articles etc

It will build mass, moreso providing your diet is keyed in to it mate yes, and it will be more than sufficient, it's not optimum for most, but that isn't the greatest priority for you here, strength, explosive power and (keeping and enhancing your) speed is, the extra muscle you will gain will come as a matter of course.

Don't let that put you off though, I have quite a few friends who are pro boxers, sprinters, athletes etc, all use or have used in the past the above kind of routine/set/rep system when it comes to using weights to improve their sporting performance.