How do i get big?
99JT
Posts: 59 Member
i am 6' 169 lbs and have been trying to bulk up for a while but am having a hard time putting on muscle. i am currently getting 3500 calories and maintaining weight. last time i tried bulking i went up to 4k calories and gained some weight but the only thing that got bigger was my waist.
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Replies
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Small surplus + progressive overload lifting program + time. Bump to 3800 and follow a good lifting program.3
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ive been doing the vikings bare Bones 5 day split for about 6 week
https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=172565211&page=10 -
ive been doing the vikings bare Bones 5 day split for about 6 week
https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=172565211&page=1
What were you doing before? 6 weeks is barely enough time to expect appreciable gains.
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I'm just here to pay you a compliment: Nice arms!
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Out of curiosity, how long have you been lifting?0
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Mellonator81 wrote: »I'm just here to pay you a compliment: Nice arms!
Thanks0 -
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piperdown44 wrote: »
i am adding reps every week and weight once i hit my rep goal.0 -
I used to lift with a bodybuilder and he always said there are two things you need to get big. Eat big, lift big. He would eat no less than 6 meals a day. He would lift heavy for no less than an hour a day. Eat a meat protein source with every meal.7
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gearhead426hemi wrote: »I used to lift with a bodybuilder and he always said there are two things you need to get big. Eat big, lift big. He would eat no less than 6 meals a day. He would lift heavy for no less than an hour a day. Eat a meat protein source with every meal.
An hour of lifting every day isn't necessarily optimal for everyone and meal timing has nothing to do with gains because it's really all about calories. Many bodybuilders follow broscience because that's what all bodybuilders used to do (back when calories weren't really well known and women had to exercise separately in fitness clubs rather than gyms). Science and bodybuilding have come a long way since then.11 -
The basic premise of gearhead's post was right though, eat big and lift big. Heavier weight, fewer reps works for me when bulking. Keep quality calories higher than you're burning, high protein intake and try to add more weight to your workouts. Don't feel obligated to stick to a timeframe adding weight though, you don't have to add some every week but when you feel like you're knocking out 6-8 reps with some ease it's time to increase the weight.4
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Any advise on getting quality calories? At 3500 it's been hard to get without eating junk.0
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If you want to put on good weight you're going to have to accept some fat gains as well. Generally, you bulk up and put on muscle and some fat. A few months before summer you cut for a few months and reveal those beefed up muscles. Bulk, cut, bulk, cut. after a couple cycles (i.e. years) you'll start to see some major differences.1
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Does it matter if I hit any specific numbers for my macros besides protein? I have been getting 1.5g protein per pound.0
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Does it matter if I hit any specific numbers for my macros besides protein? I have been getting 1.5g protein per pound.
I've read anywhere from .6-1g per pound of body weight...after that, it won't really help or hurt you. I shoot for the high side of that and it seems to give me good results. I keep carbs up to help with workout intensity. Fats are to help me hit my daily calorie goals...it can be hard to pound that much food day in and day out.
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Way too many cals. Im on 2.1k cals a day but having like 240g of protein, via shacks and food. Don't do any cardio work at all whatsoever, and maybe change your sets. Leg press yesterday i did 8 sets, set of 20, 12, 10,10,10,8,6,4. 4 was my PBest. That was just after 7 sets of squats on the smith machine. I workout 5/6 days a week about 1hr-2hrs in each session depending what i'm doing. Triceps day is pretty quick 1hr, whereas legs is 1hr 40mins. You should see jumps in muscle mass if you come away with week arms or legs. Also I do a different set of muscles each day, which allows the set trained to rest, ie:b legs last night and now will probably do them again on Friday.6
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just to add to this, go out and read "TOTAL RECALL" by arnie, bloody good read and gives you an idea of the kind of work he was putting in and what protein he was taking. He based his on for every pound of weight he was it was equal to 1g of protein, hence he was on 250g a day.0
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Patients. How old are you? Age can make a huge difference, as you're metabolism is burning at a certain rate and your testosterone levels vary depending on age. Not to mention the entire process takes awhile. You should start monitoring your body fat so that you don't gain more fat than muscle. Perhaps 4,000 might be a bit too aggressive, yes you want to be in caloric surplus, but it doesn't have to be extreme. As for lifting, don't do cardio as stated above and push some more weight and challenge yourself in some way each week. You won't get stronger each week though but at least challenge your muscles every week if that makes sense to you? Also focus more on the big body groups and not so much on things like arms, people get way too hung up on trying to build arms, yet arms come mostly from compound lifts anyway.4
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I had success in my first two bulks with the following two programs, was doing PHUL during my first bulk, then the bodybuilding.com program during my second. Managed to put on muscle and stay relatively lean.
https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/phul-workout
https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/12-week-daily-bulking-trainer.htm
I have since bulked a bit too much, struggling with trying to cut while progressing on 531, so I keep having a few good days with food and then eating like I haven't seen food in a month for a few days. I think I need so stop letting my pride in big numbers get in my way and back off and cut so I can see all the muscle I have put on.
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Patients. How old are you? Age can make a huge difference, as you're metabolism is burning at a certain rate and your testosterone levels vary depending on age. Not to mention the entire process takes awhile. You should start monitoring your body fat so that you don't gain more fat than muscle. Perhaps 4,000 might be a bit too aggressive, yes you want to be in caloric surplus, but it doesn't have to be extreme. As for lifting, don't do cardio as stated above and push some more weight and challenge yourself in some way each week. You won't get stronger each week though but at least challenge your muscles every week if that makes sense to you? Also focus more on the big body groups and not so much on things like arms, people get way too hung up on trying to build arms, yet arms come mostly from compound lifts anyway.
Totally agree with this.... There are several core exercises you must do, to get bigger, Bench press, incline press, deadlifts etc etc but to name a few. I am now past that stage and do more singular workouts, ie: Tri day is 7-8 different exercises that just do the tri's and it bloody works. I set aside 1 day for cardio out of the 6 that I train, so i never mix with weights. Having said that I am trying to loose a bit of weight at the same time any way.1 -
You have to train for muscle hypertrophy to put on size. That means multiple sets with high reps (7-18 reps per set). Renaissance Periodization has an excellent men's physique program that's designed for putting on size. Google Renaissance Periodization Male Physique, and run the program at a caloric surplus. You will absolutely put on some solid muscle with this.2
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sewbank2934 wrote: »just to add to this, go out and read "TOTAL RECALL" by arnie, bloody good read and gives you an idea of the kind of work he was putting in and what protein he was taking. He based his on for every pound of weight he was it was equal to 1g of protein, hence he was on 250g a day.
Does he also detail his anabolic steroid stack/cycles? Because any discussion of how he got that big is hugely lacking without that aspect factored in.4 -
sewbank2934 wrote: »Way too many cals. Im on 2.1k cals a day but having like 240g of protein, via shacks and food. Don't do any cardio work at all whatsoever, and maybe change your sets. Leg press yesterday i did 8 sets, set of 20, 12, 10,10,10,8,6,4. 4 was my PBest. That was just after 7 sets of squats on the smith machine. I workout 5/6 days a week about 1hr-2hrs in each session depending what i'm doing. Triceps day is pretty quick 1hr, whereas legs is 1hr 40mins. You should see jumps in muscle mass if you come away with week arms or legs. Also I do a different set of muscles each day, which allows the set trained to rest, ie:b legs last night and now will probably do them again on Friday.
Because you eat 2100 cals you're assuming OP is eating too many?
Did you miss where he's currently maintaining on 3500......?
Also, you mention that you're "past that stage (compound movements) and do more singular workouts...", ok, sure... but for a beginner an entire workout devoted to triceps is not the most optimal way to go about it. Smaller muscles recover quickly and can be trained several times per week.2 -
sewbank2934 wrote: »Way too many cals. Im on 2.1k cals a day but having like 240g of protein, via shacks and food. Don't do any cardio work at all whatsoever, and maybe change your sets. Leg press yesterday i did 8 sets, set of 20, 12, 10,10,10,8,6,4. 4 was my PBest. That was just after 7 sets of squats on the smith machine. I workout 5/6 days a week about 1hr-2hrs in each session depending what i'm doing. Triceps day is pretty quick 1hr, whereas legs is 1hr 40mins. You should see jumps in muscle mass if you come away with week arms or legs. Also I do a different set of muscles each day, which allows the set trained to rest, ie:b legs last night and now will probably do them again on Friday.
You do realize that you are highly undertraining muscles if you only do it once per week, which will limit your gains?4 -
sewbank2934 wrote: »Way too many cals. Im on 2.1k cals a day but having like 240g of protein, via shacks and food. Don't do any cardio work at all whatsoever, and maybe change your sets. Leg press yesterday i did 8 sets, set of 20, 12, 10,10,10,8,6,4. 4 was my PBest. That was just after 7 sets of squats on the smith machine. I workout 5/6 days a week about 1hr-2hrs in each session depending what i'm doing. Triceps day is pretty quick 1hr, whereas legs is 1hr 40mins. You should see jumps in muscle mass if you come away with week arms or legs. Also I do a different set of muscles each day, which allows the set trained to rest, ie:b legs last night and now will probably do them again on Friday.
Are you male or female? I lose weight on 2100 calories.2 -
I was cutting at 3000 calories and loosing weight @ 2100 I would be a legit twig.0
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sewbank2934 wrote: »Way too many cals. Im on 2.1k cals a day but having like 240g of protein, via shacks and food. Don't do any cardio work at all whatsoever, and maybe change your sets. Leg press yesterday i did 8 sets, set of 20, 12, 10,10,10,8,6,4. 4 was my PBest. That was just after 7 sets of squats on the smith machine. I workout 5/6 days a week about 1hr-2hrs in each session depending what i'm doing. Triceps day is pretty quick 1hr, whereas legs is 1hr 40mins. You should see jumps in muscle mass if you come away with week arms or legs. Also I do a different set of muscles each day, which allows the set trained to rest, ie:b legs last night and now will probably do them again on Friday.
I LOVE ME SOME PROTEIN SHACKS! YUM!
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