How to Bulk?

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Replies

  • MrGonzo05
    MrGonzo05 Posts: 1,120 Member
    1.

    A program is more than a list of exercises, sets, and reps. If you don't know what I mean, you don't follow a good program.

    You will get excellent results as a novice from a 3x a week full body program; pick a well established one.


    2.

    If you want to build muscle, you will eat more.

    3.

    Macros and micros important, but it's not necessary that you bulk on plain chicken, rice, and steamed vegetables. There is plenty of room for foods that you most enjoy.
  • darrensurrey
    darrensurrey Posts: 3,942 Member
    to bulk you need 3 things... full fat milk, peanut butter and a spoon... actually the spoon is optional...

    That's a relief. My dentist would love it if I tried to eat a spoon.

    stoooopid!

    obviously i meant a teaspoon that you could down in one!

    Dagnammit. So that's where I've been going wrong! *spits out teeth*
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    to bulk you need 3 things... full fat milk, peanut butter and a spoon... actually the spoon is optional...

    Y I see no ice cream?
  • TriLifter
    TriLifter Posts: 1,283 Member
    to bulk you need 3 things... full fat milk, peanut butter and a spoon... actually the spoon is optional...

    Y I see no ice cream?

    This! I'm bulking an ice cream is fast becoming a staple.

    To the OP: I agree, SL5x5 is your best bet right now. I've been lifting for a long time and now have been bulking for 9.5 weeks and only just recently changed to an intermediate program.
  • MisterDerpington
    MisterDerpington Posts: 604 Member
    Freudian slip of legs day. Sounds like every other dude in the gym. Looks ripped from the waist up. Chicken legs.
  • jackwrobel1
    jackwrobel1 Posts: 3
    edit.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    ...ahem... where's the leg work?

    BB_O7f2CEAAlaTm.jpg

    The guy in pink could do legs, he has decent calves. The guy in blue's aren't that bad either but yeah, out of proportion to his upper body. The guy in yellow is just sad, sad.
  • Danny_Boy13
    Danny_Boy13 Posts: 2,094 Member
    Not sure what all has been said but here is my take:

    Based on your young age / goals I wouldn't mess with the bro splits (Backs, / Bi's, Chest / Tri's, Ect). If you are new to lifting and want to bulk you need to lift heavy (80-85% 1 rep max) that are compound litts and eat, eat, eat. At your young age this will be key. Volume work will make bulking harder due to the fact that you are burning more cals then if you did traditional strength training protocol. 5/3/1, Starting Strength and Strong Lifts are all great programs for the beginner. Also NEVER SKIP LEG DAY.... I did not see any leg work in there. There is nothing worse to see a guy cut and have twigs for legs... This is all from a guy that was of your similar build are was doing exactly what you listed. If I could do it all over again this is what I would do:

    - Build a strong base foundation focused on Strength Training for a good solid 12+ months... NO split routines.
    - Buckle down your diet. You should be eating good wholesome foods and at a calorie surplus. You can aid this with supplementation but the majority of your cals should be coming from wholefoods.
    - Once some good slabs of meat have been packed on then start to toy with split routines but strength training should still be a part of your training.

    This is just the way I would do it if I could do it all over again. No telling where I could have been had I did. Just my $0.02
  • Danny_Boy13
    Danny_Boy13 Posts: 2,094 Member
    Jason Blaha's Ice Cream Fitness 5x5 Novice Program

    Week One

    Day 1 - Workout A
    Day 2 - Rest
    Day 3 - Workout B
    Day 4 - Rest
    Day 5 - Workout A
    Days 6 & 7 - Rest
    Week Two

    Day 1 - Workout B
    Day 2 - Rest
    Day 3 - Workout A
    Day 4 - Rest
    Day 5 - Workout B
    Days 6 & 7 - Rest

    Workout A

    Exercise Sets Reps
    Squats 5 5
    Bench Press 5 5
    Bent Over Row 5 5
    Barbell Shrugs 3 8
    Tricep Extensions 3 8
    Straight Bar or Incline Curls 3 8
    Hyperextensions with plate 2 10
    Cable Crunches 3 10

    Workout B

    Exercise Sets Reps
    Squats 5 5
    Deadlift 1 5
    Standing Press 5 5
    Bent Over Row (10% lighter than Workout A) 5 5
    Close Grip Bench Press 3 8
    Straight Bar or Incline Curls 3 8
    Cable Crunches 3 10

    1 1/2 hours a workout. Break times between sets are 3-5 minutes for the 5x5 sets and 1-2 minutes for the 3x8 sets.

    This still seems like a little too much volume for a bulk IMO. No need to do Isolation lifts for a person on a bulk. If you want to hit Tri's do weighted dips.... hits not only the tri's but shoulders and even some chest. Biceps.... do chinups. Not only are the bi's hit but the forearms and lats also getting the work. Again, just my $0.02
  • Steveburg123
    Steveburg123 Posts: 23
    Hi,
    Gaining as well as losing weight both are difficult task as I have alone of my cousin who is very skinny and is trying to gain weight since last year but I haven't seen any scope of gaining in her. She is 23 and eats more as well as healthier food than a normal person of same age. She had tried many things to gain weight but get no output till now. So, please help me out for my cousin for gaining weight.
  • darreneatschicken
    darreneatschicken Posts: 669 Member
    Thanks everyone for your advice!

    I think I'm going to start with StrongLifts.

    So correct me if I'm wrong, but the workout routine would look something like this...

    Monday: Workout A

    Tuesday: Rest

    Wednesday: Workout B

    Thursday: Rest

    Friday: Workout A

    Saturday: Rest

    Sunday: Rest

    Monday: Workout B

    ...and then on and on.

    So what should I do for a warm up? 5 minutes on the bicycle?

    And what would be the best way to learn how to do overhead press? Schedule a private personal training session and do the entire workout with a trainer? Or just ask the trainer at the gym to help me for a few minutes? Or do the same workout with a friend who has been going to the gym for a while?

    Also, what are micros and macros?
  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,751 Member
    macronutrients - protein, carbs and fat
    micronutrients - vitamins, minerals
  • MisterDerpington
    MisterDerpington Posts: 604 Member
    ...ahem... where's the leg work?

    BB_O7f2CEAAlaTm.jpg

    The guy in pink could do legs, he has decent calves. The guy in blue's aren't that bad either but yeah, out of proportion to his upper body. The guy in yellow is just sad, sad.

    I'm sorry, but no. If they even squatted their bodyweight, their quads wouldn't look like that.
  • AverageUkDude
    AverageUkDude Posts: 371 Member
    Thanks everyone for your advice!

    I think I'm going to start with StrongLifts.

    So correct me if I'm wrong, but the workout routine would look something like this...

    Monday: Workout A

    Tuesday: Rest

    Wednesday: Workout B

    Thursday: Rest

    Friday: Workout A

    Saturday: Rest

    Sunday: Rest

    Monday: Workout B

    ...and then on and on.

    So what should I do for a warm up? 5 minutes on the bicycle?

    And what would be the best way to learn how to do overhead press? Schedule a private personal training session and do the entire workout with a trainer? Or just ask the trainer at the gym to help me for a few minutes? Or do the same workout with a friend who has been going to the gym for a while?

    Also, what are micros and macros?

    for me a warm up would be some dynamic stretching and mobility work, plus foam rolling. But that's because i have a ****ed up back and have lots of muscle imbalances etc.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    strong lifts will be a good start.

    I do KB swings often as a warm up- recently I started doing a 3 minute interval
    30/30 seconds
    Swings
    Box jumps

    Micros and macros
    Macro-nutrients = protein, fat, carbs- the things you MUST consume to survive
    Micronutrients = also important but 'micro's aren't something you need to spend your time worrying about- if you eat a variety of foods- you'll usually hit your minimum requirements of micros.

    Typically you'll see 40/30/30 or 40/40/20 or some arrangement- those are percentages- I always list protein first- people will list them in various ways- but it's very trial and error based- if you are bulking protein and carbs are you friends- I was 40 P/40 F/20 C but I changed to 40P/30F/30C to accommodate my bulk- I hit that fairly consistently.

    You just really need to play around with it and figure out what works for you there is no RIGHT answer ever on this one.
  • darreneatschicken
    darreneatschicken Posts: 669 Member
    how long should rests between sets be (for Stronglifts)?
  • MinimalistShoeAddict
    MinimalistShoeAddict Posts: 1,946 Member
    I would want to do Stronglifts more though, because it only takes 45 minutes, and would be good, since I am quite busy these days. The problem is that I don't know how to do an overhead press properly. Should I ask a person working at the gym to teach me how?

    Starting Strength also has an exercise called power clean that I don't know how to do.

    So in conclusion, I would really like to do Stronglifts, but I don't know how to do the overhead press properly. So, should I go with Jason Blaha's workout? I know all his exercises, and would be playing it safe. The only downside is that it takes twice the time of Stronglifts, but I'm willing to accept that there are no short-cuts in bulking. What do you guys think?

    All 3 of those programs look fine to me. For the record I am almost your same weight and height. I started Stronglifts 5x5 in January had some initial success, took it easy for a while during marathon training. No I am focusing on it again while eating at a surplus which I did not want to do until after my marathon.

    I had not done OHP or Power Cleans before either. There are tons of videos on YouTube you can watch over and over again to compare against video of yourself in order to perfect your form. I am not lifting a lot of weight yet but feel like my form has improved drastically by recording my lifts to compare against the examples online.

    OHP video (Stronglifts)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro3Mh9o7JPU

    Power Clean video (Starting Strength)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF_15q2vaEk
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tXcS0Xp1aE

    Good luck!
  • zipnguyen
    zipnguyen Posts: 990 Member
    OP's new to lifting so a couple of things. You're tracking macros, nice. Hopefully tweaking them from a week to week, month to month basis.

    Since you're new to lifting focus on the main lifts: squat, deadlift, bench and secondary lifts like military press, and various rows. Try to minimize (not eliminate) accessory work. Over say a period of 3-5 years you can reevaluate your physique and add more volume to otherwise laggy body parts. As in, maybe you're tricep dominant and triceps on you tend to grow relative to chest, so add more accessory work for chest.

    When I started (15 years old) I was 145lbs 5'8"; still 5'8" but I'm 36 now.
  • FitnessFanatic556
    FitnessFanatic556 Posts: 1
    you said in one of your posts dat dis program doesnt have any leg work? you squat every workout!!

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