Muscle gaining tips???

I am going to bump in on this one too. AWESOME information here! The one piece of advice you absolutely HAVE to take to heart...is the lifting 3 days a week tops. When you're lifting heavy...you need a WEEK of rest on each muscle group for real gains.

Anyhow...as a slight hijack to the thread...I too am 5'7" tall, but I'm coming from the other end of the spectrum. I started at 215lbs, and am now down to 176-180lbs. I've used bodyweight exclusively (5x5 strength training format) to cut down and build up some muscle. I don't have access to heavy weights at the moment...but the bodyweight is working to the extent of I AM building muscle, and I AM cutting fat for the most part. I'd just like to be building more muscle is all lol. I was eating super clean, zig zagging calories, and I didn't feel like i was losing weight OR gaining muscle (I was plateaued at 189-192 for six weeks). I switched to Eat, Stop, Eat...and the weight is going down...my workouts are stronger...but I still don't feel like I have the mass I want. I'd like my end result to be 180-185lbs, 12%-14% body fat. Right now, as I mentioned...I'm 176-180lbs, and roughly 19%-20% via my own skin fold measurements.

Here's a couple current pictures, spaced a month apart (6/28 and 7/21):



Anyhow, along with Mateo...I'm more than willing to take some directions on which way to go with this. I currently own 15, 20, 30, and 35lb pairs of dumbbells. I feel like I need more weight to get any real gains with weights though....so it sort of sucks (dumbbells aren't cheap!). I have cut down my bodyfat quickly and effectively...but now what I'm wanting is added muscle mas, which brings a different sort of challenge with it =D.

Cris

Very interesting...

So I'm 6 ft tall and am currently at 184 lbs, which I think is a pretty good weight for me. However, I'd like to bulk up and add alot of muscle to my frame. I don'tt hink I'd like to add to it now, as it would proabbly mean I would end up somewhere around 10-15 lbs heavier, I'm guessing of course.

So would the recommended way to be to cut to even a lower weight, like 175 and then start bulking up?

I have no idea what my current bf% is.

I just don't want to waste my time and effort doing something inefficiently.

Hmm.. 6 ft at 184 is decent. Without seeing any body pics of yours honestly I would go for a 20% calorie surplus BULK for about 6-8 months, and THEN do a cut. You are going to gain a little fat, but you will be happy with the results I think from the cut with the muscle mass you will gain. In 8 months you can probably realistically gain about 15 pounds of solid muscle mass and then rest will be fat.

Alot of natty bodybuilders are HAPPY with gaining 20-25 lbs of muscle mass over their FIRST year of training. Your first year is the biggest. I've only heard of a few guys that gained more than 25-30 lbs their first year, and most likely had amazing genetics.

Also remember these keys:
- Diet
- Training Regime
- Consistency
- Hard work
- 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night
- Patience

I'm thinking I still have a kinda high % of BF. I'd eventually like to see some abs too, so I've read you really need to get down to at most about 12% to let them be seen. I've mainly done body weight exercising to try to minimize muscle loos while losing 50+ lbs over the past year.

Another Bodyweight Culture article, this one courtesy Cheesedog at:

http://www.bodyweightculture.com/forum/showthread.php?11058-Bodyweight-Strength-Training

Bodyweight Strength Training

People are always asking about strength training using only bodyweight. This is nothing new or revolutionary. I am borrowing HEAVILY from Rippatoe, Bill Starr, and lots of other great authors and trainers. This is your basic 5 x 5 template. (To clarify, 5x5 is 5 reps x 5 sets. The idea is to work at a difficulty level where you could only do maybe 7-8 reps on the first set, and are struggling to finish 5 reps on the last set). You would do strength training 3 times a week, say Monday-Wednesday-Friday with the weekends off. These are done "lazy circuits" style, with about 1 minute rest between each set.

Workout A
1A. Knee dominant - 5 x 5
1B. Horizontal push - 5 x 5
1C. Horizontal pull - 5 x 5
2A. Ab - flexion - 3 x 5
2B. Ab - static 3 x 30 seconds

Workout B
1A. Knee dominant - 5 x 5
1B. Vertical push - 5 x 5
1C. Hip dominant - 5 x 5
1D. Vertical pull - 5 x 5
2A. Ab - rotation - 3 x 5
2B. Grip and neck training - 3 x varies

Exercise Progressions - with regular weight training you can just add weight to the bar. With bodyweight progression is mostly about changing your leverage. These are just a few examples, I'm sure we could come up with dozens more if needed. You can always add resistance in the form of a weighted vest or backpack or resistance bands.

1. Knee Dominant -- squats, lunges, step-ups, bulgarian split squats, unilateral bent leg deadlift, partial one leg squat, one leg squat, box or stair pistols, full pistols.
2. Horizontal Push -- pushups, decline pushups, resistance pushups, side to side pushups, stair one arm pushups, negative one arm pushups, full one arm pushups.
3. Horizontal Pull -- body row, resistance body row, negative one hand row, incline one hand row, full one hand row.
4. Ab - flexion -- crunches, situps, resistance or incline situps, reverse situp, resistance or incline reverse situps, hanging knee or leg raise, hanging pikes, rollout from knees, rollout from feet, dragon flag. Also included are oblique moves like side lying crunches with or without resistance and side lying two leg raise.
5. Abs- static -- 4 point prone bridge, 3 point prone bridge, 2 point prone bridge, 4 point supine bridge, 3 point supine bridge.
6. Vertical Push -- pike pushup, hindu pushup, divebomber pushup, decline pike pushup, decline hindu pushup, decline divebomber pushup, one arm pike pushup, negative handstand pushup, handstand pushup with head touching floor, full handstand pushup.
7. Hip Dominant -- supine hip extension, good morning, one leg stiff leg deadlift, split one leg good morning, one leg supine hip extension, hyperextension, one leg hyperextension, natural glute-ham raise.
8. Vertical Pull -- jumping or assisted pullups, pullups, resistance pullups, side to side pullups, negative one hand pullups, one hand pullups. All these can refer to chinups or neutral grip pullups as well.
9. Ab - rotation -- twist crunches or situps, resistance or incline twist crunches or situps, russian twists, lying windshield wipers, standing rope rotations, hanging windshield wipers.
10. Grip and Neck Training -- for grip you can use handgrippers, deadhangs from a pullup bar (especially a fatbar or gripping a towel). For neck nothing beats wrestlers bridges. If you are involved in a striking martial art or sport, finger and fist pushups are very important also.

None of these lists have to end here. If you get strong enough you can always add resistance to your full range of motion one limb exercise. Or if you can do more than 5 one hand pushups do decline one hand pushups, or start working on one hand hindu and then eventually one hand dive bombers, and so on.

Sweet Cris.

Now you can incorporate SQUATS and DEADLIFTS into your 5x5 routine.

One thing I have to say about doing the Squat. It is imperative: (I'm going to quote Mark Rippetoe here)

"There is simply no other exercise, and certainly no machine, that provides the level of central nervous activity, improved balance and coordination, skeletal loading and bone density enhancement, muscular stimulation and growth, connective tissue stress and strength, psychological demand and toughness, and overall systemic conditioning than the correctly performed full squat."

Unless you have SERIOUS back problems like multiple disc hernations, then the squat is a MUST exercise in your routine, especially 5x5.

I somehow missed this reply!

I'm still getting used to the gym...I've swapped out my main exercises for weighted versions. The gym director suggested I use the smith machine for squats at first...and so I am. I'm currently at 5*5, 180#, and was planning on 185# tomorrow. Is like to transition to real squats soon.