Bodybuilding and other Q's

HamsterManV2 wrote: »

You are underweight. That's good, we can get you on a beginner's lifting program for rapid strength, size, and weight increase.

First off, don't make your own program. Just don't. Find someone who has trained 1000s of trainees and knows what works and what doesn't. They will have everything built into the program (muscle balance, weight progression, rest days, etc.). It's the difference from not being efficient and spinning your wheels, to effective gains for the next couple of months.

You need to eat. TDEE + 500 calories = +1lbs per week. Depending on how active you are in your day job, 3100 calories may or may not be a good amount to start.

Program, I suggest Starting Strength (not strong lifts), the Practical Programming Variant:

Monday
3x5 Squat
3x5 Bench press / Press (Alternating)
Chin-ups: 3 sets to failure or add weight if completing more than 15 reps

Wednesday
3x5 Squat
3x5 Press / Bench Press (Alternating)
1x5 Deadlift

Friday
3x5 Squat
3x5 Bench Press / Press (Alternating)
Pull-ups: 3 sets to failure or add weight if completing more than 15 reps

IMPORTANT: READ THIS

I know it looks like it's not enough, but lets take a closer look. The key for Starting Strength is you start with a weight that you feel is quite light. But every time you do the same lift, you increase it by +5lbs. So you squat 3x a week = +15lbs per week, or +60lbs per month, or +180lbs in 3 months. Show me another (well designed)program that will increase your weights lifted by that amount in such a short period of time.

For the first few weeks, you can double the weight increases as you should start when it feels "too light" - i.e. your movement of the barbell does not slow down. This is important as you NEED to get good technique before the weight gets heavy. Ego leads to injury. So for the first 1-2 weeks, you can increase your squat, bench, and overhead by +10lbs per session, and your deadlift by +30 to +40lbs per session. After that, you slow down the increases to +5lbs for squat, bench, OHP, and +15 to +20lbs for the deadlift per session.

After 2-3 weeks, you may add supplemental arm and abs work. NOT TOO MUCH HOWEVER - More is NOT better, better is better. Too many ingredients spoil the soup. Visualize your body having100 units of recovery... If you add too much too fast, you will dilute your recovery and blunt your progress (i.e. your main lifts will not be recovered in time for next session, leading you to stall early, leading to missed gainz and frustation). You have to find the sweet spot, so trust me on this.

I like to add the following after 3 weeks:

Monday:
2-3 sets of abs (planks or hanging L-sets or kneeling abs wheel rollout), and 2-3 sets of back extension (12 reps, increase weight once you hit 12 reps). No Curls as chin ups work biceps and upper back. Notice how abs are all static exercises (trunk does not move, you holding your core rigid). This helps your squats and deadlifts be tighter and safer.

Wednesday:
3 sets of curls. Can do abs early on, but deadlift gets very taxing later on, so abs are optional.

Friday:
2-3 sets of curls, then back extension OR abs.

During this time, you should be gaining weight to drive the growth (+1 to +2lbs per week at the start, then slow it down to 1lbs per week). Listen, you have one chance to build size and muscle at an insane rate. Do not mess it up by being afraid to gain a little fat - you are creating the perfect environment for strength and size growth. You can go on a cut after to reveal your abs after your bulk. Get up to 165lbs before you even think of cutting weight.
Tracking your calories/macros will be a full time job until you get used to it, but if you don't you waste potential progress.

If you do it right, you will gain muscle and size in the next ~6 months, +or- 3months. Progress with this program until you cannot increase the weight anymore. Congratulations, you have just reached intermediate level and now must switch to an intermediate program with WEEKLY gains instead of daily!

PS. Food for thought: What is the difference between exercise and training? Exercise = sweaty. That's it. Training = clear concise plan for you to reach certain goals (lift x amount of weight, gain y amount of muscle and weight, etc.). Don't go exercise. Go train and accomplish your goals. That might mean you feel the workout is too easy sometimes (usually near the beginning). Trust the program. It will get very hard before you know it. I smile thinking how I used to think it was too easy, then struggled to squat 200+ lbs. Good times.