Upper Body

mo chara

just seeing if anyone has any tips on improving my upper body.

Im under six ft and im around 11 stone,im not naturally well built or the strongest person. ive been going to the gym for a while now in college but any work i do just seems to slightly tone the muscle i already have.

are protein shakes necessary? any help appreciated

Arsenal1986

Im sure the more experienced lifters will be along in a minute to give you advice but first of all i'd say there are a few basic things to bear in mind;
1) Concetarate on heavy Compound Free weight movements such as Squats,Deadlifts,Bench Press, Chin ups. These are a sure way to pack on mass.
2)Your diet is equally as important as your training. Try and eat 6 meals a day eeach containing Protein.
3)If your sole concern is gaining weight. Drop any cardio as this will eat into calories you need for growing.
4)Make sure you get enough sleep. 8 hours minimum.
5)Make sure you lift for your whole body. You'll put on very little mass without doing Squats and Deadlifts. They promote growth throughout the body.

A few Training programs that might be good;
http://www.t-nation.com/findArticle.do?article=284big2 - Big boy Basics by Chad Waterbury

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/irontamer5.htm - 20 rep squats

justsomebloke

mo chara wrote:

just seeing if anyone has any tips on improving my upper body.

yes, lift heavy stuff, but seen as though I have no idea what your current programme is like I can't really be any more speific then that

mo chara wrote:

are protein shakes necessary?

well I would get the rest of your diet up to scratch and if you are still short of protein, then they maybe helpful, however most of your needs should come from whole foods

davyjose

You don't need protein shakes, but you DO need to be taking enough protein. I think the figures are anywhere between 1.4g - 2g of protein per kilogram of bodyweight per day, to build. If you can't get this, shakes are the best option.
Plus you will need a lot more carbs than this, enough (coupled with whatever fat is in your diet - not much hopefully), to prevent a calorific deficit. In other words whatever calories you burn in a day, you need to eat at least that much.
That's the basics of it - the lads might fill you in on some of the other subtleties involved.

Frederick

It depends on your intensity when your in the gym. Lift heavy, lift as intensely as you can, and take no more than two minutes between sets, use a watch to time yourself. U have to really push yourself to grow, simply doing three sets and then moving to the next excercise on the list is pointless unless u have given those sets your all.

Also try mixing it up.....say if you do chest, a set of bench presses, get down and do 10 close pushups, 10 normal elbows in pushups and 10 wide pushups straight after the benching. Thats one set. If its to easy lift a leg/put feet up on a box/on a swiss ball during pushups for balance. and use the full range of motion! Its really effective to get really sore:D haha

its important to focus on the muscles working mentally aswell, form a image in your head of them working while your doing you're set, I found it really help me to get the most out of the muscle and to make sure they do the work they are supposed to rather than some other muscle group.

Hope this helps:)

rubadub

Frederick wrote:

its important to focus on the muscles working mentally aswell, form a image in your head of them working while your doing you're set, I found it really help me to get the most out of the muscle and to make sure they do the work they are supposed to rather than some other muscle group.

This helps and really is supposed to have an effect. I have read about studies done where one group were asked to visualise the muscles working as they worked out, and the other were not to, the "visualisers" got more lean mass added over the test period.

mo chara

thanks for de replies.yeah i probably dont do enough weights but im not de strongest so i wouldnt be able to do as much as others.

like i said im not very well built,so my aim is to maybe gain a bit of weight and then increase muscle mass.is dat de best way to go? and liftin heavier weights one way?

rubadub

mo chara wrote:

my aim is to maybe gain a bit of weight and then increase muscle mass.is dat de best way to go? and liftin heavier weights one way?

No need to add weight before weight training, if that is what you mean. Eat big and lift heavy NOW. Doesnt matter how much the weight is, it is not a pissing contest, lift as much as you can to 8-12 reps. Your strength increases dramatically after the first few months.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

HammerHeadGym

Maybe if you posted you routine up here, people could make much better critique and help you much more.

Yeah, as mention above, heavy compound lifts, good diet and plenty of rest.

mo chara

HammerHeadGym wrote:

Maybe if you posted you routine up here, people could make much better critique and help you much more.

Yeah, as mention above, heavy compound lifts, good diet and plenty of rest.

right so.

i go to the gym once/twice a week.i do a bit of everything.dumbells,rowing machine,exercise bike,weights.

ill be able to the gym much more regularly very soon.

i dont have a very big frame at all so i thought if i tried to gain a bit of weight first and then try and muscle up. can you get much bigger just by concentratin on buildin muscle as opposed to puttin on a bit of weight?

thanks

HammerHeadGym

There in lies the problem mate hitting the gym occasionally and trying to do it all in an hour or so, will probably never give you the results you seek. (since you mentioned that you are only getting toned and that wasn't enough for you)

If you can only make it down once or twice a week, I'd recommend The big 3 (bench press, deadlift and squat) and the oly lifts (clean and jerk, snatch). Go hard and heavy. Do a couple of warm up sets followed by 4 or 5 work sets, starting at 5 and getting down to 1. (see below) DON'T sacrifice form for weight. And, if you don't know how to these lifts, ask a trainer, don't assume you'll get it right on the night. You won't, you'll cripple yourself. Also, you should add chins (or pull ups) and dips to your workouts.

Follow this and you'll soon pack on size and strength, if you remember to keep your diet good and get lots of rest.

Hope this helps

mo chara

yeah cheers.thats a great help.

would you be able to give a quick description as to how to do them exercises the best?

rooker7

My personal opinion would be get a solid programme together built round the big three compound movements, Deadlifts, Squats and Bench.

Big favourites of mine also would be chins and barbell rows for the back, wider grip incline bench along with your flat bench to.

But above all, train hard and eat big to get big.

davyjose

mo chara wrote:

would you be able to give a quick description as to how to do them exercises the best?

get help with these. Your not gonna pick up perfect form from a description. some of these exercises, particularly the deadlift (I know) can be nasty if done wrong

HammerHeadGym

mo chara wrote:

...would you be able to give a quick description as to how to do them exercises the best?

Absolutely not. You will definitely need to be shown. Ask any trainer in your gym. Don't be shy about it. It's not like any of the big boys knew what they were doing when they started. (a lot of them still don't) You can't afford to skip over the fundamentals of these exercises. If I were to tell you, and leave something out, you could get hurt. Seriously hurt. You might get away with poor form until one day, 100kgs drops on your face. So, suck it up and ask for help.

rubadub

mo chara wrote:

i dont have a very big frame at all so i thought if i tried to gain a bit of weight first and then try and muscle up. can you get much bigger just by concentratin on buildin muscle as opposed to puttin on a bit of weight?

Eating will not increase your frame size, it will just make you fat. You do not need to be fat to put on muscle, you need to lift heavy weights and eat properly.
If you read the links in stickies you will read about "bulking", this is ideal for you, you can eat a lot while lifting weights now, you will put on muscle and some fat will probably come on too. There is no point in putting on the fat first! then you just end up a fat bloke who is trying to put on muscle and loose fat.

Do not get weight, muscle, and fat confused. You want to put on weight in the form of muscle not fat.

constantin3

http://thefitshow.com/week3/milos_chest_med.htm

The above link should show you different techniques on how to develop your chest. You will still need to ask an instructor to make sure you have correct form. Once you've got it, then use different exercises to make sure you fire up all the different fibers in your chest.

Shrimp

Try go at least 3 times a weeks and asign a part of your body to each day.

Such as..

Monday: Arms, Shoulders
Wednesday: Chest, Stomach
Friday: Lower Back, Lats, Upper back.

Thats just a very rough example. Keep of the cardio machines if you want to bulk up because the extra calories you need for muscle development will be used up. Also make sure you have an intake of protine within 30 mins of finishing a workout. A small tin of tuna has about 17.1 grams of protine.. you want about 30g after a workout (obv depending on your size etc that will vary, however for a beginner this is fine) Have a pint of milk with this and you'll be set.

Ingeneral, eat healthy but at the same time eat well. Plenty of the avonmore supermilk and tuna etc is great.

Hope some of that is helpful.

hardtrainer

Get to the gym regularly, ask for instruction and keep the weights light until you are confident with your tecnhique and form. Do not neglect your legs. Squats and deadlifts are king if you want to gain weight (especially lean body mass). Try keeping a food diary for a week and use one of the online calorie counters to work out your daily intake, grams protein etc. This information will be invaluable in helping you to determine where you are lacking in this regard. If you don't eat right, you're wasting your time in the gym.