Gaining a little more upper body muscle ?

Pyr0

Hey all, first time poster in the forum so be nice ! :P

I'm 18, male. 5'7 or there abouts (haven't measured in awhile) and roughly around 9 stone (again, haven't had a look in awhile !).

I've got a few questions i'd like to ask !

I'm looking to increase the body muscle in my arms, chest, shoulders, stomach a little more. I already have a good bit more muscle than i did before (which was very little). I have a normal enough diet, chicken, lots of meat, fruit (when its there), pasta, porridge, eggs, about a 1lr of milk a day, same with water, white bread etc Wouldn't be any extremes of one type, that kind of thing, what would ye suggest that'd help me gain a little more muscle to develope ? I'd like to keep my diet as "normal" as possible, not having to keep to a mad rigourous diet or anything like that.

I'd prefer to keep any working out at home for the time being also, for example I've been doing push ups for about 3 months now everyday, working from 5, 10, 15, 20 etc So i've noticed more muscle around my chest, shoulders, arms as time went on. What would ye suggest to help in this case ? What could I buy ? Mats for the floor, what type of weights, kind of excersises I should do etc.

If you need any other information to help, just ask ! I'm not too sure what else to add off the top of my head !

Thanks

#Smokey#

You could add more weight to your pushups.Use a schoolbag filled with say tins of beans etc. for additional weight and if it starts to feel light try filling it with something heavier.

Pyr0

I've tried going to say 30 but it can be a struggle ! Would that be any different to adding more weight as you suggest ?

Oh and just to clarify, I'd like to increase my upper body size too ! But not by much !

Colm_OReilly

Squats and deadlifts.

Why? I hear you ask. Simply put, these exercises are the best for a hormonal response. More "good" hormones, more muscle growth.

If you're dead set against heading to a gym or buying a decent set of weights and a rack, then at least try gymnastics work at home. Go to www.beastskills.com and have a look at the tutorials, or scour gymnasticbodies.com's fora for training articles and advice.

#Smokey#

well try to do say 5 sets of 20 then and after the first 2 sets add 2-3 tins to the bag for each set after that.
IMO i dont think you'll turn into the hulk overnight now you'll gradually see the increase.

Pyr0

Colm_OReilly wrote: »

Squats and deadlifts.

Why? I hear you ask. Simply put, these exercises are the best for a hormonal response. More "good" hormones, more muscle growth.

If you're dead set against heading to a gym or buying a decent set of weights and a rack, then at least try gymnastics work at home. Go to www.beastskills.com and have a look at the tutorials, or scour gymnasticbodies.com's fora for training articles and advice.

I never said I was dead set against buying decent weights, as long as it wouldn't be overkill. I wouldn't have a clue about the different types of weights that I could get, or even if there is 'different' types per say.

rubadub

You can do inclined pushups right now. For max growth most recommend being in the 8-12rep range, and doing 2-3sets. So stick your legs up on a chair high enough so you can only manage 8-12reps of pushups.

The cheapest wieght you can get is your own! I would highly recommend getting at least a chinup bar, or gymnastic rings, or just make your own, I give ideas how here
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055404170

Gymnastic rings will allow you to do dips to work the chest, I no longer bench, they also allow lots of other moves too, like ab rollouts, flyes, tricep pushups. You can also do dips on 2 chairs or on railings in your house or around your area, where 2 railings meet at a right angle you can do dips on them.

Check www.simplefit.org www.bodyweightculture.com

Colm is right though squats & deadlifts are great all over workouts and will work the upperbody very well, you should not really neglect your legs.

For weights etc check www.exrx.net

Pyr0

Cheers, thanks for those links ! I'll have a look at those when I'm home and give them a try.

quirkster

doing pushups every day is verrry bad for you.your overtraining them

your not giving your pecs, front deltoids,triceps any time to recover and grow.
i was doing the same for 2 months last year until i was told how detrimental this was.
i stopped and trained chest once a week just like every other body part, which gave it plenty of time to grow and recover from the workout

Pyr0

Oh right ! Didn't think it'd be bad for me, I guess you have to ask these questions to find out ! I'll cut it down from every day to every 2-3 days or so and give the other workouts a go in small doses so i get the hang of them.