Bulk up advice

offaly4sam

Hi just wondering if anyone can help me. Im 20 male,im 6'5 and about 88KG weight.
Now the problem is in my opinion im about 2 stone underweight. Im very athletic,train about 4-5 times a week between GAA and Rugby. I joined a GYM just before Xmas and was wondering does any one know what are the best excercises are to bulk up as ive noticed as im getting older i dont have as much as a physical presence as i used to say when i was U-18. So if anyone here could give me advice on what excercises and weights to use,it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
D

celestial

offaly4sam wrote: »

Hi just wondering if anyone can help me. Im 20 male,im 6'5 and about 88KG weight.
Now the problem is in my opinion im about 2 stone underweight. Im very athletic,train about 4-5 times a week between GAA and Rugby. I joined a GYM just before Xmas and was wondering does any one know what are the best excercises are to bulk up as ive noticed as im getting older i dont have as much as a physical presence as i used to say when i was U-18. So if anyone here could give me advice on what excercises and weights to use,it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
D

Great exercises for building mass are pushing, pulling, overhead pressing and rowing moves, these are my favourite exercises:

-Deadlift
-Squat
-Dumbbell Row
-Shoulder Press & Push Shoulder Press
-Thrusters
-Push-Ups (ALL kinds - t-bar push-ups, incline/decline push-ups, swiss ball push-ups, mountain climbers...)

Lunges are also good but they give me serious DOMS!

offaly4sam

Thanks for the advice. Just wondering what actually are deadlifts and dumbell rows?

Diabhal_Glas

youtube is great for checking out all sorts of exercises and im sure there are loads of threads on here regarding the subjects.
Lift heavy, Eat well and sleep 8 hours a night

InKonspikuou2

You can try all the exercises in the world but you won't bulk up unless you are eating more calories than you are burning. I'm on a bulking diet now and i have been making good gains in both size and strength. In the past week or so i have added to what i will list below.

Breakfast

1 cup of uncooked oats.
4 egg whites and 2 whole eggs. Sometimes scrambled, boiled or an omelette.
2 slices of granary bread.
1 scoop of whey protein.
1 pint of milk.
Portion of fruit.

Meal 2

150-200g chicken breast with some green veg. I mix the veg with light mayo and swiss cheese.
A handful of nuts or a spoonful of peanut butter.

Meal 3 - PWO Shake

2 scoops of whey protein mixed with dextrose. If i have no dextrose i will use grapes.
1 banana.


Meal 4 - PPWO

Lean beef or turkey mince. Either i make burgers or a spaghetti bolognaise type of thing with wholegrain pasta. Always with pasta or rice.


Meal 5

Tin of tuna mixed with mayo and some vegetables.
A couple spoonfuls of Seasame seeds mixed with milk.

Meal 6

150-200g chicken breast with half cup of brown rice.

Meal 7

4 egg omelette with either chicken/turkey/steak mixed with it.
1 spoonful of peanut butter.

Meal 8 - Before bed
Half a tub of cottage cheese mixed with low fat yoghurt.
2 scoops of whey mixed with milk.
2 spoonfuls of flax seed oil.


You can subsitute any of the meals that contain meat with any lean meat to add variety. I don't eat tuna everyday so i sometimes eat a steak instead or whatever that is high on protein and low on carbs. I separate my carbs from my fats as well. Something along the lines of the above would be a good diet to put on weight. It's not cheap and you still need to do some cardio. But if you do compound lifts and some isolation work you will make good gains by eating that much. I'm eating pretty much every 2 hours or so.

offaly4sam

Cheers for the advice on weight lifting and dieting lads

Frogdog

For something that contains adice on lifting weights for a beginner/someone who wants to bulk up, as well as information on a bulking diet and information on how to perform the lifts correctly, google Starting Stregth Wiki.

Inspector Coptoor

drink more milk.

start off trying to get in 2L a day, then work it up to 4L a day.
eat like a man possessed and then eat some more.

I did that for 6 months and went from 16 stone to 18 stone 8

InKonspikuou2

The spanish girl at the express checkout in my local Dunnes calls me el lechero. The milkman en español. At one point i was spending more money on milk than alcohol.

d'Oracle

celestial wrote: »

Lunges are also good but they give me serious DOMS!

Do that to most people.
They are mostly Eccentric....innit.

offaly4sam

Liam Henners257 wrote: »

drink more milk.

start off trying to get in 2L a day, then work it up to 4L a day.
eat like a man possessed and then eat some more.

I did that for 6 months and went from 16 stone to 18 stone 8

But was tat fat or muscle u put on?

Inspector Coptoor

offaly4sam wrote: »

But was that fat or muscle u put on?

bit of both.
probably half and half.

in your original post, you said you wanted to bulk up, you never said you just wanted to gain muscle. In my opinion, it's extremely hard to put on weight and for all that weigh to be muscle. you need to give your body as much nutrients as you can to feed the muscle so it can grow. the downsiide of that is you will also put on some fat.
that fat can be gotten rid of quite easily by not eating as much and maintaining your training.
the downside of trimming the fat off is that you may lose some strength, particularly in the bench press.

In order to bulk up, eat, drink milk, then eat some more and drink more milk.

you're 6'5" and 88kg
what weight do you want to get up to?

I'm 6' and was 105kg.
i got up to 118kg with the bulk

am now down to 113kg or so and am looking to get back down to 100kg
this whole thing will take about a year.

why do this if im gonna be lighter than i was when i started?
I'll be a lot stronger and hopefully have a lot more lean muscle mass.

offaly4sam

Well to be honest i t want to bulk up,and i no to put on muscle you have to put on fat. That doesnt realy bother me,but id like to put on as much muscle as i can. I heard skimmed milk is better than normal milk for bulking up? Any opinions?

Bottle_of_Smoke

offaly4sam wrote: »

Well to be honest i t want to bulk up,and i no to put on muscle you have to put on fat. That doesnt realy bother me,but id like to put on as much muscle as i can. I heard skimmed milk is better than normal milk for bulking up? Any opinions?

Well it has slightly more protein in it. But less calories.

corkcomp

offaly4sam wrote: »

Well to be honest i t want to bulk up,and i no to put on muscle you have to put on fat. That doesnt realy bother me,but id like to put on as much muscle as i can. I heard skimmed milk is better than normal milk for bulking up? Any opinions?

it depends how quickly you want to go get big. personally, im not a fan of very dirty bulks, no point piling on too much unnecessary fat. you need a surplus of calories to build muscle but if your putting on too much fat then the surplus is too great. it doesnt really matter about whether you use skim or full fat milk, all that matters is that you create a calorie surplus and lift heavy and frequently .. try to eat more around pre and post work out meal .. no need to eat quite as much on off days, especially if your not dom'd up!

offaly4sam

Well to be honest i want to bulk as quickly as i can,but also i hav a bit of flab around my stomach. Is it possible to keep rid of that while bulking up. I dont mean have a 6 pack or that just lose abit of the flab?

corkcomp

offaly4sam wrote: »

Well to be honest i want to bulk as quickly as i can,but also i hav a bit of flab around my stomach. Is it possible to keep rid of that while bulking up. I dont mean have a 6 pack or that just lose abit of the flab?

it is possible if your willing to make slow (but steady) gains and make sure you are eating a lot around workouts and a little under maintenance on other days. IMO it is not possible to bulk up quickly and lose stomach fat at the same time ..

brianthebard

offaly4sam wrote: »

Well to be honest i want to bulk as quickly as i can,but also i hav a bit of flab around my stomach. Is it possible to keep rid of that while bulking up. I dont mean have a 6 pack or that just lose abit of the flab?

No you can't lose fat while gaining weight, you have a choice of either losing the fat and then bulking or bulking now and then loosing. If its any consolation I've read a number of times that the best time to bulk is after loosing fat. It would also be a good base for strength gains if in the next few months you lost fat and worked on conditioning in addition to weights. fwiw Liam is a big guy and I think its worth thinking about what he has said. If you're looking to get everything done in six months you'll be disappointed, this will take dedication and years of training to make a significant life change.

offaly4sam

But how could i loose the fat around my stomach? I do about 4-5 sessions of cardio a week as i play with a few sports teams. Would doing core work such as sit-ups etc help loose the belly fat

Nate--IRL--

offaly4sam wrote: »

But how could i loose the fat around my stomach? I do about 4-5 sessions of cardio a week as i play with a few sports teams. Would doing core work such as sit-ups etc help loose the belly fat

Eat less.

Nate

Edit:- That's a smartarse reply, sorry (correct though). For more info on how your body works have read of this Guide. Everything you need to know is in that.

brianthebard

offaly4sam wrote: »

But how could i loose the fat around my stomach? I do about 4-5 sessions of cardio a week as i play with a few sports teams. Would doing core work such as sit-ups etc help loose the belly fat

nates right, diet is going to be everything for both loosing fat and bulking later on.

To summarise

- you're 6"5 and 88kg
- train cardio 4 or 5 times a week
- have some tummy fat that you want gone
- want to bulk up to have more physical presence and you want to do this quickly

Well presumably you have to keep up the training as its with teams so keep this up, cut out white bread and any junk food from your diet. Eat more lean meat and eat brown bread instead of the white. Stop drinking and start benchpressing and doing dead lifts, problem is I can't see you doing the weights more than twice a week as you are already doing so much cardio.

When I was 21 I was 11 stone 9 pounds, two years later I was over 14 stone, you may just fill out a bit naturally. If not slow gains are best and achievable with some focussed training.

celestial

OP, at 20, 6'5" and with a willingness and motivation to do the work you've got HUGE potential. First off, if you are only 88kg at that height but still have flab around your waist, then you are doing two things wrong - not eating enough, and eating the wrong things. You haven't listed out your diet as far as I can see - what do you eat day-to-day?

There are just three things you need to do to get leaner and to add some muscle starting out:

-Start eating! Eat lots and eat lots of the right food.
-Star lifting heavy weights
-Rest and repeat.

Let's start with your diet - what do you regularly eat?

Frank Spencer

Some great help here I must say.

I'm in the same situation as the OP. I'm currently 82.8kg and around 6ft 2" and would like to get up to between 86 to 89kgs. I know I should have a clear target but I would like to see how an increase in weight will affect my speed and CV fitness.

I am doing heavy CV training 3 times a week. How wold that affect my ability to make weight gains?

I understand that I have to eat more but this is where I find the biggest problem. I don't have a big appetite. I am trying to eat what has been outlined above and although I am getting through more with each day I still find it hard to come anywhere near that level of consumption.

Drinking milk was one of the major tips. I hate milk!! What can I do to substitute for that?

How do I know if I'm lifting heavy enough?

Probably a stupid question but "a cup of oats"? I take it that's porridge?

Cheers!

brenmurph

ask some of the forwards on your rugby team my guess is that they would know what works best for you for your sport with regards to exercise and nutrition

a bodybuilders bulking diet wont work for you because it will probley make you to slow for your sports and the same could be said for some exercises

Frank Spencer

Should have mentioned I'm a GAA player.

itsallaboutheL

I can't believe i'm saying this.... but OP have a search for Walt0rs Journey of Bulkage in the fitness logs...

AKA DaveyWavey88 but have a look at his Walt0r alter ego first.

offaly4sam

Well lads,havent been on this for a few days because back to college (everyone knows college people have it hard )
Alot of good advice here,and very much appreciated. Ive followed most of yer advice and cut out alcohal and all fatty/junk foods and can see a slight improvement already!

As regards cardio,college football will be over next month so il only be doing cardio 2 times a week at most so that will give me more time to do weights...but for now i may do with 2 days a week at the weights!

My old diet would of mostly consisted of:

Breakfast
Weetabix/porridge and a piece of fruit

Lunch
sandwhich - chicken/tuna with mayo and butter on white bread

Dinner
Steak/chicken with poataoes or pasta

Evening meal
Scrambled egg/pizza

But my diet for this week so far has been

Breakfast
Porridge,2 pieces of fruit and a pint of milk

Lunch
Sandwhiches with peanut butter,cottage cheese and salmon and a banana

Dinner
Steak/chicken with pasta or rice with pint of milk

Before/After training meal (depending on time of training)
4 scrambled eggs or a can of tuna with lemon and a banana

Evening meal
Bowl of rice or sandwhich woth peanut butter and cottage cheese

Also i drink between 3-4 litres of water daily

Just wondering does anybody have any comments on my new diet?
Thanks,
D

brutusthebarber

offaly4sam wrote: »

My old diet would of mostly consisted of:

Breakfast
Weetabix/porridge and a piece of fruit

Lunch
sandwhich - chicken/tuna with mayo and butter on white bread

Dinner
Steak/chicken with poataoes or pasta

Evening meal
Scrambled egg/pizza

But my diet for this week so far has been

Breakfast
Porridge,2 pieces of fruit and a pint of milk

Lunch
Sandwhiches with peanut butter,cottage cheese and salmon and a banana

Dinner
Steak/chicken with pasta or rice with pint of milk

Before/After training meal (depending on time of training)
4 scrambled eggs or a can of tuna with lemon and a banana

Evening meal
Bowl of rice or sandwhich woth peanut butter and cottage cheese

Also i drink between 3-4 litres of water daily

Just wondering does anybody have any comments on my new diet?
Thanks,
D

Looks about right to me, except you need more milk. Milk is key! I aim to have milk with just about every meal during the day.

Like you'll know yourself if the new diet is doing the job. The main thing that I focus on myself is.. "am I going to get sick if I eat anymore". If you don't think this once a day then your not eating enough.

Its really not rocket science putting on weight, you just need to eat a shed load of food with some more food on the side!

Why did you cut alcohol out altogether?

I know you say that you don't want to have the "gut" but its gonna happen so just get a bigger pair of trousers and keep eating. Trying to put on weight and lose the gut at the same time will not work.

Do you eat any sort of junk food or take any weight gainer shakes?

corkcomp

offaly4sam - new diet looks good. remember there is only so much muscle you can add per week / month so if you over do it you will put on a lot of fat which you have to try to lose afterwards. dont listen to the previous post - 2 pints of milk a day is plenty. if you are not gaining after a month you can add more, no point going over board at the beginning.

brutusthebarber

corkcomp wrote: »

offaly4sam - new diet looks good. remember there is only so much muscle you can add per week / month so if you over do it you will put on a lot of fat which you have to try to lose afterwards. dont listen to the previous post - 2 pints of milk a day is plenty. if you are not gaining after a month you can add more, no point going over board at the beginning.

I don't get this.. why would you wait a month to "see" if your gaining??? That is a month wasted right there!

2 pints of milk is not plenty... not even close.

You are going to put on fat if you are trying to add muscle and size.

corkcomp

brutusthebarber wrote: »

I don't get this.. why would you wait a month to "see" if your gaining??? That is a month wasted right there!

2 pints of milk is not plenty... not even close.

You are going to put on fat if you are trying to add muscle and size.

yes but what the bloody hell is the hurry? one month?
the guy mentioned that he was trying to reduce stomach fat - giving him advice that will gain him a major spare tyre is just stupid. yes a LITTLE fat gain might happen, but a being muscled doesnt matter a damn if your FAT, because it wont be a good look, others may disagree, thats their choice.
bottom line, its up to the OP to decide, ive said my piece.

offaly4sam

I forgot to add in that i also eat a good few nuts everyday - pistachios,sesame seeds etc.
I have a protein shake at home,its an egg + milk protein shake,i was wondering if i start taking this after a workout would it help and would it increase fat in my stomach?
Thanks
D

brutusthebarber

corkcomp wrote: »

yes but what the bloody hell is the hurry? one month?
the guy mentioned that he was trying to reduce stomach fat - giving him advice that will gain him a major spare tyre is just stupid. yes a LITTLE fat gain might happen, but a being muscled doesnt matter a damn if your FAT, because it wont be a good look, others may disagree, thats their choice.
bottom line, its up to the OP to decide, ive said my piece.

No hurry... just why wait a month to start something you could start today?

Major spare tyre? Give me a break man..

Ah jesus..All of a sudden he's going to be fat? Is he not training Why is it that when your trying to get bigger the first thing people say is "you're going to have to lose all that fat"

How can you be "muscled" if your fat?? Is that some new thing I've missed..

Brad or Bill??

EDIT:I've just seen OPs new post.

Eating anything extra will help!! You can never say for sure where you will or won't gain fat..

offaly4sam

I know that to gain muscle your going to gain fat,but this might be a stupid question. Would doing sit ups and lots of core work along with the weights and new diet help me shed a few inches off the tummy flab?
Thanks,
D

brutusthebarber

offaly4sam wrote: »

I know that to gain muscle your going to gain fat,but this might be a stupid question. Would doing sit ups and lots of core work along with the weights and new diet help me shed a few inches off the tummy flab?
Thanks,
D

No you can't spot reduce fat.

It seems to be that you'd rather lose the stomach fat.. so why don't you try cutting back the carbs first for a while until your satisifed with your stomach. THEN bulk up.

I believe Brian suggested this first too!

offaly4sam

But see i want to get big first then work on losing the gut. Already since monday after following my diet and doing a weights session tuesday and today and cardio monday and last night, ive gone from 88 KG to 90KG so its not bad going. Another question as well,is it best to lift heavy and do between 7-10 reps or lift medium and do 10-15 reps. Bear in mind im trying to get my strength up
Thanks
D

Inspector Coptoor

if you're lifting heavy, you should do between 3-5 reps

Let's remember he is only lifting weights 2 days a week, the rest is more or less cardio. OP, you mention losing a few inches of your waist, surely at 6'5 and 85 kg you're waist is no more than 34", which is nothing alarming.

corkcomp

RoverJames wrote: »

Let's remember he is only lifting weights 2 days a week

exactly, so he should eat a LOT on those two days, no point wolfing down too many excess calories on the other 5 days.