Muscle Mass and Workouts

batman87

I have been doing the following workout for the last few weeks and was just wondering if it is adequate enough to put on a lot of muscle or if I should be doing more. I have been increasing my calories a lot over the last few weeks and have put on a few pounds since i have started. I weigh about 80kg and would consider myself a very hard gainer.

Monday: Shoulders

Arnie Press: 18kg x 12, 10, 8.

Frontal Raise: 13kg x 12, 10, 8.

Wide Grip Pull Ups: 12, 10, 8.

Shoulder Shrugs: 20.5kg x 15, 12, 10.


Wednesday: Chest and Back:

Bench Press: 80kg x 12, 8, 6. 70kg x 5.

Seated Cable Row: 80 x 12, 10, 8.

Wide Grip Pull Ups: 12, 10, 7.

Lat Pull Down: 60 x 12, 10, 8.

Fly: 14kg x 12, 10, 8.

Cable Cross-Over: 10 x 12, 10, 8.

Saturday: Biceps and Triceps:

Pull Ups: 12, 10 and 8.

Cable cross-over (biceps): 12.5 x 12, 10 and 8.

Arm Curl: 18kg x 12, 10 and 8.

Tricep Push down machine: 60 x 12, 10 and 8.

Tricep dips: 12, 10 and 8.

Is this enough? Am i neglecting any muscles? I know I don't have any leg workout in there but I do a lot of running training and will eventually assign a day to doing leg work. I also do a lot of sit ups and core work each session.

I try to increase weight or reps each week if I can.

Hanley

How tall are you?

How many kcals are you eating?

Where's the squats and deadlifts? Actually where's the leg training at all??

squod

I'd really consider adding deadlift at a minimum. Like the previous poster said squats/deads etc.

RealistSpy

Whats your body weight?

Hanley

batman87 wrote: »

I I weigh about 80kg and would consider myself a very hard gainer.

RealistSpy wrote: »

Whats your body weight?

^

crimsonfire

I'd be the same as you, around 80kg and a hard gainer, and I don't do half as much upper body work as you and I'm seeing results after a couple of months.

However I'm not very consistent and I do a full body workout every time I go to the gym. I'm also doing a lot of cardio in preparation for a run next month so I'm not seeing a whole lot of weight gain.

Mellor

Leg day should be in there from the start, if you don't have the time for a 4th day a week, drop the Biceps/triceps day.


Maybe you are a hardgainer, the following isn't directed at you. But I've seen a number of people, today alone, insist that they were very hard gainers. Most of these people, aren't hardgainers, but are just not doing enough and using that as an excuse.

Again, I'm not saying you (or anyone else) are or aren't, but way too many people claim to be hard gainers, some of them are mistaken.

Brian?

Mellor wrote: »

Leg day should be in there from the start, if you don't have the time for a 4th day a week, drop the Biceps/triceps day.


Maybe you are a hardgainer, the following isn't directed at you. But I've seen a number of people, today alone, insist that they were very hard gainers. Most of these people, aren't hardgainers, but are just not doing enough and using that as an excuse.

Again, I'm not saying you (or anyone else) are or aren't, but way too many people claim to be hard gainers, some of them are mistaken.

I'm by no means an expert, but I've noticed that most people who describe themselves as "hardgainers" aren't eating or lifting enough.

OP, you should really change that program ASAP. The 2 best excercises for adding mass are squats and deadlifts, doing a whole day dedicated to arms at your level is a waste of time. In fact a whole day spent on arms is worse than a waste of time, its actually eating into your recovery time.

Have a look at this:

http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Starting_Strength_Novice/Beginner_Programs

Make getting stronger your primary goal. Adding mass will come, once you eat enough.

Dubdude

Hi batman87, some things I have noticed missing from your workout

Shoulders - upright rows, side lateral raise, reverse lateral raise

Chest - Incline chest press

Back - Deadlift

Legs - squats, lunges, leg curls & leg extension

I would also suggest that if you only have 3 days to train try a 3 day split of chest & triceps, back & biceps, shoulders & legs

Hanley

Dubdude wrote: »

Hi batman87, some things I have noticed missing from your workout

Shoulders - upright rows, side lateral raise

Legs - leg extension

It's good that they're missing.

Dubdude

Hanley wrote: »

It's good that they're missing.

Hey hanley, I know your well respected around here but why is it good that there missing?

Jimmy Bottlehead

Dubdude wrote: »

Hey hanley, I know your well respected around here but why is it good that there missing?

Because the chap is doing enough useless crap as is.

OP, I did a similar program WAY back in the day. You're not exactly wasting your time, but it could be spent a helluva lot more productively.

Other posters have suggested deadlifts and squats, and doing Starting Strength. I'd second these suggestions highly. Learn from others mistakes (like myself) and skip the stupid Men's Health & Fitness workouts. Go with something tried and tested. You won't regret it.

FTA69

Because they're isolation exercises, if the OP is interested in gaining strength and mass he should concentrate on the heavy compunds. Shoulders (and other muscles) will get an infinitely better workout from the likes of a standing press than they would anything else.

Regards legs, squats are a far superior exercise than extension machines due to the fact it's a full body exercise using free weights. In fact, regular squats are probably the best exercise for adding strength and mass.

RealistSpy

FTA69 wrote: »

Regards legs, squats are a far superior exercise than extension machines due to the fact it's a full body exercise using free weights. In fact, regular squats are probably the best exercise for adding strength and mass.

Amen to that brother.

Hanley

Dubdude wrote: »

Hey hanley, I know your well respected around here but why is it good that there missing?

Upright rows = internal shoulder rotation = f*cked up shoulders

Overhead pressing and heavy rows are a much better option for the areas they hit (upper back and shoulders), more "natural" too.

Leg Extensions = ton of stress on the knee + heavily DOMS'd legs = slower recovery and less frequent leg training

I really feel the best way to increase leg strength and size is to train them as frequently as possible (and by that I mean squat). To do that you need to be recovering quite quickly, and to do that you can't be hitting faliure and doing burn outs etc at every session cos it just effects recovery.

squod

Hanley wrote: »

Upright rows = internal shoulder rotation = f*cked up shoulders

I often wondered what the story was with those yokes. Had no idea why ppl did them. Thanks for clearing that up.

Hanley

squod wrote: »

I often wondered what the story was with those yokes. Had no idea why ppl did them. Thanks for clearing that up.

I dunno... I think if you take a shoulder width grip and just for under control til you meet natural resistance you'll probably be ok, but everyone I see doing them uses a close grip and rows aggressively upwards bringing the bar to shoulder level - that's just not healthy.

batman87

I'm 5' 10". Yea I'm definitely gonna use one of the days to do leg workout and gonna bring in dead lifts and squats into my workout. I think I might do chest and triceps day, shoulders and legs day and then maybe back and biceps for the final day.

Brian?

batman87 wrote: »

I'm 5' 10". Yea I'm definitely gonna use one of the days to do leg workout and gonna bring in dead lifts and squats into my workout. I think I might do chest and triceps day, shoulders and legs day and then maybe back and biceps for the final day.

You could do that, it would be an improvment on what you're doing now. But why not do something that's been proven to work thousands of times over i.e. starting strength.

If you're only starting out, why design your own program?

batman87

I'm not really starting off. Sorry, should have made it clearer.

I've been doing weights for last couple of years, doing strength programmes but now I want to get serious about putting on some bulk. I'm in decent enough shape from previous programmes but now wanna add some bulk.

Jimmy Bottlehead

batman87 wrote: »

I'm not really starting off. Sorry, should have made it clearer.

I've been doing weights for last couple of years, doing strength programmes but now I want to get serious about putting on some bulk. I'm in decent enough shape from previous programmes but now wanna add some bulk.

Then do Starting Strength!! Jesus. If you come here for advice, take it - the people giving it are giving it for a reason. I did the same as you - stupid made up program that I thought covered the bases, but was (to put it bluntly) the shits.

I bulked with SS, very sucessfully. Trust me, it WORKS. VERY WELL. I defy you to do it for one month and then report back on how it goes. If it doesn't work for ya, I'll publicly admit I'm a knob who knows nothing. It just grinds my gears when people ask for advice and then discard it, after others take time and effort to offer it.

batman87

Haha "grinds my gears"...nice. I'm not discarding anyone's advice. I'll give SS a shot for a month and see how it goes.

Thanks for all the advice people.

Hanley

batman87 wrote: »

Haha "grinds my gears"...nice. I'm not discarding anyone's advice. I'll give SS a shot for a month and see how it goes.

Thanks for all the advice people.

It takes way more than a month to put on any appreciable muscle mass...

Jimmy Bottlehead

Throw in the GOMAD and it lumps on. For me anyways.

Brian?

batman87 wrote: »

I'm not really starting off. Sorry, should have made it clearer.

I've been doing weights for last couple of years, doing strength programmes but now I want to get serious about putting on some bulk. I'm in decent enough shape from previous programmes but now wanna add some bulk.

As a matter of interest, what strength programmes have you been doing?

I don't mean to offend in anyway, not trying to be a knob, but any decent programme done for a couple of years would have you stronger than the lifts you posted at the beginning of this thread. The reason I said you are "starting off" is that the lifts you listed put you in the beginner/novice category, regardless of how long you've been lifting. Now my own aren't that much better, but I accept that I'm a beginner even though I've been lifting a while, based solely on my numbers.

If you're interested in adding bulk, do starting strength, get stronger and eat like a horse.