Bulking up

Jonah42

Hi,

I really need to bulk up, I currently think that I'm too light for my height and want to increase my weight through gaining muscle. I've never seriously lifted weights, but I'm in good enough shape from doing kickboxing.

Has anyone got any advice or can anyone recommend any good programmes too follow, detailing what to do/eat etc.?

mrpink6789

Most people will recommend beginner programs like Starting Strength and Stronglifts 5X5 to pack on muscle. Diet wise stronglifts also has a sample diet on the website. A good start though is to put up your current height, weight and body fat if you know, then post a typical diet you are following now. You will get a lot of replies on that from people here then.

Jonah42

Thanks for the reply.

6'2", 72kg, 16.09% body fat. I try to follow a healthy enough diet with lots of fruit. But I'm starting out in college money can be tight at times and trips to the chippers happen more often than they should.

Doctor_Socks

One thing i'll recommend is to have your overall flexibility checked out before you start anything like squatting or pressing. One of the posters here, Transform, has a great video on flexibility standards but you should still try to get looked over by a professional if possible. It'll seriously help you in the long run!!

dartstothesea

Jonah42 wrote: »

trips to the chippers happen more often than they should.

My tiny bit of advice would be, when this happens, stick to meat. Like, don't get chips but instead get something that's mainly meat. If you must.

wersal gummage

is your bodyfat % accurate ? like taken by somebody that knows what they're doing ? it seems quite high for your weight and height. i'm 6 3, 92KGs and 11% bodyfat at the momemt - and i wouldn't be exactly bulky - i'm wondering how you could be 20KGs less than me and not be a rake ??

fruit is great, but if you want to bulk up you need to be getting a lot of protein and good carbs in. there are calculators out there to work out how much protein you need, usually a multiple of body weight.

Duffman'05

Jonah42 wrote: »

Hi,

I really need to bulk up,
want to increase my weight through gaining muscle.
Has anyone got any advice or can anyone recommend any good programmes too follow, detailing what to do/eat etc.?

Deadlifts, squats and bench press all the way. Keep these at the heart of your workout routines.

Eat lots of protein and drastically increase your intake of calories with good foods like brown rice, pasta and bread.

Be consistent with your workouts and take adequate rest in between days in the gym.

Constantly change up the muscle group-specific exercises (biceps, deltoids, whatever) in your routines every few weeks to keep your body guessing and make better gains. Never get too used to doing an exercise.

---

> Results:)

Brian?

Duffman'05 wrote: »

Deadlifts, squats and bench press all the way. Keep these at the heart of your workout routines.

I'd go further and say, don't design your own routine if you're a beginner. Do a tried and trusted routine, starting strength would be perfect. Squatting 3 times a week, with the right diet, will put mass on like nothing else

Duffman'05 wrote: »

Eat lots of protein and drastically increase your intake of calories with good foods like brown rice, pasta and bread.

Go easy on the bread though. It would be the first thing I'd cut out if you get a bit flabby.

Duffman'05 wrote: »

Constantly change up the muscle group-specific exercises (biceps, deltoids, whatever) in your routines every few weeks to keep your body guessing and make better gains. Never get too used to doing an exercise.

I disagree with this. If you find a program that works, stick with it. Don't feel you need to change a program every few weeks. Your body is stimulated by increasing the weight and responds by getting stronger and adding muscle.

The only time you need to change it up is when you plateau.

Amtmann

This is a great workout plan for beginners.

cmyk

briankeating wrote: »

I'd go further and say, don't design your own routine if you're a beginner.

This, find a well balanced programme, get your technique right and eat well.

Furet wrote: »

This is a great workout plan for beginners.

It really isn't.

Brian?

Furet wrote: »

This is a great workout plan for beginners.

It's really not.

His tiny head always upsets me as well for some reason.

Amtmann

cmyk wrote: »

It really isn't.

briankeating wrote: »

It's really not.

Okay - how come? I think there's more than one way to do something right. He emphasises form, nutrition and realistic expectations, and he makes his videos for those who don't have access to a gym.

His tiny head always upsets me as well for some reason.

You're not alone. Jump to 44 seconds:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lwfkzp-qvNs

Brian?

Furet wrote: »

Okay - how come? I think there's more than one way to do something right. He emphasises form, nutrition and realistic expectations, and he makes his videos for those who don't have access to a gym.

Too many isolation excercises and not enough compound lifts. Any program without squats or deadlifts is a non runner IMO. I doubt I'm alone in that opinion.

cmyk

Furet wrote: »

Okay - how come? I think there's more than one way to do something right.

Absolutely, but there's very little right in that. I'm working at the moment so don't have time to go into much detail on it.

Primarily my issue is that his opening line refers to injury prevention, if I was asked to write a programme however to increase chance of injury to a beginner it wouldn't be too far off what he has there.

Scuba Ste

9 exercises for the upper body and then lunges for the lower body. It's not a good program.

While the "internet" program's are not prefect at least something like Starting Strength or Westside for skinny bstards covers the basics and are built around compound exercises. Look these up first OP.

And if your looking to gain weight I wouldn't be overly concerned with what your eating as long your eating enough. Eat as clean as you like but don't eat too little.

Amtmann

This is what he has to say about the lack of squats and deadlifts in his programme: http://scooby1961.blogspot.com/2010/12/high-school-football-player-dies-bench.html

d'Oracle

I don't think that guys site will be going on my list of blogs to read.

BadCharlie

One thing you can say about him, is that his in great shape for his age. So he must be doing something right/works for him.

Brian?

BadCharlie wrote: »

One thing you can say about him, is that his in great shape for his age. So he must be doing something right/works for him.

Imagine what kind of shape he would be in if he was doing more than "something" right.

Brian?

Furet wrote: »

This is what he has to say about the lack of squats and deadlifts in his programme: http://scooby1961.blogspot.com/2010/12/high-school-football-player-dies-bench.html

Nonsense.

Have a read of this.

http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ:The_Lifts

cmyk

Furet wrote: »

This is what he has to say about the lack of squats and deadlifts in his programme: http://scooby1961.blogspot.com/2010/12/high-school-football-player-dies-bench.html

There are safer progressions of knee and hip dominant exercises in particular, so I wouldn't accept that as an excuse for just plain bad programming.

Just for the record I wouldn't necessarily recommend a complete beginner jumping straight into back squatting either (starting strength/stronglifts), in my limited experience squat technique is generally poor here without some degree of coaching...even from those who've read starting strength from cover to cover.