Hey guys. My whole life i’ve been pretty skinny and everyone would say I’m skinny so now I really want to change that. I currently weight 155lbs. 5’8" about 16% BF.(was about 12% a few weeks ago).
I started to eat huge amounts of calories a while ago but haven’t been working out because I haven’t created a workout porgram, but I do now. My calorie intake consists of 3700 calories. I plan do to workout 4 days a week, Mon/Tues/Thurs/Fri. Mon/Thurs will be chest/bicep/forearms/calfs Tues/Fri is Back/Shoulder/Legs/Triceps. I’m planning on lifing 80% of my 1RM for 5-6 reps resting for 90-120 seconds then lift another set 3 times 5 cycles and 30 minutes of cardio after that. So a total of 1.5 hours working out.
Does this seem like a good program for someone who wants to put on mass like I want to? If anyone could provide any additional help that would be great. I am also taking some supplements… Whey protein/HGH/and testatropinol.
up the intensity, up the food, drop the HGH and that shit for now. your workout program is really vague, so just instead of wasting time pondering over it again, google “rippetoe’s starting strength” and read a simple thread about it and apply it immediately. get back to us if that doeesnt help. if it helped me, it can help you
ps: it’s better to post in the beginner’s section for questions like this so you don’t get flamed
pps: get on rippetoes. itll save you the hassle for now of thinking of a new routine, it’ll cut your workout time to under an hour, and it’ll show you what it is like to progress in strength. oh, and youll get respect from bigger buys in the gym because youre actually squatting and deadlifting.
ppps: drop the cardio for now if you want to gain muscle… unless you are really going realllly slow
very simple program. it looks a little too simple to work, but trust me, it works. dont overcomplicate things or youll just be running in circles[/quote]
That IS a nice basic, beginner program. Simple, heavy, educational!!
I do like that… thanks for that. Gonna do something with it!
LOL! A few years ago i used to get so hung up on training theory, i never stuck to one program long enough to build muscle! I was “fit” and lean from all the activity, but i just couldn’t put decent mass on! As soon as i chilled out and just went hard, heavy and basic… voila!
Follow that routine EXACTLY as it is laid out. If you do that, you will be getting stronger because the progression is built into the program and if you are using the spreadsheet, theres no guess work. It tells you what to lift.
Eat a LOT of healthy, bodybuilding food EVERY day. Dont be afraid of a little junk food. Want a hamburger? Have a hamburger. Just dont make junk food a huge part of your diet.
hey thanks for all the advice guys, I really appreciate it. I google’d rippetoes workout. Seems simple enough and pretty easy to follow. Now I just have one question about the diet. Do you think I should be eating more protein than carbs or does it matter? Heres the meal plans i’ve been eating.
Day 1:
M1-6 egg whites, 1 cup oatmeal w/ 1 scoop protein powder, 8 oz skim milk-750 calories
M2-1/2 cup beans, 8 oz. beef, fruit-606 calories
M3-1 scoop protein powder, banana and some berries, yam, 2 tbls. fish oil-600 calories
M4-28g of almonds, 1 cup brown rice, 1 scoop protein powder-770 calories
M5-can of tuna, salad with olive oil, muscle milk, fruit-640 calories
M6-2 scoops protein powder, spinach, mixed vegetables, 1 tbls. flax oil- 380 calories
Grand total: 3746 calories!
It seems like a tremendous amount of food for me. After every meal I feel extremely bloated, could it be I’m eating too much? I have 2 more plans that are similar to this one that I just cycle every 3 days.
Thats a great clean bulking diet, no. Not too much. Just enough. Honestly, its real good.
And for mass more carbs than protein, unless they tend to just make you fat, and i doubt that is the case from what you have said.
Eat that consistently for 2 months, increasing the calories if weight gain halts, and train your ass off on the program, then see how far you have come in 9 weeks. It is a good plan i reckon. Anyone else agree?
No, I wasn’t joking about the HGH. I was taking it every morning for a week or two now. I’ve actually have been doing pull ups, push ups, curling ect. for a few months now, but haven’t really gotten serious. Plus I’ve played hockey for about 12 years now and soccer for about 10 years. I have pretty good starting strength.
Anyways… my workout today went pretty good. I’m following rippetoe’s workout which is squat/BP/deadlift/dips for workout A. I focused more on technique today than trying to lift as much as I can because I’ve never done these before. The squats went pretty well, I noticed that the lower I went the more I felt it in my hamstrings. I got up to about 50 lbs. i think the bars like 15lbs <–(correct me if I’m wrong) so = 65lbs of weight.
Probably could of gone higher but like I said was just working on technique. The bench press went good too, I used 30 on each side. Ok now, Don’t even get me started on the Deadlift. Wow I had no clue if I was doing this right or not. I felt like everyone was pointing and laughing at me because I had absoultely no idea how to do these. I eventually gave up after 10 minutes trying to figure out how to do it then left the gym. Overall I guess it was a pretty good first workout except the deadlift part.
the diet looks good–good job on the fish oil, olive oil, and flax oil. shows youre not afraid of good fat, itll help in the long run
here is coach rippetoe himself teaching how to deadlift:
if you’re using the olympic bar, the long straight bar, it is 45 pounds by the way
do NOT be afraid of asking someone more experienced (preferably a powerlifter if there’s one around) to check your critique. if your gym doesnt reallly attract bigger experienced guys, take your digital camera to the gym, record yourself, and post it on here for us to critique.
and dont worry about people staring when deadlifting. when i started, i couldnt lift shit but i still got stares from bigger guys because i was doing something serious instead of messing around like other newbies. when someone is deadlifting in our university gym, we usually look over to see who the hell it is (deadlifts are usually rare, deadlifters usually get respect) and if it is a newbie, to correct the form if needed. form isnt something u mess with and its good to hear you were working on form with the squats
oh and make sure you go all the way down in squats. no half-squats. full squats are actually better for your knees. here’s another video from rippetoe about squats:
and please drop the HGH. just adhere to your diet. its good enough to create enough stimulus for some good hormonal response. you dont want to mess with your hormones artificially right now
I hate to break it to you Yarke, but even completely untrained, a 60 lb squat is very weak, so I would say your starting strength is not solid. Also, if you’re using a smith machine for those squats, stop! The bar on a smith IS usually 15 pounds, but it puts you in a terrible position and creates extra sheering on your joints. Go with the free weights and get a spotter until you feel comfortable if need be.
Don’t get over confident and over complicate things. For the sake of your sanity, you can cut 2 of those eggs out and do 3 whole eggs and one white…the extra fat/cholesterol will help support T-Levels and protein synthesis.