T Nation

Introducing Myself/Question about Bulking

#1

Afternoon!
I've been lurking here for a few months now and it's about time I joined up. Seems a great place to learn how to get huge from people who actually got huge rather than internet scientists and PubMed ninjas that plague other forums.

Little bit about me:
21 Y/O from the UK. Recovered teen anorexic (lowest weight was 140lbs at 5foot10). Started training about 2 1/2 years ago doing a 4 day bodypart split, progressively switched things up and I'm now i'm up to 180lbs at circa 12-13%BF and hitting the gym 6 days a week. (I'll post proper before/afters when I've actually achieved some size worthy of note).

I guess my question is, if I'm wanting to break 220lbs as a minimum, how fat do I need to allow myself to get at this stage? I'm currently eating around 3600kcal which seems a lot and my weight isn't going up at any terrific rate, maybe a pound every 2-3 weeks BUT at the same time I'm not lean. So is it time to look at my training or do I simply need to eat more/give it time?

Thanks for reading

#2

First off, congrats on your progress to date, that’s pretty wesome coming from where you did.

Your question is a bit like “how long is a piece of string” - it will take different people different amounts of bulk and overweight to get to where they need to be to diet down to a size they’re happy with. Some few can do it very lean, most will need to carry a bit extra weight.

Personally I’ve gained 20kg and my abs have remained visible the whole time, but not everyone might be able to (or want to) do this - especially if they wanted to do it faster.

If you are as lean as you look in that photo (assuming that’s you) then you have a great base right now and a weight gain of 1lb a week should be fine and you can always reassess as you go along.

And yeah, give it more time.

#3

[quote]Jab1 wrote:
Your question is a bit like “how long is a piece of string” - it will take different people different amounts of bulk and overweight to get to where they need to be to diet down to a size they’re happy with. Some few can do it very lean, most will need to carry a bit extra weight.

And yeah, give it more time. [/quote]

Pretty much this. If you post diet/training info, more advice/tips could be given.

And nice job on the progress so far. Welcome to the site.

#4

Cheers for the welcome guys.
Training split is currently:

Monday- Chest/Hams
Dumbbell Press - 4x 6-10
Inc BB Press - 3x6-10
Decline Dumbbell press - 3x6-10
Neck Press - 3x12
Cable Flyes 4x12
RDL’s - 3x 8-12
Leg curls - 4x 6-10

Tuesday- Back
Chin ups - 50 or as many as you can do in 10 minutes
Barbell Rows - 5x6-10
Kroc Rows 4 x 8-12
Cable Rows 4x10-12
Close neutral grip pulldowns - 4x 8-12
SA Pulldowns 3x12
Dead Hangs 2x1min

Wednesday- Quads/Calves
Extensions 3x10, 2x6-10 + dropset
Squats 4-8-12
Leg press - 4x10-15
Walking Lunge - 2x50
Standing calf raises - 3x 8-10
Seated calf raises - 3x 8-10
Single Leg Extensions 3x20

Thursday- Shoulders/Traps
Overhead Press - 4x 6-10
Seated DB Press (or Hammer Strength machine Press if available) - 4x 8-12
Cable Upright Rows 4x10-12
Cable Rear delt raises 4x12-15
Standing Single Arm Lat Raises 4x12-15
Standing Lat Raises 3x20-30
Shrugs 3x10

Friday - Back
Deads 5x5
BOR 5x8-12
Meadows Rows
Seated Row 4x10-12
Seated Calf Raise 2x50
50 Chins across the session

Saturday - Arms
CGBP - 4x6-10
Dips 4x8-12
Seated Cable French Press 4x10-15
EZ Curl 4x8-12 (not including bar weight)
DB Hammer Curl 4x10-12
Cable Crossover curl 4x10-12
Cable Kickbacks 3x10-15
Cross Body Hammers 1x30 10kg

Diet is 6 meals totalling 3600kcal, 350, 100, 280 C/F/P (more or less). Usual suspects of eggs, oats, chicken, beef, W/W bread, rice and whey. (I can list a typical day if you’d like?)

Yeah that’s me in the pic, and thanks, but tbh I’m aiming at the freakier side of huge (Prof X looks awesome IMO).
Thanks for your time

#5

Kroc Rows 4 x 8-12 ?

try one all out set of 20-30 reps

#6

Hmm, tbh I don’t know if I’d call them ‘true’ kroc rows. Just loose-form DB rows using straps.

#7

Congrats on recovering from your condition man!
Having success with this time of training… Seems like A LOT of volume. 23 shoulder sets and all

#8

*type of training

#9

I ramp all my main movements to two working sets, so for instance last session was

OHP - 115lbsx10, 125lbsx10, 135lbsx7, 140lbsx6
Seated Press - 50lbsx12, 55lbsx10, 60lbsx8,7
Upright Rows - 65lbsx12, 70lbsx12, 75lbsx11, 80x9

Then just rep the shit out of lat raises etc so it works out at like 6 hard sets then a bunch of pump sets etc.

Of course, if there’s ANYTHING in there that shouldn’t be/could do with changing - let me know! There’s something I’m doing wrong 'cause I’m gaining a lot slower…

#10

I figured it was ramping… if not it was too much… Well the one thing that recently gave me really good results is going for 2X lbs for protein… I worked up to a set of 8x130lbs for the flat dumbell press, a gain of over 20lbs since i started taking in more protein.
Well the good part is that you are determined.
Take a look at “Do This Routine” thread in the stickies. Having a good few exercises and progressing on them week by week will be better then having a bunch of exercises and not progressing much on them. Shoulders is what really stands out at your routine. Overall the most important issue is if your exercise weights are going up… if not it is time to reevaluate either the routine or nutrition.

BTW, why do you go for a bunch of leg extension and a drop-set before squatiing?

#11

I’d love to do the routine in that sticky (5 dayer) but I like deadlifting and have no access to a hack squat etc. Atm delts are a strong point for me I think, if they stop growing I’ll definately switch it up.

Atm my main issues seem to be chest, arms and hams.
I do the extensions first to fill my quads with blood and warm up my knees, my boss is a BBer and it’s something he does/advised me to do. (I’d have him do a full routine for me but he gets his sent to him from a coach and just does as he’s told…which is irritating)

So more protein? Can do. Reckon it’d be a good idea to just increase it or should I drop a few carbs and keep cals the same?

#12

Edit: Of course, when I said those parts grow slowest - That’s not to say anything else is particularly big either…

#13

Looks like your diet/training is pretty solid. Although, the actual workout routine doesn’t matter as much as the effort put into it while you’re at the gym. So make sure you’re really killing it, that’s something we can’t help you with.

Diet is going to be a lot of trial and error from this point. You can try just upping your protein, see what effect that has on your body over the next little while.

And if you think chest, hams and arms are your main issues, upping the training frequency of lagging muscle groups is usually a good way to bring them up. Might not be something you need to worry about quite yet though. Again, judge based on your progress.

#14

Great, thanks :).
I’ll up the protein (Shoudn’t be too hard to do) and see what happens from there.

#15

If you are not gaining weight consistently you should probably up the protein only and continue eating your carbs. You should stick with growing all over and gaining weight if you are trying to go over 220lbs, but you could use the following:

Arms: If Dips are done right they can build the lateral portion of the triceps really well. You can experiment going lower in reps for the triceps on the first exercises. For the biceps, Incline Curls and Preacher Curls are better exercises most of the time.
Hams: Good Mornings and doing straight sets of leg curls (like 5x5). The thing with hamstrings is really pulling with them in the RDL and Good Morning.

Execution of the exercise also plays a big part on whether or not you get the best you can out of an exercise.

#16

Thanks man. So go heavier on ham curls and maybe a little lighter on RDL to make sure hammies are pulling.
I’ve just added an extra scoop of whey to my PWO, 4oz eggwhites to breakfast and another 100g chicken to lunch. I’ll have a bit more potato too - can’t hurt.

Reckon with CGBP I’d be better in the 4-6 rep range for the top sets?

#17

You will REALLY feel it in the hamstrings if you pull it with them, you decide if you actually need to lighten up a little for this to happen.

CGBP: As long as you can keep the elbows tucked in, 4 to 6 will probably be better. Maybe go for a 4-6 and a 8-10 set after.

If at some point progress starts to slow down, going heavier and really focusing on gaining strength can help.