[quote]mosho23 wrote:
Ok, sorry about that. I look very skinny because of my taller nature (just measured, im actually 5’11 and a half), but I want to get to around 180-190 pounds in recent years, ultimately around 200ish pounds. Im basically looking to just get big and muscular, but i still do wish to have some strength to back it up, as I am quite weak now. (bench- 100 for 3x8 , squat 110x5, OHP only 75x5 and deadlift 135x5)
I honestly have “teh abz” right now, play lots of sports and did tons of core exercises before (and a lower body fat doesn’t help :P), but i could honestly care less, i just want to get huge like my cousins (they started off like me, they’re now currently 210-220 pounds and strong as hell).[/quote]
To clue you in on something that a lot of beginners don’t quite get: there is no such thing as a big muscular dude that ISN’T very strong.
Your chest will look a certain way when you can bench press 225 for reps, and it will be bigger when you can do 275, and 315, and so on and so forth. No one gets to having a 50 inch chest yet can still only rep 225lbs. It just doesn’t work that way.
This does not mean, however, that you must do a “strength” program like SS, or train like a powerlifter. It just means that the driving force of any bodybuilding program is still going to be progressive overload (not just attempting to move more weight from point A to point B, but being sure to make the actual target muscle group stronger so that it is stimulated to grow).
My advice? Do a simple 4-way split or something like that, basic freeweight stuff and just stick with it. Get used to the idea of eating a pound of meat every day, and meet a protein quota EVERY day without fail if you want to make any real progress (I would say 1.25 grams per pound of bodyweight minimum).
Most of the guys who fail at this do so because (a) their diets suck. Even the ones that understand good eating habits, for whatever reason, don’t commit to eating enough EVERY DAY for months on end (b) their gym intensity sucks. They bounce around from program to program, they only leave the gym sweating and satisfied once in a while instead of every time.
Don’t be that guy. I have never seen anyone fail because of bad genetics, or because they didn’t have a perfect routine, or because their diet wasn’t super clean. Ever.
I would also say avoid listening to internet hype and trying to grasp what training “gurus” are saying, since 99% of that shit is as lame as kettlebells and bosu balls and will be out of fashion just as quickly. If you feel lost, just refer to the sticky in the bodybuilding forum “The Best of T-Nation”, which was created to showcase how the real guys of this website actually got big and strong (hint: they all did pretty similar stuff).