If you want to get big, you have to eat big...ever seen what the pro's do, they eat all they can in the off season and pack on as much weight as possible, then slim back down, hopefully a few pounds heavier than they were (more muscle weight of course) last year. Skipping food is the worst thing you can do, you can't stay thin and get huge gains, it just doesn't work that way without steroids and even at that, you will pack on a ton of weight and only wind up with a little in the long run.

I made my biggest gains when I was eating everything in site all day long, I could bench over 300 max and do sets of 10 with 255 on the incline bench.

Now I have given up on the getting big thing, I run 3-4 times a week, cycle twice a week and lift three times a week (rarely a day off, although I do take easy ones so I can keep up this kind of schedule). I can still lift almost as much, but I have cut down about 30 pounds to right around 200 and like it much more this way.

All this being said, you basically just need to eat like a horse, all day, every day and it will help to rebuild your muscles bigger and stronger as you will have more energy (calories) to burn while you lift and more resources for your body to use to rebuild. Remember THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY FOR A WEIGHT LIFTER/BODY BUILDER IS THE ONE YOU EAT DIRECTLY AFTER YOU WORK OUT. Eat well, have enough protein and carbs for your body to recover and eat it within 30 minutes of working out, your body needs it that soon or else it may begin feeding off itself (destroying muscle rather than building). One last note, never let yourself get hungry when trying to bulk up, once you are hungry, your body is again feeding off itself, breaking down the muscle you work so hard to build (albeit ever so slightly) but since gains come so slowly you don't want to do anything to offset them in a negative way.

Just so you know, I have tried creatine, it only helped in the short run, no long term returns on it. I have heard ZMA (zinc magnesium aspartame, I believe that it) will up your testosterone levels over the course of a few weeks and that could help you lift harder. Don't mess with anything else really, there are so many people making tons of money out there selling absolute garbage, nor does the FDA monitor a lot of this stuff so there is no way to say if it is truly safe or not.

 

creatine might give you some gain, but any gain will dissappear once you stop taking it. Just eat well and workout hard.

 

When I get to the gym I run on an elliptical trainer for 20-25 mins, after that I do
3 sets of 12 of a superset(?) for calfs. front, toe in, toe out 12reps x3 each way
Next we bench - most of the time I do 3 sets of 12 on a comfortable weight and one more set with added weight
Then we do squats 3 sets of 12
shoulders are next....different excercises we mix it up
next I do abs.....crunches, what I call a hanging crunch, and two other ab machines
Then we go back to arms
biceps free weights, I curl two 25lbs 12x,wait 1min, 20lbs 12x. 1min, 15lbs and so on, (trying to work my way up past the 25lbs)
then we do triceps, most of the time we do 2 different pull downs, and a bench press style.
then every other day we do leg extensions, and a few other leg machines

most of the time I try to add 5-10lbs per week if I can

my diet hasn't changed, I don't eat like Im on a diet, but I try not to eat late, and try to avoid fried foods, I eat anything whole grain, breads, rice, cereal, and pasta.

plus about 30 mins goes to time wasted.....b/c I have a partner, we have both found that having a partner keeps you motivated, and passes the time. so that time goes to us switching weights b/c he is more advanced than myself.

Something I am doing must be good, b/c I started at 185 and now gained about 5-7lbs.....and its not fat, I have definition in my arms, my legs are like rocks, and I have nice abs.......under a layer of GUT. I have never been a stick, always had a "belly" nothing gross, but not a 6 pack either.......

As for wanted to get a better max on benching...........its just b/c it's my weakest area.........I know that I probably will never get over my own body weight, but Id like to get as close as possible. THanks for all the help
Sorry about the novel

 

If you're happy with what you're doing and the gains that you're seeing than that's the most important thing. But if you want to see more gains out of your workouts then IMO you need to change your approach.

You should get a program worked out where you're working out two body parts per night roughly. A safe one would be:

Monday: Legs/calves
Tuesday: Chest/Abs
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Shoulders/back
Friday: Triceps/biceps
Saturday: For you I'd recommend Chest and some cardio

Not sure what you mean by comfortable weight but if you want to increase your strength you should be lifting the max possible and to me its not what I'd describe as comfortable. Using chest as an example I tend to do two warm up sets on flat bench using lighter weights and shooting for at least 12 reps and then 3 sets whatever reps I'm aiming for and then I'll do incline bench then decline then db flys and then I'll move onto abs and do something similar. i.e one warmup exercise that incorporates most of the muscle followed by 3 reps on heavy and then 2 or 3 other exercises that work the same group with 4 sets of heavy weights fatiguing (sp?) each set.

What do you weigh atm? You sound as though you'd be quite lean in which case you should be able to set your own body weight as a 2 month goal tops and be realistic. I'm a little overweight at around 176 and I bench around 250 but I warm up on around 135. I almost guarantee that if you move onto a program that resembles what I've posted you'll move onto and beyond your own body weight.

 

my current weight is approx 190lbs, eight weeks ago I weighed approx 183-184lbs. I am roughly 5'11'.

my max bench is 160lbs and it takes everything I have to get it up once.

I'm a pretty good sized guy, that is weak as a 12y/o girl.


how long should I be there each day on your plan above? I will be starting a summer class soon and it's M-F 8-1pm and it's about 45min in both directions.
I like going to the gym between 12 and 3:30pm there is hardly anyone there (small town small gym)
If you go after 3:30 you'll spend and extra hour on a 30min workout

 

over the course of 2years i gained some in my arms. actually alot if considering starting from zero.

i go with a work peep and both of us (of course me first) phucked up our arms so painful twice. it seems to take a 2month+ time to get over this and in the down time you cant do alot other thain maintance.

i dont know what works at this point, just strting to get back the 3rd time.

 

I don't really agree with this one. It's just like a low weight/high rep lift. Good to put this into your workout, but not to rely on too much.

 

Just cause everyone is listing it, this is my setup

1: Chest/Abs
2: Back/Abs
3: Legs/Calves
4: Arms/Shoulders

I run through these 4 sets. I work out everyday so I usually do each one twice a week, with a varying one once a week. And I run about 2 miles everyday AFTER I work out. I am trying more to slim down and get toned, instead of being huge, so I don't put up too much weight.

 

Not really understanding what you mean, are you doing say 1 and 2 monday and thurs and 3 and 4 tues and wed? Or are you saying that you work out 7 days a week and you repeat three of the four parts on the fri-sat-sun?

You shouldn't really be doing arms before you do shoulders because you'll fatigue in your arms before your shoulders get a good work out usually. Also try and give yourself a break so that your body recovers and gets max growth. Only go to the gym 5 nights max and give each body part (incl. abs) 48hours rest if possible.

NVMY4N, 160lbs is fine, I remember the frustrations all to well and I used to stupidly be embarrassed when struggling to push out a full set with only 1 plate either side. I can't tell you exactly how long it took me to go from 110lbs to 180lbs but I wouldn't be a good example anyway since I'm inconsistent and hence haven't achieved my potential. I can tell you that in the last year I've gone from 110 to 245lbs without a planned diet or consistent week in week out training and I know that my growth in the first few months was much faster than it is now.

Get someone to look over your form for you and then take my advice from earlier.... After these two months you will be lifting your body weight confidently as long as yo stick to it and get your form correct.

Good luck with it

 

I meant that I do one of those everyday. I do all 4 before I start over the cycle again.

So do you think I should do shoulders before arms or just not do them together in the same day?