[DeL07]

So I've been working out for about 6 months now... Very seriously in the last 2 and I've already considerably bumped up my weights everywhere. I do see good results but mostly in the form of Cut/Definition....

Thing is, I've always been a skinny kid and now that my schedule allows me, I really want to undertake a full mass program so I need all the advice I can get before starting it!

I'd like information about nutrition, workout plans (anyone think they could help me make one?) and mostly about supplements!

Nutrition wise I can't get very serious with it for some reason, my trainer's been telling me protein every morning with my breakfast and then food with protein every 3 hours... Thing is, food at school is pretty expensive and not very healthy.

Workout plan, well I got one made by my trainer at my other gym, thing is they moved and I'm not sure if they still have it....

As for supplements, up to now, I've only been taking whey protein after my workouts. (2 scoops in alot of milk) I've been reading up on supps lately but there seems to be so much shit out there, I do need some guidance... I've read a bit about Arginine, Glutamine, Leucine and Kre-Alkalyn creatine and I'm pretty unsure what is what.....

Time to become "Ze Iyoonmannn"

[Gilbucci]

Well, I am no expert, but, I'll give you my advice anyways. When gaining mass, you need to eat above maintenance, but, that doesn't mean you can eat crappy food, because, I believe that it'll backfire. You need to drink A LOT of water each day, and fuel your body with clean, nutritious food. The exercise part really depends on your schedule..if you have a lot of free time, you could do one or two body parts a day, 4-5 times a week. If you have little free time, then you're going to have to make the best out of your time at the gym, so, I would suggest a full body routine 3 times a week. You don't want to do too much cardio, since you want to gain mass, so, keep it to 1-2 times a week. One last thing regarding PWO nutrition..you shouldn't have your protein shake with milk, because, milk protein (casein) is a slow absorbing protein, instead, you should take your protein shake with water, and some sort of high GI carbohydrate to replace muscle glycogen. Hope this helps!

[darren]

I'm no expert, but wouldn't there be better resources out there on body building and fitness than, say, a guitar forum?

[JJ Rodriguez]

A lot of people on here are into working out though. I figured he'd rather ask people he's on friendly terms with than to sign up and be the n00b at a working out forum.

[ElRay]

If you really want to make the next step, ditch the full-body work-out every other day. Switch to a two or three-day cycle and go six days a week. I'm not sure how good your recovery is at this time, so specifics are tough to say. SInce you've only been at it six months, I'd try starting with a three day cycle: Upper body pushing (Chest, shoulders & Tri's), Upper body pulling (Lats and Bi's) and then legs + lower back. That way you can step-up intensity and still give major body parts a break between work-outs. After doing this for a while, you can try a two-day upper/lower split or a big-muscle/small-muscle two-day split.

The other thing that also helps with mass is doing five sets of 15-10-8-6-4 reps. You get a bit of a warm-up and work some on muscle endurance in addition to the heavier reps. Try to pick a weight for each set that allows you to just barely get the number of reps out. When you can get to about 20-12-10-8-6, then step-up. When you start, you'll likely have trouble getting 15-10-8-6-4 with the same weight, but as you progress, you'll be adding weight each set.

Also, don't forget that Carbs and Fats will be burnt before protein, and you need to "save" your protein for muscle bulding, so don't skimp on non-protein calories. Don't over do it either, because you can still put on fat and get all "smooth".

I was never big on supplements outside of a good multi-vitamin and low-fat, low-carb protein shakes. I'd drink one with milk about an hour before working out (around 4pm), and one with water about 15-30 mins after the work-out. Also remember, that for the most part, any protein over 40 grams per "meal" will be wasted, so don't over do it.

* ElRay Wishes he had the time to work-out like he did when he was kidless

Ray

[Uber Mega]

My take on lean mass building:

5-6 healthy, protein/carb-rich meals per day, with atleast two big protein intensive ones (lunch and tea) with chicken, lean meat or whatever...What you need to remember is that depending on age, weight and lifestlye, you body needs a certain number of calories per day to "run" and maintain your current weight, when body-building you need enough calories for you every-day functioning, PLUS extra for your body working overtime with your body-building routine...there is a fine balance between not getting enough, and getting too much, and also between getting "good" calories (from protein etc.) and "bad" calories (from chocolate biscuits etc.).

Supplements: To make sure you get enough protein, carbs etc. shakes are an excellent choice. For building mass you ideally want a shake that contains a fair amount of Carbs, rather than just Whey Protein Isolate, so I highly reccomend an "all-in-one" shake...I use Maxi Muscle Cyclone that has good doses of Protein, Carbs, Creatine etc. etc. Alternativly you could take protein shakes and carb shakes seperatly. How often you need to take them depends on what product it is, with Maxi Muslce they reccomend that you have a shake in the morning, and a shake immediately after workout, that's two shakes, but some products split their servings into 5 regular shakes or whatever. Regardless, the most important shake you will have is STRAIGHT after your workout (in the shower or whatever).

Always have a good carb drink whilst exercising. For an example of what I do: Maxi-muscle shake in the morning, carb drink before and during excercise, Maxi-muscle shake STRAIGHT after workout.


As for a work out, to build lean mass you don't want to to overdo it...you want to blitz your muscles and give them plenty of time to rebuild...you' would be looking at a schedule like:

Monday: Back and shoulders
Tuesday: REST (or abs if you like)
Wednesday: Chest
Thursday: REST (or abs if you like)
Friday: Biceps, Triceps and Forearms
Saturday: Legs
Sunday: REST

...You want to be doing 4 sets of 10 reps for each individual exercise, maybe doing about 5 or 6 exercises per body part/per day ( (4x10)x6 )...having failure on the 10th rep of set 1, 8th rep of set 2, 6th rep of set 3, and 6th rep of set 4. I won't go into excercises here, jsut try t keep it compound/free rather than resistance, to bring your supporting/stabilizing muscles into play. build mass forget doing higher reps at lower weight, lift heavy...doing higher reps is pretty much just cardio, and will burn too many calories which you don't want...DO NOT mix a cardio routine with a Mass building routine as they go completely the opposite way. Build mass and muscle first, and then take time out to work on defining through cardio, not together. However, using light cardio for a 5 min warm-up is great, and then try stretching/yoga for a 10 min cool down. Try to limit the workout to 1 hour...5 minutes warm-up, 45 mins intense workout, 10 minutes stretch.

For in-depth information on Supplements/nutrition, workout routines etc. etc. then check out sites like Body-building 101 etc. as they have lot's of good information.

This is how i've done it, but really it depends what works for you. If anything just remember to keep the weight heavy and reps low, and split your workout up across the week, combine this with regular healthy meals and protein shakes and you will see results in no time.

[Jason]

For supps and other info take a look at the two "stickies" at the top of this forum (the blue threads)

There are alot of usefull supps you are missing out on. First you are taking protein(hopefully whey protein)

I actually disagree with most of whats been said to some degree. In order to build mass you need to eat ALOT, but as you probablly already know you need to consume those calories in the form of clean food IE: Lean proteins,good healthy fat and slow digesting carbs(fast too but more later)

It seems there are always Mass building plans training and eating in Muscle & Fitness every month.

My Supps you should mix in straight away are Bcaa's(branced amino acids) This will keep your body anabolic and stop it going catabolic. Which means it will feed off the bcaa's instead of lean muscle tissue and allow your body to constanly grow. Glutamine this is another amino acid that will help aid in recovery and your immune system also helps you from "overtraining"

L-Arginine is going to increase blood flow and feed your muscle with more of the nutrients your intaking. There was a study conducted were 15 female athletes were giving 6 grams of argine over a 4 week period and lost 2 lbs of bodyfat AND gained 2lbs of lean muscle mass WITHOUT chaning there diet

Another I would suggest is Kre-Alkalyn creatine which unlike Creatine monohydrate you will not get the bloated puffy look from water gain.

Also consider getting a casein protein which is slow digesting and take it directly before bedtime to keep your muscles fed while your sleeping. This will stop your body from feeding off your muscle tissue cause when you sleep your fasting for 7-8 hours. If you cant get some casein protein cottage cheese will do the same.

Also your going want to be eating every 2-3 hours in order to keep your body going and staying anabolic and insure its getting used for the right things. This is all basically nutrition info and not training BUT your diet is 80% of it.

Hope this all made some sense.

[Jason]

for the OP

[Maniacal]

Eat like a machine if you just wanna get beefed up then eat a clean diet when it comes to gettin shredded.

Have lots of rest.

Train like a lunatic.


Simple really.

Dont get too obsessed with supplements, most of the ones I have tried are a waste of time and money.

You must remember its all synthetic stuff and you cant replace real food. Eat food not supplements.

The thing you should spend more time on is working out how to train properly. So many people have shit posture and bad technique when training.
With bodybuilding its not about the weight you lift, its all about getting the burn.
make notes of your progress as well
get a training partner too

My current workout is
mon - chest
tue - back, rear delts
wed - drum workout
thur - arms
fri - legs
weekend- kettlebells

I did powerlifting for quite a while and have only recently taken bodybuilding properly. I must admit its a lot harder training like a bodybuilder and sometimes struggle to actually walk/bend arms


if you wanna get fit too, get a kettlebell and a hardcore kettlebell workout dvd



badly written response? yes
im lazy

[B Lopez]

To make it simple:

More weight, more reps, more protein, more carbs.