And seriously, man, I’m a similar size to you and I’m trying to get stronger. When I look at my breakfast every morning, I feel legitimate intimidation. Then, I go bust my balls in the gym. Right now it’s just words, but it’s going to get me to where I want to be. I suggest you do (or at least try) something similar.
The fact is I did gain a lot of fat around my mid section when I put on 40 pounds. Don’t want a repeat.
Anyway, I do appreciate the advice from austin, ill get on it.
Thanks
The fact is I did gain a lot of fat around my mid section when I put on 40 pounds. Don’t want a repeat.
I do try to up the weights constantly and my sets are ramped.
Anyway, I do appreciate the advice from austin, ill get on it.
Thanks
[quote]bugeishaAD wrote:
Pictures please. Sounds like you need to hit arms more and with more focus, not as an afterthought.[/quote]
Yes. And I’d love to see the 50lb db curls for reps. My gym at work is full of skinny college kids starting out (alot of them work hard I’ll proudly say) and none them are curling 50’s with decent form with arms that small. When I started out my arms were 13.5 and I was only curling 30’s. They’re 17 right now, I’m in only curling 10 more lbs than you claim.
To the guy that brought up height, 6 ft is not tall and in itself isn’t going to cause bad leverages. I’m 6ft and would never use height as an excuse for being bad at an exercise. Once you get to around 6’4 and up, then I could see it being an issue.
As has been mentioned, a heavy set for arms, followed by a higher rep/set. Nothing special. I remember once wondering why my arms weren’t growing as much as I’d like, after doing “hundreds” of drop sets/intensifiers/high frequency…realised that they just needed enough stimulus to grow.
[quote]yalb93 wrote:
The fact is I did gain a lot of fat around my mid section when I put on 40 pounds. Don’t want a repeat.
[/quote]
Good luck with that mentality. You’ll never get anywhere near impressive gains worrying about gains being as lean as possible.
You NEED an anabolic environment for growth; this WON’T happen if you just try to push past the barrier a “little bit” by eating “just enough”. You need to “put the switch on fully”. It’s like hoping for a tropical plant to grow in Scotland, it just won’t happen optimally.
If anything, fat control should be done periodically…not WHILE gaining. In other words, eat plenty for gains, then trim/recomp when needed - don’t try to make gains as lean as possible (big and lean at the same time).
Make sure diet is in check as most have already mentioned. What supps are you using and what are total calories looking like? I’d also recommend having days for just arms (2x a week)…The amount of work that you can do without inhibiting recovery will yield the best results. As you get more advanced it will get harder and then you can employ things like TUT, rest-pause, static holds, etc. Good luck.
Your triceps probably suck. you can only bench 80kg (175lbs) but can arm curl 50lbs.
About the weight gain…
To clarify, I was gaining weight very fast, around 3 kilos a month or more. I know this wasn’t lean mass because I read Thibs article on bulking and my upper body never really grew. Instead most of the weight stored itself in my belly and lower body.
I asked this question on elitefts a while ago to shelby starnes and michael keck, and keck said the 2 pounds a month is better approach.
It would be stupis for me to jack up my eatimg again and have 20 pounds of useless fat.
Damnit… why does everything have to be so black and white… There is a GREY area.
Up the fucking caloric intake and grow, evaluate every two weeks. If you really want to have some significant lbm say goodbye to those hawt abs.
You are 175lbs, you’re only a beginner… yet you’re worrying about too much fat gain, something you can manipulate through more intensive training, some cardio and manipulating the food intake.
Stop whining and eat more, perhaps this is not for you. Or you could read the BB thread: How not to get big.
I don’t think any of you understand.
I don’t give a shit about abs, I only have a hint of them now. If I take your advice, my lower body will grow and my upper body may change slightly. I will end up buying larger jeans but no shirts.
I know this because this has already happened to me. I took the advice of eating shitloads and force feeding if necessary and it had no benefits.
My weight and strength are still increasing, so I know I’m doing the right thing.
I will try post a vid of the curls if I can.
I want only to get bigger and stronger, but if I take your advice on eating, in a few months ill look like an ant.
I’ve been eating a sh**load and force feeding for just my third week at this point, and I’ve been reaping immense rewards so far (at least relatively speaking).
I don’t think I’m going to respond a whole lot further, but I’ll make a few remarks:
You came to these boards and asked a question. Knowledgeable, experienced people gave you answers. When I first came to these boards a year ago, I followed these Q+As and didn’t like the answers. I spent the year doing my own thing. I made some good gains, but that was mostly because a) I’m an extremely hard and dedicated worker and b) decent genetics. Looking back, I was clearly holding myself back by not listening to what these guys had to say–for me, that meant too much cardio, not enough protein.
So now for the leap of faith: Prof X etc have clear views on how to get stronger optimally. And I’m generally very skeptical–but people on here appear to be very well-informed and intelligent (X is a doctor, for instance. I’m attending an ivy league law school, and I know intelligence when I see it). I liked this website right off the bat from its motto: Relentless and Intelligent Pursuit of Muscle.
So ultimately, how about this: Come back in 6 months. I know I’ll be back to discuss my progress. Follow their advice, or don’t. Either way, look at it as an experiment: it will contribute to the greater pool of TNation knowledge.
Because whatever you do, we’re both in the “Need to shut the f*** up and make some progress” camp.
[quote]The3Commandments wrote:
I’ve been eating a sh**load and force feeding for just my third week at this point, and I’ve been reaping immense rewards so far (at least relatively speaking).
I don’t think I’m going to respond a whole lot further, but I’ll make a few remarks:
You came to these boards and asked a question. Knowledgeable, experienced people gave you answers. When I first came to these boards a year ago, I followed these Q+As and didn’t like the answers. I spent the year doing my own thing. I made some good gains, but that was mostly because a) I’m an extremely hard and dedicated worker and b) decent genetics. Looking back, I was clearly holding myself back by not listening to what these guys had to say–for me, that meant too much cardio, not enough protein.
So now for the leap of faith: Prof X etc have clear views on how to get stronger optimally. And I’m generally very skeptical–but people on here appear to be very well-informed and intelligent (X is a doctor, for instance. I’m attending an ivy league law school, and I know intelligence when I see it). I liked this website right off the bat from its motto: Relentless and Intelligent Pursuit of Muscle.
So ultimately, how about this: Come back in 6 months. I know I’ll be back to discuss my progress. Follow their advice, or don’t. Either way, look at it as an experiment: it will contribute to the greater pool of TNation knowledge.
Because whatever you do, we’re both in the “Need to shut the f*** up and make some progress” camp.[/quote]
Great post! Good luck to you sir!!! 
edit: when I really want to get going in the gym I just imagine PX abusing the shit out of me for lack of progress…kindof gets you going if hatred is your thing (not everyone’s form of motivation, I appreciate that, I work well in the hatred prove you wrong chip on my shoulder frame of mind)
I think you’re right.
You all know my stats now anyway, so I’m gonna work hard and post again in the summer.
[quote]yalb93 wrote:
I want only to get bigger and stronger, but if I take your advice on eating, in a few months ill look like an ant. [/quote]
That’s because either/and:
A) Your routine was crap. You probably concentrated mostly on training 3 or 4 times a week. Train like a bodybuilder - spread the training out and give muscle groups decent attention. Get in the gym more. Maybe train bodyparts more often.
B) Your intensity was poor. Can you still train your target muscle after “working it”? You didn’t push hard enough. Ramp up to a top load using less reps (e.g. 5), then rep out with a decent rep range (e.g. 6-10…better than always 12 reps/set).
C) Protein wasn’t high enough (e.g. around 1.5g/lbs in bodyweight). Not only does protein build muscle and break strength plateaus, it’s one of the least macro-nutrients to convert to fat (calorie ratios/partitioning becomes better).
[quote]yalb93 wrote:
About the weight gain…
To clarify, I was gaining weight very fast, around 3 kilos a month or more. I know this wasn’t lean mass because I read Thibs article on bulking and my upper body never really grew. Instead most of the weight stored itself in my belly and lower body.
I asked this question on elitefts a while ago to shelby starnes and michael keck, and keck said the 2 pounds a month is better approach.
It would be stupis for me to jack up my eatimg again and have 20 pounds of useless fat.
[/quote]
When I first gained 50lbs (~23kg) in my 3rd year (took my training more seriously), I did it in leaps and bounds for some periods, then some weeks nothing. So some weeks it was 3 or 4 pounds, and others nothing. That IS at the high end, but I didn’t have trouble trimming the fat…and I was lean/skinny to start with.
You cannot predict exactly whether you’ll gain 2lbs/month (least likely as a newbie). The most likely thing to happen (which happens 9/10) is that you’ll spin your wheels going round in circles (up and down in bodyweight/strength) trying to get it “just right”.
What you can do is the “shovel approach” (I just made this up lol):
Is it better to “finger in” the details bit by bit, little tiny piece by piece - or simply shovel it on quickly, with a little too much on, then scrape off the excess? The more times that you “shovel it on”, the better you get at getting it right (less excess).
The example above is giving the detail/lean approach more credit than it deserves really, because the most likely thing to happen is stagnation.
As a newbie, you may be able to make leanish gains to start with (slowly and pointlessly), but once you reach a certain level, you have to over-estimate things in the kitchen (no time for detail rubbish/fat paranoia). Your body doesn’t want to hold onto that much muscle unless it’s got good reason to (e.g. heavy frequent lifting/constant high food intake).
It may mean after 3 months or so of bulking, having to hold your weight and recomping for another few months (all depending on how you handle things)…just make sure that you are making decent progress by not limiting your food too much.
Three things to change:
- Fear of Fat- I am the same weight as you, but 4 inches shorter, and I consider myself slim. You won’t get fat if you train right. Put olive oil on everything and make a mix of nuts, dark chocolate chips, and dried fruit. Your goal should be to finish a bag of this mix every day.
- Simpler program- Your program looks good, but since you are still much in the beginner phase, I would pick a simpler plan. Wendler’s 5/3/1 with the Boring But Big template is a great one. Based all on big, compound movements and a lot of volume, 5/3/1 would be a really good option for you. Coupled with a drastic increase in calories, this should help with size gain.
- Bands- I, myself, get really bored with biceps so at the end of every workout, I do 100 reps with a band (I do this for triceps too). This pushes a lot of blood into your arms, helps recovery, and has made my arms more stable,
Also, try this shake I have for breakfast every morning: 2 cups milk, 2 tablespoons peanut butter, 1/2 cup oats, 1 scoop protein powder (something chocolatey), 1 tablespoon olive oil. It tastes good and has almost 1000 cals. Throw in some pieces of fruit on the side and that is a good solid breakfast.
[quote]its_just_me wrote:
[quote]yalb93 wrote:
I want only to get bigger and stronger, but if I take your advice on eating, in a few months ill look like an ant. [/quote]
That’s because either/and:
A) Your routine was crap. You probably concentrated mostly on training 3 or 4 times a week. Train like a bodybuilder - spread the training out and give muscle groups decent attention. Get in the gym more. Maybe train bodyparts more often.
B) Your intensity was poor. Can you still train your target muscle after “working it”? You didn’t push hard enough. Ramp up to a top load using less reps (e.g. 5), then rep out with a decent rep range (e.g. 6-10…better than always 12 reps/set).
C) Protein wasn’t high enough (e.g. around 1.5g/lbs in bodyweight). Not only does protein build muscle and break strength plateaus, it’s one of the least macro-nutrients to convert to fat (calorie ratios/partitioning becomes better).[/quote]
Yalb93 the routine you just posted isn’t really conducive to bodybuilding, if you can only work out 4 days a week, split up your muscle groups over the week like a bodybuilder would. If you can workout 5-6 days a week devote an entire day to arms and if you want you can train biceps and triceps respectively on chest and back day.
Don’t waste time doing singles as they are not conducive to bodybuilding or building strength and only serve to test it. I have wasted a lot of time not progressing because of the need to try to beat my one rep max every time I trained that movement never allowing myself to get stronger a while back when I was bulking hard. Secondly you are training the muscle, not the movement, progressive overload is important but if you can’t feel the muscle working in an appropriate rep range(8-12 or more reps) you are not stimulating that muscle enough to grow optimally.
How long have you stayed at 175? I bet you are a less sloppy 175 now then when you first got there, and what was your approach to bulking? anyways I have never seen someone fat at 175 at 6 feet tall. You can easily get to 200-215 pounds eating relatively cleanly with sufficent protein without getting too fat, hold the weight for a bit and recomp before you decide to continue bulking or get a bit leaner before bulking again.
LOL, unless this guy is being deployed once a week, why can he only train 4 days a week?
Why are the rest of you spending this much time on someone who clearly wants to do whatever it he was already doing?
This guy gained 40lbs and still has 12" arms?
I mean, no offense, but you can’t provide someone else with common sense…and if some guy gains 40lbs but still has arms smaller than many girls his age, chances are they may not be cut out for this.
I would expect most people in the gym only 4 days a week would not be making any outstanding progress at THIS stage of training. You have to put the time in. A beginner recovers too fast to be in the gym sporadically especially when doing some routine that no serious bodybuilder would ever touch in the first place.
And for the record, my thread is NOT just for advanced lifters especially since I listed in detail how I trained from day one.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
LOL, unless this guy is being deployed once a week, why can he only train 4 days a week?
Why are the rest of you spending this much time on someone who clearly wants to do whatever it he was already doing?
This guy gained 40lbs and still has 12" arms?
I mean, no offense, but you can’t provide someone else with common sense…and if some guy gains 40lbs but still has arms smaller than many girls his age, chances are they may not be cut out for this.
I would expect most people in the gym only 4 days a week would not be making any outstanding progress at THIS stage of training. You have to put the time in. A beginner recovers too fast to be in the gym sporadically especially when doing some routine that no serious bodybuilder would ever touch in the first place.
And for the record, my thread is NOT just for advanced lifters especially since I listed in detail how I trained from day one.[/quote]
What is the huge difference between 4 days and 5? i still work hard and continue to make gains.
What do you mean, I am not cut out for this?
BTW, I have taken the advice given to heart.