I would post this in the “Beginners” section, but I wanted to get some more advanced people’s insight.
As a beginner, there is so much information thrown at you that you don’t know what to aim for: Hypertrophy routine, strength, some combination. Furthermore, the rep/set range for each goal (hypertrophy, strength, etc.) seems to be disputed by a lot of articles that are out there.
That said, What is the best way to gain muscle mass. Which type of routine should you go for? What reps and set numbers should I or any beginner be aiming for assuming a fairly solid foundation (can bench body weight 10 times, do 15 pull ups, squat 225, shoulder press 3/4 bodyweight)?
[quote]hardgainer1 wrote:
I would post this in the “Beginners” section, but I wanted to get some more advanced people’s insight.[/quote]
A lot of “advanced” folks answer questions in the beginners forum.
[quote]hardgainer1 wrote:
As a beginner, there is so much information thrown at you that you don’t know what to aim for: Hypertrophy routine, strength, some combination. Furthermore, the rep/set range for each goal (hypertrophy, strength, etc.) seems to be disputed by a lot of articles that are out there.[/quote]
There are 4 “stickys” at the beginning of the beginners forum that do a good job of consolidating and listing all the pertinent info for a beginner.
[quote]hardgainer1 wrote:
That said, What is the best way to gain muscle mass. Which type of routine should you go for? What reps and set numbers should I or any beginner be aiming for assuming a fairly solid foundation (can bench body weight 10 times, do 15 pull ups, squat 225, shoulder press 3/4 bodyweight)?
Appreciate anyone’s knowledge.[/quote]
Read this beginner sticky. Appreciate the knowledge within.
The best way, I don’t really care how someone does it is to get started and train hard and eat for a purpose. Even if you are doing things wrong if six months down the road you busted your ass and ate 5-7 good meals you will be bigger and stronger.
[quote]Scott M wrote:
The best way, I don’t really care how someone does it is to get started and train hard and eat for a purpose. Even if you are doing things wrong if six months down the road you busted your ass and ate 5-7 good meals you will be bigger and stronger. [/quote]
Agreed. There is no “best workout”. There is no “one best way to eat”. I made some of the best gains in college training 5 days a week and eating exactly how I would get told not to eat if I was a beginner posting on this site.
The basics have been and always will be the most important factors, not what specific program you are using.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
Scott M wrote:
The best way, I don’t really care how someone does it is to get started and train hard and eat for a purpose. Even if you are doing things wrong if six months down the road you busted your ass and ate 5-7 good meals you will be bigger and stronger.
Agreed. There is no “best workout”. There is no “one best way to eat”. I made some of the best gains in college training 5 days a week and eating exactly how I would get told not to eat if I was a beginner posting on this site.
The basics have been and always will be the most important factors, not what specific program you are using.
[/quote]
Exactly. Work on getting stronger in the gym (regardless of what set/rep scheme, split, exercise order, etc…) and bigger in the kitchen. If you are consistent you will build muscle. It’s really that simple. Do not over-complicate things and turn this into some sort of quantum physics problem.
[quote]Fulmen wrote:
and eat whatever you want.[/quote]
This doesn’t seem to be working for most. They WANT to eat a bowl of sugary cereal for breakfast and chicken tenders for lunch(for the protein dude!), pasta for dinner etc, they NEED to eat with a general idea of what sort of foods and at what quantities it will take to get towards their goals.
perfect, thanks alot guys. been eating around 4,000 cals a day, just wanted to see what all these beasts had to say, sorry if the question was answered a trillion times before.
first you find some dedication because it is a friggin chore to chow down 3 - 4000 calories a day. consistently in the weightroom 3 - 4 times a week. stick to bench press, military press, squats, leg press, pull downs, and rows. these are what everyone calls compound lifts.
3 x 12 since im assuming you are a beginner. 3 x 12 on each of those exercises for a couple months. you’ll know or feel it when you are ready to rev it up. come back then.
Full Squats
Overhead Presses
Deadlifts
Bench Presses
Chins
Dips
Arrange them whatever order you feel fits the time you have available. 3 days or 4 days per week is optimal. Make a goal of doing a total of 50 reps in all the exercises. Use as much weight as you can so that the first set is 12rep max and the last is more than 3. Plan on doing these exercises until they become second nature to you. Then do them for another longer time (I’m talking years here, not months)
Food
Figure that you will start eating 3 basic meals each day.
Meat, Fish, Fowl
Vegetables and fruits
Rice and Milk
You eat as much as you can on the first group, At breakfast you can have 1 or 2 pieces or the second group, and only after working out you can have the third group. When you are hungry…have more of the first group. Tired? have more of the first group.
Eat so much meat, fish and fowl that your friends think you are turning into an animal.
Every couple of months choose 1 day and see how strong you are on each of those exercises, don’t count the sets and just do 1 or 2 reps until you can’t do anymore. That week you only work 1 day.
Get to bed every day before 1030, no exceptions.
If you did this for 1 year without missing a single meal, training session or sleep no one would be able to recognize you…
[quote]Professor X wrote:
I made some of the best gains in college training 5 days a week and eating exactly how I would get told not to eat if I was a beginner posting on this site.
[quote]DanErickson wrote:
Professor X wrote:
I made some of the best gains in college training 5 days a week and eating exactly how I would get told not to eat if I was a beginner posting on this site.
Care to share what these meals were?[/quote]
Many trips through the line in the cafeteria and several visits to McDonald’s dollar menu. I was a broke college student and tried to simply get the calories in. I was using no protein shakes (because I couldn’t afford it) and my meals were not steel cut oats and chicken breasts.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
DanErickson wrote:
Professor X wrote:
I made some of the best gains in college training 5 days a week and eating exactly how I would get told not to eat if I was a beginner posting on this site.
Care to share what these meals were?
Many trips through the line in the cafeteria and several visits to McDonald’s dollar menu. I was a broke college student and tried to simply get the calories in. I was using no protein shakes (because I couldn’t afford it) and my meals were not steel cut oats and chicken breasts.[/quote]
I can relate to this as some of my best gains came when i was just eating mcdonalds as i just did not have the time or money to spend on supplements/good foods. I think when your younger the main thing is just to workout; as long as you get enough calories in your going to see good results.
When you get older, i think you need to watch diet more closely; however, if you are working out enough, you can still get away quite a bit with your diet even when your older.
Overall, i think the main thing to gaining mass is sticking with the basic core and structural exercises and just eating enough whether it be from Macdonald’s or supplements.
[quote]Scott M wrote:
The best way, I don’t really care how someone does it is to get started and train hard and eat for a purpose. Even if you are doing things wrong if six months down the road you busted your ass and ate 5-7 good meals you will be bigger and stronger. [/quote]
Well stated Scott. OP, search Jim Wendler on youtube. He has a series of videos at the Big Seminar in which he states this same philosophy. Just bust your ass and results will come