I think that this is one of the best bulking for dummies articles i have ever seen in a long time. I just decided to post what i think is a gold mine of info. Good luck
Figure out how much mass you want to gain and multiply that by 2. Place the answer here
1.____
Multiply line 1 x 2. This is the total amount of scale weight you will need to gain to meet your goal. So if you wan to gain 50lbs of muscle mass you need to shoot for a total scale weight gain of 100 lbs.
Training
Required Training:
Do 100 total reps per week of combined squat and deadlift variations with a minimum load of 75% 1RM (squats, front squats, lunges, deadlifts, rack pulls, stiff legged deadlifts etc.). Follow any split you want as long as you get the 100 required reps in per week.*
Do at least 100 reps per week of total compound press variations (benches, shoulder presses, incline presses, dumbbell presses etc.)
Do at least 100 reps per week of total compound pull variations (pullups, bent rows, t-bar row, one arm dumbbell row etc.).
Cardio:
1.5 - 2 total hours per week low intensity cardio. Do something easy like walking on the treadmill on a slight incline for 30-45 min minutes 3-4 days per week. This is mainly to keep you from coughing up a lung during your leg workouts, improve your calorie partitioning, maintain cardiovascular health, and avoid becoming insulin resistant. It may not seem
like much now…but when you’re pushing a level of bodyweight that makes getting your ass up out of the chair a chore, you’re gonna want some semblance of cardiovascular functioning.
- Leg extensions and leg curls do not count towards your 100 rep total. Leg presses, hack squats, and smith squats ?can? count towards your total, but should be frowned upon as they will make you less ?hardcore?.
The rest of your training is gravy. If you feel like training arms train arms. If you don’t then don’t. Whether you do drop sets, straight sets, rest pause, post exhaustion or whatever, is irrelevant as long as you meet your minimum rep requirements and add weight to the bar on your movements. The only other training related requirement is that whatever split you
decide on, at some point during your training week you should have at least 2 consecutive days of no weight training. So you might train Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, while taking Saturday and Sunday. You can still do cardio on Saturday or Sunday, but no weight training. Set your split up however you like as long as you follow those rules.
Diet
Take your bodyweight and add it to line 1 and make damn sure you eat those many grams of protein per day. The rest of your diet is open to virtually whatever you want. Protein builds the muscle, the rest just provides the support. Carbs are carbs, fats are (for the most part), fats. 500 calories of table sugar will build just as much muscle as 500 calories of baked potato, so make sure you’re eating ENOUGH first and then worry about quality. If you wanna eat poptarts and kentucky fried chicken have at it. Hey this is offseason muscle building time not Beach Watch or whatever gay Hollywood show everyone?s watching nowadays. The only other requirement besides the protein is 6-10 grams of essential fatty acids per day in the form of fish oil.
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Go back to line 1. That is the number of weeks it should take you to reach your goal. So 100 lbs = 100 weeks
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100 weeks
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Figure in an off week every 6th week and add that to #3. So 100 weeks/6 = about 15 off weeks 100 weeks + 15 = 115 total weeks
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115 weeks (this is how long it will take you to gain 100 pounds scale weight).
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A bodybuilding week runs Monday through Sunday. Get on the scale first thing every morning just after you take a piss and note your weight in your log book. By Friday of each week you should hit your 1lb weight gain goal. If you haven’t, you need to eat extra on the weekends so that you do. If you’ve met your weight gain goal you can slack off on the eating a bit on the weekend. However, MAKE DAMN SURE EVERY MONDAY MORNING YOU WEIGH AT LEAST 1LB MORE THEN THE PREVIOUS MONDAY!! This is the most important part of the program. You can do whatever you need to do to hit your weight gain goal as long as you hit it. For example, if you know you’re gonna wake up and come up a little short on Monday morning you can eat a shitload of veggies, drink gallons of water, and load up on salt Sunday night so that you hit your goal on Monday. Just realize that you’re gonna have to make up for that by gaining more weight the following week.
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If you miss a weight gain goal for one week, you can make up for it over an off week. That leaves you one week out of every 6 to screw up and not meet your weight gain goal.
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Use your off weeks to rest, recuperate, and slack up on the eating if you’ve grown tired of it. Lifting is not mandatory, but if you feel like lifting you can. Just cut your volume by at least half and just basically take it easy. Maybe just work out twice per week and stick to reps of 12-15
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Get a big sheet, towel, or poster and hang it up somewhere in your house and paint your weight gain goal on it in humongous letters. For example, if you decided that you need to get up to 280 lbs then you’d take a big ass poster and paint 280 on it. Hang it on your ceiling, walls, or somewhere else where you can see it every day. Tell all your friends about it and make them hold you to it. Use this thread for motivation of what real ?mass? looks like: http://67.18.108.244/showthread.php?t=18222&page=1&pp=40
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The only supplements you’re allowed are basics like multivitamins, fish oil, protein powder, and maybe some digestive enzymes. Absolutely NO ?ergogenic? supplements of any kind allowed other than maybe some creatine. That means no ALA, N.O. or any other high tech supps you see in any bodybuilding magazines.
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Your reading material should NOT include bodybuilding magazines! The only magazines you can read related to lifting are magazines such as Powerlifting USA and MILO. The only lifting or semi-lifting related activities you are allowed to attend are powerlifting meets, wrestling, lumberjacking, UFC, tough man contests, and football. Anywhere where there are ?big? people, Bar B Q, or cold beer is ok. Anywhere where there is tanning oil, lean bodies, swimsuits, or lots of punks with 6 packs is discouraged. If you’re not sure what to do just hang around with powerlifters.
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Other prohibited activities include any outdoor activities that might require you to take your shirt off if you’re a guy, or any activity that will require you to wear a swimsuit if you’re a girl.
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Remember you’re after pure bodyweight gains here. To hell with worrying about your body-fat or what you look like at this point. That will come later. Keep your physique covered up and be proud of the weights you’re lifting and the amount of size you’re taking up.
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Celebrate when you hit your bodyweight goal. Make sure you take plenty of pictures so you will remember what it’s like to be really big. Go beat up one of those pencil necked frat guys that always get in your way at the gym or something else constructive.