“man, that doesn’t sound gay at all :D”
haha nice…
“at 5’10” and 160 you don’t have to worry about imbalances as much as you need to worry about gaining a lot of mass"
I realize this, and everything I do is really just for general mass, but certain bodyparts grow faster than other, like with most people. For instance, although my bench press is not very far behind my squat, my legs are just a lot bigger than youd expect them to be. And with my legs themselves, im very hamstring dominant. However my chest has always been a weakness and probably always will be. My arms have also always grown faster than the rest of my upper body, even though i havent done any direct arm work in about 2 years. So if i just piled on the weight without any attention to that, i feel like i might end up with massive legs and arms (not a bad thing) compared to my chest and back.
Also… 160 is a pretty big accomplishment i think for someone who started lifting at about 125. I understand there was a lot of me just growing up naturally in there, but compared to my brother, who is 6’2" 150, im pretty beefy. Thats not to say i expect a pat on the back, just dont think i didnt do any work to get my meager muscles.
"Dude, what do you think bodybuilders do, lift the same weights every time they train?
If you have trouble increasing weight/reps next time you train:
a) you eat too little (very likely)
b) rotate 2 or 3 exercises instead of doing one every time you do that bodypart.
c) if nothing helps, do another exercise that hits the same muscles instead."
I dont get why everyone thinks i dont eat enough… I dont think that i said anywhere that “im having trouble gaining weight even though i take my NO-Xplode before every workout and eat a big dinner.” Im under the impression that for a 160lb kid, i should be eating somewhere between 3200 and 3800 daily, which i was able to do religiously during school. And now since I’m on the move a lot, i cant get it all in every day, but i still try to eat all that i can. In about two weeks though, college will start and ill get to do everything fairly perfect again.
In terms of training for the moment, im doing what i had posted before, sort of building up to my old poundages by 5 pounds a week, with the idea of hitting them again during that first week of college when i can eat well. Then ill make progress.
Most “bodybuilding” routines that ive read about or tried involved a lot of volume… 12 or more sets per body part, maybe a bit less for arms or something. As a pretty pitiful physical specimen, i was not really able to recover from 5 days of high volume training a week, even with the 3500ish calories. and if recovery wasnt the issue, then i just wasnt able to increase the weight on all my exercises well enough to actually grow substantially. For my chest, a weak point, i used to do even more work, something like 20 sets, and it didnt grow at all.
This last year, i started alternating 3 sets of 5 reps on flat and incline barbell press, and i got stronger consistently, and my chest, while still not massive by any standards, started to get bigger.
I think (this is my completely non-expert opinion) that the more a “hardgainer” type guy you are (or the less genetically predisposed to put on muscle how about we say before someone says hardgainers dont exist), the less volume you should do, and you should probably stick to under 10 in your rep range, so that progress can be made more consistently (its harder to add 5 pounds when youre doing 15 reps than when youre doing 6, although those funky little 1 pound weights might work)…
And I hope I don’t sound like I’m not taking anyone’s advice. I realized that i’ve overthought this, as i’m prone to do about many things, and that three things are really all thats essential:
Eat a lot. A whole lot.
Lift more weigh than I did last time around.
Sleep a lot, and limit the late night partying.
I think my issue was not understanding the rate at which gains can be made. I guess all those people only gaining a couple pounds a year are the people who refuse to eat like a horse and put on a little bit of fat too. I thought that the 10 pounds i gained in the last 3 months of school while eating very well wouldn’t happen again, and it would be more like 7 or 8 pounds after that, then 4 or 5. Now I know I’m wrong… and I’m looking forward to gaining lots of weight.