Alright! Its time for me to gain some serious weight. Ive been reading some defranco stuff, and articles at elitefts, and decided to start my “bulk” early. Im not a bodybuilder. I just want to gain size and look good, while improving my lifts. But this is the best forum for what im asking.
So im 5’11" 190lbs at about 13-15% BF, and im 25 y.o. I know people usually suggest cutting to 10% before ‘bulking’, but im gonna go about things a different way. I also know that I dont quite count as a “skinny bastard” but im going to do things as if I were. These decisions are based on my experience that eating more; (even a bit dirtier) usually leads to me losing BF% while gaining mass.
So my overall goal is to hit 215. But as a short term goal, i am aiming for 200+. The highest ive ever been is 196.
And here is my general plan.
DIET:
-Chicken and Pasta
(I know the importance of chicken in any diet, and pasta allows me massive amounts of convenient calories)
-2% milk in place of shakes
Protein shakes are good, but they tend to fill me up too much and sometimes upset my stomach. I’ll rely on a good amount of milk to makeup for only using small amounts of protein powder.
-Spinach and mixed green salads
Not very filling, throw on some oil and vinegar for calories, and i get my veggies in as well. And it was good enough for popeye.
Ok so those are the foods im going to try and get as much of possible. The spaghetti will be something whole grain, like barilla plus.
BUT,
I will use other “dirtier” foods to accelerate my weight gain. Stuff like, rice krispy treats, peanut butter, whole milk, cheese, hamburger, sherbert/ice cream, etc… Also, certain convenience items like cliff builder bars will help with taking in calories.
So initially im aiming for a 10lb weight gain, and am going to shoot for it in 4 weeks. I know i probably wont gain this fast, but im going to aim for it. At this point, i’ll reflect on my progress, and how much fat gain is occuring. I’ll then shoot for 215, but will change things up if needed. (The first change i’ll make if needed would be utilizing carb cut offs.)
TRAINING:
Nothing is set in stone, but im pretty much hitting the gym 3x per week and doing some form of GPP/Cardio 2-3x per week. I also have loading phases where im increasingly working harder for about 3 weeks, and then a short 1-2 week deload, where i try to supercompensate and recover.
I have a few questions as well.
Ive noticed some strange weaknesses in certain muscle groups. And im hoping that adressing these weakneses will not only help with strength, but will help with my physique as well. Here are the weaknesses ive noticed.
1)vertical press vs. horizontal press
I noticed I could bench my BW for reps (5-10), but my vertical press was almost half of this. Even my push press was pretty pitiful. Ive started working on push press, and am up to about 135-155 for reps, but this is still pretty bad. I have noticed a significant difference in my shoulders though since starting to focus on them.
2)The top 1/2 of pullups, more specifically the last couple of inches.
I know most people struggle with the bottom, but I really struggle with the top. Im thinking this is biceps and lower traps, but am not sure about that. I haven’t been doing any direct bicep work, and consequently can only curl 25-30 lb db’s for reps. I can do about 15 pullups at 190lbs and 5 at 240 though.
3)Extremely weak at tricep pushdowns compared to tricep extensions
I dont know what the deal is with this one, but i can do db tricep exts. with 30-40 lb dbs for reps, but struggle at rope pushdowns with 50lbs. Whats even greater, is that I noticed my gf was using 40lbs on the rope pushdowns. I can bench 3x what she does, but only do 20% more on pushdowns. This seems pretty strange to me.
What would you guys do to adress these weaknesses?
Should I hit some heavy db curls (1-6 reps) before I do my pullups
Any other advice?
Thanks for listening to my ramble on. And I appreciate any constructive criticism/advice.