Hey guys, I’m new to this site. I have been working out during high school and in college. But I’m not big at all. I have realized that I do not lift heavy enough or eat enough to gain muscle. So I am working on this by eating more and lifting heavier while keeping strict form.
I am a very skinny person (genetically)… my torso is very thin compared to the average Joe. I would say close to a female torso, sad but true. So I’m wondering what type of workouts I can to do build my lats and shoulders so that I can appear bigger after serious training.
I currently work on my shoulders, tri’s/bi’s, chest, forearms, legs, and stomach. I rarely do back muscles because I lack the equipment.
My workout plan is/was:
Monday: bi’s & forearms
Tuesday: tri’s & chest
Wednesday: OFF
Thursday: shoulders (and would like to do some sort of back exercise)
Friday: Legs
Saturday: OFF
Sunday: Abs
I’m around 5’10", 160lbs, thin build. I don’t have much body fat on me either.
Bench press: 210lbs
Never tried maxing anything else.
Please don’t lecture me about “Well, you can’t just work out your shoulders and back”.
I just want the most gain in these areas, and as you can all see, I do workout the other parts of my body.
Any good exercises for shoulders and back (for MASSIVE GAIN)? And does anyone recommend a different schedule?
Thanks. (no pictures at the moment, I am waiting to get a camera soon)
uhh I’ll let others flesh this out… and just throw random snippets at you.
Lats : Pull-Ups. Tons of them, use varying grips and also incorporate Chin-ups.
1b. Pull Downs (and the variations to it)
Shoulders : Military Press, Standing Push-Press, DB/BB Pressing, Arnold Press. Seated focuses more on the shoulder while standing will bring in core stabilization muscles. Smith Machine Press
2b. The illusionary party -
*Lateral Raises [db] ( and varying degrees of bending forward; and variations of lateral raises )
*Front Raises [db]
(1b) Cable raises
*Upright Row ( a grip that does not cause undue discomfort in your shoulders )
regarding : " Any good exercises for shoulders and back (for MASSIVE GAIN)? And does anyone recommend a different schedule? "
Shoulders and Back…
Dead-Lifts ( all variations )
Good Mornings
Back-Extension ( weighted - tho limited )
Barbell Rows ( and variations )
Dumbell Rows ( and variations )
More Rowing
Shrugs & variations
Though one of the fastest way is having a workout partner that is in good shape or wants to be, so you have someone to push you every time you workout. To push, support, spot, and assist.
k ~ now I’ll let everyone else get to work on this post.
Just remember MASSIVE GAIN also involves eating to gain 1.25-1.5grams of protein per lb you weigh… If that isn’t workout out try 1.75-2grams… But that along with working out with more intensity, and challenging yourself every workout should do it ~
[quote]kinein wrote:
Just remember MASSIVE GAIN also involves eating to gain 1.25-1.5grams of protein per lb you weigh… If that isn’t workout out try 1.75-2grams… But that along with working out with more intensity, and challenging yourself every workout should do it ~
[/quote]
If that doesn’t work, should he try more protein?
I didn’t see any mention of calories. Your body doesn’t just grow on protein. It also shouldn’t be the PRIMARY focus for someone who claims they are very skinny. The primary focus should be overall calories and pushing harder in the gym.
You can take this for what it’s worth, since I’m not 200 + pounds. I was stuck for years at 165 and it was depressing…I’d gain one or two pounds and then lose it, water weight fluxs, etc.
Full body or splits, high reps low reps, red reps blue reps. No change.
Then I read Berardi’s Massive Eating and S2B nutrition stuff and a light bulb came on: Most guys like me that think they can “eat everything and not gain a pound” are usually not eating nearly as much as we think we are. Or, in my case, eating a bunch of calories at once and then not eating for a long time (basically still ending up with a net calorie deficit at the end of the day). For me I know it wasn’t ego about my abs or getting fat…for me it was about meal prep and appetite. To be more honest ignoring my appetite as I rarely have one, and prepping my meals so that when I get busy at my job or school it was right there.
Berardi’s recommendations helped me to think of things as “results based” and so if there was no change, I’d through caution to the wind and ate as a matter of routine…2500 calories not doing it? go to 3000…or 40000…or whatever it takes. Even set my cell phone to beep every 2 hours to remind myself I needed to be eating something, anything. Granted it wasn’t as ideally clean as it most likely should have been, but for me it was more about he habit and the calories.
In about 9 months or so I added on 10 lbs, I’m guessing about 3lbs of it was fat. Now that may be nothing to some of you but to someone who has been stuck forever it felt awesome, like I finally had some control over myself again. Remember when you first started lifting and could see changes every couple of weeks? It felt like that again.
So never underestimate the awesome power of food for the hardgainer. IMO it trumps any workout variation you can come up with.
Oh and as far as back work…if you are a beginner to it do these three things:
[quote]newbod_e wrote:
Brant_Drake wrote:
newbod_e wrote:
I rarely do back muscles because I lack the equipment.
What is this? What “equipment” are you referring to? If you have a barbell, you can work your back.
I only have dumb bells and a bench press.[/quote]
Row, row, row your back…
barbell or dumb…
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Back workouts are fun…
Sorry, I just couldn’t help myself.
In addition to rows, deadlifts and chinups/pullups are also very good back exercises. I believe these exercises were recommended already.
With a decent bench and DBs you can accomplish a lot.
Some basic compound movement exercises that you could do:
hack squat
overhead squat(you probably want to start light on these)
lunges (barbell or dumbells)
deadlift
dumbell rows from bench
bent over barbell rows
bench press (barbell or dumbbell)
overhead press (there are tons of varieties, do whatever works and doesn’t fuck with your shoulders)
Some isolation exercises that you might want to add after working the compound movements for a while:
calf raises
lateral and front raises
curls
flys
rvs flys
And more importantly, READ THE STICKIES AT THE TOP OF THE BEGINNERS SECTION.
Seriously, they are full of excellent info to get help get you started.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
kinein wrote:
Just remember MASSIVE GAIN also involves eating to gain 1.25-1.5grams of protein per lb you weigh… If that isn’t workout out try 1.75-2grams… But that along with working out with more intensity, and challenging yourself every workout should do it ~
If that doesn’t work, should he try more protein?
I didn’t see any mention of calories. Your body doesn’t just grow on protein. It also shouldn’t be the PRIMARY focus for someone who claims they are very skinny. The primary focus should be overall calories and pushing harder in the gym. [/quote]
Well said, the reason behind not mentioning calories is I more or less expected him to just eat more along with the protein intake. I figured if I didn’t mention dieting, or avoiding any food it would add up in calories.
Well there ya go Original Poster. Plenty of followup comments. Good luck!
bent-over rows, deadlifts and pullups are all great back mass builders. all you need is that bench bar and some plates for the first 2, and something to hang on for the 3rd one (i’ve used tree branches in the past).
[quote]newbod_e wrote:
Thanks for the advice everyone.
I’m curious, for those of you who gained a lot of mass on the upper body, did you get dry skin from your skin expanding?
HAHA, I heard things about it, skin getting dry and stretch marks. My torso’s skin is getting dry and flaky, I’m not sure if it due to this workout.[/quote]
…
or most likely it’s from the dryness of heaters and the winter weather. Where do you live?
If you are asking the questions you have I can guarantee you that it is NOT from huge skin expanding muscles.
[quote]medevac wrote:
newbod_e wrote:
Thanks for the advice everyone.
I’m curious, for those of you who gained a lot of mass on the upper body, did you get dry skin from your skin expanding?
HAHA, I heard things about it, skin getting dry and stretch marks. My torso’s skin is getting dry and flaky, I’m not sure if it due to this workout.
…
or most likely it’s from the dryness of heaters and the winter weather. Where do you live?
If you are asking the questions you have I can guarantee you that it is NOT from huge skin expanding muscles.
Never mind I fucking quit.[/quote]
Heater and winter weather sounds like the reason for me. Obviously not due to muscles exploding out of my skin. I live in Colorado, explains a lot. HAHA.
I can’t wait to incorporate the new exercises into my workout.
If you’re skinny, I don’t think you should waste time working on your forearms when there are bigger muscles to be worked. At least not right now. Your forarms will get plenty of work holding onto heavy weights.
[quote]tw0scoops2 wrote:
If you’re skinny, I don’t think you should waste time working on your forearms when there are bigger muscles to be worked. At least not right now. Your forarms will get plenty of work holding onto heavy weights.[/quote]
I guess you’re right, but it feels good to work the forearms. I’m also trying to work everything, but now I’m going to focus more on the shoulders, lats and legs.
If you see me from the front, I look decent. But from the back I look like I don’t work out at all. Looks pretty stupid, and I’m trying to fix it.
I’m going to agree with the prof, medevac and kinein; more food, overall, more protein every day, a decent workout program that hits all your major muscles, and you’re good to go for a few years. Your staple lifts, as mentioned already, should be Deadlifts, Rows, Squats, Bench, Pullups/Chinups, and Overhead Presses(dumbbell, barbell, whatever). And eat. You should also log your workouts, to make sure you’re progressing from week to week.
[quote]hungry4more wrote:
I’m going to agree with the prof, medevac and kinein; more food, overall, more protein every day, a decent workout program that hits all your major muscles, and you’re good to go for a few years. Your staple lifts, as mentioned already, should be Deadlifts, Rows, Squats, Bench, Pullups/Chinups, and Overhead Presses(dumbbell, barbell, whatever). And eat. You should also log your workouts, to make sure you’re progressing from week to week. [/quote]
[quote]medevac wrote:
hungry4more wrote:
I’m going to agree with the prof, medevac and kinein; more food, overall, more protein every day, a decent workout program that hits all your major muscles, and you’re good to go for a few years. Your staple lifts, as mentioned already, should be Deadlifts, Rows, Squats, Bench, Pullups/Chinups, and Overhead Presses(dumbbell, barbell, whatever). And eat. You should also log your workouts, to make sure you’re progressing from week to week.
Who is that in your avatar? [/quote]
I’m guessing that’s himself…? Looks like a home photo to me.