New Guy Needs Help

Hello T-Nation,

I’m new to this website and this is my first post. I have been lifting lightly on and off for the past 10 years just to keep in shape. But I would like to add considerable size now.

My stats:

I’m 31 years old 5’ 10" 150lbs

The most I ever weighed is about 160 lbs. I would like to weigh about 190 lbs. I have a very light frame and small joints, wrists and ankles. I have pretty full muscle bellies and look like I weigh alot more than I do.

My body fat% is always low, it doesn’t matter what I eat. It’s probably somewhere around 7% to 10% all the time. I don’t know I’ve never measured it. My waist size is 29 inches. My ankles are 8.25 inches. My wrists are 6.5 inches

My Goals: To reach 190 lbs of muscle with the same type of build. I want to know if its possible for someone of my genetics to do it.

My personal best lifts are:

Weight 160lbs & 21 years old at time of these lifts.

Bench Press 275 1 rep
Decline Bench Press 275 3 reps
Incline Bench Press 185 3 reps
Squat 315 3 Reps
Shrug 405 3 reps
Dumbbell Curls 75 lbs for 3 reps
Standing calve raises 1000 lbs for reps

Never did a deadlift before, so I just went ahead and did one to give you an idea of my strength. I was able to pull up 250lbs for 1 rep. I have not been lifting at all for the last 5 years. Maybe once every 2 months or so.

Is there somewhere I should start.

I was thinking about using a 5x5 workout of Squats, Bench Presses, Deadlifts, and Cleans & Presses maybe 2 times a week.

Then on the other days some ab and calve training. Maybe some bicep and tricep and forearm work too.

Does anyone have any ideas of what someone of my bodytype should be doing. I tended to always lift in higher rep ranges and seemed to be fairly strong for my weight. I’m thinking about trying something different now. I also used the regular splits like chest & tri’s, back & bi’s.

Need advice and help. Not sure what the hell I’m doing.

Any replies at all would be usefull, even if they are to make fun of me for being skinny. Don’t worry about that, my whole family makes fun of me and it doesn’t bother me. I’m still able to lift more weight than them regardless of being alot lighter.

The 5X5 sounds like a good plan, drink a lot of milk and eat a lot.

Gaining weight is more about time spent at the dinner table than time spent in the gym.

Take progress pics along the way, they help you gauge progress, as it’s hard to see when it’s a slow progress and you see yourself daily.

Work hard and keep at it, anything’s possible.

Genetics is mostly a cop out.

No you won’t be 250lbs of solid muscle, but 190 is easily attainable.

Everyone is going to tell you this so I might as well be the first to say it. Eat, eat and eat some more…and then repeat. Also, find a premade workout on this site too. Not insulting your workout, but the people who design them on this site know what they are doing.

Spend a few weeks reading some of the articles on this site, including the newbie thread on the beginners forum.

i belive it is more than possible i recommend that you stick to 4 to 5 basic movements full body training going to complete concentric failure. Start out training once every 4 days and you should expect results every workout. if you encounter little or no results keep adding an extra rest day until u see them

If you want good size, don’t worry about how much you lift, but HOW you lift. Keep the reps relatively slow and controlled and squeeze in and out of each rep.

With the exception of not locking out on presses and squats, use a full ROM on each exercise.

[quote]simon-hecubus wrote:
If you want good size, don’t worry about how much you lift, but HOW you lift. Keep the reps relatively slow and controlled and squeeze in and out of each rep.

With the exception of not locking out on presses and squats, use a full ROM on each exercise.[/quote]

have you ever read any artcles from Dr Doug McGuff at ultimate exercise just wanted a second opinion

[quote]simon-hecubus wrote:
If you want good size, don’t worry about how much you lift, but HOW you lift. Keep the reps relatively slow and controlled and squeeze in and out of each rep.

[/quote]

Good form is one thing, but it always boils down to HOW much you can actually lift. More weight on the bar is the common divisor of all successful training programs. Given that there are at least a dozen articles here regarding rep speed specifically, maybe you should try reading them before you spout questionable advice.

[quote]
With the exception of not locking out on presses and squats, use a full ROM on each exercise.[/quote]

Why not? Why is locking out so dangerous?

[quote]StephenD wrote:

i belive it is more than possible i recommend that you stick to 4 to 5 basic movements full body training going to complete concentric failure. Start out training once every 4 days and you should expect results every workout. if you encounter little or no results keep adding an extra rest day until u see them[/quote]

Why do you believe that? For how long have you been able to progress doing that? How many people have you trained? Have you ever expirienced a plateau, or know of anyone else stalling on program you’re suggesting? Why decrease frequency and volume, if your goal is to overload the body? How long have you been training at all?

Did you bother to read any of the articles on this site, esp. ones that deal with general training theory?

Like this one,

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=490551

[quote]slotan wrote:
StephenD wrote:

i belive it is more than possible i recommend that you stick to 4 to 5 basic movements full body training going to complete concentric failure. Start out training once every 4 days and you should expect results every workout. if you encounter little or no results keep adding an extra rest day until u see them

Why do you believe that? For how long have you been able to progress doing that? How many people have you trained? Have you ever expirienced a plateau, or know of anyone else stalling on program you’re suggesting? Why decrease frequency and volume, if your goal is to overload the body? How long have you been training at all?

Did you bother to read any of the articles on this site, esp. ones that deal with general training theory?

Like this one,

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=490551

[/quote]

Why is that so hard for you to understand i suggest you stop beliving every bit of crap your spoon fed from these internet forums. You will get to the point were you will not increase in strength anymore with your current volume and frequency are you suggesting that an increase in volume rather than reduction is the way to go/

[quote]StephenD wrote:
slotan wrote:
StephenD wrote:

i belive it is more than possible i recommend that you stick to 4 to 5 basic movements full body training going to complete concentric failure. Start out training once every 4 days and you should expect results every workout. if you encounter little or no results keep adding an extra rest day until u see them

Why do you believe that? For how long have you been able to progress doing that? How many people have you trained? Have you ever expirienced a plateau, or know of anyone else stalling on program you’re suggesting? Why decrease frequency and volume, if your goal is to overload the body? How long have you been training at all?

Did you bother to read any of the articles on this site, esp. ones that deal with general training theory?

Like this one,

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=490551

Why is that so hard for you to understand i suggest you stop beliving every bit of crap your spoon fed from these internet forums. You will get to the point were you will not increase in strength anymore with your current volume and frequency are you suggesting that an increase in volume rather than reduction is the way to go/[/quote]

There is overtraining, and there is such a thing as undertraining. 4 days off, especially for beginners, is too much time off. Most programs, whole-body and otherwise, are 3x a week for beginners.

StephenD, what exercises and set/rep scheme would you recommend? Perhaps others would be more receptive if you explain your belief in more details. Who/where did you learn it from? Or if you thought of it yourself, how successful has it been for yourself and/or others?

[quote]StephenD wrote:
slotan wrote:
StephenD wrote:

i belive it is more than possible i recommend that you stick to 4 to 5 basic movements full body training going to complete concentric failure. Start out training once every 4 days and you should expect results every workout. if you encounter little or no results keep adding an extra rest day until u see them

Why do you believe that? For how long have you been able to progress doing that? How many people have you trained? Have you ever expirienced a plateau, or know of anyone else stalling on program you’re suggesting? Why decrease frequency and volume, if your goal is to overload the body? How long have you been training at all?

Did you bother to read any of the articles on this site, esp. ones that deal with general training theory?

Like this one,

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=490551

Why is that so hard for you to understand i suggest you stop beliving every bit of crap your spoon fed from these internet forums. You will get to the point were you will not increase in strength anymore with your current volume and frequency are you suggesting that an increase in volume rather than reduction is the way to go/[/quote]

What is there to understand? You nicely side-stepped my direct questions and attacked me and this forum (“spoon-fed crap”), without probably ever opening the link I posted. Typical for a <insert guru name/training system here> cultist.

How you decide what’s crap and what isn’t? How do you know what is actually true and what is bollocks? Do you have a clue about human body physiology? In particular, how do you know that reaching failure is all that is needed to stimulate gains?

Check the article I posted…It actually requires quite a bit of intellectual effort and is far from “spoon-feeding”, as you put it.

And to answer your question: of course I’m suggesting an increase in volume/frequency. That is what every remotely competent athlete/coach in every sport does. Only the truly elite (national level at least) should consider actually lowering the total volume due to high neural efficency.

P.S. This is not just another Internet forum.

I would ask anyone who questions brief and infrequent training to go to ultimate-exercise.com Dr Doug McGuff has a variety of articles on his method of training. For myself i have just started training on his program and in 10 weeks have went up 120pound on the deadlift and 22pounds on the chin similar with dips and squat.

[quote]StephenD wrote:
I would ask anyone who questions brief and infrequent training to go to ultimate-exercise.com Dr Doug McGuff has a variety of articles on his method of training. For myself i have just started training on his program and in 10 weeks have went up 120pound on the deadlift and 22pounds on the chin similar with dips and squat.[/quote]

So if McGuff says so it must be true? If you’re progressing, everyone else must be the same?

Are you a begginer, indermediate or advanced? What other training programs have you tried? And how do you do a 10 sec deadlift? The fact you’re getting results now doesn’t mean you will continue to improve indefinetly. Don’t get me wrong, I honestly wish you the very best, but it is just the reality of training process.

There is much more to weight training than McGuff thinks or knows. And, yes, I read his articles quite a while ago; I did HIT a few years back. So maybe I’m not familiar with the latest of his writings, but those “dose-response” ones are basically beyond wrong. His basic premise of how organism adapts to stress is flawed, even in the field of pharmacology. And weight training is not pharmacology.

Since you’re training with him, though, I certainly doubt you’ll take into much consideration anything of what I wrote. Oh well…

[quote]StephenD wrote:
I would ask anyone who questions brief and infrequent training to go to ultimate-exercise.com Dr Doug McGuff has a variety of articles on his method of training. For myself i have just started training on his program and in 10 weeks have went up 120pound on the deadlift and 22pounds on the chin similar with dips and squat.[/quote]

There are so many of you guys running around. It is a shame that so few of you actually look “built”. I guess that doesn’t come until you buy a few more books and pledge your mortgage to the god of HIT.

[quote]slotan wrote:
StephenD wrote:
I would ask anyone who questions brief and infrequent training to go to ultimate-exercise.com Dr Doug McGuff has a variety of articles on his method of training. For myself i have just started training on his program and in 10 weeks have went up 120pound on the deadlift and 22pounds on the chin similar with dips and squat.

So if McGuff says so it must be true? If you’re progressing, everyone else must be the same?

Are you a begginer, indermediate or advanced? What other training programs have you tried? And how do you do a 10 sec deadlift? The fact you’re getting results now doesn’t mean you will continue to improve indefinetly. Don’t get me wrong, I honestly wish you the very best, but it is just the reality of training process.

There is much more to weight training than McGuff thinks or knows. And, yes, I read his articles quite a while ago; I did HIT a few years back. So maybe I’m not familiar with the latest of his writings, but those “dose-response” ones are basically beyond wrong. His basic premise of how organism adapts to stress is flawed, even in the field of pharmacology. And weight training is not pharmacology.

Since you’re training with him, though, I certainly doubt you’ll take into much consideration anything of what I wrote. Oh well…[/quote]

Most of these arguments can be summed up briefly by simply asking for pictures of his “gains”.