A few bulking questions

[Dirtheart]

I have recently started bulking and have been following a lot of the advice found here. I am starting to see results after quite a short period of time, but I have a few things I'm unsure about if anyone could clarify them for me:


Why is drinking lots of water important?

Why do you need such long rest periods between workouts? I feel the burn after every work out, but feel fully recovered 1-2 days later.

Can you eat too much protein or is it a case of the more the better? Does the body store it and use it?

Why is it so important to do squats and leg exercises if you only want to build your upper body?

How do you exercise your neck without risking injury?

Thanks.

 

[DJUofS]

Originally posted by Dirtheart
I have recently started bulking and have been following a lot of the advice found here. I am starting to see results after quite a short period of time, but I have a few things I'm unsure about if anyone could clarify them for me:


Why is drinking lots of water important?

Why do you need such long rest periods between workouts? I feel the burn after every work out, but feel fully recovered 1-2 days later.

Can you eat too much protein or is it a case of the more the better? Does the body store it and use it?

Why is it so important to do squats and leg exercises if you only want to build your upper body?

How do you exercise your neck without risking injury?

Thanks.

The body doesn't store protein. At first you should take in roughly 1g/1lb of protein. Your body will start to adjust and you can start adding more after a while. If you take too much in to begin with, you will start shytting it out.

Squats are a total body work-out, even though you are mainly using your legs. Like deadlifts, they release testosterone like none other and put your CNS into overdrive.

As for the other questions, I would be interested in seeing the answers as well.

 

[DJBen]

Right, lets see if I can help.

Water is essential. You lose water by urinating, crapping, breathing, sweating, using it to transport nutriants and a lot more. You also need more so your body can process all the extra protein. You're a weightlifter - you need it. It's the best thing you can drink, and in my mind, one of the only things you can drink.

There are limits on the amount of protein you should eat. It gets to the point where you really cant process anymore and your intestines will find it a pain in the ass to get a lot of that unused protein out. It can hurt if you consume too much, I know from experience. 1.0-1.5G of lean body weight is the guideline. I wouldnt go above 2.0 for love nor money. If I had money to burn like that, I'd invest it and get rich

You should have one day off, one day on etc until you complete all your workouts for that week. Then take two days off, rinse, and repeat. If you workout hard, you'll need the time to let the muscles rest, even if you feel fine. Muscles are made the day after, not a few hours later. You're only human, afterall

Your legs have the biggest muscles in your body. So work them. You work them because your body will release the hormones you need to build muscle. Because of the size of the muscle and the stress you've put on your system, your body will pump everything out in needs in good numbers. These hormones go through your entire body, not just your legs. Plus if you ask me, people with small legs and good upperbodies look like idiots

Work your traps with shrugs. Your neck by hanging weights off of them. I personally dont work my neck anymore, but when I used to, I used to hang a weight from my neck, bend over, and tense the muscles. When done correctly it's perfectly safe.

Hope that helped, goodluck with it

 

[Reiki]

Originally posted by Dirtheart
I have recently started bulking and have been following a lot of the advice found here. I am starting to see results after quite a short period of time, but I have a few things I'm unsure about if anyone could clarify them for me:


Why is drinking lots of water important?
Because most people did not drink enough water when they weren't lifting, you need 1 liter water for every 40 pounds of bodyweight, most people probably dont drink even near to that, and as a result your body lowers your metabolism.


Why do you need such long rest periods between workouts? I feel the burn after every work out, but feel fully recovered 1-2 days later.
To make sure you dont overtrain your muscle training them once a week will be enough, that way you get enough rest, and don't be mistaken if you "feel" recovered, your muscle will also go into supercompensation.
As for the rest periods between sets, If you train "properly" say you want to do 6 reps, you should barely be able to do 6 reps, not pump out 2 more after that, then the ATP reserves would take atleast 2 minutes to restore, for most people it would take 3 minutes.

Can you eat too much protein or is it a case of the more the better? Does the body store it and use it?
Eating too much would probably too hard, getting enough proteines at the right time is the most important thing, since 1 kg of muscle contains 250 gr's protein. So yeah protein makes a big difference

Why is it so important to do squats and leg exercises if you only want to build your upper body?
For one, do you want to look like a chicken? big upper body and no legs at all? I dont think so, and the squat is one of the big exercises for your ENTIRE body, you can get big arms from just squatting, and the TEST release will also help you develop your upper body.
Dont be afraid to get "big" legs, its gonna take awhile.

How do you exercise your neck without risking injury?
A spotter, proper warmup and good technique, should be the basics of all exercises, You can do without a spotter on some though.

Thanks.

 

[Dirtheart]

I definitely need to be drinking more water, eating less protein and taking more rest.

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the detailed answers.

 

[Reiki]

It also depends on your weight and bodytype, I can go on alot of proteines and pack on muscle easily, while I need to cut down on my carbs so I don't get fat, I get fat really fast, though an Ectomorph will need alot of carbs to gain weight and pack on muscle.