GUIDE TO BULKING UP

[Bonhomme]

How about 10 lb in a month?

Yup. That's how much I've gained working out only once every 1-2 weeks (yes, weeks) with very heavy weight and low reps. After warming up, I've been doing a brief, heavy reverse-pyramid workout, with 1-2 reps at max weight for 2 sets, then about 6-8 reps for the one set, varying the exercises a bit, about 8 exercises altogether, with little rest between exercises (just to adjust weights).

And I've even missed meals on account of my work, just having some juice to tide me over. If not for that, I'd probably have gained a couple more lb of mass. This has been amazing.

My conclusion is that the most important things are to push your muscles to maximum effort, make sure they recover fully, and eat good foods, with enough protein, complex carbs, and essential fatty acids. Your appetite will take care of getting enough calories.

 

[Lost]

does surfin count as cardio?

does surfin count as cardio?

ill probly be surfin 1-2 times per week durin the school year...
and ill have a 3 day workout split (tryin to bulk here of course)...

u say in one of ur replies on page 2 "the calories burned by the body during and after cardio (due to the elevated metabolic effect ) could be used by the body towards recovery and muscle building."
so if its used for recovery... why not just eat more.. and the cardio will cut out the unnecessary crap?

well what im saying is.. i dont necessarilyy want to do cardio persay... but i really dont want to give up surfing for bodybuilding...

so what do u think??

 

[DIESEL]

Re: does surfin count as cardio?

Originally posted by Lost
does surfin count as cardio?

ill probly be surfin 1-2 times per week durin the school year...
and ill have a 3 day workout split (tryin to bulk here of course)...

u say in one of ur replies on page 2 "the calories burned by the body during and after cardio (due to the elevated metabolic effect ) could be used by the body towards recovery and muscle building."
so if its used for recovery... why not just eat more.. and the cardio will cut out the unnecessary crap?

well what im saying is.. i dont necessarilyy want to do cardio persay... but i really dont want to give up surfing for bodybuilding...

so what do u think??

I have no idea.

But, most surfers I see on TV and such, are rather lean, so I figure if you're surfing all day, you'll be burning a fair amount of calories.

 

[Lost]

so its basically useless to workout then? for me that is?
i wont be able to gain any mass if im doing cardio
i mean how can i bulk(Eat a lot) and do cardio.. u said they dont mix...
anyone else got an opinion?
if surfing is cardio, then why cant i just EAT A LOT MORE(as in a lil more then you would normally do for bulking), AND THE SURFING WILL BURN OFF THE EXTRA CALORIES.. BUT WONT USE THE ONES I NEED FOR BULKING????

 

[DIESEL]

Originally posted by Lost
so its basically useless to workout then? for me that is?
i wont be able to gain any mass if im doing cardio
i mean how can i bulk(Eat a lot) and do cardio.. u said they dont mix...
anyone else got an opinion?
if surfing is cardio, then why cant i just EAT A LOT MORE(as in a lil more then you would normally do for bulking), AND THE SURFING WILL BURN OFF THE EXTRA CALORIES.. BUT WONT USE THE ONES I NEED FOR BULKING????

I would say that is a very good idea - subject to one important possible limitation. You should try it and see what happens. I do think you will have to make sure to GET A TON OF REST, b/c you will be working your muscles big time. And the limitation is this: you see, you will thrash them in the gym - but then you will not let them rest AND REGROW (EVEN BIGGER) by constantly surfing all the time. This, IMHO, is what may put the monkeywrench in your idea.

But it obviously sounds like you love to surf - so I'm not going to tell you to quit surfing so you can get bigger - I think you are going to have to make a compromise. I think following your thinking you will gain SOME mass - just not ALL THE MASS YOU COULD CONCEIVABLY GAIN.

D

here's a possible idea: is it possible to surf year round in South Carolina? If it isn't you could use the "surfing downtime" as "Bulking time"

D

 

[Lost]

well...
its warmer here than other places..
i do have a wetsuit altho im not sure if it still fits.. and i dnno if id go in the coldest part of the year or not.. i get cold pretty easily..... we'll see.. i dont wanna depend on that tho.

but
if im only surfing on the weekend... it shouldnt **** up my rest too much shouod it?
well maybe the workouts i do on friday.. but the main muscles for paddling are just back and shoulder...therefore.. biceps shouldnt be affected at all by my surfing right? i mean like i can still bulk just as much as anyone else since its not used in paddling..

they say u need a strong stomach, shoulders, back, and legs(altho my legs have never been sore and they really cant get sore.. maybe if ur really good u can put some work on them but right now im not kelly slater ( visually ) .. so really the only thing that might get overworked is shoulder and back...
u would think simple solution would be just do shoulder and back on wednesday or something in between
but i have to switch it around every 4 weeks so it doesnt get so used to it.. therefore it would have to be on a friday at some point..correct?

 

[semag]

I've noticed with my surfing you can do it without having it be too much of a cardio workout... however, the day has to be one in which you're not gonna get your a$$ kicked by the waves. If you're out there and the waves are reasonable, you can paddle out slower, time it so you're between sets, and not expend too much energy with your boardin...

 

[Lost]

do u surf aggressively tho?
i mean it doesnt have to be head high..
but in say waist high surf.. a lot of times the wave is a bit down when its forming or been formin for a lil while so ill paddle my ass off ( with my back arched of course.. i go hella faster that way..since it uses my back.. guess my upper back is stronger than shoulder or somethin)

 

[Player_Supreme]

Good post...I do have a question. What is your reasoning for adding flys to the chest mix?

 

[DIESEL]

Originally posted by Player_Supreme
Good post...I do have a question. What is your reasoning for adding flys to the chest mix?

There really is no reasoning at least on my end. Other than I like doing them. I guess I was merely posting what I normally do on a chest routine. ...any suggestions/comments are appreciated.

Thanks,
D

 

[Player_Supreme]

Thanks I was curious ...Have you tried the one set to failure Ellington Darden style? I have just went back to that after 13-14 years of not using it with a few clients...getting great results...not sure if it's cause of the going to failure yet or just the change...

Oh I've also been doing the style on myself. Doing strip down sets mixed in also....got dam...growing like crazy for an older trainer...but I've found you gotta do a light warm up of several body movement exercises first other wise your joints suffer.

Here is a sample of a program I used:

1. leg ext.
2. leg presses
3. jump squats
4. leg curle
5. dumbell toe raises
6. dumbell bench
7. chin's or pull downs in front
8. side lateral raises
9. incline dumbell bench
10. lat pulls ie close grip or behind the head..doesn't impinge my shoulders so it's safe for me...great for scapulae area
11. shoulder presses =dumbell
12. curls
13. rope tricep
14. bent over lateral raises
15. incline dumbell curls
16. dips...dumbell between the legs
17. hammer curls
18. dumbell tricep ext. over head
19. crunches.

on all of these exercise I do 3 strip downs to failure...the first week I was ready to heave, but now after 5 weeks cardio has kicked in as well as growth responses.

I have been doing this mon-wed-fri..old school training days.

the ladies I have been using this program on have shown tremendous results withing a few weeks...makes a good change of pace if your cycling your program styles.

peace

 

[Templeton]

Damn it Player!

You remember all the Elington Darden stuff too? I think we are showing our age! In theory all that high intensity stuff makes so much sense but in practice I found it never quite holds up - not beyond about the first month anyway so this would lead me to believe any results are based more in a change of stimulus than anything else.

Can you be a little more specific on your routine? Are you performing drops on all those exercises in the same session? Surely not?!

 

[don_juan_20]

Do you really need to have 4 scoops of whey a day? I don't think I can afford that. I'm around 180pounds.

Any other alternative? Can I try and just eat one scoop but say have a can of tuna and drink two glasses of milk?

 

[DIESEL]

Originally posted by don_juan_20
Do you really need to have 4 scoops of whey a day? I don't think I can afford that. I'm around 180pounds.

Any other alternative? Can I try and just eat one scoop but say have a can of tuna and drink two glasses of milk?

whey is actually more cost-effective than eating an equivalent amount of protein with solid food. A can of tuna and two glasses of milk have the same amount of protein as 2 scoops of whey.

for example, I don't think you can do a proper cutting diet without a whey protein supplement. There is no way other than living on tuna, dry chicken breasts and oatmeal that you can pack so nutrition into so little calories.

 

[NMMWCR]

Originally posted by don_juan_20
Do you really need to have 4 scoops of whey a day? I don't think I can afford that. I'm around 180pounds.

Any other alternative? Can I try and just eat one scoop but say have a can of tuna and drink two glasses of milk?

It's more like 6 scoops of whey a day. If you buy the Optimum Whey in 10 pound bags it isn't so expensive.

 

[kenman]

This is an interesting subject to enlighten on. I am a skinny bastard as everyone calls me i have muscle but not enough to show (got that little layer of fat) I do go workout but I do not know what dumbell flys and stuff like that are so if you could give me some definitions on this I would appreciate it. Also what does the word "whey" mean? I am working on building the six pack, and yet i would like to get nice and tone and then bulk up a bit...any ideas or suggestions for me?

kenman

 

[numlock]

To Diesel and all other experienced peeps:

When I do alternating bicep curls, sitting on a bench with a slight incline with my arms dangling down, i can easily do 8 reps on each bicep (probably more) with 15lbs (my arms are puny). so then for the next set, i up the weight to 17.5lbs and i can barely do 3 reps.

how come i struggle so much with just a 2.5 pound increase! i've been stuck like this for a few weeks now. i do bicep exercises after 10 sets of back exercises. could it be that the incline curls are too difficult? should i go for standing curls? how will i ever grow if i can't increase the weight and crank out at least 4 reps?

thanks!

 

[Templeton]

Numlock:

I often find biecps fatigue very quickly when hit directly and correctly and this will be compounded by the preceeding back movements. Try taking a longer rest between sets and try out different movements too. Standing straight bar barbell curls for example - although an incredibly demanding movement when performed correctly.

Also, at the point you start hitting your biceps they are clearly fully warmed up from the back work so you could try and start with your heaviest set and then work down in weight as they fatigue. This is rather like how Lee Labrada, former champion bodybuilder, founder of Labrada Nutrition and one of the most knowledgable guys in the business used to train.

 

[Bonhomme]

Workout duration

Diesel,

Are you familiar with Anthony Ellis' theory that too long a workout causes one to miss the window of greatest growth?

He recommends 45 minutes max per workout. My own results support this. My muscles are sore as hell -- in a good way -- for days after my 30 minute ultra-heavy workout. It appears your routine would take much longer.

What are your thoughts on workout duration, and why?

 

[drixsa]

Re: Workout duration

Originally posted by Bonhomme
Diesel,

Are you familiar with Anthony Ellis' theory that too long a workout causes one to miss the window of greatest growth?

He recommends 45 minutes max per workout. My own results support this. My muscles are sore as hell -- in a good way -- for days after my 30 minute ultra-heavy workout. It appears your routine would take much longer.

What are your thoughts on workout duration, and why?

itd truly be nice if i could do back and chest or bi's and tri's in 30 minutes but it just isnt realistic

besides different ppl benefit from different things

but 1 hr wont kill ya

id say your workout should be 1 hr max