shamus Posted January 25, 2012 Report Share Posted January 25, 2012 I'm looking to gain strength and ideally some mass without taking a hit on my CV (which isn't a lot atm, maybe two rides a week, (6-7miles, 15+miles on XC bike and maybe 8miles in total running)) Should I just be loading up and working out or should I do it in stages of loading and then leaning out a bit then loading again? Most of my resistance/strength training is bodyweight stuff, haven't got the money for gym but do have a bench and a few weights. I'm usually in the habit of core every other day (recovering aductor muscle strain) and press-ups, inclined press-ups on the in between days. I reckon I could get time on the weights bench/freeweights time maybe 2-3 times a week? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muel Posted January 26, 2012 Report Share Posted January 26, 2012 I'd say don't go on a "max bulk" kinda of thing, go for more of a clean bulk/conditioning thing. Basically eat the cleanest diet you can, getting plenty of protein in. (For a clean bulk I aim for 0.75g of protein per lb of lean mass). So if you weigh 182lbs with 15% BF like me, then your lean weight is roughly 155lbs, so you should be getting around 116g of protein. I'm currently trying to do a similar sort of thing, I've only done max bulk style training in the past, whereas now I'm eating a lean, high protein diet whilst just climbing as much as I can, and it seems to be having the biggest effect of anything I've done so far. I posted my current diet a page or so back, since then we've been discussing my lean burger recipe lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD™ Posted January 26, 2012 Report Share Posted January 26, 2012 I posted my current diet a page or so back, since then we've been discussing my lean burger recipe lol. Totally bought some mince the other day to try that, then just made a massive spicy bolognese instead. D'oh. Weekend it is then... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muel Posted January 28, 2012 Report Share Posted January 28, 2012 Lol, f**king homo. I just made another batch. They're biguns! Made 10 burgers out of 1.5kg of mince, 6 eggs, 1 large onion and I added 1tbsp cumin, 1tbsp of mild curry powder and 1tbsp of soy sauce. Hopefully this batch will be a little less bland... Next time I'm considering experimenting with a sweet chilli version. Oh yeh, worked out some sums. Each burger has 40g protein, 20g fat, 8g saturates. That'll do me lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukasMcNeal Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 Okay basically tryna get my skinny little arms a bit bigger, got dumbells which go up to about 20kg I think. At the moment I'm doing 3 x 8 sets about 3 times a day, currently on 11kgs started on 10kg. Doing just standard curls and hammer curls. Just wondering what's best basically! Im 6ft 5 and about 10 3/4 stone so lanky as fook! Just wondering like is there anything to build really cause there's barely any fat? Also started doing 100 sit ups a day at the moment. Cheers for any helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_soon_to_be Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 unfortunatly just smashing out the curls wont give you massive arms, biceps isnt the only muscle. if your purely doing 3x8 3 times a day you wont see gains because the fibres have no time to rebuild themselfs, even with just dumbells you could do a very simple split. day 1 biceps and ticeps day 2 back day 3 chest day 4 shoulders with just dumbells youd had to include alot of body weight exercises have a google search for exersises to the above split and go from there, if your skinny then start smashing in the food Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukasMcNeal Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 I eat loads! Just gets spread out all over lol! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukasMcNeal Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 How does this sound? 3 x 8 bicep curls 3x 8 hammer curls 3 x 8 tricep Curls And tricep dips not sure on amount? All once a day or every other day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_soon_to_be Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 just doing that everyday will overload the muscles in your arms and they will never get any bigger, you wont gain anything just doing arms. the exercises youd most benifit from is big compound lifts, so heavy deadlifts, squats and bent rows because they work all the major muscle groups at once that will work for a basic arms, once maybe twice a week if your purely set on just doing that try and incorperate seated shoulder presses, incline, decline and flat chest presses and just make it a all over body workout do that every other day and see if you get any gains, they will be minimal as for eating loads, that might be the case but is it the right foods ? some nights i literally force myself to eat someting, even just a can of tuna google search and do some reading, or bicep curl till your dizzy if you think it helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weebryan Posted February 6, 2012 Report Share Posted February 6, 2012 Try this 1 With 9kg dumbells in each hand, go into a push and do 1 push up, up to down kiss floor to up whilst gripping weights on floor 2 bring legs in to a squat and stand up slowly with weights at side 3 do a curl 4 push weights to the roof 5 weights up high keep elbows high and bend forearms behind head with elbows pointing to roof and back up 6 do the exact opposite back down to push up on alt reps No.5 weights high instead of putting behind head lower the arms to a vertical, like a T shape and then down to side in one slow smooth motion and bring back up or out on front then down mix it up Do 3/4 x ten reps of these and feel the burn and heart rate shoot up also do it like a robot smooth slow deliberate Make sure you warm up and stretch before and after for better recovery Im not a fan of repeated exercises i do this one night, x trainer another, insanity dvd, and a night of streching and take it easy mix it up as much as you can The weights i have different routines too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isitafox Posted February 7, 2012 Report Share Posted February 7, 2012 I have no need for the gym on nights like this. Freezing temperatures and a signalbox full of levers controlling frozen points is a killer arm and back workout when it gets busy! On a more sensible note, my cousin picked me up a set of push up bars from Aldi the other day for £4 so I've been trying to beast out a load of pushups everyday I'm at work since. Best few quid I've spent in a long time, I can tell the difference they make from doing normal push ups on the floor! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shamus Posted February 7, 2012 Report Share Posted February 7, 2012 be careful you don't lose the stabalising muscles in your wrists/hands though, I used the bars for a while, and although it helped the chest by allowing a full lowering position I found I prefered changing my hand positions (fingers inward/outward, flat/on finger tips) around on the floor, (phsycologically) helped loads with hand/forearm strength lol But overall I love mine, definitely more chest oreintated then on palms, use them when going for the last few sets! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isitafox Posted February 7, 2012 Report Share Posted February 7, 2012 Yeah, just something different to keep me entertained when at work really as I only go to the gym in a morning so if I'm on earlies or nights I miss out. Been blasting out 3 x 25 when I first get to work every night in the hope I'll keep it up and be able to notice some progression in stamina/strength. No doubt that in a few weeks though they'll be used more as a paper weight in my locker! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg1040 Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 So been at the gym probably about 3 months now and put on about 5kg in weight which I am happy with. I know many of these questions could be answered with a quick google search but would prefer your opinions. I read a lot about when training arms they are easily over trained any advice on how much different exercises would be adequate enough during a session at the gym for the likes of biceps?. I usually go for 5 exercises 3 reps of 8 for bi's and usually about 3 exercises reps of 8 for tri's on a chest workout day. Still a bit of a gym newbie and don't go with any with years of experience to guide us but Im familiar with a lot of the basic exercises. Also is reps of 8 fine for trying to put on mass rather than Toning or should I lower this to 6. Any help would be great. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davetrials Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 Lower the reps raise the weight for mass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredrico Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 Lower the reps raise the weight for mass raise the reps for mass, you need pump to create mass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish-Finger-er Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 So been at the gym probably about 3 months now and put on about 5kg in weight which I am happy with. I know many of these questions could be answered with a quick google search but would prefer your opinions. I read a lot about when training arms they are easily over trained any advice on how much different exercises would be adequate enough during a session at the gym for the likes of biceps?. I usually go for 5 exercises 3 reps of 8 for bi's and usually about 3 exercises reps of 8 for tri's on a chest workout day. Still a bit of a gym newbie and don't go with any with years of experience to guide us but Im familiar with a lot of the basic exercises. Also is reps of 8 fine for trying to put on mass rather than Toning or should I lower this to 6. Any help would be great. Thanks if you can thrash out 5 seperate exercises for a single muscle group, good chance the first ones not hard enough. Dont really do much bi/tri work individually. tend to get enough out of compounds, then just do an isolation exercise at the end. just starting back after a few months off, todays routine looked like this: squats 4 sets at 12, 10, 8 7(was meant to be 8) bent over rows 12,8,8 military press 10,8,8 lat pull down 10,8,8,8,8 (mate turned up half way through, so did an extra set to keep him happy) leg extensions 10, 6, 6, 6. flat dumbell bench, 10, 8, 8 deadlift 8,6,4,2. incline bench 12,8,8. rope bicep curls 12,8,8. In that whole work out, theres only 1 bicep based exercise, and 2 more compound exercises that include biceps, but I reckon tomorrow, theyll be sore. main thing for mass, is always lift heavy, and dont neglect deadlifts and squats even if you just want the arms to grow. for what its worth, i dont think pump helps with mass at all, give me a siezed joint at work, and a 4 pound club hammer, 5 minutes later, ill have pump to hell in my swinging arm, when i was on the tools, this was on a daily basis, do i have 1 popeye style arm from this, no. to be fair i rarely get the pumped look at the gym ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muel Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 Also if you want to look bigger, shoulders and back are the most important bit IMO, then chest, then arms. Obviously everyone is different but I'm just talking the bits that I would concentrate on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isitafox Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 Also if you want to look bigger, shoulders and back are the most important bit IMO, then chest, then arms. Obviously everyone is different but I'm just talking the bits that I would concentrate on. This is true, back, shoulder and neck work own! Also remember you should always be able to pull down more with your back and shoulders than you can press with your chest or you'll be in for some injuries. As for bicep work when I do an arms workout I usually superset biceps and triceps with 3 exercises for each though like above you work both doing other moves anyway so you don't need to go mad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg1040 Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 (edited) Going to be honest I do neglect my back a bit which I know I shouldnt I do a lot of neck lat and shoulder work though as well as the rest. For instance lat pull down machine I'm managing reps with around 95kg but bench around the 60kg mark. Most part of me is coming along nicely but my arms are terribly skinny at the moment. I do a lot of dips for tri's 1 of my favourite exercises. Also any 1 take jack3d as a pre workout drink if so how do you feel about 2. Hours after taking it ? Edited February 9, 2012 by greg1040 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredrico Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 mass comes from flaming the muscle creating big surface tears, strength cause deeper smaller tears. mass naturally comes with strength, but not the fuller leaner muscle that a lot of people want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kells Posted February 10, 2012 Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 Anyone know of a good site/programme that you can use to track calorie count and work out macronutrient amounts and ratios? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg1040 Posted February 10, 2012 Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 Theres an app for the iphone if you have one that you put in what foods you eat over the course of a day and it works out your total calorie intake. Its called my fitness pal check it out and see if it has any use to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz96 Posted February 10, 2012 Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 What motivational videos are out there? Some stuff to get you pumped! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kells Posted February 10, 2012 Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 What motivational videos are out there? Some stuff to get you pumped! Theres an app for the iphone if you have one that you put in what foods you eat over the course of a day and it works out your total calorie intake. Its called my fitness pal check it out and see if it has any use to you. Cheers for the reply, I don't have an iphone unfortunately though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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