Bulking Up

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bodazoka said:
I would watch out for doing too much too soon, I did mass amounts of weights around your age and I swear im shorter as a result also you can get stretch marks from your skin around your arms expanding too quickly too early.
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i definately wouldnt recommend a teenage novice lift anymore than 3 x per week. the exercises ive suggested would be done on a 2x per week frequency. for example - squats, shoulder press, pendlay row on monday; deadlift, bench press, pullup/pulldown (dependent on whether the athlete can pullup) on thursday. it's a total body workout, and incorporates adequate recovery for the young lifter. high school football programs in the US generally have their athletes lift 2 x per week with the above exercises as core, and they dont appear to be stunted in growth as they become men.

bodazoka said:
Id stick with exercises involving your own body rather than weights such as chin ups ect.. as it will improve your core strength and give you a lean muscle look rather than weights which will bulk you up quicker but also the muscle will fade to fat the quicker you put it on and it can give you stretch marks.
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i dont understand what you mean by 'fade to fat the quicker you put it on'. Muscle does not turn to fat. Fat is simply the result of the body storing excess energy than it consumes.
 

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bodazoka said:
Id stick with exercises involving your own body rather than weights such as chin ups ect.. as it will improve your core strength and give you a lean muscle look rather than weights which will bulk you up quicker but also the muscle will fade to fat the quicker you put it on and it can give you stretch marks.
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Core strength: Squats and deadlifts, if done correctly, will give you better core strength than any body-weight exercise.

"Fade to fat": No such thing. Muscle cannot turn into fat anymore than fat can turn into muscle.

Goat 53 said:
a lot of the meat heads in this forum are the ones who will be fat 40 years lamenting about how buff they used to be. give me the functional stuff any day.
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Compound movements are the most functional.

Certainly if you look at sports, how many movements are truly isolated? In what sport are you going to find movements that mimic, say, curls or flys?

No-one's saying you need to try to get huge - but compound movements are the optimum way to get stronger (to whatever size you wish to be).
 
Originally Posted by mcgarnacle
what i'd recommend is that you adopt a balanced approach to your lifting from the beginning. think of the body as one whole being, rather than several individual parts. most beginners go into the weight room and immediately rush to the bench press or bicep curls and will do this on every visit to the weght room. the former is a weapon in your lifting arsenal, but the latter is cannon-fodder. dont get sucked into doing pointless isolation exercises at this stage. curls, extensions, shoulder raises, cable crossovers, flys, etc............they might appear easy, and fun, but they're really a waste of time and energy. concentrate on compound, multi-joint exercises.

you should base your program around 3 lifts:
1. squat
2. deadlift
3. bench press

everything else is secondary to the big 3. learn how to execute these with proper technique. form is more important than weight. focus on each rep. leave the swinging dick comp for the tryhards.

incorporate these into your program too.
4. Shoulder Press
5. Pendlay Row

Shoulder presses should be done with a bar, and standing. Remember form again. Each rep must be performed with good technique and look identical.

Try to do as many exercises as possible on your feet. It will develop overall strength. Brace your mid-section to activate your core. With the exception of bench press, all the exercises above are on your feet.

As you become more proficient in your lifting, you can then add:
6. Power Clean

You will need a coach or experienced lifter to monitor how you do these initially. You dont see many people cleaning the bar in 'gyms' and 'health clubs'............in fact, you dont see many people squatting, deadlifting, standing shoulder pressing or pendlay rowing either, but these should be core lifts for anyone wanting to become strong, and hence, bulkup.

Power Cleans are fantastic lift. It will develop explosiveness, will improve your squat and deadlift, will improve grip and forearm strength, will develop your traps, and will ultimately improve your athletic performance on the soccer pitch.

find a decent weight room with a platform which will provide you with a better deadlifting and cleaning area and equipment.......power racks, olympic bars, 45lbs plates, etc. and be inspired by real lifters. dont be fooled into idolising the 'gym'/'healthclub' dude with the chicken legs who ripped his program out of a bodybuilding mag or website. your 'fitness firsts' just dont cut it, IMO. if only we had something like the facilities below in australia.

Facility_thumb_3.jpg

look at all those beautiful platforms for some serious lifting. this weightroom is for one of texas' famous highschool football teams - the odessa permian panthers. probably better than most AFL clubs........and you'll find stronger 15-18yr olds in here than most of the men in a 'gym' or 'healthclub'.

EQQCRDXCEOXQKBM.20060825213259.JPG

electronic touch controlled platforms/power racks! these belong to the nebraska cornhuskers college football team. some of us can dream i guess.

if you live nearby a uni, check out their weight room. they generally have facilities for serious lifters and athletes. e.g., sydney uni and uts up here in sydney are good.

obviously, the lifting is just one part of it. you need to factor in sleep, recovery and proper nutrition too. without these, then any lifitng program will be useless. e.g., if you utilise the above exercises, always allow one day recovery in between sessions.

i'd recommend cutting back on your runs initially. if bulking up is your goal, then you want to focus and save your energies for this purpose. too much running will reduce much needed recovery and energy for growing. if you get stuck into a lifting program now, you can then re-introduce running gradually in the new year in preparation for the new soccer season.
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Very very good post. This person knows what he is talking about:thumbsu:

Im 17 myself and have been in the gym for the last 5 months for rowing and at the moment im traing 3 times in the gym and 3 times on the water per week

If you want to put on pure bulk i cannot stress how much exercises like flys and curls are pointless. You must do the exercises recomended above

ie. deadlift, bench press, squats, lat pull/weighted chins and seated row

Also it is important to do 3 rep max outs (ie 10 sets of 3 reps at the maximum weight you can pull/lift). For squats and dealift you should do around 5 sets of 4/5 reps. For exercises like bench press, lat pull and seated row this will require a spoter.

It is also important for you to be eating consistanly. Our rowing coach's have asked us to be eating 6 (massive) meals per day and taking 2-3 shits per day
The other important thing as far as recovery is sleep
Hope this helps:cool:
 
Hawker_Boy said:
Very very good post. This person knows what he is talking about:thumbsu:

Im 17 myself and have been in the gym for the last 5 months for rowing and at the moment im traing 3 times in the gym and 3 times on the water per week

If you want to put on pure bulk i cannot stress how much exercises like flys and curls are pointless. You must do the exercises recomended above

ie. deadlift, bench press, squats, lat pull/weighted chins and seated row

Also it is important to do 3 rep max outs (ie 10 sets of 3 reps at the maximum weight you can pull/lift). For squats and dealift you should do around 5 sets of 4/5 reps. For exercises like bench press, lat pull and seated row this will require a spoter.

It is also important for you to be eating consistanly. Our rowing coach's have asked us to be eating 6 (massive) meals per day and taking 2-3 shits per day
The other important thing as far as recovery is sleep
Hope this helps:cool:
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for gaining mass? why do you say that?
 
Hawker_Boy said:
Very very good post. This person knows what he is talking about:thumbsu:

Im 17 myself and have been in the gym for the last 5 months for rowing and at the moment im traing 3 times in the gym and 3 times on the water per week

If you want to put on pure bulk i cannot stress how much exercises like flys and curls are pointless. You must do the exercises recomended above

ie. deadlift, bench press, squats, lat pull/weighted chins and seated row

Also it is important to do 3 rep max outs (ie 10 sets of 3 reps at the maximum weight you can pull/lift). For squats and dealift you should do around 5 sets of 4/5 reps. For exercises like bench press, lat pull and seated row this will require a spoter.

It is also important for you to be eating consistanly. Our rowing coach's have asked us to be eating 6 (massive) meals per day and taking 2-3 shits per day
The other important thing as far as recovery is sleep
Hope this helps:cool:
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Cheers for that :thumbsu:

On protein, when is the ideal time to consume it? ie should it be before/after a workout or can it just be whenever (even on a rest day for example). I bought some protein bars the other day - about 5-6 - so when would be the ideal time to consume these?
 

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PendlePie said:
On protein, when is the ideal time to consume it? ie should it be before/after a workout or can it just be whenever (even on a rest day for example). I bought some protein bars the other day - about 5-6 - so when would be the ideal time to consume these?
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before and after. anybody who says to eat whatever/nothing before and only consume protein after doesn't know what they're talking about. try to eat 2.5 grams of protein per kilo of bodyweight each day. spread this out over 5-7 meals, eg 8am breakky, 11am eat, 12pm workout, 2pm/when you finish workout eat, 3-5pm eat, 8pm eat, 11pm eat (if ur awake). that's roughly what should be your eating program. for me personally, i have a shake before my workout, one after, and then another meal about an hour later.
eat the same amount on rest days, as it can take up to 48 hours for your muscles to repair themselves, and they need protein in this time in order to do so and hopefully grow.
 
whomb said:
before and after. anybody who says to eat whatever/nothing before and only consume protein after doesn't know what they're talking about. try to eat 2.5 grams of protein per kilo of bodyweight each day. spread this out over 5-7 meals, eg 8am breakky, 11am eat, 12pm workout, 2pm/when you finish workout eat, 3-5pm eat, 8pm eat, 11pm eat (if ur awake). that's roughly what should be your eating program. for me personally, i have a shake before my workout, one after, and then another meal about an hour later.
eat the same amount on rest days, as it can take up to 48 hours for your muscles to repair themselves, and they need protein in this time in order to do so and hopefully grow.
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Bollocks :p
 
whomb said:
before and after. anybody who says to eat whatever/nothing before and only consume protein after doesn't know what they're talking about. try to eat 2.5 grams of protein per kilo of bodyweight each day. spread this out over 5-7 meals, eg 8am breakky, 11am eat, 12pm workout, 2pm/when you finish workout eat, 3-5pm eat, 8pm eat, 11pm eat (if ur awake). that's roughly what should be your eating program. for me personally, i have a shake before my workout, one after, and then another meal about an hour later.
eat the same amount on rest days, as it can take up to 48 hours for your muscles to repair themselves, and they need protein in this time in order to do so and hopefully grow.
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What about those of us that have jobs? A midday workout isn't feasible, its either 6am or 7pm.
 
whomb said:
before and after. anybody who says to eat whatever/nothing before and only consume protein after doesn't know what they're talking about.
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Define "before".

I eat roughly every 3 hours, with a good chunk of protein in each meal, but in the 2 hrs before gym all I eat is a cup or two of raspberries, just to get me through the workout.

I don't know about anyone else, but I suck on a full stomach.

Abba Lonie said:
What about those of us that have jobs? A midday workout isn't feasible, its either 6am or 7pm.
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I don't remember where I read it, but I remember reading that the optimal time to work out is either 3 hours after you wake up, or 12 hours after you wake up. Don't quote me on it though.
 
mdc said:
I don't remember where I read it, but I remember reading that the optimal time to work out is either 3 hours after you wake up, or 12 hours after you wake up. Don't quote me on it though.
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Personally, I find I perform better in the evenings. I'd never go to the gym to lift weights in the morning. A good day of loading up on carbs and nutrients puts me in good stead to perform at my best. Anywhere from 3pm through to 10 pm does it for me. Everyone is different though. I'm pretty sure most people prefer to lift not so late in the day. Anyone want to add to this?
 
an alternative argument is lifting in the late arvo/evening doesnt leave much time for adequately re-fueling the body before bedtime.

however, another position is if a lifter does primarily functional multi-joint exercises such as squats, deadlifts, power cleans, etc, i.e., they are serious lifters ;), its 'supposedly' ideal that the lifting session does not commence within 4 hours of waking up as the body's neuro-muscular co-ordination is not at its peak during this time.

so based on these two arguments, the ideal time to work out would be around 11am to 2am, dependent upon what time in the morning the person gets up.
 
mcgarnacle said:
you tell me chief.......you had a pretty good view from behind your desk. :D

and it's "you busted up that crackhouse pretty bad......"

freaken, get it right! ;)
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"What's that supposed to mean?"

hey cmon man, i'm going off memory here and I didn't just want to give you the standard "You're off the case McGarnacle" that i think of every time I read one of your posts. :D
 
Abba Lonie said:
What about those of us that have jobs? A midday workout isn't feasible, its either 6am or 7pm.
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i know what you mean; i was in that position last year. and this year i fit in gym/eating around work and study, that was just my ideal setup. i was moreso trying to show him how often to eat though, more so than when to workout.
as for the time of day to workout, i prefer around 2-3pm as i've had a few meals, i'm full awake, and i have plenty of time to recover/re-fuel afterwards before sleeping. nothing i hate more than lifting weights in the morning or after a shit night's sleep.
 

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