Need help Strength Gaining

[Mikey Meir]

Alright, as said, I need help getting together a solid strength training program. I know I should research, I've done a lot on this site, but am looking for some quick answers. Job searching, school, and all that fun stuff sucks up 90% of my time. I'm a wake up at 3:30am go to bed at 11 kind of guy anymore.

Diet I know, This summer I was gaining 5lbs a week, without getting much fat, had a rediculous diet, around 4500-6000 calories a day, all clean. So much since my matabloism was going crazy fast, and I'm a cardio freak, spend several hours a day on the bike for fun. Oats, brown rice, veggies, cottage cheese, eggs and chicken all day everyday. Was eating 6 whole eggs a day and 14 whites. Not an issue. 4-6 huge meals a day. Clean foods aren't that calorie dence, even killing the Natty pb.

Anyways yeah, I'm a newbie sort of, but I got the diet stuff down, and my training was going really well. All major lifts were going up several lbs a week. I was lifting for size, around 6-8 reps max, so I was wondering if going for purely for stength if I should increase to 8-12?

Also my diet, should I be gaining weight for strength training? If so around how much should I shoot for?

Next, the diet, what should I be going for? Bulking I was getting a lot of protein, but mainly carbs were the bulk, obviously, I had my macro's figured out, forget them now, but yes, what should they be for a good stregth based program. I'm aware the basic 50% carb, 30% protein, 20% fat split, but any alterations that would work better? Any foods good especially for strength? I've heard beef and pb for bulking.

Lastly supplements, I'm not huge into the, but was taking whey, jack3d, zma, creatine, and a simple multi. Anything I should look into? I'm not really the kind who has a huge selection and relys on them, diet first, but sometimes a little help isn't bad. Being young, about 18, I'm not looking for anything to insane, as I'm still able to make crazy gains on my own. No where near my Biolimit haha, far from it.

Sorry for all the questions, I need to get in tip-top preforming ability quick, as I'm joining the Navy and reall need to get back on it. Haven't been to the gym for a while, but looking forward to it.

Btw, I've cut, know how, that isn't an issue either.

Thanks for the help, wonderful website, just not enough time to dig around too much.

 

[MongoSS]

Keep the calories up, drop your cardio a little, you wont recover if you are cycling all the time.
Focus on the big lifts:
Squat
Deadlift
Military press
Bench press

Then focus auxilary lifts to improve those lifts.
Ex.
squat day

squats
stiff leg deadlifts or romanian dl
weighted abs
weighted hypers
optional:
Quad ext
ham curls

The auxilaries, improve the muscles used in the squat, the romanian or stiff dl will increase glute and ham strength, hypers strengthen spinal erectors which stabilize you during the squat, abs are definitely needed to exert the most force on the weight and stabilize the spine, the big point here is that all the lifts improve specific muscle groups needed to lift optimally.

Your reps are not low enough, you need to do less reps on the big lifts, you can lift with more volume on your auxilaries but for the big lifts you should stick to 5 reps or less.

A few programs to try:
5x5
western periodization model
Westside template

 

[drinkyboy]

Keep the calories up, drop your cardio a little, you wont recover if you are cycling all the time.
Focus on the big lifts:
Squat
Deadlift
Military press
Bench press

Then focus auxilary lifts to improve those lifts.
Ex.
squat day

squats
stiff leg deadlifts or romanian dl
weighted abs
weighted hypers
optional:
Quad ext
ham curls

The auxilaries, improve the muscles used in the squat, the romanian or stiff dl will increase glute and ham strength, hypers strengthen spinal erectors which stabilize you during the squat, abs are definitely needed to exert the most force on the weight and stabilize the spine, the big point here is that all the lifts improve specific muscle groups needed to lift optimally.

Your reps are not low enough, you need to do less reps on the big lifts, you can lift with more volume on your auxilaries but for the big lifts you should stick to 5 reps or less.

A few programs to try:
5x5
western periodization model
Westside template

couldnt have said it better! i would also add in getting alot more sleep. 4.5 hrs of sleep is just horrible and not good.

 

[SRS2000]

What are your goals specifically? You say you want strength, but then you also talk about wanting to get into shape to join the Navy. For the Navy, max strength really isn't that important at all, it's more about muscle endurance and aerobic fitness and conditioning. These are opposite goals and you aren't going to optimize all of them at once. You have to decide what your priority is and focus on it while essentially doing some minimal maintenance work for the other stuff.

 

[Mikey Meir]

Thanks a lot for the tips, will be used for sure. I was doing 6-8 max, a lot of the time it was less, especially when doing deads and squats.

As said, right now strength, muscle mainly, as I'm not physically strong enough. Areobic stuff comes in at last, becasue I know for sure I can get that into decent shape quick enough. As said, I'm on the bike mainly for joy, not really trying to accomplish anything, back when I was on the bike 60 miles wouldn't phase me after a day of hard laber.

Definately toning it down to make gains in the gym though, that much cardio isn't good for muscle mass, which probably why I'm so weak haha. Again thanks, started back in the gym, feels good to be squating agian.

 

[TravisG]

DC training or rest pause. great for strength.

 

[Killerkanadia]

Diet I know, This summer I was gaining 5lbs a week, without getting much fat,

20 pounds in a month, with out "much fat"?

Sure you weren't taking any magic pills?