I need to bulk quickly, Any help?

[DanDP]

My name is Dan, just need some advice, and I have a few questions.

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General Information
Age: 17
Weight: 155lbs
Height: 5'9"
Supplements(feel free to comment on their quality and what I should change to): Cytogainer , NO-Xplode
Goal: 165lbs-170lbs

Ok, I'm about 155 lbs, 5'9'', 17 years old, and in pretty good athletic condition. I worked out when I was about 140, and moved up to 150 after a few months over the summer, then I stopped for a while.

Just started again on Monday (December 3rd) and I am at 155 now. I used to eat about 1200 calories or so a day, barely enough, and now I eat 1200 calories in just the Cytogainer I have. It is about 54g of protein and 600 calories with water. It has only been a few days but on sunday I was about 150, and now I have a good 5lbs of waterweight I think, and food that I never really ate enough of.

Overall, I am preparing for Rugby season, and I wouldn't have stopped working out if I had money to continue, but it got too costly without my job, now I have a new job.

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Diet
What should I be eating? I usually make a few peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches for lunch, dinner whatever my dad gives me which tends to be a meat, a vegetable, and one other. I never get time to eat breakfast cause I wake up early to head to school, and work at night. Instead of Breakfast I drink some Cytogainer. If I replace it with a little drink in the morning and also do the protein, I will get a lot more calories in the day. Is this smart or am I moving too fast, which would be a good thing.

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My Planned Routine
Monday-Chest
Tuesday-Back
Wednesday-Shoulders
Thursday-Triceps
Friday-Biceps
Saturday-Legs
Sunday-OFF

As far as exercises, nothing out of ordinary. I do about 4 different exercises per muscle group, and try to decrease reps and increase weight after each set (total of 3 sets). I don't do dead lifts, pull-ups, or much squats. I would like to start, but I am not sure how to do dead lifts or even set-up for dead lifts, but pull-ups and squats I do on occasion. I am not doing much cardio as of now, running seems like it would make me lose weight, when I want to do just the opposite. Will jogging on off days hurt my progress or just keep me in shape? I'm not sure.

I am open to completely revamping this routine, I have no idea what I should do to gain weight, I just know how to work out.

If you need a more detailed description of what I do, please tell me and I will spend the time to type it all out.

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I spend about an hour or an hour and a half in the gym, but I am alone so I move fast. I have no spot for most exercises for about a month until I join up with my friends gym.

Also just to look into it, IDS Smart Gainer - Muscle Blend is a weightgainer that looks promising, lots of servings in comparison to my Cytogainer, and cheaper. I am thinking about switching them out after I finish, is this stuff any good or any other suggestions?

Any tips would be appreciated, if I continue at this pace, will I gain the weight I am looking for by April, or will I need to do much more?

P.S. I couldn't include the links in my post for the supplements because I don't have the required amount of posts to post URL's.

 

[DanDP]

Also if anyone needs I can get a picture of my upper body up to show my frame. Problem I think I will have is my frame is small, so will be hard to put weight on it, but I'm sure any frame can get to around 165-170 heh

 

[Flick]

First of all, check out these articles:

Layne Norton's Guide to Bulking
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/layne23.htm

Russ Warren's Bulking Advice
http://www.teenbodybuilding.com/russ4.htm

Supplements for Teens
http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/teens.htm

As far as your workout regimen goes, you don't really give us much information. Although diet is by far the most important aspect in bulking, how you workout plays a very important role as well (obviously ). If you want to get big, you'd really want to consider adding deadlifts and squats to your routine. In my opinion the big lifts everyone should have in their routine (if you're physically capable of doing them and if you're goal is to gain mass) are deadlifts, squats, military presses, and bench presses. All of which are great compound movements which incorporate multiple muscle groups. Also, I don't really advocate giving biceps and triceps their own days since they're both small muscle groups that don't really need a lot of isolation work to achieve muscle overload. And you don't have to totally annihilate your muscles to force them to grow. As a rule I usually do between 6-9 total heavy sets for the larger muscle groups (legs, back, chest, shoulders) and 3-4 total sets for the smaller muscle groups (biceps, triceps).

Here's my current workout, and when I'm eating enough and getting enough nutrition, I grow:

Sunday - Chest/Triceps
Barbell Bench Press 3 x 6-8
Incline DB Bench Press 3 x 6-8
Weighted Chest Dips 3 x 6-8
Lying Triceps Extensions 3 x 6-8
Overhead Cable Extensions 2 x 6-8

Monday - Legs
Squats 3 x 6-8
Leg Press 3 x 6-8
Stiff-leg Deadlifts 2 x 6-8
Leg Extensions 2 x 6-8
45 Degree Calve Raises 3 x 15-20
Standing Calve Raises 2 x 15-20

Wednesday - Back/Biceps
Deadlifts 3 x 6-8
Barbell Rows 2 x 6-8
Weighted Pull-ups 2 x 6-8
V-Bar Pulldowns 2 x 6-8
Seated Incline DB Curls 3 x 6-8
Standing Barbell Curls 2 x 6-8

Thursday - Shoulders/Traps
Military Press 2 x 6-8
Seated DB Press 2 x 6-8
Seated DB Lateral Raises 2 x 6-8
Rear DB Raises 2 x 6-8
Barbell Shrugs 3 x 8


Also, I limit my time in the gym to no more than 45-50 minutes if I can. That's not counting warm-ups; that's only counting my heavy sets. When you're working out at an intense level you're progressively forcing your body into a catabolic state by using up more and more energy, which you want to avoid. More is definitely not always better when it comes to time spent in the gym. Get in, be intense, and get out to your post-workout nutrition. I usually try to wait around 2-3 minutes between sets.

If you eat enough, train right, you'll gain mass. I think if you do it right you could hit your goal. Just stay persistent and consistent.

If you have anymore questions, just ask! Good luck bro!

 

[Pac4Prez]

Eat Eat Eat. You Have To Have More Calories To Gain Good Body Mass. Supplements Are Just That, Supplements. You Are On The Roght Track I Guess By Getting A Good Protein Anf Working Out But If You Are Not Giving Yourself Enough Food To Build Off Of You Are Wasting Your Time. You Will Get Stronger But As For Quality Lbm <--(lean Body Mass) Then You Have To Eat More And Consume Quality Calories. Putting On 15 Lbs Of Lbm Is Not Going To Be Easy. Actually It Could Take About A Year To Get That Without Any Aas Or Hormonal Additives. If You Keep Taking The Cytogainer You Will Gain Weight But Not All Will Be Quality. If You Think Anything Like The Way I Did When I Was 140lbs Then Putting On Some Sloppy Weight Will Not Make A Differance. The Cyto That You Have Is Pretty Good, But I Used True Mass And It Worked Great. Just Keep Taking Your Gainer And You Might Want To Buy Another Kind Of Protein Like Some Isolate For Before And After Workouts. By The Ids Isolte Protein. It Comes In A 5lb Bucket And It Will Last Forever. It Cost Like 30-35 Bucks. Maybe A Prework Out. Stick To That And Check Out What Others Have Done In The Diet And Training Forums And You Will Get Results... Good Luck Brother Train Hard

 

[DanDP]

With your enthusiastic and educating answers raises a few more questions if you guys could answer them fast.

Should I be taking a protein WITH my weightgainer? even though it already has a lot of protein.

can my diet be constant? or do I have to mix things up? Some people have set foods they eat and gets them calories, I am wondering if I should just do that, or change up foods everyday.

about the cardio, stay away from it? or do a good amount.

one of the links recommended creatine, which I am kind of scared of, but I drink like 12-16 cups of water a day, and it recommends I drink 8 cups, so would it be safe to just throw that in my routine to help out with quick progress? if so, what is a very popular choice for creatine?

And this isn't really a question but I don't know what most those exercises are, like stiff dead lift and just dead lift lol.

 

[Flick]

Eat Eat Eat. You Have To Have More Calories To Gain Good Body Mass. Supplements Are Just That, Supplements. You Are On The Roght Track I Guess By Getting A Good Protein Anf Working Out But If You Are Not Giving Yourself Enough Food To Build Off Of You Are Wasting Your Time. You Will Get Stronger But As For Quality Lbm <--(lean Body Mass) Then You Have To Eat More And Consume Quality Calories. Putting On 15 Lbs Of Lbm Is Not Going To Be Easy. Actually It Could Take About A Year To Get That Without Any anabolic steroids Or Hormonal Additives. If You Keep Taking The Cytogainer You Will Gain Weight But Not All Will Be Quality. If You Think Anything Like The Way I Did When I Was 140lbs Then Putting On Some Sloppy Weight Will Not Make A Differance. The Cyto That You Have Is Pretty Good, But I Used True Mass And It Worked Great. Just Keep Taking Your Gainer And You Might Want To Buy Another Kind Of Protein Like Some Isolate For Before And After Workouts. By The Ids Isolte Protein. It Comes In A 5lb Bucket And It Will Last Forever. It Cost Like 30-35 Bucks. Maybe A Prework Out. Stick To That And Check Out What Others Have Done In The Diet And Training Forums And You Will Get Results... Good Luck Brother Train Hard

Try not to capitalize every word you type.. Just a tip for the future

 

[Red Dog]

Should I be taking a protein WITH my weightgainer? even though it already has a lot of protein.

I would probably just leave it alone unless you are trying to use it as a meal-replacement. The protein should be around 40g either way so if thats the case then you're all set

can my diet be constant? or do I have to mix things up? Some people have set foods they eat and gets them calories, I am wondering if I should just do that, or change up foods everyday.

Those people know what they're doing! The calories and macro breakdown are whats important.. I would stick to lean meats (luvz turkey), complex carbs and your omegas.. changing up foods is always good to have a diverse range of nutrient sources (and flavors) but repitition is your friend in alot of circumstances!

about the cardio, stay away from it? or do a good amount.

Well I certainly wouldn't go crazy with it.. Maybe once a week or so just for overall health purposes.. but too much would start to be detrimental to your bulking goal

one of the links recommended creatine, which I am kind of scared of, but I drink like 12-16 cups of water a day, and it recommends I drink 8 cups, so would it be safe to just throw that in my routine to help out with quick progress? if so, what is a very popular choice for creatine?

As long as your consuming a gallon or so a day then creatine certainly could be beneficial to your bulk -- safe and effective! As far as what you may want to get, opinions are very diverse. I would start with just some bulk creatine mono (alot of name brands sell it as well) and see how you respond. If it makes you feel bloated as it may, some CEE or other form might be better for ya. Personally, I recommend either Clout by MAN Nutrition or Storm by Universal Nutrition -- both are very solid workout products!

I hope this helps you out bud.. and good luck with your bulk :thumbsup:

 

[Flick]

With your enthusiastic and educating answers raises a few more questions if you guys could answer them fast.

Should I be taking a protein WITH my weightgainer? even though it already has a lot of protein.

can my diet be constant? or do I have to mix things up? Some people have set foods they eat and gets them calories, I am wondering if I should just do that, or change up foods everyday.

about the cardio, stay away from it? or do a good amount.

one of the links recommended creatine, which I am kind of scared of, but I drink like 12-16 cups of water a day, and it recommends I drink 8 cups, so would it be safe to just throw that in my routine to help out with quick progress? if so, what is a very popular choice for creatine?

And this isn't really a question but I don't know what most those exercises are, like stiff dead lift and just dead lift lol.

Now as far as what foods you eat in a day, you could eat the same things over and over as long as you were getting all the nutrition you need. It's good to get your carbohydrates, proteins, and fats from different sources though, but that doesn't necessarily mean you have to switch up the foods you eat every day.

You only want to get so much protein from a non-food source (supplement powders, ect..). No more than half of your daily protein intake should come from a protein supplement.

As far as the cardio, if you're trying to gain weight, I'd keep it to a minimum, but you can still do it. Just make sure you're calorie intake is up to par because the cardio will be using some of that energy.

As far as the lifts I mentioned, just google them.

And you could supplement creatine if you wanted to. Just make sure it's micronized. Drink a lot of water while supplementing with it. The way creatine works is by bonding with a phosphate group forming creatine phosphate. This forms a high energy bond, which you eventually break to release energy in the form of heat - energy your body uses in the same way it does when it breaks a phosphate group off of ATP. The cell volumizing effects of creatine is actually a side effect, if you want to call it that.

 

[DanDP]

Just ran through my diet, there is no way this is right but someone correct me if it's wrong.

Breakfast
Little Yogert Shake - 290 Calories
Weight Gainer - 590 Calories

Lunch
Peanut Butter/Jelly x2 - 1300 Calories (I checked calories, eat slice of wheatbread is 100, I put a crapload of peanutbutter cause I love it, comes out to about 600 calories per sandwich, and 100 for the jelly which I use minimal amounts of.)
Banana - 100 Calories
NOXPLODE - 50 Calories

GYM

Afterworkout
Weightgainer - 590 Calories

Dinner - ranging 1300 Calories (not sure, I usually eat some kind of meat/fish, with a vegetable, and maybe noodles of some sort, so always changing but I think it is around here.)

Night Snack
Weight Gainer - 590 Calories

If I start up this, I will be eating roughly 5000 calories?..

This doesn't seem like that much in my eyes, how can this be true. lol

 

[dadream]

SEARCH Button is a very helpful tool. Rome wasn't built in a day and a good quality bulk will not come quick either. DO the research, read as much as you can around here and you will learn exactly what you need. A Simple search will yeild you with a hundred or so posts just like this one with helpful information in them. I will give you some advice on this topic; EAT. Not just whatever but search for good quality foods high in nutrients, calories, and protein. Ideally you should eat about every 2 hours, roughly 6 meals most from whole foods, but protein drinks and weightgainers are very conveinent(sp). You weigh ab 155 so in each meal try to get in about 30+ grams of protein. Remember to keep calories high, if you can stomach the 5000 cals then god bless. Check out fitday.com to track your meals it is very helpful to your goals and is strongly recommended.

 

[Distilled Water]

Eat more whole foods, 3 weight gainer shakes per day will lead to alot of fat gain IMO, from the malto/sugar combo's that most gainers are filled with.

 

[boxmeman]

Eat more whole foods, 3 weight gainer shakes per day will lead to alot of fat gain IMO, from the malto/sugar combo's that most gainers are filled with.

very true!

 

[DanDP]

Eat more whole foods, 3 weight gainer shakes per day will lead to alot of fat gain IMO, from the malto/sugar combo's that most gainers are filled with.

Yeah good advice, I am cutting back on the night time one, just need to replace it with a little healthy snack so going to look into some stuff.

Today I have not felt empty at one second, constantly full, and I tried out the back exercises outlined by you flick.

The dead lifts I put 135 to try it out cause I have never done them, and moved to 185 for last two. My back is raped, I love the feeling. lol


AH Flick, just editing this for one more question. You think switching up doing the bar rows before dead lifts would be smart? Doing the bar rows was putting strain on my lower back, I might have been doing them wrong. It hurt my upper back, but just lifting it in the beginning to get in position made it tough. My back feels good now, I know it will be nice and sore in the morning.

 

[Flick]

Yeah good advice, I am cutting back on the night time one, just need to replace it with a little healthy snack so going to look into some stuff.

Today I have not felt empty at one second, constantly full, and I tried out the back exercises outlined by you flick.

The dead lifts I put 135 to try it out cause I have never done them, and moved to 185 for last two. My back is raped, I love the feeling. lol


AH Flick, just editing this for one more question. You think switching up doing the bar rows before dead lifts would be smart? Doing the bar rows was putting strain on my lower back, I might have been doing them wrong. It hurt my upper back, but just lifting it in the beginning to get in position made it tough. My back feels good now, I know it will be nice and sore in the morning.

Ooops, I forgot to update that workout. Now I'm doing deadlifts at the end of my back routine, right before I switch to biceps. I like it better like this. Here's the reason why:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0KFY/is_1_21/ai_98542691

 

[vision]

Don't overtrain! Less is more especially for someone your age. Eating and sleeping are a lot more important than doing a lot of exercises.

Instead of weight gainer shakes for breakfast try this:

2 cups of oats (80g)
2 cups of milk
4 servings of egg whites
.25 serving of cytogainer or musclemilk (mostly for flavor, i have cookies'n'cream)

IMHO the best and fasted way to gain size and strength is the Squats and Milk program. I started this program on 10/2/07 with squats 170x20 and my max deadlift was 320 at 160lbs and as of yesterday I'm up to squats 235x18 and max deadlift at 405 at 178lbs. So thats 18lbs in 9 weeks, in about 10 days I'll be squatting 245x18-20 which was my 1RM back in October.

Breathing squats are the staple in this program, along with several compound movements. First, you find your 10-rep max for FULL Back Squats, meaning down to parallel or as far down as you can go comfortably. This is very important because the full ROM is needed to stimulate the most muscle fiber. If you feel you lose control or are too weak at the bottom portion of the movement it means your hamstrings, lowback, and glutes are weak and you should include Pullthroughs, SL DL, and Goodmornings into your routine.

Now when you squat make sure your in a power rack and you have the pins set in the right position because you don't stop until you get 20 or you go down and can't come back up. Try to do at least 6 without stopping and then take a few deep breaths and keep going. Take as many breaths as you need to continue and once you get to about 15 you'll be taking a lot of breaths in between each rep. This is going to hurt your entire body especially after rep 18. You WILL get dizzy, your feet and back will hurt and you'll want to give up. When your finished it'll take about 10 minutes to get back to breathing regularly.

My personal routine consists of 2 lower body workouts and 2 upper body workouts. I workout every other day and sometimes take two days off after an upper body workout.

EVERY WORKOUT you add 5lbs to your squat no matter what. Now this is where I bastardize the original workout. Originally, if you can't get 20 the next workout you keep the same weight until you get 20 reps. However, instead I have never fallen below 18 reps and so if I don't get 20 then I wait 8-10 minutes and do another set of continuous squats to failure meaning I go down and can't come back up. This has worked for me and lets me add 5lbs every workout so far without a problem.

 

[DanDP]

My squats I can do a good amount, but my first time ever doing deadlifts I did 185 in my sets so, seems like my back is a little weak. Need to build on that, in order to build my squats as well. Squats I was using the machine with 290 for 8-10 for 3 sets. I will try out your way though and see how it feels. Is that for just 1 set or more than one?

 

[vision]

If you do the Breathing Squats its only 1 set of 20. Believe me, when done correctly you'll want to go home after that one set. These have to be regular squats not machine squats though. Make sure you use a power rack and place the pins just under the lowest point the bar goes.

If your lower back is weak start doing Goodmornings. You can find videos on how to do them and pretty much any other exercise on youtube.

I've been doing the breathing squats every 5-6 days with tremendous results. When doing these keep your other exercises down to a minimum only 1-2 compound exercises per bodypart. This routine is all about the squats, rest, and eating. Make sure you drink at least a glass (2 servings) of milk every meal. If you eat 5-6 meals a day like you should be thats 10-12 servings of milk about 80-96g of protein. I personally drink 3 servings of milk per meal.

 

[DanDP]

Instead of weight gainer shakes for breakfast try this:

2 cups of oats (80g)
2 cups of milk
4 servings of egg whites
.25 serving of cytogainer or musclemilk (mostly for flavor, i have cookies'n'cream)

what do you suggest for the .25 serving, should I invest in lots of musclemilk to ALSO use as a light protein shake during the day? or should I have some kind of weightgainer to only use in the morning for one scoop to get more calories out of that one scoop?

 

[vision]

what do you suggest for the .25 serving, should I invest in lots of musclemilk to ALSO use as a light protein shake during the day? or should I have some kind of weightgainer to only use in the morning for one scoop to get more calories out of that one scoop?

I've moved away from weight gainers after discovering my oats/milk/egg whites shake. I only use them to mask the taste of several supplements that I add in my shake, mainly Cissus and Muira Puama.

I personally only have one whey protein shake and thats only on workout days directly after workouts. Everything else is whole foods.

 

[DanDP]

I've moved away from weight gainers after discovering my oats/milk/egg whites shake. I only use them to mask the taste of several supplements that I add in my shake, mainly Cissus and Muira Puama.

I personally only have one whey protein shake and thats only on workout days directly after workouts. Everything else is whole foods.

So this morning shake has a good amount of calories, and for lunch I get a big dose, and for dinner I get whatever is made by my dad lol. I'm wondering, what should I put in between, cause normally I just use the weight gainer. Should it be like another whole meal, or more of a snack smaller type meal?

 

[vision]

So this morning shake has a good amount of calories, and for lunch I get a big dose, and for dinner I get whatever is made by my dad lol. I'm wondering, what should I put in between, cause normally I just use the weight gainer. Should it be like another whole meal, or more of a snack smaller type meal?

It depends on how many calories your shooting for daily. If nothing else a tall glass of milk is always good.

It also depends on when you workout. After you workout there is a 2 hour window where you should be eating as much as possible. Most of my calories are taken in the 4-5 hour span after I workout.

 

[DanDP]

For first time today I tried working out on empty stomach..
Normally I come home and eat like 1300 calories, then go work out, and come home and do a 600 calorie weight gainer. Now I am trying NO2 as soon as I get home, on empty stomach, go right to the gym, workout, come home, and eat those two combined. Is this smarter? Right after working out I assume my body wants more calories, rather than eating before?

Any comments on this or just keep this way going.

I put milk in this protein shake so really it's like 900 calories + 1300 lol. (plus a banana later)

 

[FM2K GT]

i always mix my protein shakes/weight gainers with milk because the water/shake combos taste like SHIEEEET

 

[cslix]

dawg just eat what your eating just try to finish more food and ask for more you know.. take truemass once when you wake up once when you go to sleep.. try to work out later easier and faster rip and sleep right after=repair quicker and the truemass will make u feel complete and you wont feel ****y or soar at all youll feel nice bigger fuller complete good weight just do less reps more weight also gl im doin the same
- silver gloves jr welterweight champion 125lbs now 145lbs

 

[DanDP]

I was 150 on december 1st, and now I am 164 lol. I am cruising along and with the help of everyone I am gaining weight very fast lol. I think the key was just eating lots more, I never eat this much and I feel my body always could have been a little bigger, but just never got the right amount of food to do it.

I decided to move my weight goal to 180 as well, to make things more challenging heh.

 

[blitzkriegjim]

I was 150 on december 1st, and now I am 164 lol. I am cruising along and with the help of everyone I am gaining weight very fast lol. I think the key was just eating lots more, I never eat this much and I feel my body always could have been a little bigger, but just never got the right amount of food to do it.

I decided to move my weight goal to 180 as well, to make things more challenging heh.

sheeeit......how much of that is lean?! crazy weight gain man! like over half a pound a day! :head:

 

[vision]

I was 150 on december 1st, and now I am 164 lol. I am cruising along and with the help of everyone I am gaining weight very fast lol. I think the key was just eating lots more, I never eat this much and I feel my body always could have been a little bigger, but just never got the right amount of food to do it.

I decided to move my weight goal to 180 as well, to make things more challenging heh.

Don't forget to sleep a lot!! And like he said, how much of it is lean?

 

[DanDP]

I don't really look any different to tell you the truth, my old tighter pants no longer fit, but I think its mostly because my leg workouts. I never used to work out legs so now that I am I am gaining lots from it. My upper body is just building muscle mostly, abs starting to show.