Scrawny, but not for long!

TruffleShuffle

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Before you read any further please be aware i intend to use this as a 'view my progress' thread. If Bobo, your not happy with it being here or you think theres a better place i can put it please say.

Me:
Age : 23 (this week infact)
Height : 5'11"
Weight 142 pounds.

Motivation:

- One too many girls telling me they wished they were as skinny as me!

-Off to Uni in September.

My Routine:

Day 1: Shoulders + Back + Arms
Day 2: Chest + Shoulders + Arms
Day 3: Legs + Abs
Day 4 : REST
Repeat

Day 1

Dumbbell Upright Rows (2 Sets - 12/10 reps)
Dumbbell Bent-Over Rows (2 Sets - 12/10 reps)
Dumbbell Shrugs (2 Sets - 8/8 reps)
Rear Lateral Raises (2 Sets 8/8 reps)
Standing Dumbbell Curls (2 Sets 12/10 reps)
Preacher Curls (2 Sets 8/8 reps)
Hammer Curls (2 Sets 8/8 reps)
Wrist Curl (2 Sets 12/10 reps)
Reverse Wrist Curl (2 Sets 10/8 reps)

Day 2

Incline Dumbbell Press (3 Sets 8/8/8 reps)
Decline Dumbell Press (3 Sets 8/8/8 reps)
Dumbbell Flyes (3 Sets 10/10/10 reps)
Seated Dumbell Shoulder Press (3 Sets 12/10/8 reps)
Dumbbell Tricep Extention (2 Sets 10/8 reps)
Dumbbell Tricep Kickback (2 Sets 10/8 reps)

Day 3:

Dumbbell Lunges (3 sets - 12/10/8 reps - increase 5 lbs for final set)
Dumbbell Squats (3 sets - 12/12/12 reps)
Straight Leg Deadlift (2 Sets - 12/12 reps)
Single Leg Calf Raise (2 Sets - 12/12 reps)
Reverse Calf Raise (2 Sets - 12/12 reps)
Crunches (2 Sets - 25/25 reps 10lb on upper chest)
Incline Leg Raises (2 Sets to failure)

All reps shown are the TARGET reps, i'll sacrifice form to squeeze out an extra rep but i'll only increase the weight once i can reach the target reps with good form on all lifts.

I only have dumbbells and a bench at home hence u dont see any barbell exercises (also i'm working alone and i dont want to use a barbell without a spotter).

Diet:

Breakfast (between 7am & 9am depending on my shift)
- Large bowl of Shredded Wheat Bitesize with Semi-Skimmed Milk

Break (between 10am and 12am depending on my shift)
- Half a pint of SS Milk

Lunch (between 12am and 2pm etc etc)
- Sliced chicked sandwich on Wholemeal Bread
- Gingerbread Man and Ring Doughnut from local bakery
- 500ml bottle of Coke

Dinner (between 5.30pm and 7.30pm etc etc)
-Meat and 'stodge' (anyhting from chicken + rice, Lasagne, Sausage and mash, steak, fish + chips etc)

Late night Shake (around 9.30pm -10pm)
-Dymatize Whey Protein Shake (luv it, tastes like a treat)

Allthrough the day i drink from a 2 litre bottle of water i have stored in the staff fridge.

I know my lunch looks a bit of a disaster but i used to have a major sweet tooth (would drink coke and eat sweets every day, but never noticed any weight gain probably cause i litteraly had no muscle) Anyway this sweet tooth needs to be satisfied at least a little and as i'm bulking i'm not too worried about cals, hence the Cola.

As for the gingerbread man and the doughnut? well i used to have a far more healthy flapjack but since switching to the gingerbread and doughnut i seemed to have actually lost more weight?! Perhaps even with the coke etc i am still eating under my maintanence level of calories and eating the flapjack instead of all the sugary gingerbread and doughnut was actually too much of a calorie drop per day?

-

Anyways Jmh80 said i'd be a good subject for Bobo, but as much as i want everyones advice (including Bobo obviously) i do want to be able to look back and say "I did this, this was MY routine, MY diet" etc.

So really i'm just looking for advice, the occasional bit of guidance, but most importantly opinions on how i'm doing so that i can adapt my Diet and Routine and learn whilst I do it.

Finally i have attached two pics taken 5 days apart, the first is 2 weeks ago, the second obviously last week. I'm gonna take another photo today around the same time of day as the last one and post it as it's been 5 days again.

Thankyou for reading all this i just hope you didnt think there was going to be somthing interesting in it.
 

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TruffleShuffle

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As promised here's my next progress pic, taken tonight 5 days since the last one.

5 days i know isnt a long time but its a non workout day for me and my next non work out day is Sunday. However its my birthday on Friday so i think a progress pic on Sunday is gonna have me looking in a terrible state! :drunk: = :sick:

Anyways my opinion is that not much has changed and i wouldnt expect it too. I think i'll make these pics fortnightly.
 

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Pioneer

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- One too many girls telling me they wished they were as skinny as me!
ive had that in my day. i feel you bro, good luck.
 
kwyckemynd00

kwyckemynd00

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At this point, you'll probably grow regardless, but that volume / frequency is probably not the best for someone who *seems* to have a problem with packing on the muscle. So keep that in mind as you progress.

Now, on top of that....your diet simply sux :rasp: (sorry :D)

Here, you wanna grow, right?

20cals/lb of BW. 40% pro, 40% carb, 20% fat cals (mostly from healthy fats) is a simple breakdown that works for most. Eat protein with every meal. Dont' eat fats around your workouts. I personally dont' like to mix carbs and fats, so I have pro/carb or pro/fat meals, but never pro/carb/fat together (carb/fat). That's probably not a huge deal though.

In short, you only need about 2800-3000kcals to grow. 1200cals (300grams) of protein and 1200cals (300grams) of carbs as well as 600cals (66.6grams) of fat daily should do the trick. Now, honestly, you could probably grow just fine if you made that 400carbs and 200pro. Maybe even better for you in your case. So, maybe instead of 300g/300g/66g, you can have 400g/200g/66g or something like that. I just wouldn't go below 200g of protein at your current size daily, and make sure you get 3000kcals daily (kcal = calories as we know them FYI).

Eat as much solid food as possible. use liquid alternatives sparingly.

Pay attention to pre and post workout nutrition. 90g carbs, 40g protein, and 0 fat should oprobably do well for both pre and post on workout days.f

Maybe glenihan will chime in here.. He really knows diet :D Me, I love candy...and protein ;)

Simply, you could probably grow just fine off of a 3 or 4 days split (MWF or MTuThF). I'd suggest 3 sets of 3 exercises ranging from 12-8 reps for all major body parts. Arms can probably deal with less considering you trash bis on back day and tris on both shoulder and chest days.
 

TruffleShuffle

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300g's Protein!?!? U want me to eat a whole cow?

I was told you should aim for 1g of protein for every 1lb in bodyweight so i should be looking at 140+g of Protien per day, too much and i'll wreck my kidneys?

Forgot to add, these are the supps i'm using:

1x Multivitamin (with Breakfast)
3x Beverly International EFA gold pills (in total thats 1200mg Flaxseed Oil, 1200mg borage Seed Oil, 1200mg Fish Oil)

On workout days i also take :

6x Omega Sports Cre Ethyl Thunder (30 mins pre workout)

(Recomended dosage is 8 pills but when i take 8 i get diahrea an hour or two later, which i dont get with 6, so i figure the extra two pills arent gettin absorbed properly)

I would really appreaciate some advice on where to focus my dietary improvements, in the past couple or months i've gone from what can only be described as an impossibly bad diet (no breakfast, 2 bottles of coke a day, a good handfull of sweets, cornbeef with white bread for lunch, french bread whenever it was available and little to no milk in my diet) to what you see now.

So personally i feel like what i eat at the moment is nothing short of 5-star healthy, but i know its far from that.

At the moment anyway.
 
kwyckemynd00

kwyckemynd00

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Dont' make me dig up old studies.....;)

High protein is ONLY dangerous if you have PRE-EXISTING renal failure.

High protein is NOT bad for you if you hav healthy kidneys. If they're failing already, it will accelerate the process, however.
 

TruffleShuffle

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Ok but i'm honestly not sure how i'm meant to get 300g of Protein down me daily.

When i first started looking into sorting myself out i signed up to an online calorie counter weightlossresources.com or something like that, and i was bearly hitting 100g per day and that was before i started using a protein shake in the evenings.

Maybe i'll give fitday a go and find out for sure but i know i'm along way off 300g.

I calculated my Maintanence Calorie intake to be 2584 Calories a day so i totally agree with your point of trying to get 3000 Cals per day in me.

I also calculated that my Breakfast, Lunch (just the chicken sandwich) and an evening protien shake totalled only 823 calories. (64.2g P, 108g C, 15g F)
 
kwyckemynd00

kwyckemynd00

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Liek I said, you'd probably do JUST FINE with only200grams a day

Maybe go 200g/day protein and 400g/day carbs........probably better for someone with y our body type anyway.

200g/day is fine. I thought I said that alraedy? :think: :D
 

TruffleShuffle

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OK then cheif, as of tommorow morning i'll make a detailed list of everything i eat, where possible i'll weigh what i eat to give me a very accurate intake log.

Tommorow i'll do my upmost to reach 3000 cals as cleanly as possible and report back.

Sorry for making u repeat yourself by the way, ever get this feeling? :frustrate
 
kwyckemynd00

kwyckemynd00

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haha......i was just messin' with ya.

Good deal. Just do your part, and you'll grow.
 

BMW

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im suprised you can even get 100g of protien off that diet.bro first of all your not even eating close enough to what you need too. trust me 250-300g of protien is not that difficult to do. you just gotta research and plan out you diet carefully. if you really have a hard time with the protien the easiest way to get 300g is to use two scoops of protien powder and 1 cup of milk = an easy 50g of protien. take that 3 times a day with a healthy carb and fat source then you just knocked out half your days requirements. just make 3 other meals that have at least 40g of protein and you wont be too far off from 3000g.
 
kwyckemynd00

kwyckemynd00

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tiny waist there, bmw....blasted genetics :rasp: :D
 
Kristopher

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Hey truffle.. Now that Kwycke has helped you diet wise.. maybe i can help you tweak your training..


The Schedule you currently have has you working muscles in a less than satisfactory manner.

Your routine here..

Day 1: Shoulders + Back + Arms
Day 2: Chest + Shoulders + Arms
Day 3: Legs + Abs
Day 4 : REST

This is what i reccomend

Day 1: Chest + Back
Day 2: Legs + Abs + Triceps
Day 3: Shoulders + Biceps
Day 4: Off

I Highly recommend dropping some of the ancillercy leg exersises, and stick with stiff leg deads, and INCLUDE SQUATS!!!!! Even if you dont have a barbell to use, you can do dumbell squats.. squats make you grow.
Same with deadlifts.. Throw Deadlifts in with your back workout.

I could write you up a whole routine, but you seem to want to be self guiding, so ill leave it to you, but in my opinion, you need to focus on core pressing movements, as heavy as possible.

And definately take these guys advice about diet.. 200g of protein is fine :D

Cheers.. ill be following
 
CROWLER

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I agree 100%. You do more sets in one day than I do in an entire month.

You said you are going to try to reach 3000 cals as clean as possible. IMO you should get in the correct grams of protein then eat as much clean as you can then eat as much junk as you can. I say this looking at what you eat now realizing you still will be hard pressed to put 3500 cals down your gullet.

Best of luck and these guys are giving you spot on advice. That is how you guys on the other side of the pond say it isn't it? :)

CROWLER
 

TruffleShuffle

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Ok just ANOTHER update :thumbsup:

For starters i've just had breakfast and written up a whole page on Excel to cover it, the summary being:

Total Calories : 509

Protein : 18.8g
Carbs : 68.9g
Fat : 17.7g

Also to Kristopher, helping to tweak my routine (hehe never heard the word tweak being used to describe such big changes).

I do Dumbell Squats they're right after my Lunges. I've heard alot of people dont like Lunges but i love them, they absolutely kill the legs and DOMS is my favorite kinda pain :smite:

Will look into making some changes and getting back to u guys.

Finally i've found 2 pics of me at the start of any muscle training back at Easter this year. Since then I had about a month of solid weight training then i stopped/stuttered for about a month to 6 weeks when a new Girlfreind entered my life. :whip:

Anyway broke it off with her and got my training back on track (after a weekend of lads nights out).

So now i've been training properly again for only about 3 weeks. The very first pic on my first post was taken when i started to serously push myself again after buying some more weights. Prior to this i had reached the limits of my puny dumbells and so wasnt progressing anymore.
 

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TruffleShuffle

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At the moment i have 2 weeks off, which is why ive taken the opportunity to sort everything out.

I try to workout at about 4pm.

Have lunch at 1pm, take CEE at 3.30pm, do about 45 mins-1 hour of a workout and then have my dinner within the 1 hour *golden window*.

Given the amount of protein i'm trying to chuck down me today i might have a protein shake at about 2pm, will that impede my workout?

Once i'm back at work then some of these workouts may have to happen in the evening or i might have to be alot more flexible with what my workout days are.

Once September comes and i'm off to uni, 4pm workouts should suit me perfectly.
 

dsl

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Dont' make me dig up old studies.....;)

High protein is ONLY dangerous if you have PRE-EXISTING renal failure.

High protein is NOT bad for you if you hav healthy kidneys. If they're failing already, it will accelerate the process, however.
hey kwyck, would you mind showing me those studies so I can show my roomate how wrong he is
 

TruffleShuffle

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Well i didnt take the protein shake as planned but only becuase i was STILL eating my lunch at 2pm.

I feel like i've eaten my enter bodyweight in chicken.

And the farts ooooooh the farts, thank god it's the summer and i can have the windows open and the fan on, if it was winter i'd probably have suffocated by now.
 

dsl

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At the moment i have 2 weeks off, which is why ive taken the opportunity to sort everything out.

I try to workout at about 4pm.

Have lunch at 1pm, take CEE at 3.30pm, do about 45 mins-1 hour of a workout and then have my dinner within the 1 hour *golden window*.

Given the amount of protein i'm trying to chuck down me today i might have a protein shake at about 2pm, will that impede my workout?

Once i'm back at work then some of these workouts may have to happen in the evening or i might have to be alot more flexible with what my workout days are.

Once September comes and i'm off to uni, 4pm workouts should suit me perfectly.
A good way to structure meals around your workout, and I'm guessing that you have plenty of time before bed, is to have a pre w/o shake (whey, low gi carb), then post w/o shake (same, but I add milk), then have your dinner an hour or so after that. Also, you can eat lots of cals around your workout-no donughts...lol.
 

snakebyte05

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A little trick I use when bulking is making homemade weight gainers. Mine is simple yet healthy, unlike the ones you buy.

I use:
2cups milk
1.5cups oats
2cups protein
(add peanut butter for more calories) option
This comes out to 800+ calories. You have good protein and carbs in there. If you have flax or something, add that to it for more calories and some healthy fats. Drink this 1-2 times a day to get you 1600 calories. I use this when I really need to get high calories. Since you seem hard to get them all this may help a lot.
 

snakebyte05

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One more thing, Im not sure if you are just starting to get into lifting, or you have been doing it already for a while. If you are just getting started, you will grow a great amount, probably even with a bad diet, but if you have a great diet you will grow incredibly fast and get to where you are going that much faster. Use this time when you will grow the best to take full advantage. 6months down the road its going to be a lot harder to get those gains that it will be now. This is just guessing that you hadn't weight lifted before.
 

TruffleShuffle

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Hehe what gave it away... the fact u could see bones through the skin ?

I'm currently incline benching 40kg for 3 sets at about an average of 5 reps a set. 8-5-3.

Once i can do 8-8-8 i'll up the weight again.
 
CEDeoudes59

CEDeoudes59

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eat your ass off, don't worry for you gain a little fat. You have a fast metabolism like myself (or used to anyway), so cutting the fat [later on] isn't too hard.

You got the basics from these guys, ideally - eat your bodyweight X 1.5 in protein. If you want to weigh 200 (eat 200grams or over). If you want to weigh 250 (eat 250grams or over). It adds up believe me.
 

TruffleShuffle

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Looks like 3000 Calories is a long way off but not impossible.

Today (not including my dinner) i will take in the following:

Total Calories: 1610
Protein : 155g
Carbohydrates : 180g
Fat: 57g

Now that works out at a 40/45/15 split.

The reason i have not included my diner is because it is made 'fresh'so to speak, we had Beef Stew with boiled potatoes. I have no idea what the nutritional value of this would be so i didnt want to contaminate the accurate results for the rest of the days intake.

At a best guess i'd say total intake including dinner would be:

Total Calories: 2000
Protein : 180g
Carbohydrates : 230g
Fat: 67g

Now i eat my ass of today but did it cleanly, so i reckon i could make 3000 cals per day if I (lets say) drunk a bottle of coke (500cals) and eat some chocolate. This would also bring up my Carbs and Fat for the day giving me a better overall ratio.

(just a side note, the protein shake i plan to take this evening is included in those totals, and i tried putting oats in my last shake and they all just settled on the bottom and made a rather disguisting mush which i did my best to get down but i could just see it coming back up again so i let it be)
 

dsl

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for my shake I add ice and milk then blen, then add oats and blend, then add protein and blend on lowest setting to make it nice and thick. This way the oats are blended up and not mush on the bottom of your cup.

Remember that you don't have to start eating all of these cals right away, just work yourself up and add a little more evry few days. Plus, once you start exercising your appetite will go up.
 
CEDeoudes59

CEDeoudes59

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for my shake I add ice and milk then blen, then add oats and blend, then add protein and blend on lowest setting to make it nice and thick. This way the oats are blended up and not mush on the bottom of your cup.
wow that's a good idea, never thought of that. I always liquify mine :D
 
BigVrunga

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This is all great advice, TruffleShuffle. I would also add that you should do your best to get all your food from solid, whole sources (a little tough while bulking), and dont forget your vegetables.

Some other things to keep in mind:

-You should be eating 6-8 times a day and every meal should contain a lean protien(chicken, fish, lean beef) , complex carb (brown rice, oatmeal, yams) , and a fibrous vegetable (broccoli, asparagus, etc).

-At bulking calories, the only 'extra' fat you'll need to add to your diet would be from your EFA supplement, or from some nuts (almonds, etc) here and there.

-And get down at *least* 1 gallon of water per day. Preferbly more.

-Dont forget your cardio. Anyone who tells you that cardio is bad for bulking and will make it hard to gain muscle doesent know their ass from a hole in the ground. 2-3 sessions of mild cardio for 20minutes will speed recovery, be good for your heart/blood pressure and keep you lean.

-At this stage, dont worry about gaining fat but don't forget about it either. I'd recommend getting a pair of bodyfat calipers and taking a measurement every week or so. That way, you'll know if your gains LBM or fat and you can adjust your diet accordingly.

And the farts ooooooh the farts, thank god it's the summer and i can have the windows open and the fan on, if it was winter i'd probably have suffocated by now.
Your body will get used to digesting constantly in time. Spacing your meals out will help with this.

Good luck bro!

BV
 

TruffleShuffle

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Thought i'd make one final update for today before i crash for the night.

I've re-shaped my workout and will give it a go tomorrow, as a result i only did a bicep workout today because i have back workout scheduled for tomorow and my old routine had it in for today.

New Routine (awaiting....*ahem* tweaks)

Day 1 - Chest / Back

Incline Dumbbell Press (3 sets of 8)
Decline Dumbbell Press (3 sets of 8)
Dumbbell Flyes (3 sets of 10)
Dumbell Straight Leg Deadlift (2 sets of 8)
Dumbell Bent-Over Row (2 sets of 10)
Dumbell Shrugs (2 sets of 8)

Day 2 - Legs / Triceps / Abs

Dumbbell Lunges (3 sets of 12)
Dumbbell Squats (3 sets of 12)
Single Leg Calf Raises (2 sets of 12)
Dumbbell Tricep Extention (2 sets of 8)
Dumbbell Tricep Kickback (2 sets of 8)
Crunches (2 sets of 25 with 10lb wieght on chest)
Incline Leg Raises (2 sets to failure)

Day 3 - Shoulders / Biceps

Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press (3 sets of 8)
Dumbbell Upright Rows (2 sets of 8)
Standing Dumbbell Curls (2 sets of 8)
Preacher Curls (2 sets of 8)
Hammer Curls (2 sets of 8)
Wrist Curls (2 sets of 8)

Day 1 is tomorrow, so i'm looking forward to it (love chest days). I'm using straight leg deadlifts instead of normal ones as i have Leg work scheduled for the next day and i am not enough of a sadist to do Deadlifts AND squats on consecutive days.
 
BigVrunga

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Bro why dont you join a gym? Working out at home is great...but a famous man(I think it was Arnold, actually) once said something like "You can only do so much work on your car at home in your driveway with basic tools. To make real changes you have to go somewhere with the proper tools and equipment"

A great routine for building strength and size would be (here's my 'tweak':D)

Day 1: Chest/Tris

Dumbell Incline 8,6,4
Dumbell Flyes 10,8,8
Weighted Dips 10,8,6
Lying Tricep Extension 12,10,8
Cardio 20min

Day2: Back/Bis

Chinups - sets to 30
Bent Over Barbell Rows - 10,8,6
Deadlifts - 8,6,4
Standing EZ Bar Curl - 12,10,8
Cardio 20min

Day3 - off

Day 4- Legs
Squats - 10,10,8
Straight Leg Deadlifts - 10,10,8
Dumbell Lunges or Smith Machine Lunges - 10,10,10
Standing Calf Press - 15,12,10

Day 5- off

Day 6 - Shoulders/Abs

Arnold Press 12,10,8
Lateral DB Raises 12,10,8
Bent over DB Lateral Raises 12,10,8
Weighted Incline situps 15,12,10
Leg Raise 15,12,10
Cardio 20min

Day 7 - off

You're going to grow a LOT faster doing heavy compound movements like the squat and deadlift. There's no way around it, it must be done.:D Not having a spotter is a bitch, but the power rack at the gym takes care of that.

BV
 
Kristopher

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Full props to BV, i wholeheartedly vouch for his "tweaks"
You will see big changes real fast if you go with that.. Its a great split
 
CROWLER

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I would agree you do should take a day off between each workout.

You have to remember you are like MANY of us in that you tend to be thin and don't gain muscle easily. So for that reason you would be over working if you didn't have those days off.

Also IMO you still have WAY too many work sets.

Good luck and keep 'tweaking' LOL


CROWLER
 

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Hi Truffle Shuffle,

If you have the room and the $$,buy a power rack. Many have adjustable safety supports,so you don't need a spotter. With a barbell,you can then do compound movements like deadlifts,bent over rows,power cleans,bench press, etc. Good luck.
 

TruffleShuffle

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Many thanks for all the great advise i have received so far, unfortunatly regarding the recomended workout and equipment/gym membership i have the following problems:

In about 2 months i'm moving to goto Uni so gym membership at the moment would be useless however i definatly intend to check out the Uni gym once i'm there.

As for buying extra equipment the same applies, i have little to no money for buying extra bits (let alone the space) i'm also very worried that even with what i have at the moment (bench + dumbells) i might end up in a box room at uni with only room for bed and desk basically.

Finally as for the workout, although it looks like a great one, i will not be following it just yet. For starters i dont have some of the equipment needed (EZ bar, pull-up bar etc etc) but also because i am very keen to work each muscle group twice a week.

I fully intend, however, to give this workout a go once i move as i would expect the Uni gym to have these facilities. Also it should be nicely timed as i guess in about 2 months time i'll be hitting a plateux with my current workout and in need of some changes.

A few weeks ago i was getting very frustrated by my lack of chest growth (on an old routine that only worked it once a week) and so i worked it 3 times that week. I did my usual scheduled workout but also put in chess presses and flyes. I was very happy with how my chest responded.

I dont think i have trouble putting muscle on per-say, i think i just haven't really tried before, or known what i was doing. I certainly have never used free weights before Easter.
 
BigVrunga

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TruffleShuffle -

Not a bad idea to hold off until you get to college (By 'Uni' you mean University, right?)

Its fine to work a muscle group 2x per week, but as you train you'll learn which parts of your body can take it and which can not. Also, be aware that you arent overloading yourself with volume (number of sets and reps), or your enthusiasm will quickly lead to overtraining.

Which sucks! Believe me, I think everyone on this board has done it at least once.

You look to have an ecto/endomorph build and probably a decent mesomorphic component as well that will be realized when you start dieting/training properly. You've just started training, so whatever you do in the beginning is going to show results.

However, without the 'big' compound movements at the core of your routine, you're not going realize your full potential. I still would recommend finding a gym that can do a monthly membership and getting in there to hit squats and deadlifts at least once a week. The difference is huge bro, believe me.

At least you'd be able to work on your form, as it can literally take *years* to develop the proper form for these movements (if you're learning on your own), so no better time to start than the present.

BV
 

TruffleShuffle

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Just another small update:

Day 3 of new routine:

Been suffering from a slight pull or strain in my right bicep, whilst this didnt cuase any problems from yesterday's leg/tricep/abs routine, i think the fact that basically the bicep it getting used in some small amount no matter what weights i do (just in lifting them, changing the weights on the dumbells etc) has meant that it hasnt healed as quickly enough for me do my Shoulder/Bicep woukout today.

I have a chest/back day on monday with tomorrow (sunday) as a rest day anyway so i think taking today off aswell, giving the arm 2 days to heal without ANY weights will do far more good than it'll harm my progress.

I have my next shoulder/bicep day on Wednesday so we'll see how things are again then. If yet again i have the same problem then obviously something in my routine wil need to change. but i think this has happened cuase i did a Bicep workout last wednesday (as part of my old routine) then started my new workout on Thursday with a chest/back day, without any rest for my arms.

On a side note, i can already see my chest and arms (bi's AND tri's) making nice big gains. A mate of mine who everytime i see him tells me he's been down the gym 5 times this week and proceeds to show off his biceps, was far more reluctant to do so last night. Infact i poked his bicep and asked him how he was doing and he just changed the subject. He has quite alot of BF (well not loads but definatly in the 20% range) and i reckon that within a couple of weeks my arms will be bigger than his even with my lower BF levels.

So a big thank u to u guys for allthe advice as so far my gains really are increasing. :thumbsup:
 

TruffleShuffle

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Day 10.

Had great Chest/Back day today really feel pumped afterward and for a laugh put on my tightest t-shirt (no not some 6yr olds Tshirt but a tight designed T with elasticated sleeves :rasp: )

Was a great feeling with it all tight round my chest, shoudlers and Arms, think i might wear it when i go out tonight .

I am seeing improvements in all areas:

gone up 10lbs in Bench Press
gone up 28lbs in SL Deadlift (but this was underestimated as i was guessing when i did it the first time)
up 10lbs in Bent over Rows
up 20lbs in Shrugs

up 20lbs on Lunges + Squats
up 10lbs on Calf Raises (again underestimated initially)
up 5lbs on Seated Shoulder press
up 5lbs on Dumbbell Curl.

This is in 10 Days of my new routine, i'm ecstatic :rofl:

Just as a reminder i'm only using OTC stuff (waaaay to inexperienced to even think about doing anything else):

Omega Cre-Ethyl Thunder
Beverly International EFA Gold
Dymatize Elite Whey Protein (got Choc mint and now Butter Cream Toffee flavours, mmm tasty)

Also just started taking:

Dymatize Z Force (ZMA supplement) - Not planning on using this pre workout but mainly before bed to help lock in these gains (and also for the funky dreams)

Soon to be arriving:

MACA and Horny Goat Weed - just for a laugh really, read all kinds of things about these and just HAD to give em a go!

L-Glutamine : Again going to use this before bed to lock in the gains, also i've read it makes a good hangover cure.

Melting Point: Bought this ready for when i do a cutting cycle (which will happen when i run out of the CEE).

It's like a regular pharmacy here, I think the postman is getting pretty suspicious with all these boxes arriving with CHEAP SUPPLEMENTS etc, on the label :twisted:

Anyway will keep this thread updated for my own reference if for no one elses (i realised i'm probably the LEAST experienced person on AM right now).
 
Kristopher

Kristopher

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Keep on keepin on, looks like good gains so far!
I hear cre ethyl thunder is a great product, i will probably get some myself in the near future.
 

TruffleShuffle

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Day 21 - Ooh nearly a month in and i dint even realise.

Just a small update to keep on top of things, i'll do a 1 month update with pics aswell i think.

The reason for this update is cause i was looking at my back in the mirror and i was very happy with what i was seeing so i thought i'd share it with the rest of the world.

I've never had a decent 'valley' up my back before and i love the look of it. I'm very happy to have started SL Deadifts now, i think they've had a lot to do with this rapid increase.

No pic of my front today as i havent seen the same sort of gains there that i have elsewhere, but i've adjusted a few things and i'll leave you giuys to be the judge with the pics on on my 1 month review.

PS i now also realise how difficult it is to take photos of your own back :hammer: .
 

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