[r6samson]

I'm natural and only been lifting seriously (diet and training) for about a year or so. I'm not big, but keep in mind I weighed 113 when I started and now at 138-140 and 134-136 in the pics. They aren't great pics. My Dad was messing around with the new digital camera. Pics are from Oct. 2004.

http://www.piczo.com/r6samson



JP

[goyard]

good start too a great foundation. your looking good, keep up the good work.

[ryansm]

I would hope you are natural at your age. Keep it up, and remember to eat big!

[r6samson]

To be honest I'm having the hardest time gaining any size or weight. I did gain REALLY fast, but now slowed to nothing. I'm going for the bodybuilder imagine so if anyone can help me out with training it'd be greatly appericated. My diet (according to a calcualator I should eat 2800 calories a day to gain weight) I eat around 3000. Still nothing. I think my routine is lousy. Any suggestions?


JP

[EEmain]

Change up your program.. Do different exercises or the same in different order.

My 17 YO son has a heck of a time gaining any weight and he eats like a horse, on the other hand his brother who is 16 grows like a weed.
Both lift about the same in each exercise and eat the same diet.. We change up about every 3rd week the order and/or exercise.

[goyard]

eemain, i luv your avatar, thats my boy, Westbrook!

[kwyckemynd00]

Originally Posted by r6samson

To be honest I'm having the hardest time gaining any size or weight. I did gain REALLY fast, but now slowed to nothing. I'm going for the bodybuilder imagine so if anyone can help me out with training it'd be greatly appericated. My diet (according to a calcualator I should eat 2800 calories a day to gain weight) I eat around 3000. Still nothing. I think my routine is lousy. Any suggestions?


JP

Post your routine and diet so we can give you a hand. You probably just need to up the calories and lower the volume on your routine. That should take care of the gaining problem. At 17 you shouldn't have TOO much trouble.

[LCSULLA]

Originally Posted by kwyckemynd00

Post your routine and diet so we can give you a hand. You probably just need to up the calories and lower the volume on your routine. That should take care of the gaining problem. At 17 you shouldn't have TOO much trouble.

I agree. At 17 you should be able to gain with the right program/diet.

[r6samson]

Alright well, I'm just gonna start a new routine altogether so any suggestions would be great. Oh yea, I'm into the bodybuilding not strength training. And I'm begining to train slower (Poliquin Principles) so any more advice would help. Here's the daily diet:


6:30 2 cups Hersey Chocolate milk, 1/4 cup cashews
8:30 1 Large Banana, Beef jerky (teacher's a pain)
11:00 School lunch- Chicken patty and fries with juice
2:30 Workout
4:00 Grill cheese with 2 cups Hersey Chocolate milk
6:00 Whatever Mom makes otherwise like perogies or fast food but she mostly cooks
8:00 Muscle Milk shake and maybe a banana with it


JP

[kwyckemynd00]

I've been very happy with this routine and so have many others who have used it. Don't kid yourself that strength and mass aren't directly correlated, especially when beginning your training. Train to get strong and you'll get big. Hell, look at coleman. He's a beast and the mofo trains in what can only be described as a modified powerlifting routine. Many of the biggest guys train the heaviest and that's for a reason. I'd suggest this routine, nothing more...it works. If you go balls to the walls and make every set count, you won't want to workout more than 3x a week. Take note that warmup sets are not included, but you must add them yourself. I.E. If you're going to hit deads for a set of 365 x 5, I'd do something like this: 135 x 10, 185 x 6, 225 x 2, 275 x 1, 315 x 1 then do your worksets of 365 x 5 reps x 2 sets.

Monday:
Squats 2 x 5
Box squats 2 x 4
Leg presses 2 x 5 (pick 2 of the three listed as long as one is squats)
Calves (your choice of exercise) 2 x 10

Tuesday:
Wide grip flat bench 2 x 6 (index fingers on the rings) [note: incline here probably wouldn't be a bad idea]
Decline medium grip bench 2 x 6 (pinkies on the rings)
Weighted dips 2 x 10
Upright rows or side laterals 1 x 10

Thursday:
Dead lifts (rotate variations each week) 2 x 5
reverse hypers, pull thrus or glute ham raise 1 x 10-15
Bent over rows 2 x 4
Reverse grip narrow grip pull downs 2 x 6
Standing wide grip curls 2 x 8 (or your favorite curl here)

If you're wondering where the shoulder and arm work is take note of this:
Heavy deads will "kill" your rear delts and traps.
Heavy rows (I do Yates rows and love them!) will get your bi's decent. Follow that with two sets of heavy curls and you're done for the week.
Tri's get taken care of in the dips and bench presses.
Front Delts get taken care of with the bench presses and finished with the side laterals. Add abs and cardio as necessary on days off. I personally woulndn't do cardio if I were you since you're having troube gaining ATM.

I WISH I had this routine when I started training....but, whether you use it is up to you.

(Routine by exmgq / pullinbig from steroidology.com / ironaddicts.com)

edit: OH, and be sure to take as much rest as needed in between sets to hit your next set super hard!!!!

[r6samson]

I'll look into it. Thanks alot, but the thing is it seems sparce. Like there isn't alot there. Ya know what I mean? I figured each large muscle should get like 13 sets. It just seems weird that this routine would get so much growth compared to a 5 day routine with multiple excercises. How long should I do this for? 2 mins rest? What tempo? My arms are my weak point so I thought they'd need hit hard? I'm not dismissing this routine I'm just.......confused by it producing great results with little work. I'll get more pics up soon for a better idea where I'm at now.


JP

[EEmain]

13 sets per muscle group? Try 12 work sets per WO!

[LCSULLA]

I'll look into it. Thanks alot, but the thing is it seems sparce. Like there isn't alot there. Ya know what I mean? I figured each large muscle should get like 13 sets. It just seems weird that this routine would get so much growth compared to a 5 day routine with multiple excercises. How long should I do this for? 2 mins rest? What tempo? My arms are my weak point so I thought they'd need hit hard? I'm not dismissing this routine I'm just.......confused by it producing great results with little work. I'll get more pics up soon for a better idea where I'm at now.

Logically your right. Work hard at the Body Parts that are lacking and you will improve. And this was how I worked out when I was your age. I worked out one hour a week, five days a week. I did get bigger and strong. This lasted for about 8 months, then I stagnated at a 330lb bench. Oh I started 'lifting at 5'8 and around 180lbs or so. But I could not gain anymore (I did not know anything about nutrition) so I UP THE VOLUME. This did not work, in fact I started to loss mass and strength. And then I got hurt. And within the last 4 or five years I have been looking at diffrent ways to build muscle more effeciantly. And I have come to the conclusion less is more. I know this goes against everything you have read in BBing mags. But those routines will do nothing for you. For example you want to use Jay Cutler's "Building Huge Biceps Routine". First you have to rember that Jay is ENHANCED with stuff your or I have never even heard of. Second is that when he first walked into a gym he benched 315lb. Can you do that? I know I can't. I would follow kwyckemynd00 advice. Trust us. We have all made the mistake you are about to make.

Oh and your need to eat a lot more...a lot more. Get some huge bags of protein powder and some EFA's. You don't need anything else. No exotic creatine (and no PH-AAS). You aren't eating enough protein. EAT MORE!

[CEDeoudes59]

less is more, for training - follow Kwycke's advice

more is more, for eatting!!

Check out the info I gave in this thread especially in the middle and towards the end in regards to gaining.....all the exercises I recommend throughout the thread are also great and take note of the little twists in each description......http://www.nutraplanet.com/ibf/index.php?showtopic=18

[kwyckemynd00]

Originally Posted by LCSULLA

....... Second is that when he first walked into a gym he benched 315lb......

I've heard this a few times and I align this with King Kamali's BS about gaining 60lbs in a summer.

I saw pics of Jay as a kid....he really wasn't that big. I don't believe this one damn bit. I'd believe a 400lb fat guy, but not a 160lb kid like Cutler was.

The thing I've noticed, and I know a few guys who compete nationally and have for years b/c fo where I live, train, work, etc, is that the pros LOVE to say "genetics, genetics, genetics" which is true. However, they tend to exaggerate a ton! There are a few honest guys I know (nat'l competitors) who call BS on all that crap. I believe them, fully.

Put it this way. I saw Cutler repping 405 x 5 on incline BP in New, Improved, and Beyond. Had he started with a 315lb BP his progression is actually fairly shitty IMHO.

[CEDeoudes59]

Kamali was tiny, 5'7'' 150ish? in high school. He's been training in Northern VA at the same place his entire life.
Pretty nice guy overall from the times I talked with him.

I think we had this conversation?

[LCSULLA]

Yeah I tend not believe those stories either, but I rember about two years ago on Gotfina.com a elite powerlifter was training this 18yr old kid who could bench 425lbs raw at 190lbs or so. And he had only been lifting for 6 months. There are freaks out there.