Geez mathersby...my ultimate goal is a lean mean 275 by age 40...I'm at 215 now. It seems so far away but you make it sound like that sort of weight is right around the corner - thank you for showing me that. I often have sleep issues too when on - learned recently how useful phenibut can be. I hear MK can be super helpful too...you ever tried that for sleep?
Just pheni which tolerance was created quickly i have yet to run MK. I actually have small bone structure, I’m tall and lanky so I don’t look very big until I’m 240+
My legs are scrawny so any weight I have is my big back. I’m like twice the width of my girlfriend even with no muscle. If I’m being honest, I don’t do well without aas. An excuse that works now at 40, but I did learn for the most part through a couple decades what I respond to best..
it’s almost never changes:
- I don’t need a lot of volume, I can get the same results with short rest periods and advanced principles(In order for me, DROP SETS, slow negatives, and I pretty much only do a set below 6 reps only to drop the weight to get more reps with a lower weight, great trick) fst-7 works too or any burnout type set at the end.
- I double and triple the amount of volume for back than chest. Consequently my bench goes up when my traps and lats are thick and strong.
- I always end back day with a mini bi day and same for chest as well as an arm day.
- my shoulders grow the same on gear whether I give them a few sets after back for rear and medial and a few after chest for frontal delts.. or I could do an hour shoulder day and they grow pretty much the same. It’s like they don’t need much stimulation to grow.
- I can also get the same gains from a 50 minute workout with 1 minute rest as a 185 minute workout with 2-3 minute rests.
- I almost never train flat chest. All upper and then dips. Whereas back I’ll train from 4-5 angles and I need every one of them for continued growth.
DC rep range works well for me. 1 heavy set early on after warm up and slow higher rep sets are far better. Especially for arms, shoulders, back and legs. Took me years of skinny arms to realize I need more reps. Presses, dead’s and squats are the only thing I need to go under 8 pretty much ever. But if I need to bring strength up 5x5 works well too. Strength will eventually stagnate for me with high reps but not as often as most since I incorporate a lot more TUT and drop sets than some..
Of course this wouldn’t apply at all for some people. I just try to keep it simple. Make a small adjustment in training and watch for growth, make a small adjustment in diet and watch for growth.
Gaining is hard past a certain point. Seriously, Rich Piana said it best. If you aren’t gaining, you just need to eat more. There’s no such thing as too much food if you aren’t gaining. You’ll die trying to bulk on chicken and brown rice, but if you’re like me, you can eat chips and salsa and peanut butter, even when you’re full, so I use those a lot when I need to gain more. Plus, sugary protein bars at the end of every meal has helped. Every single meal I’ll eat a 300 calorie protein bar and a couple granola bars. 5-600 additional calories, 25 more grams of protein, and it’s easy to eat since you crave some sugar after a big meal.
I dunno, trial and error man. I take notes from Swimfan. 300 pounds impresses the hell outta me...