I have just started going to the gym about 1 month ago and was hoping to get some advice from more experience people on this board. I am just looking to gain mass/size and strength. I go 3 times a week, working all my major muscle groups each time (chest, arms, abs, legs, back....) doing 3 sets of 10 for each exercise. Just wondering is it better to work like 2 muscles groups, eg. chest and biceps, each session? maybe chest/biceps monday, legs/abs tuesday....or is it better to work all muscle groups each time you go? also, i find dumbbell press and bench press essentially work similar muscle groups. is 1 exercise better than the other? i.e. which is better, dumbbell press or barbell press? thanks in advance.
I usually vary it by day. One day upper body, one day lower body... or however you want to do it. Doing the same things everyday would get stale fast. Or you can get ripped in 4 weeks.
Strength comes before size. You can't get big without getting strong first. Splitting up your workouts is the way to go, unless you're a beginner, which you would probably want to stick to what you're already doing. When looking to gain strength, don't be afraid to go very heavy and do 4-6 reps, resting a minute or two between your sets. It's also a good idea to switch up your routine. Let's say for 3 weeks you life heavy, then for the last week of the month, lift lighter, doing maybe 12-15 reps per workout. Switching up your workouts will prevent your muscles from plateauing. Also be sure to give your body enough rest between workouts, 48 hours of rest for each muscle group at least. An example of a good split-body routine is something like: day 1-chest and back, day 2-legs and shoulders, day 3-arms and abs, with rest between days. The difference between dumbbell press and barbell press is that the dumbbell press requires more control since you're holding individual weights with each hand. You can do more weight with the barbell press, but it all depends on what you prefer. If you have a spotter, do the barbell, if not, then do the dumbbell.
If you're looking for mass/strength, I recommend: - Two muscle groups per day. Chest/tri, Back/bi, and Shoulder/legs is good. - Work out 3 days on, one day off, 3 days on, one day off, etc.. - Do very focused sets of 10-8-6, increase the weight you're currently doing, and make sure you start with a very good 15 minutes of warmup and stretching (jogging, light weights, stretching). - Aim for a 50-minute workout, never exceed one hour. - Make sure you get decent sleep, drink lots of water, and don't drink too much alcohol.
stronglifts.com I started off with the principles presented by that site. I could barely bench, squat or deadlift 100lbs, and after sticking to the 5x5 method, after a year and a half I'd say I'm quite pleased with my results. My current weight is 175lbs, benching 165lbs, squatting 185lbs, deadlifting 225lbs, bbrowing 150lbs, pullups improved from not even capable of doing 1 to doing 10 on the first set. In terms of looks, you won't really get that big, muscular type of look, but rather the lean chiseled look (from my experience) since 5x5 training causes your muscles to be denser rather than "fuller". The site goes more indepth about that. Importantly, even if going strictly for looks, start off with 5x5 to build a solid strength foundation and then go from there. Don't underestimate core training, and I'm not even talking about just abs. Rather, the abs, hips and lower back. When I hit a plateau a while back, I focused on my core training and that helped me break out of my rut. Core training also decreases your risk for injury. Last but not least, you've got to eat CLEAN. Diet is a key part of bodybuilding/strength training success. That's about all I can think of right now, might add more later.
with the barbell(bench), your stronger arm tends to do more work. The dumbbell press lets you work both sides equally. Plus at the top of the press, you can bring both dumbbells close together so you get a good squeeze on your pectorals. Arnie recommends 3 straight workouts with barbell press, then one with dumbbell press. Frankly, if you are just starting out, stick to getting good form on the barbell press. Please dont be the guy that benches all the time and doesnt work on his back
Everybody's body is different and you have to take into consideration age, height, weight, build etc. I'm assuming you're naturally on the thin to skinny side with a decent to good metabolism since you said you just started going to the gym and your looking for mass/size. If so..... Eat a lot and lift heavy. Just eat whatever you want and eat often with the exception of sweets like cake, ice cream, donuts, candy bars etc. Lots of protein obviously, carbs of course and yes fats are okay too..... It's okay if you eat pizza, burgers, chips etc since you want to gain mass/size. As for the lifting part you have to lift as much as you can (not max out but rep 5+ times) until you fail after the 3rd set. Lifting heavy requires a spotter or workout partner if you're not using a spotter you're not lifting heavy enough. Focus on dumbbells and you'll notice barbells will be much easier aka you get stronger doing dumbbells.
No it's not. Unless you're looking to add fat, then by all means, eat all that crappy food. If you want lean muscle, you need a strict diet with adequate carbs/protein, and minimal fat (limited to "good" fats, eg: omega-3, omega-6). But since the OP didn't specify if he wanted to gain lean mass or just simply weight, then this would work I suppose in terms of simply gaining weight. And I forgot to mention in my earlier post: don't worry if you can't lift as heavy as the person next to you. Your muscles don't know what weight you're using, they only know how intense you're lifting, so make sure you lift with high intensity.
I always stick to working out major groups with minor groups like. Day 1: Back, Lower back, Biceps. Day 2: Legs and Calves Day 3: Chest, Shoulders and Triceps. Day 4: Abs and cardio. (no more than 1 hour total) Day 5: Yoga. P90x yoga to be exact. good stuff.
I recommend stronglifts.com as well. Since you are just starting out, it will help you build real strength. I think you should focus more on compound exercises, instead of a bunch of isos. Build your foundation first, and then if you want to focus more on "bodybuilding" start doing the ISO stuff. Squats, benching, pushups/pullups, and deadlifts should be your main focus.
Shouldnt say things like this to a beginner. On an average day, you'll probably see guys without spotters using better form and truly lifting heavier, while guys with spotters use ****ty form and try to lift more weight thant they should, so the spotter ends up doing too much work. As a beginner there's not reason why he'd truly need a spotter. He's not goign to be maxing out or even coming close to start with. He needs to focus first on perfecting his form and getting his muscles to adapt to the movements. To the OP. Its going to get confusing trying to sort through all these tips. To keepit general: Gaining muscles comes down to two things. Are you lifting more than before ? Are you eating enough? Muscles grow by getting broken down and growing back stronger/bigger. To break them down you must challenge them and you do that by doing a new movement or the same one with more weight. Therefore, it's important to keep progressing in weight. It doesnt need to be something crazy like 10 pounds every workout, but aim to improve in some way. If you don't improve at least try to match your previous lift. Matching it for a week or two is cool, but if it's ongoing for too long then you've hit a plateau. Eating is important, especially eating enough protein. Aim for about .8 grams per pound of your weight....maybe even 1 gram, but dont listen to anyone who tells you to eat 500 grams or something...excessively overeating protein is very common among casual lifters, but its unnecessary. Also, DO NOT just pig out, even if it's on "real food", unless you dont care about gaining fat. If you're skinny now, increase your food intake by a little, then just watch how you fill out over 2-3 weeks. If you're not gaining much muscle or some fat, then you need to increase it more. If you're packing on significant fat, then you need to cut back. Some fat increase is natural, but it should be significant where you look more fat than muscular. If you're putting on more fat than you'd like, cardio is also an alternative to eating less. Just dont do too much , as it'll rob your body of calories it needs to sustain muscles. It's all a balancing match really, you have to learn to gauge how much you need through trial and error. As for workouts....the 3 day split i agree with: chest/triceps back/biceps shoulders/legs and fit abs and other littles things where you can. For muscle gain you shouldnt be working out the same muscle 3 times a week, that'll drain you and hurt you more than help. Even 2 times a week is too much for some people, but possible. Main thing is you need 2-3 days rest for that muscle. Don't think you need to kill that muscle all the time/every day for it grow. Most of the growing comes on days you rest, as that's when the muscle rebuilds itself and grows, so always give it the rest it needs. personally i'd suggest exercises and movements when each side is independent from the other. This helps each side grow evenly and evens out and imbalances that were there already. compound exercises are better generally, but i dont think it's necessary to only do that to begin with. If you're quads, glutes, and hams are imbalanced/weak and not use to moving individually, then you probably won't be able to do a squat correctly anyway...so it's fine to do more individual exercises to get muscles up to level where you can use them all in compound lifts.
Everyone has a different routine. Find one that works for you. I split up my days like this - chest, shoulders, biceps/triceps, back, and legs. I do abs and run every time I'm in the gym and ball full-court for 3 hours once a week. Diet is key. You need protein, protein, and more protein. Egg whites, turkey, fish, chicken, fat free cottage cheese are lean sources of protein. I get 80 grams from whey per day. I haven't started using casein protein before bed but I think I'm going to begin using that soon. Eat a lot of veggies and fruits. Limit the carbs, oil, fat, and sugar. Stay away from processed foods.
Whatever you do, do not listen to a genetic freak or a bodybuilder. Nutrition is key in size and strength. If your skinny as hell your going to have to eat alot. Thats the number 1 problem with beginners/skinny bastards. I went from 160 to 245 lbs 15% body fat in 2 years of training.
This is an excellent post. Rep'd. The whole beginner part kind of skipped over me. It was late last night when I replied.
I guess I'm in a similar position as the OP, just started working out for the last 10 days or so, and am also aiming to gain both weight and muscle. I'm 28, 6', 160-ish pounds. Thanks for all the advice, I will try to assimilate all the information and find a good way to reach my goal. Would you guys recommend getting a personal trainer to start?
I recommend Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoes It's 3 times a week and every work out is full body. It focuses on 4 compound lifts. Bench Press Deadlift Squats Standing Press that will eventually lead to Power Clean & Press. It'll probably get you the most strength and size out of any program and its great for a novice lifter as the book shows you proper form so you don't hurt yourself. If the book is out of your price range, then you can find a good torrent with instructional videos and the eBook which is readable in .pdf format. I'd give you the link to the torrent but I don't think its allowed.
Previous posts are solid. Don't do all muscle group all at once. Split them up into groups like day 1: chest, shoulder, triceps; day 2: leg; day 3: back and bicep or something like that. If you're skinny avoid excessive cardio activity. The most important thing is staying discipline and keep record of your progress so you can keep steadily increase the weight. Also, you have to eat more calories than your BMR adjusted to your lifestyle. Like previously mentioned find a program that work before you start dive into it without much knowledge because won't get any result and end up giving up.
if you can afford a personal trainer...go for it, BUT do your research, the last thing you want to do is waste hundreds of dollars on sessions and get nothing much from it. Try to get a free first session to get a feel for the trainer, as some are full of it.
