Thread: Roberts Attempt to Gain Weight and Strength.

imo, unless you feel like you are using the same muscles for 2 exercises, then i would eliminate one of them, but they should all seem to hit your back in a different manner. just keep to good form,its not all about how much weight you can move. you dont want to start off life with a bad back.

Haha well I do keep good form. But sorry to say that I already have a bad back. I fractured a vertabrae in my spine over a year ago.

I am kind of confused as to how to set up my benchpress routine. Normally I do it like...

Warmup at 135lbs 8x

180 5x
185 5x
190 1-5x

Is there anything wrong with doing my strength traning routine like this? Or should I do it a different way?

we do pyramiding most of the time also, each person is a little different.
you can also try to go with just one weight for a certian number of sets and reps and then advance from there when you can complete all sets and reps.
your rep range will depend on what your goal is, lower reps to build more mass. higher reps for toning and endurance. but your gains are also going to depend on your diet, sleep, and genetics. you can read the stickies in both the training, and nutrition sections and get alot of great knowledge from them.

what's up rob? welcome to the journals. we run a tight ship here so prepare yourself

theotherhalf is correct - weight gains will depends a lot on other things (not just how and how much you lift). diet is incredibly important, sleep too. i am also working on gaining some weight. right now i'm 135 and i'd like to get up to 145-150. in order to do this i'm eating everyday at a caloric surplus (you'll have to read the stickies to figure out how many calories YOU should be eating everyday. but my maintenance level is 2500 calories a day. i shoot for eating high 2000s to about 3200 calories a day.
the extra calories my body doesn't need every day go to feeding my muscles that i train hard in the mornings.

my approach to lifting weights in the past was high reps and low weight. now that i'm going for more mass and strength (instead of muscular endurance) i've upped the weight and dropped the number of weights.

usually.. say squats for example will look something like this (pretty much like you're doing it now)
140 x 10
150 x 10
160 x 10
170 x 10

the next time i try to hit this exercise i'll look back and see how much i did last time and try to increase the weight/reps in there some how. like instead of starting out at 140 i'd go straight to 150, then 150 again, 160 and 170.

after a while you'll be able to really tell just how much your muscles are really capable of. i'm a skinny guy, but i've surprised myself how quickly i've been able to add the weight.

hang in there and keep us posted on how things are going for you!

Thanks for the info guys.

Awhile ago I started trying to bulk up. I increased the amout of food I ate and gained 10lbs right away. Im still trying to eat more but I am having trouble. I'm also a really skinny guy to nadirmg and I've always been skinny scrawny kid and it is hard for me to stuff myself with food all the time!

I've also seen people set up there routines like...

135 8x warmup
175 5x
185 5x
195 3x
205 3x
210 1x
215 1x
Then they start lowering the weight back down again. What about doing that?

that is more for the powerlifters, they are continually trying to reach new 1 rep max, there fore they dont want to use all theirs strenght doing sets of 6,8,or 10.
you could use that for gaining strength, but i dont see where you are going to put alot of mass on doing this. imo. but then agian i have never done that type of a program, so i dont know exactly what form of gains come from that.

there are a couple of very knowledgable people on here that can give you some more indepth answers. gazhole,premier,stewart, to name a few.

good luck and keep asking questions, you might get alot of different answers,so you will just have to sort through them and see what works best for you.

Originally Posted by the other half

keep asking questions, you might get alot of different answers,so you will just have to sort through them and see what works best for you.

agreed.

Strength Training Chest Day.


Stretched then warmed up with pushups.

Benchpress

135 8x
180 4x
185 3x
190 2x (damnit)
185 4x

Today was an average benchday. I would've liked it to have been better but maybe next time. During the set of 190 I couldn't get the 3rd rep up so some guy had to run over and help me. That was a little embarassing haha.

Incline Bench

120 5x
130 4x
135 4x

Cable Crossovers

100 8x
120 6x
120 5x

DB Tricep Extensions

85 6x
90 5x

Then I finished with Lateral Raises

12.5 15x
15 10x

Overall solid workout for me. I have benched 200 3x before so I was disappointed with my performance today. Incline I was very proud of myself, I have never repped 135 before. Also improved on cable crossovers. Tricep Extensions also improved.

I weighed 142.8 lbs today.

Standing Military Press with BB

95 8x
110 6x
115 5x
115 5x

Close Grip Low Row

120 6x
130 5x
120 5x

At 130lbs I couldn't keep very good form so I moved back down to 120lbs.

T-bar Row

100 6x
110 5x
115 5x

Shrugs

175 5x
185 5x

Hammer Curls

40 5x
35 6-9x (lost track of counting reps)

I was happy with all my lifts except low row. I seemed to get almost worse at it. Maybe next time I will perform better. I thought I finished my workout, so I got undressed and everything im the lockerroom than realized I forgot to do lat pulls... I was very happy with my weigh in today though. 144.8lbs. Nice!

Hey guys. I had an excellent workout today!

Benchpress
135 8x
180 5x easy
185 4x easy
190 3x
200 3x

Incline Bench

120 5x
135 5x
140 5x

Cable Crossovers

100 8x
110 6x
120 8x

DB Tricep Extensions

90 5x
90 5x

This workout seemed excellent and it was just what I needed seeing as my workouts haven't been all that great. I learned something today while I was benching. Lately, especially with the heavy weights, I have been bringing the bar down either too high above my pecs or to low. Today I really focused on dropping the bar in the middle of my chest and the weight I could push soared! 200 felt easy! I think next week I'm going to try a different tricep isolation exercise. Anyone have any suggestions?

Weight today: 143.2

good numbers, man!

you've got a really strong chest w/o. how long have you been benching? i need to start upping the weight and dropping the reps on mine or i'll be stuck in low/middle 100's forever.

keep at it!

oh, and you might want to ask stewart20 about triceps exercises. he's the tri guru here.

well from your pic, you have a good base to start from. i dont know if its easy trying to put mass on being low bf, or being higher bf, and then trying to lose it to show your mass. that is what i have to do.

but you have alot of time and natural test. to make some good gains, so just be patient and enjoy.

Originally Posted by nadirmg

good numbers, man!

you've got a really strong chest w/o. how long have you been benching? i need to start upping the weight and dropping the reps on mine or i'll be stuck in low/middle 100's forever.

keep at it!

oh, and you might want to ask stewart20 about triceps exercises. he's the tri guru here.

Thanks alot! That means alot because having a strong chest is my priority. I have been benching for a little over a year I believe. I tried it once and fell in love with it. When I started benching I was repping 70lbs. So I have made some improvement. Yeah try lowering the weights, you will enjoy it and you will feel strong .

Alright I will ask him! Thanks

Thanks the other half! I don't know either. But it has been a tough challenge for me. You are right, I started early so I do have loads and loads of time. This one time at the state fair I got my body fat measured. They said I have like...2.6% hahaha. I know that can't be right but it still shows I have really low body fat.

Finally got a chance to go to the gym today. The past couple days we have gotten about 10 inches of snow so I haven't been able to go anywhere.

Standing Military Press

95 8x
110 5x
115 5x
120 5x

Last set every rep was a challenge. My shoulders felt really fatigued after this exercise for some reason.

Close grip low row

120 5x
130 5x
130 5x

I felt strong doing the low row today so I was happy.

T-bar Row

110 5x
115 5x
120 5x

Lat Pull

155 5x felt easy
165 5x
170 5x

Pullups with overhand grip

BWx10
BWx4

I was just too tired to pull any more.

Shrugs

165 5x
170 5x
175 5x

Lowered the weight a tad for shrugs. I wanted to concentrate on my form today.

Hammer Curls

35 8x
40 5x

Not much for me to say about todays workout. Felt really strong today. I finally was proud of my shrugs. Whenever I would lift the bar for shrugs it would hit my penis and threw me off a little. I tucked it up in the spandex of my boxers and that solved the problem .

rofl, yea, hitting your junk would be distracting.
do you always do that much on the lat pull-downs? nice bro

and how do you shrug that much? load it up on the bar for the smith press and shrug the bar in front of you? i'm about to run out of heavier dumbbells and need to find something heavier soon!
btw, where do you live? 10 inches of snow?? ack!

are you up for the 2008 fitness challenge? check out the sticky at the top of the journals page.

Originally Posted by nadirmg

rofl, yea, hitting your junk would be distracting.
do you always do that much on the lat pull-downs? nice bro

and how do you shrug that much? load it up on the bar for the smith press and shrug the bar in front of you? i'm about to run out of heavier dumbbells and need to find something heavier soon!
btw, where do you live? 10 inches of snow?? ack!

are you up for the 2008 fitness challenge? check out the sticky at the top of the journals page.

LOL yeah it was very distracting. So I had to look around the gym to see if anyone was looking at me. Than I reach down in my pants and put it in the spandex hahaha.
No I don't always do that much. 170 5 reps is the most i've ever done and that is because I wore my lifting gloves . Thanks though

For shrugging I get the same bar that you squat freeweight with. Then I put the plates on and hold it with about a shoulder width overhand grip. Than just shrug it! I've never used a smith machine for shrugging. I never have used the dumbells for shrugs either, I never even thought about using them. You like to use them?

I live in Minnesota. In the suburbs south of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

I got to lift with a friend today which made my workout pretty enjoyable. He made me laugh alot. I repped 200 then got off the bench he looked at me and said "How much is this?" I said ..."200...why?" he responded with a...."Bastard...".

Benchpress

135 8x
185 5x
200 3x
205 3x

When I got up 205 he had his hands under the bar. I don't know if he helped or not.

Incline Bench

135 5x
140 5x
145 4x

Crossovers

110 6x
120 5x
130 4x

Thanks to Stewart20 I decided to try close grip benchpress today.

135 6x
125 5x
120 6x

135lbs was alot harder than I thought it was gonna be haha wow.

Felt strong again today. Happy with my benching today also. Im going to change over to 8-12 reps pretty soon because I have been doing strength training for awhile.

whew.... man great numbers again. it really helps having a w/o buddy, doesn't it. you mentioned you've been benching for about a year right? what weight did you start out at?

right now my max is your warm-up....
when you up the reps will you end up dropping the weight down? or will you keep the weight and build your reps up to 8-12?

It does and doesn't help. During strength training I love to have a friend with me because I have long resting periods AND I have a spotter! But when I have short resting periods it kinda blows cause I am talking instead of lifting.

Haha don't worry you will be repping 135 in no time . When I started benchpressing I could rep 70lbs about 8 times.

I have never thought about maybe keeping the weight the same. I usually drop the weights down to the 160's or low 170's.

In my weight training class our teacher told us that tomorrow we are having a benchpress competition . My pecks are sore! That is gonna be torture.

way to go on the benching!!!!
consistant looking workouts all the the way around.

im sorry that you got so much snow. not.
we live in idaho, and we broke all our records for snow fall this year.
in a three day period i spent 14 hours shoveling the driveway, burms,and the roof of the house. fuck, who needs the gym.

In my lifting class today we had that benching competition like I said earlier. I actually wasn't too sore.
Each person had to benchpress 70% of there weight. Whoever got the most reps won. I won the competition by getting 32 reps. Next closest was 22 reps. I was happy because I showed up all the cocky jocks in my class. This competition was supposed to prove who was the strongest pound for pound. That was a good self esteem builder

nice, bro! nice!

Hey ras! You can press ur ass off man! Don't forget the squats and d lifts, that's were the real size and power comes from!

Thanks alot guys! It was a fun competition. Watch I bet the next competition will be involving the legs . Speaking of legs I squatted at the gym today. Was all going good than I finished a set and had a tight soreness in part of my hamstring. . So I decided to quit. I stretched for awhile too.


Standing Military Press

95 8x
115 5x
120 5x
125 4x

I could've done 5 reps at 125 but I brought the weight down at a weird angle and I almost dropped the bar.

Low Row

120 5x
130 5x
140 5x

Finally got 140 5x!

T Bar Row

115 5x
120 5x
125 5x (barely got last rep)

Lat Pull

155 5x
165 5x
175 5x

175 was tough, also barely got the last rep.

Shrugs

175 5x
180 5x
185 5x

Shrugs felt very good today!

Workout was excellent today except for hurting my hamstring. . I think I'm going to workout my chest and tri's one more time using 1-6 rep range. Then Im moving up to 8-12.

Originally Posted by JailHouse

Hey ras! You can press ur ass off man! Don't forget the squats and d lifts, that's were the real size and power comes from!

Thanks alot! Pressing is my favorite, haha.

I have deadlifted before. Its fun but I am worried about doing it. I fractured a vertabrae in my spine about a year and a half ago and I am still wondering whether I should do them or not. I love squatting but I had some problems with it today.

Chest and Tri's

Benchpress

135 8x
185 5x
190 4x
200 3x
205 1x

Don't know why but I just couldn't push the weight up today.


Incline Bench

125 5x
140 5x
145 5x

Cable Crossovers

110 8x
120 5x
130 4x

Close Grip Bench

125 10x
120 8x
120 8x

I squatted again today. Didn't hurt myself this time!

Squats

135 8x
155 5x
175 5x

They felt good today, my legs felt like jelly afterwards.

Leg Extension

130 5x
145 5x
150 5x

Calf Raises on a Smith machine

135 10x
155 10x
175 10x

Next time I lift I am going to switch to 8-12 reps. In weight training class today in school we learned deadlifts and clean and jerks today. I had done deadlifts before but clean and jerks were new. And wow were they fun! After doing them my whole body felt tired.