Thread: I started taking MuscleMilk, what to expect?

How much do you weigh?

You want a minimum of 1gm. protein per pound of bodyweight. In your previous training you said you were getting 125gms, which is most likely too little.

Muscle Milk is expensive but good stuff. Pre-workout is great. I used Muscle Milk for breakfast for a long time. I probably wouldn't take it before bed unless I was in a bulking phase. Instead, I'd try a low-carb Caesin or Micellear protein and some flax oil. Also, in terms of post workout, you just want pure whey=fast absorption. You can get it very cheaply from a board sponsor: www.allthewhey.com

How long have you been training?
You said you want a "V" shape, right?
Why is there no Back training then?

Chest twice a week + Back never + Legs never doesn't equal V-Shape. With no legs and back you get a T shape, and those guys crack everyone up.

No workout is complete w/o leg work, excpet the bullshit in Mens Journal and other publications tailored to insecure men. Heavy squats build muscle over your whole body. Those and deadlifts are your most anabolic exercises, bar none. All of your lifts will go up when you focus on the core compound exercises (to wit: people like Ronnie Coleman do very few isolated exercises, and he doesn't even really train biceps hardly-->his 700lb. T-bar rows eliminate the need to curl dumbells)

If you want a V-Shape quickly, try doing German Volume Training with one bodypart/compound exercise per day, 10 sets of 10. Legs=Squats Back=Deadlifts Chest=Flat Bench.

In terms of creatine, save the money and just buy straight creatine monohydrate, and take 5g a day, unless you're over 200. Mix it with dextrose ($2 a pound) and kool-aid flavor if you want a Cell-Tech/Phosphagen product.

Also, you don't list what kind of volume you're doing, what type of exercises you're doing, what your diet is like, and how much rest you're getting. This is more important than Muscle Milk or any supp.

Also, you only do cardio one a week? What is your BF%?

woops... with regard to the back "V" shaped part... i was typing to fast on my lunch break and wrote that wrong. i have added the edit.

I currently weigh 180lbs at 5'8"... im not so much solid, but im by no means soft either. According to my trainer in college, i was a class A mesomorph. I carry a good athletic build and always have. (broad shoulders, thick & muscular soccer legs, strong arms, etc.)
I have been thinking that im not doing enough cardio, but i am more focused currently on building mass.

As for exercise regiment:
Chest-Db Flat Bench, Db Decline & Db Incline, Db Flys
Back-Seated Row, Lat Pulld, Bent over row, reverse fly, back ext
Shoulders-Db Press, shrugs, Lat DB Raise, Frt DB Raise
Arms- Bi's=Hammer, Widegrip barb, curl
Tri's=french press, cable press, (overhead Db press??)
Thats generally my routine. I try to stay away from machines. And as i mentioned, im considering adding compound exercises like deadlifts, cleans(, and now squats as well) into my muscle group workout days.
I appreciate the info Brodus, keep it comin!!

Yeah, I figured it was a mis-print, and you meant to have back in there somewhere!

If you're 180 and your goal is to gain muscle mass, than you should proabably be taking in upwards of 250 gms. of protein a day. It sounds hard, but it's really not, especially if you're eating correctly, i.e. 6 meals a day.

Do you do all Dumbell chest exercises exclusively because you workout without a spotter?

Adding Barbell exercises might be a good b/c it varies your grip and brings into play other stabilizer muscles. I personally think flat bench rips out your intercostals.

Other exercise recommendations:

1. People avoid squats b/c A: they are difficult B: they are afraid of growing giant legs C: they are more concerned with other muscle groups. Honestly, squatting creates a highly anabolic environment. You want to maximize the GH, IGH, and Test levels, and the only way to do this is by placing your largest muscles in seriously stressful situations. One set of 10 squats at 250 pounds does more for your whole body than three sets of curls. Think about the body in totality, not just one part. Again, many of the biggest bodybuilders do very little isolation work.

2. If you don't have a spotter, Hammer Strength machines can help you take the weight up without worry of dropping it on your face. In this way you can workout to exhaustion.

3. Two tricep exercies I do that just rock are close grip bench (barbell) and seted dips w/ weight. You want to change up your grip w/ tri exercises, b/c you have three muslce "heads"-->same reason why you do hammer and straight curls for biceps.

Cardio, done the right way, is not going to hurt your mass building, it will actually help it. It will lower your blood pressure, speed up your metabolism, and help control cortisol. Instead of an hour on the treadmill once or twice a week, try 20 minutes, with lots of sprints, three to four times a week.

What was your rationale behind changing up your old split?

Lastly, what kind of volume are you doing--i.e. sets per muscle group, # of reps?

Also, you should try doing "shock" exercises on your weaker parts once every few weeks. These include supersets, drop sets, tri-sets, negatives, giant sets, pre-exhaustion, etc. Seach on the training forum for examples/routines.