Thread: New bulking routine

Option #2 is actually upper/lower, with 2 upper days and 1 lower day. If you go with #2, on your second week go lower/rest/upper/rest/lower/rest/rest.

Not a bad routine,
1.I`d eliminate the upright rows and replace the preacher curls with standard barbell curls, but add a small amount of cheating/ swinging, for the movement, your curls have now become a general upper body exercise.
2. Plug in deadlifts maybe after lat pull downs.
3. On occasion you could substitute bent overs with one arm dumbbell rows off a bench.
4. Squat Squat, Squat, & eliminate one other leg exercise.
5. Double the # of sets you do for the upper body.
6. Wanta get big you need to train with MASSIVE INTENSITY, EAT BIG, and REST BIG!
7. Peanut Butter & HardBoiled Egg sandwichs for a snack is the way to go!
Big Back 51

Big back, instead of doubling the sets, I decided to hit the muscles from a different angle; thats why I added in the upright rows which will help with traps which I will hit with shrugs on the pull day too.
Decided a push/leg/pull would be better to let my shoulders recover before being used again.
I also forgot to add I would be doing body weight dips on the push day.
Isn't 4 excercises enough for the back only on pull day or do I still need to double it?

And today is the day after I did my first push, and i'm feeling it slightly in the tri's and lateral deltoids but my chest hardly hurts although I did 3 excercises for it. DOMS is not a sign of a good workout right?

T-Man,
I would be carefull doing upright rows, I know of a few guys who have hurt their shoulders doing them. To me skull crushers are a waste of time. Plugging in dips is a great idea. As you know they will hit your pecs, anterior delts, and definately Tri`s. As a change up from regular dipping, I do them off a bench with my feet supported by another bench. With the assistance of a spotter, I have 45 lb plates put on my lap for added resistance, Then I dip all the way down so my butt hits the floor. I work up to using 5 45 `s placed on my lap. Dips are the only Tricep movement I do , they give me power for Benching, and doing Inclines.
I`m not being critical here, but 4 exercises are probably 1 too many for back, I`d eliminate the pullups, and possibly the seated rows. I`d stick with " Flintstone", old school movements.
Bent over rows I`d double up the sets. One arm dumbell rows, I`d add, and stay with Lat pull downs to the front of the face, not behind the neck. As an option do T-Bar rows for a change up, as well. Some where you need to put in Deadlifts,( great mass, and power building exercise, second only to squats)! I for one can`t DL the same day I do back, so I do them on a seperate day. I sumo deadlift, vs the old school pulling technique, no strain on the lower back.
I hope you use a belt, and wrist straps are a must to pull big and heavy!
DOMS doesn`t mean sh#@!$#@- t to me. Back in the 70`s I played in the largest college football stadiums in the US. Saturday game days were brutal, come Monday afternoon, we were back at it hitting,in practice, absolutely lights out, week in week out.
Rest, recover, eat as good as you can, and then TRAIN LIKE AN ANIMAL!!!
BIGBACK 51

Yea i decided to do really close grip bench press instead of skullcrushers (the inner bit of my pecs needs work - i know you cant grow the inner part on its own but i'm sure you can emphasise on it). Okay i'll do those dips as a variation, I used to do them when I did like a "home workout" but I thought going down to touch my bum on the floor off a regular chair would be putting too much pressure on my joints. However on a gym bench there's no problem doing so.
I thought pull ups were the best back movement for overall growth? or is it the fact that form is often sacrificed when doing them?
I never really "feel" one arm rows on a bench but I really feel seated rows and have seen my biggest mass improvement since the seated rows.

How about on leg day I cut out the curls and extensions, add dead lifts to my SLDL because they target slightly different areas, and add in lunges to just kill myself at the end?
And my calves need alot of work, any advice on how to really get them to grow?

Looks good

T-Man,
For me calve raises using a machine did the trick.
The close grip benches will serve you well, better for you, you`ll develop more size and power, if you do the close grips, I wouldn`t do the dips in the same workout, either of these 2 exercises will help you alot better, then the skull crushers.
There is no "one back movement' that is better then all others.Pull ups are a tough exercise. and often times form is compromised. I look at it this way, you want to develop the front of your upper body, so you Bench, Incline, Military press. You want to develop the back portion of your upper body you need to PULL, by doing Bent over Barbell rows, T-bar rows and Deadlifts to a limited degree. These 3 exercises will without a doubt develop your Back, they will develop the size, and power you want in this area. Lat pull downs are great, but even this exercise will not do for you what the other 3 exercises will.
Very few people in the gym I go to do Bent overs, or T-bar
let alone DL`s. I think they don`t do them because they are too hard to do! There only a hand full of us who do these movements. Probably the one movement that activates overall growth, for the whole body, besides squats, has to be deadlifts. If you don`t feel anything from one arm rows, by all means stick with your seated cable rows.
I`d be carefull about doing lunges after squats and deadlifts, you might not have anything lest in the tank to do lunges. If you can tie DL`s, & Squats together, I`d squat first then DL using the sumo technique.
One last thing about you calves, they`re gonna grow by doing Massive deadlifts, bent over rows, squats, T-bar rows Heavy shrugs, heavy pulls in a power rack, besides doing the standing calve raises.
You want to maximize you size, power, and strengh stick with compound basic movements, the isolation stuff at this point in your journey is a waste of time. I see guys just starting out doing stuff like tricep kickbacks, preacher curls, fly movements, for get about it.
You know what your doing. I hope I`ve been able to help you.Good Training
Big Back 51

Thanks for the advice big back! you confirmed what i first thought.
The only reason I'm doing isolation for my tri's is because they're lagging way behind, and for my biceps, it's just to add to definition, and work on my brachialis i think it's called lol.
Otherwise all my workouts consist of mainly compound lifts which get the hormones going
About the calf raises, i found a great way of doing donkeys using a smith machine and the step thing and a bench to support me - it worked wonders. I felt like my calves were gonna explode today. I worked them first as well which meant they got extra worked in the squats and deadlifts, but in doing squats i felt it more in my hamstrings than anywhere else. And I did deadlifts today straight after some hard squats and I had NOTHING absolutely NOTHING left. I tried doing extensions but I couldnt so i thought nah to the lunges. However I was thinking maybe this is because I didn't have the day rest after doing upper push (I only have bus fare for tommorow, tuesday and wednesday which means I have to cycle the other days so I thought I'd better get it over with!)

But a problem with my DL's. Even though I got great leg and lower back burn, I know I had bad form. This is because I have such a short upper body as compared to my much longer legs which means as I was bringing it down, i had to arch my back when it was going past my knees just to let it past my knees. If I didn't arch, the weight would just sit on my laps.
Do you know how I could overcome this??

Oh and about the dips; I use them more for chest as I do it on bars but move my body forwards to really hit the chest more than tri's. I hardly feel a burn in my tris when I do it. But then my clavicle gets a sharp pain for about 2 seconds after a set of dips but only when I stop doing them and I don't know why.

Im 18, i work out 6 times a week doing bodyparts in this order - back, biceps, chest, shoulders, triceps and then legs i do one body part a day with one days rest i was just wondering if that is a routine that would work to build good muscle mass and strength.

Also i wanted to know a good way to gain weight without using steroids. I eat six times a day an am currently using maximuscle Progain.

T Man, one thing I forgot to mention that might help you on the day you do both squats, and deadlifts, is to keep your reps real low for the DL`s. I like to do doubles on the Deads, just do 2 reps, alternating your hands between each rep. Squats your doing 3 sets of 6-8, with the DL`s maybe you can do 6 sets of 2 reps per set. If your body proportions are such that your legs are longer then your upper body, have you ever tried the sumo style? I think the only way you can over come hitting your knees, is by switching to sumo, give them a try. I do like the fact that you DL with an arch is your back, at minimum one should have a flat back.
I knew you would be toast after doing squats, and Deadlifts, and I don`t think it has anything to do with your Pushing workout the day before. Your just doing the 2 most taxing exercises together in the same work out, again try lowering your reps for the DL`s that might help you.
After a session of Benching and Inclines, when I go to Dips I`m real careful during the warm up sets, because my chest is so tight, and I feel a pain in my collar bone area as well, but once I get warmed up, I`m fine and do add alot of weight for the exercise. I usually do 8 sets of benches, 8 for inclines, and 8 for the dips, that all I do for my chest.
Donkey calf raises, I haven`t heard that exercise for a long time, it goes back to the early 70`s with Arnold out in California, great movement!!
Keep Training
Big Back 51

Looks a little like this now

Upper Push:
Flat BB bench press - 3x 5-8
Incline BB bench press - 2x 5-8
Dips - 2x 5-8
DB Shoulder Press/BB military press - 2x 5-8
Upright rows - 2x 5-8
Narrow grip bench press/skull crushers - 2x 5-8

Legs:
Squats - 3x 5-8
Dead Lifts - 3x 5-8
Donkey Calf Raises - 3x 15-20
Standing Calf Raises - 3x 15-20
Weighted Crunch Machine - 3x 10-15


Upper Pull:
Seated Rows - 3x 5-8
Pull ups - 3x 5-8
Bent over rows - 3x 5-8
Lat Pulldown - 3x 5-8
Preacher curls - 3x 5-8
Reverse flye Machine for rear delts - 2x 6-10

Am I doing too much each workout??
And also dips will target my lower pecs right??

Originally Posted by LFC123

Im 18, i work out 6 times a week doing bodyparts in this order - back, biceps, chest, shoulders, triceps and then legs i do one body part a day with one days rest i was just wondering if that is a routine that would work to build good muscle mass and strength.

Also i wanted to know a good way to gain weight without using steroids. I eat six times a day an am currently using maximuscle Progain.

Umm, make why don't you make your own thread rather than steal someone elses?

Originally Posted by T_man

Legs:
Squats - 3x 5-8
Dead Lifts - 3x 5-8
Donkey Calf Raises - 3x 15-20
Standing Calf Raises - 3x 15-20
Weighted Crunch Machine - 3x 10-15

You may want to shift your Deadlifts to exercise 3 or 4. Performing Squats then deads can be killer for your back and mental strength.

And also dips will target my lower pecs right??

Yes.

so thats where i've been going wrong. My CNS, not legs, has been taking the brunt of the deads after squats and i didnt know why.
Is it an otherwise sound routine??