Building up shoulders? and general bulk up.

[Mark A]

Hi,

I'm going to try and bulk up as I'm sick of looking skinny. Ive bought myself a cheap bench from Argos and am just waiting for the bar to come into stock so i can get using it. The bench also has a thing on to build up your legs is that useful?.

The main thing i want to try and bulk up are my shoulders. Also my triceps and biceps could do with bulking up a bit.

I'm 6ft1" with wide shoulders and weigh just under 12 stone, ideally id like to be around 13 -14 stone. I know its not going to be easy but I'm prepared to put the work in.

I also have a chin up bar on my door frame, its not suitable to do wide arm pull ups though.

Ive got some weight gain powder and some whey ready for when i get my weights. I know weight gain powder is overpriced etc etc but i got it before i started reading this forum and it'll still need using up. I'll get oat powder after that for carbs.

My diet consists of at the moment:

No breakfast- this will be changing

dinner - ham sandwich or similar

Tea - I usually make spaghetti bolognaise, shepherds pie, chicken curry etc. I make them from scratch using lean mince or chicken breast fillets.

I also have a bowl of cereal before bed and snacks in between.

I don't need to worry about putting excess fat on as Ive never been able to put any fat on.

 

[Clipsey]

Eat eat eat and then eat some more!
Eat roughly same amount of grams of protein as you weigh in pounds or more per day. Get plenty of greens and lots of lean meat!
Got to start off early with the eating as well - soon as your up make sure your puting some quality food into your body!

 

[mishima]

Try and introduce smaller meals into your diet. 6 small is better than 3 large. As mentioned above, good lean meat. Good selection of carbs and protein. When working out, ensure you do at least x3 different excerises for each muscle you train. 4 sets on each exercise. 10 reps, 8 reps, 8 reps, 6 reps. The last 2 or 3 reps should be very tough. Remember though overtraining can be as bad as undertraining so don't overdo it if you are just starting out.

 

[danoliver1]

Hi mate i know where your coming from was there myself a few years ago, the only thing i really did was eat a lot fish/rice etc and do weights 4 nights a week sun/mon/tue/thurs. you need to learn to love working out cos its boring and repatative but dont overdo it too much can be worse than too little. Take it easy at first i do 5 set of 10 reps per exercise with the heavyest weight i can handle the 10th rep should kill. Be patient this stuff can take a while heres some pics of me before and after good luck

This is me after a few years of on/off working out, first picture started out at 135 lbs now 180 lbs, need to work on lowering my body fat.

 

[Styles]

Hi, I'm going to try and bulk up as I'm sick of looking skinny. Ive bought myself a cheap bench from Argos and am just waiting for the bar to come into stock so i can get using it. The bench also has a thing on to build up your legs is that useful?.

Good man.

The cheap bench from Argos will be fine for now, but I don't believe the leg attachments can hold enough to weight to work the quads, but enough to work the hams as you curl them. Someone will be able to confirm this.

The main thing i want to try and bulk up are my shoulders. Also my triceps and biceps could do with bulking up a bit.

Most men want bigger shoulders, bigger arms and a bigger chest. You need to gain mass all over.

I'm 6ft1" with wide shoulders and weigh just under 12 stone, ideally id like to be around 13 -14 stone. I know its not going to be easy but I'm prepared to put the work in.

For 14 stone, 2 stone is a perfectly achieveable amount to gain, but it's going o be hard work and take time to build 2 stone of quality lean mass. You're going to need get a good routine on the go, and get your diet very good indeed. You'll need to be hitting the compound lifts heavy and hard, and it would be hugely beneficial to get yourself a squat rack and spotter. A mate who's interested and would like to begin training perhaps.

I also have a chin up bar on my door frame, its not suitable to do wide arm pull ups though.

If you can do closer grip pull ups then this will have to do. As long as you can get a good range of motion. You can do some wide grip pull downs if neccesary on the bench attachment I'm sure you can buy.

Ive got some weight gain powder and some whey ready for when i get my weights. I know weight gain powder is overpriced etc etc but i got it before i started reading this forum and it'll still need using up. I'll get oat powder after that for carbs.

Fair play. Good man, you're listening to the advice that's being handed out.

My diet consists of at the moment:

No breakfast- this will be changing

dinner - ham sandwich or similar

Tea - I usually make spaghetti bolognaise, shepherds pie, chicken curry etc. I make them from scratch using lean mince or chicken breast fillets.

I also have a bowl of cereal before bed and snacks in between.

You're going to really need to sort that out. 6-8 small meals throughout the day. A meal could be classed as a protein shake with oats etc if you cannot make proper food i.e. if you're at work or very pressed for time.

Get yourself a diet plan. Say 250g Protein and 300g carbs daily as a rough guide. Up the carbs by 250-500 each week if you're not putting on any weight, and reduce them if you're finding you're gaining too much fat. That is a conservative estimate and will vary hugely on your level of activity etc. So say if your carb level was 300g a day, try and split this into approx. 6 meals a day and divide it equally between each meal.

You'll want to be getting some quality protein and complex carbs in you as soon as you wake. Take a protein shake pre-workout and another post workout and then eat a decent meal with protein, carbs and fats (If you're bulking) within 60-90 minutes of your workout. I would recommend purchasing some flax oil and taking another shake just before bed in milk with some flax oil.

I don't need to worry about putting excess fat on as Ive never been able to put any fat on.

Don't ever say this again Yes you can put on fat and you will whilst training and following a diet to bulk up. It's just that you're eating hardly anything at the moment and you will be quite shocked when you eat the correct amount.

 

[Styles]

As for a training routine.

Monday (Chest/Shoulder/Triceps)

Flat Bench Press – 3x8
Incline Dumbbell Bench – 3x8
Skull Crushers – 3x8 (similar to lying tricep extensions)
Close Grip Bench Press – 3x8
Seated Dumbbell Military Press -3x8
Lateral Dumbbell Raises – 3x8
Calf Raises

Wednesday (Back/Biceps)

Dead lifts – 4 x 6
Bent Over Barbell Rows – 3x8
Pull ups or Pull Downs, alternate week to week 3x8
Barbell Bicep Curl -3x8
One arm Dumbbell hammer Curls – 3x8
Calf Raises

Friday (Legs/Abs)

Barbell Squats – 3x8
SLDL - 4 x 8
Dumbbell Lunges – 3x8
Calf Raises-4x10

I'd train abs on the 2-3 days in between so if you were training 3 times mon, wed, and fri, abs would be tues, thurs, sat.

Train calves every time you're in the gym.

This is just a simple routine I've (again) just lifted from another thread I've posted it in. It should do you completely fine for now. Make sure you warm up with a light weight on the first exercise of a particular muscle group and perform the reps slow and squeeze the muscle you are working, don't bounce the rep or cheat.

Pull ups / pull downs alternate also between close and wide grip.

Barbell squats you can hit parallel to the floor. Bench press I'd stop 1 - 2 inches off your chest depending on the depth of your rib cage, your shoulders etc and don't lock out on the top of the rep, keep the squeeze and tension on the chest.

As for tri's, Close grip bench is in there where I actually prefer a rope push down. I'll always do these first for tri's as they put the least pressure on the elbows and will warm the elbow joint up very nicely and will give you great mass in my PERSONAL experience, which may be different for yourself.

Make sure you have deadlift form perfect before going heavy, you'll injure yourself in the blink of the eye if you're doing this wrong and it's really not worth it. I've changed deads to 4 x 6 as I believe doing anymore reps than 6 on deads is pointless and your form is likely going to suffer if you're performing the set on a decent weight.

Curls for your biceps, keep your elbows in and keep the rep tidy, don't lean back or swing the weight.

I'm sure there is plently I've missed, I shall check over this later.

 

[SuperMan]

Just noticed you said train calves everytime your in the gym? I have been training for around 5 months now and i have not seen any improvement on my calves if i do some raises every shesh would this be help or just over train the muscle?

 

[Morba]

Just noticed you said train calves everytime your in the gym? I have been training for around 5 months now and i have not seen any improvement on my calves if i do some raises every shesh would this be help or just over train the muscle?

calves are one of those muscle areas, that for most people, need punishing very often to make them grow.

 

[mishima]

Like Arnie said, you have to blast them. Very hard muscle to build but when you have bulky defined calves they look elite Wish I had 'em!

 

[Styles]

Just noticed you said train calves everytime your in the gym? I have been training for around 5 months now and i have not seen any improvement on my calves if i do some raises every shesh would this be help or just over train the muscle?

I'd hit them at least 3 times a week. Hard.

 

[Mark A]

Wow thanks S7yl3s.

How much weight do you think i should be ordering?. Ive got some dumbbells already so I'm going to buy a bar and some separate weights. I was thinking 4 x 10kg plates and 4 x 5kg plates? for now then get some more later on. I have about 15kg worth of weights already that i can use.

Once I'm driving I'm going to join a gym and get my brother to come along. Hes in a similar situation to me but he weighs even less, i think hes about 6' and weights 10 stone. Hopefully the bench will be ok for now, it seems sturdy enough.

Ive tried to bulk up a few times but Ive always lost interest thinking to myself that Ive got a high metabolism like my dad so cant bulk up. Im just going to focus on getting results this time and try not to put myself off.

danoliver1, nice gains there mate.

EDIT: Would riding my bike more help to train my legs or would that be more fitness than muscle building?.

 

[Morba]

EDIT: Would riding my bike more help to train my legs or would that be more fitness than muscle building?.

fitness. dont believe these people who tell you that they ride, so that works the legs more than enough!

 

[Ste99]

I do calves twice a week. Really hard.

 

[Styles]

Wow thanks S7yl3s.

No problem, here to help.

How much weight do you think i should be ordering?. Ive got some dumbbells already so I'm going to buy a bar and some separate weights. I was thinking 4 x 10kg plates and 4 x 5kg plates? for now then get some more later on. I have about 15kg worth of weights already that i can use.

Depends entirely on what you can lift. I'd take a trip down to a local gym for a free weight session if poss. and see roughly what you'd be needing. Have a look in the local papers for your weights, many people never use them and so sell them off cheap. I'd say 100KG all in would be a good start, but here I may be inflating the amount you'll really need just because I really don't know what you'll lift but I'm trying to take into account 'beginner' squats, deads etc and so that they'll last you a little while.

I like bigger 20KG/25KG discs myself, but I think for your purpose 10KGs will be fine. I'd grab some 2.5KGs too as these are great for getting your lifts up week in week out, maybe even the next increment down 1.25KG if you're curling etc.

Determine what you can do and go from there

Once I'm driving I'm going to join a gym and get my brother to come along. Hes in a similar situation to me but he weighs even less, i think hes about 6' and weights 10 stone. Hopefully the bench will be ok for now, it seems sturdy enough.

That's good, I train with my brother always have done. Great for linking up and pushing yourself.

I presume your brother will be able to spot you whilst you train at home?

Ive tried to bulk up a few times but Ive always lost interest thinking to myself that Ive got a high metabolism like my dad so cant bulk up. Im just going to focus on getting results this time and try not to put myself off.

Don't loose interest. It takes time, hard work, a good diet, and more time. You can bulk up. You've just not been eating enough and not at the right times. We will help you here to reach your potential.

 

[Mark A]

Thanks.

I'll order about 80kg then and i should be able to top that up to 100 with weights i have here and my dad has some unused ones at his house. While I'm at it should i get a weight lifting belt?.

Whats spotting?, is that where someone helps lift the weight back onto the bench?. If so then yes I'm hoping he'll do that as he too wants to bulk up.

One more question, will i need some creatine? and if so could you recommend some as there are so many that all say they're the best.

Thanks again.

 

[bolger]

Thanks.

I'll order about 80kg then and i should be able to top that up to 100 with weights i have here and my dad has some unused ones at his house. While I'm at it should i get a weight lifting belt?.

I would'nt anyway, i've never needed one and as a beginner you wont be lifting a massive amount so pretty irrelivent.

Whats spotting?, is that where someone helps lift the weight back onto the bench?. If so then yes I'm hoping he'll do that as he too wants to bulk up.

Generally when someone is their to help the weight back up if you fail.

One more question, will i need some creatine? and if so could you recommend some as there are so many that all say they're the best.

Thanks again.

You could get creatine, but its only useful if everything else is in check. Are you going to be supplementing with whey and a multivitamin?

 

[Styles]

Just re-iterating(sp) what's been said above, adding in a couple of points.

I'll order about 80kg then and i should be able to top that up to 100 with weights i have here and my dad has some unused ones at his house. While I'm at it should i get a weight lifting belt?.

You can get one but you don't have to. It depends entirely on your own back and how it feels. Try it without and if you feel need extra support buy a belt. It won't work to weaken your back in any way it will just put pressure in the right places.

Whats spotting?, is that where someone helps lift the weight back onto the bench?. If so then yes I'm hoping he'll do that as he too wants to bulk up.

As above, someone there with you to stop you dropping the bar on yourself / falling over / injuring yourself. Just someone there to help.

One more question, will i need some creatine? and if so could you recommend some as there are so many that all say they're the best.

I wouldn't worry about creatine for the first couple months, work hard and train hard and purchase the creatine when you need it.

 

[Mark A]

Thanks a lot for all the good advice . I'm going to get the weights ordered and get the weights from my dad so i can get started.

I think the hardest thing is going to be my diet as i don't have a big appetite at all. I suppose i could take a oat/protein shake to work with me every day to help. I'm also going to start having a bowl of oats (readybrek OK?, says 85% oats on the packet) and maybe a boiled egg or two in the morning, even if i don't feel hungry. Then for my main meal I'll eat a bit less in one go and make it into two meals. Also would something like a bowl of super noodles count as a meal?, from the back of the packet they don't seem to bad (500kcal 68g carbs) plus they're quick to make.

Are you going to be supplementing with whey and a multivitamin?

Id never thought of that, i take cods liver oil capsules but not a multi vitamin at the moment. The weight gain shake i bought a while back has lots of vitamins in it. Would any old multivitamin do then or does it have to be a special product?. Yes I'll be using whey, i ordered 5kg from My Protein.