building muscles all over your body?

Yes...they do.

Lots of posts here about " How do I get bigger arms?"

Answer:- Squat.

But it comes with a couple of caveats....if you squat dutifully (along with doing other mass building exes, you are not going to see much much muscle mass if you don't eat for it. To put some real muscle on your arms ( not just "ripped" muscles..which are fairly easy to attain), you have to gain some lean body mass.

You have got to run a bit of a caloric surplus to do this.

But "wait a minute," you say, "I'm trying to drop 70lbs...I do tons of cardio and I work out eight days a week for 4 hours a day."

This is not the ideal way to get big muscles fast except if you're on "juice."

Since we're not "juicers" we eat for it instead.

The Squat (and it's brother..the Dead) are great mass building exes....but if you're not eating for it you won't see a helluva lot of extra muscle. You might be shredded and fitter but you won't be much bigger.

"Darn" you say, "my knees act up too much....can't do 'em"..

Yeah I know...I've been there with the Patella thing. Took a long time to heal completely.

But if you can't FULL Squat or Dead...do the next best things.

Use a power rack or multi-press rig , set the stop bars so your knees don't go past about 40 degrees of flexion (even less if you like) and squat away. I had no problem doing this on the road to knee rehab.

And ( dare I say it?:eek:)...you can use a Smith machine! (ducks to avoid air-born beer cans being hurled at screen..) Infact for re-habbing a knee the Smithy works better than a freebar (ducks again).

And if those rigs aren't available and you happen to have a leg-press machine handy....use it. This machine can be set up to do re-hab partials or whatever you like.

Back messed up a bit and can't do a full Dead?

Once you get the o.k. you can use a Power-rack, a multi-press rack or even some styles of Universal machine to do Dead partials. ( I have a Smith machine amongst my equipment....but ... this is the one ex (Deads) I don't recommend the Smith for unfortunately).

Deads and Squats (for reasons which have been discussed ad infinitum here), contribute in a big way to overall muscle mass. This includes mass on arms.

You need to get those BIG body-muscles stimulated plus a generous well-thought-out eating program to pack on muscle.

DON'T spend all your work-out doing Curls only, thinking that the babes are sure going to be impressed this summer when you show 'em your guns, then eat like a monk after you've done 50 miles on the stationary bike.

DO Squat, Dead, Leg-Press etc. along with other mass builder exes....and...

wait for it..........EAT!!!! Eat so that you are in a positive nitrogen balance as continually as you can get it.

Eat so that you are running a slight surplus over your base requirements calorically.

You can't "cut" what you don't have......:eat:

You need to get those big muscles working and fed properly if you want extra muscle.:)

and a partial is better than nothing at all.

I agree EXCEPT that there are some people who need to lose that 50-70lbs not for a 6 pack but because they are going to kill themselves overeating! So lift using compounds lifts but cut calories and lose that fat. You might even throw in some isolation moves, they won't hurt you.

But we have teens as well as older guys that are cruising for heart attacks, diabetes, and etc. Stop trying for a six pack, that will come in time, let the weights do their job from the start. Why go for a six pack and keep the body of a little boy.

Darden is not the trainer of the day around here but he believes in cutting calories below 2000 to lose fat but he will put someone on a 3000-4000 calorie diet to gain big muscle at the drop of a hat. :bb:

I agree EXCEPT that there are some people who need to lose that 50-70lbs not for a 6 pack but because they are going to kill themselves overeating! So lift using compounds lifts but cut calories and lose that fat. You might even throw in some isolation moves, they won't hurt you.

But we have teens as well as older guys that are cruising for heart attacks, diabetes, and etc. Stop trying for a six pack, that will come in time, let the weights do their job from the start. Why go for a six pack and keep the body of a little boy.

Darden is not the trainer of the day around here but he believes in cutting calories below 2000 to lose fat but he will put someone on a 3000-4000 calorie diet to gain big muscle at the drop of a hat. :bb:

4000 cals clean is a nightmare ;-) I'm a skinny guy who just plain doens't like to eat. Gag reflex hits me fast. It kills me to try and get to 3000 daily. I massed pretty well from 150 to 185, with ~3k cals, but now need more, and just can't do it. (I could, but I'm not willing to I think is the more apt description)

P

4000 cals clean is a nightmare ;-) I'm a skinny guy who just plain doens't like to eat. Gag reflex hits me fast. It kills me to try and get to 3000 daily. I massed pretty well from 150 to 185, with ~3k cals, but now need more, and just can't do it. (I could, but I'm not willing to I think is the more apt description)

P

Eat a lot of fat, it's not as bulky in the gut.

4000 cals clean is a nightmare ;-) I'm a skinny guy who just plain doens't like to eat. Gag reflex hits me fast. It kills me to try and get to 3000 daily. I massed pretty well from 150 to 185, with ~3k cals, but now need more, and just can't do it. (I could, but I'm not willing to I think is the more apt description)

P

I know what you are saying. lets see how can we get to 4000 a day. We could go to Chilli's and get a Chicken Caesar salad, 1010 calories. Drop by Dunking Donuts and get a Large tropical fruit smoothie to wash it down - 720 calories. So you got 1730 calories down fast and easy. They even sound healthy for lunch. Or a Chipotie's Steak Burrito only 1,033 calories. or a yuppie Panera's Sierra Turkey sandwich - 840 calories. There are many ways to get calorie packed meals that go down easy. I don't recommend them but getting calories are very easy, that is how we get fat in the first place. :eat:

This time around you will be exercising with all the intensity that you can using some of the calories to build muscle. :bb:

Would eating 100g+ of fat per day be considered "clean"? I am in the same boat as petvan, I get close to 3000 cals per day but I be damned if I can get to 4000! I consume 60-70g of fat at the moment.

Would eating 100g+ of fat per day be considered "clean"? I am in the same boat as petvan, I get close to 3000 cals per day but I be damned if I can get to 4000! I consume 60-70g of fat at the moment.

:nod:

I eat 60% of my total calories in fat 6 days a week, and my blood work has never been better. So 160g or so a day.

On the seventh day, I eat a lot of carbs. :eat:

I would try to keep large amounts of fats away from the training window if you are trying to consume a bunch of carbs and spike insulin at that point, though.

Would eating 100g+ of fat per day be considered "clean"? I am in the same boat as petvan, I get close to 3000 cals per day but I be damned if I can get to 4000! I consume 60-70g of fat at the moment.

No it isn't clean. But you can gain weight. I am depending on your weight program to keep the fat down. Look at this malt:

3 cups of nonfat milk - 270
2 cups of ice milk - 370
3 egg whites, soft boiled - 45
1/4 cup of safflower oil - 481
3 table spoons chocolate syrup - 150
3 tablespoons corn syrup - 180
3 tablespoons of malted milk power - 176
1 tablespoon peanut butter - 95

Total 1,767 calories

Drink one of these a day.

This is for someone that is 6'2" man weighting 140 lbs and wanting muscle and about 70 lbs. The point is people eat 4,000 calories a day and don't know it. They don't exercise. They don't have control. You are controlling this.

No it isn't clean.

I disagree strongly. As long as it's natural fat with a decent amount of omega 3's, it's very healthy if there are a lot of veggies and fiber in the diet.

I have a family history of high cholesterol and other cardiovascular problems and my HDL is high (62), my triglycerides are very low (59) and my ratios are great (LDL/HDL of 1.5, TG/HDL less than 1). This is a much better profile than when I was eating what most would consider cleaner with more daily carbs.

I eat a lot of grass fed beef and bison, eggs, and fatty fish. I supplement with a lot of fish oil and eat a lot of monounsaturated fats via things like olive oil, canola, nuts, etc.

I disagree strongly. As long as it's natural fat with a decent amount of omega 3's, it's very healthy if there are a lot of veggies and fiber in the diet.

I eat a lot of grass fed beef and bison, eggs, and fatty fish. I supplement with a lot of fish oil and eat a lot of monounsaturated fats via things like olive oil, canola, nuts, etc.

I took y'all off the path of Squats and compound moves that Heavy Metal pointed us at with the diet aspects. I hear what you are saying But I doubt that high fat intake is considered clean in most peoples' mind.

If you are cutting the real thing wrong with fats other than trans fats is they have over twice the calories of protein or carbs, but that is their strength, if you are bulking. :eat:

I took y'all off the path of Squats and compound moves that Heavy Metal pointed us at with the diet aspects. I hear what you are saying But I doubt that high fat intake is considered clean in most peoples' mind.

And most people are fat and insulin resistant and not exactly nutritionally informed :)

There are various "clean" ways to eat, and what might work for you might not work for me and vice versa.

But yeah, sorry to go OT.

Answer:- Squat.


I'm there! I've been listening to you all and concentrating more on squats, deads, and other compounds. I even thought about posting my amazement about this and this looks like the best chance!

In my three weeks of my new program, I leave the isolations till last and most often can't do them any particular justice. Restarting my program after layoff using a heavy squat routine alternated with a timid (learning form) deadlift routine on two separate days of the week, plus adding in upper body compounds as my first exercises on my two upper body days has made a difference that's making me think I'm actually going really bulk. My lats are noticeably growing every week, they did ok before but this is pronounced.

What really convinced me was yesterday, my son said "wow, your arms are growing". I was kind of surprised since I've hardly been able to make it within 20 pounds on my curls during this period by the time my pull-ups, rows, mil presses and chins are done. Indeed though, three weeks in and they don't look the same now. I can't help but think this came from being really serious on the squats and compounds.

I too have the problems others speak of with not being able to eat the calories. Multigrain bread and flax oil peanut butter have been accompanying my protein shakes and I'm hitting above 3000 now as a result. That's really tough for me, because I don't feel like eating that much.

Thanks for the post Hevy and to all who've been suggesting more compounds, especially squats and deads. Far as I can tell, it heats things up! I still enjoy doing the isolations because I enjoy a lengthy workout, I just don't prioritize them now.