What's happenin, people? I've been browsing these forums for about a month now, thought I'd finally get involved. I've been thinking of a good first post without making myself sound stupid (most everyone here seems to know lots), so whatever this is it.

Just by reading stuff here I've found plenty of good information. For about a year now I've used exrx.net as a good site, but you can only do so much with a list of workouts. Reading topics here has helped me understand what other people go through and how they achieve their goals. The best site I've found so far.

Anyways, I'm 18 years old about 6', and I'm stuck in the 155-160 lbs. range. If it were possible, I'd say I have 0% bodyfat. My friends know me for how lean and cut I am (even when I go weeks or a month without working out I really don't lose/gain any weight). I started lifting my freshman year but I REALLY didn't know what I was doing. I was happy when I benched 75 lbs. But I stuck to it, and I never went for heavy weights, I was always more of a rep dude. I now start at 155 (10 reps), then 165 (10 reps), and 175 (10 reps). I know that might sound a little odd but I like to feel like I "own" the weights.

Can yall help me put together a solid routine? I've taken the last few days off to get ready for the coming week. My goal is just to get bigger. I don't have any body fat to lose, and I'm tired of being just lean. Here's the routine I've pieced together so far, but it probably needs some tweaking...(btw, I work out at home)...

Monday: Chest + Triceps
Bench Press
Incline Bench Press
Flies
Skullcrushers
Kickbacks
Dips OR Pushups

Tuesday: Back + Biceps
Curls
Incline Curls
Deadlifts
Shrugs
Pullover

Wednesday: Chest + Triceps

Thursday: Back + Biceps

Friday - OFF

Saturday: Shoulders + Legs
Arnold Press
Lateral Raises
Dumbbell Lunges
Calf Raises

Sunday - OFF


I also occasionally do pull-ups and chin-ups at an elementary school jungle gym down the street (I try to go there when nobody sees me, lol), play basketball and football, and I'm trying to get into the habit of running (quit about 3 months ago). So can anyone help me out here?

I know this was a long topic, and probably boring since it's about me. But I wanna try to understand my own routine and goals before I start trying to help you guys out, too. I'm the newbie here so I'd rather listen for a bit before I open my mouth. :cool: Thanks for any help!

You don't have 0% body fat. You would be dead. If you have a 6-pack, you are probably in the 8 - 10% range. You can get calipers to test it, or go to a gym or doctor and have it checked.

I am going to change your workout here, and I assume that by bigger you mean you are more concerned with size than strength. For size, I would do each set with around 8 reps. 8 reps per set is a good balance between strength and size. Strength is lower reps (4-8), size is higher reps (8-12), but the middle is a good spot to be in. I always ask: what's the point of being big if you can't back it up with strength? So, the middle ground is generally where I choose.

When you gain size, you need to have your diet keyed in. By eating too low, you don't gain, and eating too much or eating the wrong stuff and you will put on more muscle than fat. You will inevitably put on some fat as you gain, but the lower your body fat, the easier it is to put on muscle. You also want to minimize your cardio. Keep it under 20 minutes, 3x per week. Look up HIIT (high intensity interval training) if you want some hard cardio that will also not strip muscle.

With your workout, you want to focus on the major muscle groups first and foremost. This includes your quads, hamstrings, back, and chest. Secondary muscles should be a minor focus. Those include your arms and calves. You should also focus primarily on compound lifts over isolation lifts. Compound lifts hit multiple body parts at once. Isolation hit one body part at time. Compound lifts will help maximize your muscle growth and keep your workouts shorter. Once you get to the point where you are "big enough" you can add more isolation to attempt to hone your look.

I am going to change your workout. Here is why:
1. Leg work is fairly weak. Squats are the single best muscle building exercise. Deadlifts are #2. You want both in your workouts. Both will help release the most growth hormone in your body. You also want to put them up at the front of the week instead of the end.
2. For size, you want to keep your workouts short, hard, and efficient. If you are lifting for more than 45 mins to an hour, you won't see as good of gains.
3. Bad priorty on some days. Compound, then isolation. Compound exercises will hit the secondary muscles too, and you will see growth in them even without the isolation work.
4. You are young, so you can work harder and have faster recovery. So, take advantage of it.

All sets x reps are assumed 3 x 8. If you do 8,8,8 move up. If you do less than 21 total reps between the sets (i.e. 8,8,5 or 7,7,7) move down because you are going too heavy. I put a C by compound exercises and an I by isolation exercises for reference. If you ever need to cut a workout short, cut out the isolation.

Monday: Legs - 12 Sets Total
Squats C
Romanian Deadlifts C
Walking Lunge C (8 per leg, 16 total per set)
1-legged Calf-Press I (8 per leg, 16 total per set)

Tuesday: Chest + Triceps - 15 Sets Total
Bench Press C
Incline Bench Press C
Dips C (if they are bench dips, they are I cause they are tri only)
Skull Crushers I (keep your elbows in line with your eyes, not perpendicular to your body)
DB Flies I

Wednesday: Back + Biceps - 12 Sets Total
Deadlifts w/ Shrugs C (this is going to be hard)
Pullups C (build a bar in your basement or garage, parts at home depot for 10 bucks.. see the media gallery. there's a thread with pics)
Barbell Rows C (standing, bent over, use a barbell, or do 1 arm dumbell rows)
Barbell Curls I

Thursday: Shoulders + Abs - 18 Sets Total
Shoulder Press C
Arnold Press C
Lateral Raises I
Bent-over lateral raises I (they can also be called reverse db flies)
Weighted Crunch I superset with Russian Twists I

Friday - OFF
Saturday - Cardio, OFF
Sunday - Cardio, OFF

Keep your rest periods short, for the hardest lifts, 1.5 mins, and for the rest, 1 minute. Make sure you go slow through the eccentric part of the lift, pause at the contraction for a second and then explode up throught concentric part of the lift. For bench, that means bringing the weight down slowly (2-3 seconds), pausing the bar just above your chest, and then exploding the bar back up. Keep your form perfect.

I assume you are in school. If the workout is too time demanding during the week, start it on Saturday through Tuesday, and take Wed through Friday off. Also, drop the isolation exercises if it seems too long. The workouts should all be around 45 minutes.

For your diet, you will need to eat a lot. I recommend looking up the book the Testosterone Advantage Plan. It's got a pretty good diet that really works. The Book of Muscle is also a great book to look at. It uses the same diet, but is more work out oriented.

Here's how TAP breaks down your calories:
Maintain: 2,640
Gain 1 lb per week: 3,140
Protein: 160 g, 640 cals (primarily from lean meat)
Carbs: 313 g, 1250 cals (primarily complex carbs that have lots of fiber, and are mostly eaten before 5:00 pm.. only simple carbs in your PWO shake)
Fat: 139 g, 1250 cals (all monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, only a minimal amount of saturated fat)

You can find the math for TAP if you search for it on the forum. If you seem to be gaining more fat than you would like as you put on weight, drop your calories a little (drop the carbs and fat, not the protein).

Good luck!

(sorry this post is gigantic)

No need to be sorry! BTW, the 0% bodyfat thing was a joke. :tu:

I usually do ten reps for most everything I do, and I did 12 for the first 2-3 years. Makes sense that 8 is the next step for me. I'm fairly strong to begin with, just not big. My friends are always surprised at my strength, so that's a plus going into this.

The only problem I have working out at home is that squats are really hard to do. I only have a basic bench with flies on the side, but I manage to do just about everything else. I suppose I can do squats again (I did in the past) but I won't be able to add much weight.

I like the schedule you put there, it's something new compared to what I used to do. Only problem is I feel like I need to bench more than once a week. Not even for strength purposes but because it's the one lift I've always done and it's a method of "venting" emotions for me. And I get plenty of cardio everyday, so three days is as much as I do now.

Seriously, thanks for the info! I've come to a lot of conclusions the last few years, mostly on my own. It's nice to finally learn what's right and what's wrong.

Good luck bro! Very good schedule you got there from kmfisher, it's actually almost the same as mine. I aim for less reps though, 4-6. The trick is that you need to build strength as well as size. If you aim for size you will plateau easily since you haven't gained any strength...you'll be lifting the same weights for 3 months! When you gain strength youll add weight to the bars and thats the key to gaining size at a constant rate. The only thing I would change about the schedule, to make it easier for you, is to move bis/tris into friday so you would basically do your arms on friday. It'll help your chest/back day by letting you focus just on those big muscles so that you can give 110% effort. Other than that, it's pretty much my routine and I'm seeing gains everyweek. Good luck!

If you want to build muscle as fast as possible (strength will come along for the ride, don't worry) then you need to read up on HST (http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/hst_index.html). There is a faq forum (http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/cgi-bin/ib3/ikonboard.cgi?;act=SF;f=13) as well that you should read to clarify the principles. This information should clear up a lot of confusion about what you need to do to get bigger.

There is no magic rep range for size, you just need to lift a weight heavy enough to produce microtrauma (stimulus for growth) for a sufficient time under tension. If you want to grow quickly, you want to hit your muscles more than once a week because muscle will not continue to grow for more than 2-3 days after exercie.

That stuff about doing deadlifts and squats to release testosterone or growth hormone all over the body is bogus. There are no studies which show a significant, systematic increase in those hormone levels being triggered through exercise.

What kmfisher said about compound exercieses is right on. You build up your base with compounds and throw in isolation exercises to grow your lagging body parts or weak points. He is also right about diet being crucial to bulking up.

If you want to do a routine based on HST and you want some help setting it up, you can pm me (so I'll be sure to see it).

I definitely wanna learn about HST. I've never really heard much about it. I've seen HIIT talked about a few times here (and couldn't really find any info on it).

I'm trying to take kmfisher's schedule and switch the days up a little.

Thanks for the help, people!