Bulking Up (Getting Ripped Before School)

[M2d]

great list. add to that: if you eat white bread, switch to whole grain.

[Navers]

Basically the number one thing to do is eat. Keep eating as much as you can. If you're stopping because you get full, p ush yourself a little bit to eat more as you really need to eat more to grow. Try to get in lots of protein too. Bump up your calorie intake too, obviously. Don't eat stupid [censored] like candy bars and chocolate and sugary stuff. Eat big, like lots of sandwiches, Chipotle, and if you're skinny then eating more fast food won't hurt you (just don't overload). To get enough protein, stick with eating lots of meat.

You're not going to get any progress doing exercises, isolation or compound, if you don't eat enough. Anyone that knows their weightlifting will tell you that.


EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT.

As for your training, use more free weights instead of machines if you already aren't. Don't do isolation exercises mostly if you want to gain mass all over. Do squats, cleans, deadlifts, bench press, dips, pull-ups, etc. You'll gain mass quicker if you do those exercises instead of solely focusing on pussy isolation exercises.

Be consistent with your training, its hard to stick to it but its worth it in the end.

[BillNye]

You should be bulking up your brains before school, so that someday u get called a nerd during school and you think "im on my way to having my own science TV show" it worked for me.

[sinfulslick18]

[ QUOTE ]
Stop being the guy that does 8 different arm exercises and then leaves.



[/ QUOTE ]

[Rotating Rabbit]

[ QUOTE ]
Easy ways to gain weight. I weighted 155 and got to 170 in 6 months doing the following.

1. Drank Slim fast with all my meals and between meals
2. Eat hard-boiled eggs alot
3. Eat PB&J sandwiches between meals.
4. Drank a milkshake before I went to sleep, and then set my alarm for 3:30am and got up and drank another one before going back to bed.
5. Always eating 5 solid meals a day.

But I worked out 6 days a week for about 2 hours a day.
It sucked.

[/ QUOTE ]

I can relate to this. Five years ago I was 6' and 120 pounds, I wasnt well needless to say. I took a year out and got to 165 pounds through die hard eating (originally it would take me hours to finish a meal) and working out (not easy mentally to go the gym, as you can imagine a lot of insecure fkers took the piss, how I wish i could see some of them now that im 180 i bet they're still spending 2 hours doing bicep curls only and standing around). Like you, I would get up in the middle of the night, in my case to have a big bowl of cereal, then go back to bed!

[EliteNinja]

6'2 150 lbs

Had to stick in a SF2 picture.

That's quite a small frame you got there. I'm 5'5" 129lbs. I'm in the Normal range for my height. I play tennis everyday.

Make sure you put the pounds on healthily and do lots of cardio to keep your heart/lungs strong.

[gamblore99]

Just working the arm is ridiculous. If you haven't been to the gym before then your arms are not highly adapted. They won't be able to tolerate the high number of sets and a high chance of injury or muscle damage is likely to occur. Even if you were more experienced, the extra arm excercises have a very modest benefit. These extra excercises would be much better spent on working other muscles. You will gain weight faster, and as well look better. If you have never worked out before and plan on making a long term commitment to the gym, then you really need to build your tendons first. 3-6 of week of circuit training using light loads, 8-12 reps (should be a pretty easy workout) and a variety of excerecises for a total body workout done 3 times a week. After that you want to mass building program. You can probably start to gain 1 1/2 pounds a week or so. Most important thing is to eat as much as possible, and have a lot of protein.
For the gym workout you want 3-4 sets per excercise, Rest interval of about 60-90 seconds rest in between. 8-12 reps, and each set should leave you completely exhausted. A good workout out would be
flat bench press (chest)
lat pull down (back)
cable rope pull up (bicep)
cable rope push down (tricep)
upright rows (anterior, medial deltiods and traps)
lunges/squats/leg press

Above is the basic excercise program my trainer gave me, except legs had a full day, and abs and cardio had a full day. Was supposed to do each routine 2 times a week for a 6 day total routine. I kind of only really did upper body because of school demands. But I still gained 18 pounds in 4 months (with some fat of course).

Also getting a trainer is not a bad idea. But try to make sure he has some expertise. A lot of trainers know next to the nothing and are pretty useless. For anyone who wants to become more in control, and more knowledgeable about excercise, a good book is serious strength training by tudor bompa.

[Bill Murphy]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm currently going to the Gym 3 times a week and working the arms mostly. ...I'm currently 6'2 150 lbs ...

[/ QUOTE ]

Dude, you're an absolute stick(just like me, don't get huffy). All them curls, tri pushdowns, and flyes ain't satisfying sh1t. You've GOT to hit the legs, and I don't mean with extensions, curls, and calf raises. Sucks for us, as we're not really built for squats and deadlifts. However... Link

Three times a week is too much for us ectomorphs. Chill for a week, get rested up, then get started. Make sure you eat 5-6 medium sized meals a day w/plenty of protein & green veggies.

Nuttin' wrong w/the occasional mega-burger & fries, us skinny guys need calories. Just have 'em chop it in half, then eat the second half two hours later. You can actually eat more this way w/o bloating.

[ QUOTE ]
What supplements should I be taking to further enhance this?

[/ QUOTE ]

Two cans of tuna & 8 hours sleep per day. Save your money.


[ QUOTE ]
...would like to try and be 160-165 by the end of the month. Is this unreasonable?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, unless your dad, gramps, and brothers are all tanks and you just ain't hit yer growth spurt yet. But 175 by Christmas ain't unreasonable.

Sorry to be a dick but I was in your exact same position 25 years ago and would love a do-over.

gl.

Edit: After reading the rest of the thread, gotta say ya sound like a wuss as far as working legs. Trust us, you're 16[?!], most of us replying are 30+. We been there.

But, if ya wanna keep on keeping on, and three years down the road be $2K poorer, 1lb heavier, and however many elbow & shoulder ligaments & tendons lighter, have at it.

If my program don't appeal to you and you have to go to a gym(prolly with your friends, right?), do the 5x5 suggested above w/the Hammer machines Incline Press, Pulldown, & Leg Press. You're built all wrong for benchs, squats, & deadlifts.

BUT. YOU. WILL. NOT. GAIN. MUSCLE. WITHOUT. TRAINING. LEGS. HARD. PERIOD.

[Bill Murphy]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm 5'10"/135

[/ QUOTE ]

Christ on His Throne. [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]

[Blarg]

[ QUOTE ]
Here's what you do. STOP doing arm exercises entirely. Then start doing Bench Press, Deadlift and Squats. Do 5 sets of five at a weight somewhat less than what you could do to failure. Do this three times a week.

These are big compound exercises that work your whoile body. Doing squats for the legs isn't the point. The point is to stimulate growth throughout your body. You will NOT get big w/o doing the compound exercises.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is excellent advice.

Doing these compound exercises, with heavy weight, will also stimulate the central nervous system to pack more muscle on you. Arm exercises alone won't. You could gain more arm mass from doing squats and doing no arm exercises than you could from doing arm exercises alone. These "big 3" exercises are full-body mass builders. Isolation exercises are not the way to go to put on mass.

The only thing I'd add is that you'll have to eat a lot of food to put on a lot of weight. Lifting heavy without eating big means you'll get stronger, but your mass gains will be much lower.

As for your being 6'2" and 150 pounds and satisfied with your legs -- stop being satisfied so easily.

Since it sounds like you want to gain muscle mostly just to look good, all I can say is women love great legs on guys just like guys do on women. At 6'2" and 150 pounds, I find it basically impossible to believe you have legs that couldn't look a lot better with some more mass on them.