Aldo

Hi,
I'm a naturally skinny guy with a small frame and I'm sick of it! I joined the gym almost 12 weeks ago now with the primary aim of increasing my lean body mass. I'm hoping the experts around here might be able to offer opinion on what I'm doing at the moment.

I was weighed at the gym last week and had my body fat analysed and here's the stats:

Age: 22
Height: 5' 10"
Weight: 140 lbs
Fat: 11.6 %

8 weeks ago I had a consultation with an instructor at the gym who devised this program for me. It's a split program which I do on alternate days:

Day One:
5 min warm up
Leg Press
Rotary Calf
Incline D/B Curls (on bench @ 45 degrees)
Lat Machine
Single Cable Bicep Curls
Pully Row
Elevated Crunches (3x20)
Bicycles (3x20)
Full body stretch

Day Two:
5 min warm up
Bench Press (Smith machine)
Military Press (Smith machine)
Tricep Press
D/B Shrugs
Incline D/B Press (on bench @ 30 degrees)
Overhead D/B Extensions
Back Extensions (3x20)
Hyperextensions (3x20)
Full body stretch

*All the weights are done in three sets (12/10/8 reps with the weight increasing each time).

I attend the gym on Tue, Thu, Fri, Sat and Sun - 5 days out of 7 isn't bad! On the first 5 weeks following this program I managed to put on 4 lbs. I felt much stronger and even much bigger! I guess it's easy to notice a difference on such a small guy....

Unfortunately I took ill over the xmas holidays and couldn't go to the gym for two weeks. I lost the 4 lbs that I had put on and some of the strength (but not all!). Anyway, I've been back for a week now (6 sessions) and I feel much better. I'm almost back to lifting the same weights as before the unplanned break, and I've even put on 2 lbs!

Right... so in two weeks time I'll be getting another weigh in at the gym and a review of my program. Before that though, I'd love to hear what you guys think of my program - any opinions are more than welcome!

FYI, I think my diet is pretty well suited to weight gain. In addition, I am taking 4.2mg of creatine a day, and supplement my diet with whey protein drinks for breakfast and post workout.

Thanks for reading what is a very lengthy post! :p

Cheers
Al

Jock

As your're just starting out the details of your routine aren't that important, It's normal to see good gains when you start but these soon tail off - don't want rain on your parade but this is where the challenges of bodybuilding really start.

Remember that your diet is absolutley crucial if you are to succeed. You need to be eating at least 1g of protein per lb of your bodyweight per day along with 'good' carbs (fruit, veg etc) and 'good' fats (EFA's found in fish etc) - read as much info as you can (there is bucketloads on this site)

As far as putting on muscle goes I'm very much old school on this - heavy 'compound' (meaning exercises that recruit lots of muscle groups) like squats, deadlifts, dips, chins. Do a search on 'compound' or 'olympic' exercises and their positive effects on muscle gain.

Isolation exercises like curls and extensions do little towards overall mass gain as they target small and specific muscle groups. 4 days a week is a little excessive for a beginner you can get away with just three. After 8 weeks you might want to consider changing this up.

Overall you should be proud of your gains so far, you've obviously got a lot of enthusiasm for your training which is great.

The best of luck,
Jock

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Aldo

Thanks Jock. I'll look into replacing the isolated exercises with compound ones.

I have been doing some reading over the past few weeks to try and get my diet right. It tends to vary a bit from day to day, but here's a typical one just FYI.....

Breakfast:

• Whey protein drink with semi-skimmed milk
• Banana
• Wholemeal bread toasted x 2 with flora

Snack:

• Bunch of grapes
• Orange
• Grape/Apple Juice

Lunch:

• Chicken or Tuna Sandwich
• Grape/Apple Juice
• Banana

Dinner, one of the following washed down with apple or grape juice or semi-skimmed milk:

• Chicken and Rice
• Grilled Salmon, Potatoes and Veg
• Spag Bol
• Steak, Potatoes and veg
• Steak Pie, Potatoes and veg
• Mince and Potatoes
• Roast Chicken, Potatoes and veg

And post workout (late evening):

• Whey Protein drink
• Wholemeal bread toasted x 2 with flora, or maybe just a biscut

I also have a whey protein drink prior to my workout which I use to wash down my creatine caps

When you say four times a week (i'm doing 5 at the moment) is a bit excessive, do you think that it would lead to any problems (ie overtraining)? I'm training this number of days just now because I enjoy the workout and always feel good about the gains.

Thanks
Al

Bulldozer

Jock has gave you some very sound advice there mate, compounds are the way to go, basically just concentrate on squats, deadlifts, bench press, standing shoulder press, pulldowns.

From those 5 exercises alone you will pack on more muscle/size than any others. Isolation exercises will more than likely just hinder you in the big lifts and eat into your recovery powers.

Also in my opinion training 5 times a week is definately overkill mate, and tbh i believe 4 times is still too much while training drug free. I would only train 2 times a week if i was you, absolute maximum of 3.

I know you have a lot of enthusiasum, but it takes disciplcine to stay out of the gym too. Remember muscle is not built in the gym, its built in the kitchen and the bedroom!

Your diet needs some work too mate, you need to be eating approx 2800/3000 calories a day. Eating 6 or 7 small meals, and you must have a good source of animal protein at each meal (eggs, chicken, beef, turkey etc) and a complex carb at each meal, (oats, yams, brown rice, wholewheat pasta, jackey potatoe etc) and essisential fats (fish oils, udo oil. peanut butter etc)

So stick with the compound exercises, train 2 times a week, concentraing on poundage progression, adding a little weight to the bar each week (a pound or 2 of weight) on the big lifts. Eat your 2800/3000 calories a day, get plenty or rest and 8 hours of sleep every night and your soon start to see changes for the better mate.

One other thing mate, whey protein is fine to supplememt your diet and up your protein uptake, but remember it is a supplement and doesnt beat old fashioned food! Whey is best used for your shake after you workout, cos its a fast acting protein.

If your interested an excellent book for hardgainers training naturally is BEYOND BRAWN by stuart McRobert

Hope this helps a little, good luck

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Aldo

Thanks for the reply Bulldozer.

It's funny you should say that isolation exercises will only hinder my big lifts. I'm just back from the gym now, and I did the tricep press before doing the bench press. Well... the last time I did bench press (Tuesday) I managed to do 47Kg on my final set and today I struggled to finish 42Kg :(

I think you've really made me realise that my diet probably needs more work than anything else. That will be my big focus over the coming two weeks.

I'm going to stick my current prog until my review in two weeks because honestly I don't know enough to start making drastic changes without instruction.

Thanks again
Al

Aldo

Thought I'd post a little update

I changed my prog two weeks ago. I now do a 3 day split and train 3 days a week with at least one day between sessions.

Day One - chest and triceps
Day Two - back and biceps
Day Three - shoulders and legs

After reading a lot here about compound exercises, I sat down with the instructor at the gym to come up with a new program. I suggested dropping the isolation stuff, but he argued that using a mix of compound and isolation exercises will ensure that I work each muscle group to the max each time. I couldn't really argue and I agreed with his logic, so here I am.....

I do between three and four exercises per muscle group - some compound some isolated. I pretty much knacker each muscle group in every way I can then give the group around a week to recover.

I'm still really happy with my progress. I'm now 147lbs @12%BF. I feel and look much bigger and stronger. I'm going to have to buy new shirts for work - my old ones are all too tight now!

For the last 3 weeks my diet has vastly improved and I'm sleeping more (average 7.5 hours). My new diet:

Breakfast (7:30am):
* Whey protein drink with semi-skimmed milk
* Porridge with semi-skimmed milk

Snack (10am):
* Tuna/Egg sandwich
* Banana
* Orange
* Low fat yoghurt
* 250mm of milk or apple/grape juice

Lunch (1pm):
* Tuna or egg sandwich, or 'meat and two veg type meal'
* 250mm of milk or apple/grape juice
* Apple
* Low fat yoghurt
* Bunch of grapes

Snack (3pm):
* Snickers bar :O

Dinner (5:30pm), one of the following washed down with apple or grape juice or semi-skimmed milk:
* Chicken and Rice
* Grilled Salmon, Potatoes and Veg
* Spag Bol
* Steak, Potatoes and veg
* Steak Pie, Potatoes and veg
* Mince and Potatoes
* Roast Chicken, Potatoes and veg
* Tuna steak

And post workout or just supper if not training (9:30pm):
* Whey Protein drink
* Wholemeal bread toasted x 2 with flora and three slices of turkey breast

Aldo

*BUMP* :p

Two months later..... and 10lbs heavier!

Mostly muscle too. I've started doing a 45min fat burning session on the treadmill once a week in addition to three weight sessions. I'm even starting to get some ab visibility! My diet is continuing to improve too.

In the last few weeks I've increased the weights that I'm lifting on every exercise.

I've been training for almost 6 months now and have gained a total of 25lbs.

Keep up the good work everyone! :lift: