Mass Weight Training: Building Muscle - A Tribute to Kong

[mcuzzy]

Well I've been doing a 3 day beginner workout for about 7 weeks now and feel comfortable in the gym and all the exercises in the program. I'm noticing reasonable progression with weights and starting to feel less and less sore. I've put on about 3 kilos, perhaps a little bit more but a lot of the weight has gone straight to my stomach. My arms and legs are mildly bigger but not really noticeable.
I'm looking to move onto a 4 day split to try and really get my goal on track, because despite putting on weight I feel like it's only because of my extra calorie intake and protein shakes.
Is this fairly standard for the beginnings of bulking up? I'm not impatient, I just want to make sure I'm sort of on the right track.

calorie surplus = weight gain

not sure how working out for an extra day is going to help, more details?

keep eating heaps and lifting heavy.

 

[entourage]

calorie surplus = weight gain

not sure how working out for an extra day is going to help, more details?

keep eating heaps and lifting heavy.

Thanks for the quick reply. Well I've been on a 3 day beginner workout which is supposed to build a sort of base strength to enable you to do more intermediate programs and exercises. There are about 4-5 exercises per day in it, the 4 day workout I'm looking at has about 7 per day.

I guess what I'm saying is, I seem to be putting on weight but it's all on my stomach, while my arms/legs are toning yet not really bulking up. Will moving on to a more intense workout regime help with this?

 

[cptkirk]

maybe but eating less definitely will...if you're training 3/week and getting fat then you're either eating far too much or just not training hard enough

and 7 weeks of training doesn't really move you into intermediate status either

 

[Jimmy1992]

Bump.

I'm interested as to what sort of splits you guys go for?
Do you do a body part split (E.g. 5 days a week) or upper-lower? Or any other variation?

 

[Colin D'Cops]

Bump.

I'm interested as to what sort of splits you guys go for?
Do you do a body part split (E.g. 5 days a week) or upper-lower? Or any other variation?

Jimmy what's happening buddy? haha

Personally I split my weeks similar to this:
Day 1: Chest + Tris
Day 2: Back + Bis
Day 3: Legs
Day 4: Rest or if good, back to day 1

Sometimes I'll chuck in legs with one of those first 2 days - if I know I have something on later in the week.

 

[Jimmy1992]

Jimmy what's happening buddy? haha

Personally I split my weeks similar to this:
Day 1: Chest + Tris
Day 2: Back + Bis
Day 3: Legs
Day 4: Rest or if good, back to day 1

Sometimes I'll chuck in legs with one of those first 2 days - if I know I have something on later in the week.

Mate, can I ever escape you?
How do you find that works for you?

 

[Colin D'Cops]

Mate, can I ever escape you?
How do you find that works for you?

Works well for me. Just got to be diligent when recovering to keep backing up. I go for a light swim, spa and sauna after each session so the impact is reduced somewhat. Also have WPI straight after a workout and have decent sized dinners.

With regards to training and what works best. This split is good, but only if you do isolations exercises last. If you do isolations exercises first (eg. bicep curls, tri extensions), it may leave something to be desired with some of the more compound lifts (eg. bench press, row) which could halt growth. Work hard, get rewarded.

 

[Jimmy1992]

Works well for me. Just got to be diligent when recovering to keep backing up. I go for a light swim, spa and sauna after each session so the impact is reduced somewhat. Also have WPI straight after a workout and have decent sized dinners.

With regards to training and what works best. This split is good, but only if you do isolations exercises last. If you do isolations exercises first (eg. bicep curls, tri extensions), it may leave something to be desired with some of the more compound lifts (eg. bench press, row) which could halt growth. Work hard, get rewarded.

Haha, mate, I study this stuff at Uni, so I have an idea of what's going on.
But, I am starting at a new gym after working out at home for the last 1.5 years, so I was thinking whether or not I would change my split, but have decided not to.

 

[Colin D'Cops]

Fair enough, just thought I'd give you an extra insight into my routine just incase. Difficult to decipher who studies what over the net!

 

[policegetthatman2]

Jimmy what's happening buddy? haha

Personally I split my weeks similar to this:
Day 1: Chest + Tris
Day 2: Back + Bis
Day 3: Legs
Day 4: Rest or if good, back to day 1

Sometimes I'll chuck in legs with one of those first 2 days - if I know I have something on later in the week.

but who was shoulders

 

[Colin D'Cops]

They get a solid workout, not to worry PGTM. Use free weights for the most part, so would think the shoulders would be activated.

Have had friends stuff up their shoulders by isolating them, so a little scared off.

 

[Jimmy1992]

Fair enough, just thought I'd give you an extra insight into my routine just incase. Difficult to decipher who studies what over the net!

Haha yeah, that's fair enough!
I quite like your split. Do you do the whole split twice a week?

 

[Eastie Boi]

We (my training group/s) follow effectively a lower/upper split with at least 72 hours between each upper and each lower. On day is high intensity/low volume and the other moderate intensity/high volume
eg Monday - high volume upper
Tuesday - high intensity lower
Thursday - high intensity upper
Friday - high volume lower

It's a powerlifting split but there is still a large focus on muscle development

 

[Colin D'Cops]

Haha yeah, that's fair enough!
I quite like your split. Do you do the whole split twice a week?

Yeah do the whole split twice a week.

I've just had two days off having things on, so I'll start up again tomorrow and aim to go 6 days straight then a rest. Just gotta work it around your lifestyle, I know mine isn't always smooth sailing!

 

[Mofra]

I'm interested as to what sort of splits you guys go for?
Do you do a body part split (E.g. 5 days a week) or upper-lower? Or any other variation?

Normally 4 days per week:

Monday: Chest & Back
Tuesday: Legs
Thursday: Upper body
Friday: Legs

Friday session is normally a little higher rep/lower weight than the Tuesday session. Doing a lot more single leg stuff these days.

 

[cptkirk]

a lower/upper/lower/upper man but i'm footy in-season right now so in a couple a weeks it might move to 5 - 6 days...i'm still developing my next 30 weeks of programming at the moment

 

[Eastie Boi]

Is there any reason you program for such a long duration?

imo there are way too many variables for 30 weeks (unless you mean just sort of dividing into blocks or whatever)

 

[rocker_oz33]

My legs lately have been stiff as boards making my leg workouts harder to do.I do stretches dam chappy type hammys grrrr.

 

[cptkirk]

Ill have about 30 weeks from 1 week post footy to round 1 next yr, 25-26 if I take out practice matches

Long term goals is improve acceleration/speed which will be a by product of ways initially the transferring to the track and ill actually do some pre-pee season running/conditioning this yr too

I gave about 10 pages of "options" I gotta sort through so I should be able to find something that fits what I'm after

I can map out what blocks I want now and lay it out but I can change what I want when I want if I want

 

[Jimmy1992]

Interesting.
I have a 5 day body part split, which has worked pretty well for me, I feel.

Monday: Chest
Tuesday: Back
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Shoulders
Friday: Arms
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Legs.

With footy season on Leg days are pretty timid at the moment. Would shift it around but Chest and Back on Monday and Tuesday fit perfectly. Thursday and Friday; too close to Saturday. Once footy season is over, will pick leg day up a little bit.
Core is on Monday/Wednesday/Friday.

 

[saj_21]

a lower/upper/lower/upper man but i'm footy in-season right now so in a couple a weeks it might move to 5 - 6 days...i'm still developing my next 30 weeks of programming at the moment

Sounds the same as me Kikry.....2 games left. Most of the season i have done 3 day split Mon/Wed/Fri - legs/shoulders, chest/tris, back,bis. The last 4-5 weeks i have done antagnistic superset - legs/shoulders, chest/back, tris/bis........feel the burn.

Once footy season is over 6 days a week, will experiment with a muscle group each day, once a week or similar splits to above but twice a week.

 

[Power Raid]

My three favourites for building size

Squats
Lat Pull Down and
Shoulder press

 

[Blood Bath]

What's the outcome if you do a lot of cardio e.g. bikes, runs, boxing etc as well as doing a lot of benching, squatting etc? Will that make you both put on muscle and drop weight, hence making you more toned etc?

 

[Jimmy1992]

What's the outcome if you do a lot of cardio e.g. bikes, runs, boxing etc as well as doing a lot of benching, squatting etc? Will that make you both put on muscle and drop weight, hence making you more toned etc?

Yes and no. If you are doing a lot of Cardio and trying to drop weight, in terms of eating, you are going to eat less than you put in.
To put on muscles mass you need to eat more than you're using in the day.
So, if you are eating less you will drop weight, and there chances are will be a small increase in muscles mass. You will definitely look more toned. But, unfortunately, there's more to it than just working out.

 

[saj_21]

What's the outcome if you do a lot of cardio e.g. bikes, runs, boxing etc as well as doing a lot of benching, squatting etc? Will that make you both put on muscle and drop weight, hence making you more toned etc?

A lot of steady state cardio with weight training is not an issue (albeit tough on the body), you just might find your strengths gains slower than if you were just purely lifting weights. My advice would be to restrict your cardio to 10-20 minutes of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) go to a footy oval or park, run as fast as you can for 30 seconds, walk for 30 seconds, sprint for 30 seconds....you get the idea.

Dropping body fat and increasing lean muscle simultaneously is great debate amongst all people who are into the fitness world. It is possible to do but is hard, you may find if you are a little overweight or coming into lifting after a long lay off it can happen early on. But generally takes a bit of manipulation with food intake and exercise, to achieve it.