Brendans Bulking

[Brendonia12]

Started lifting 6 months ago. Since then, I've put on 10 pounds. Still only weigh 155 though. Traded out my old routine for the Wannabe Big one. My main goal is to put on muscle weight. I want to weigh more, but I want to stay lean. I want my bench press to be at 250 by this time next year, (right now my max is 190).

First Day of Wannabe Big:

Chest

Flat Barbell Bench Press : 2 x 6-8 reps
Low Incline Dumbbell Press : 2 x 6-8 reps
Dips : 2 x 6-8 reps

Back

Chin ups : 2 x 6-8 reps
Deadlifts : 2 x 6-8 reps
Barbell Rows : 2 x 6-8 reps
Shrugs : 1 x 10 reps




Today was a chest/back day. Really started focusing on form for the bench. Realised that I hadn't been pinching my shoulder blades, and my deltoids had been doing all the work. I tried to relax my arms, and really squeeze when the weight was all the way up. This meant lowering the weight. Did one set of 8 at 150. Moved the weight up to 160, but couldn't do it with good form. Moved down to 140, did 8 reps.

I did the dumbell decline press at a hammer machine. Didn't like it very much, next time I'll use dumbells like they say too.

the good chin-up bar was being used, so I used the handles that are stuck up at the top of the dip machine. Did 7 my first set, only 5 the second. Finished by doing a flexed armhang though.

Had a problem with deadlifts too. I wasn't able to use a very heavy weight, because I have a weak grip. Usually we use hex bars at school, so I had trouble doing it with a normal olympic bar. Next time I'll use switch grip, (didn't occur to me untill after I'd left).

Not sure what I think of this routine. Feels weird to only be doing 2 sets. I don't feel that sore. Didn't feel that fatigued after I was done either. Next time I think I'll do the same thing, but with 3 sets of each excersize. I posted a thread asking about it, but haven't gotten any replies yet.

Looking forward to next trip to gym ( :

[Brendonia12]

Inner Deltoids sore. Lower back very sore. Upper back, in between shoulder blades sore. Traps not sore. Pecs not sore.

[Brendonia12]

Did the first leg day yesterday. Started paying more attention to calories as well. Think I ate about 3750 yesterday, and about 2,000 so far today. I'm wondering if it's a problem that I end up eating almost half of my calories after 7:00pm? Anyways, started with squats. I was nervous to load it up, and do it until failure. See, I workout alone, and I didn't really want to interrupt either of the other guys who were in there. They both had their ipods in, and were moving right along without taking long breaks between sets/excersizes/etc.

But yeah, I did 8 reps at 140 to start with, and probably had another 8 in me. So i upped it to 160, and it was still a little light. I did a set of 9 at 170, and then another of 8 at 170. Moved on to hack squats, and did both sets at 165. Really payed attention to form on the hack squats. That was my first time doing them, but they felt pretty good.

Did the leg curls on a machine. These also felt really good.
I totally forgot about the straight legged deadlifts, (had it written down, but dropped the paper in my brothers car).

To do the calf raises I loaded a few plates on either side of a leg-press machine, and did 'em like that. Not sure if it's as effective as doing them holding dumbells, but it seemed to do the trick.

Stretched really thoroughly before, and then again when I woke up this morning. I am still REALLY damn sore though. Played some frisbee today, and I felt like an old man. lol, hurts to bend over. I'm sure this will get better as I progress however.


Worked out a few loose goals for myself. I want my squat to be at 350 by rugby season next spring. I want my bench to be 250. Once this routine has taken me a ways, I'll probably switch to something a little more sports/strength oriented. Don't need to worry about that for awhile though.

[Brendonia12]

Wayyyy less volume than I'm used to. I had been doing supersets for bi's, and tri's. Not anymore. Also was starting bicep work with pullups. Again, that has been eliminated. Really, really didn't like french press. Now realize that I was doing it wrong. Ended up doing skullcrushers instead. Next time, will just do frenchpress with correct form. Think I had my weight a little too heavy, (typical novice mistake, I know). Everything else felt good though. It was weird only doing two excersizes for biceps. And only one set on the hammer curls.
I'd usually have done something like:
3 sets pullups, (bodyweight), untill failure.
Then sets that were like: 6 reps x1, then 6 reps x1 with lighter weight, then drop one more time to 12 reps x1 with even lighter weight. Then if I had anything left, I'd do hammer grip pullups untill failure. I'd repeat that 3 times.

For Triceps I'd do maybe: close grip pushups untill failure, tricep pulldowns, (3 sets of 6-8). And then something similar to the curl routine, but with tricep pulldowns.

Shoulders were pretty much the same as what I'm doing now.

ANYWAYS, weird doing so few reps/lifts for each muscle.

Looking forwards to chest and back day on wednesday ( :

[Brendonia12]

been awhile since I've posted. Went on a vacation with girlfriends family, (only missed 1 day of workout while on vacation, was a legs day). Aside from that, I've been eating tons. Been eating alot of protein bars, alot of very meaty sandwiches. Not seeing as many gains as I had hoped ) : A little stronger on most of these excersizes, but not as much as I'd hoped. I am looking a little better too. Pecs are taking a little more shape. Triceps are starting to emerge a little, still not even close to where I want them. Biceps are looking good, shoulders are fine. Lats are looking really, really good compared to everything else. I think it's easier for me to put on muscle there than other places. Traps are ok too.

I've been messing with the workout a little bit. Added fly's at the end of the chest workout, I do tricep pushdowns after all the other tricep workout. And I do hammer curls as well. Oh, and seated rows. I read, (and heard from some of my more experienced friends) that It's important to get the stretch when you're tall and lean as I am. So that's my main reason for throwing on the fly's, and seated rows.

Anyways, going to go have some pizza.

[Twirl]

Keep up the work man, start posting the actual exercises with their weights (your routine). Difficult to follow your progress when we don't know where you're at lol.

[Brendonia12]

lol, well I did chest/back two days ago. I'm doing legs a little later today. Here are my numbers for chest/back day though, (as well as I can remember)

Benchpress: 150x8 reps
150x7 reps
150x6 reps
Incline dumbell press: 35's x 8. two sets
Dips: bodyweight x 15, then bodyweight x 12 (don't have any way of adding weight really. Will eventually buy one of those belts..)
Fly's: 30's x 8, (2 sets)

I actually skipped deadlifts because I don't have a belt. I know, this is a terrible thing.

Pullups: 8 x bodyweight
6 x bodyweight

Standing barbell rows: 95 x 8
95 x 6 or 7
Some reverse incline situps holding a 45 pound plate, (for lower back. A poor substitute for deadlifts)

Shrugs, 70 pound barbells. about 10 reps.

[kajeaun]

You wanna be big, but you wanna be lean. I suggest you focus on building mass then concern yourself with shredding off the fat. Focus on eating, calories, protein, etc. Your workouts will not help you "get big" unless you eat like you want to "get big". Just a suggestion.

[Brendonia12]

kajeaun: You wanna be big, but you wanna be lean. I suggest you focus on building mass then concern yourself with shredding off the fat. Focus on eating, calories, protein, etc. Your workouts will not help you "get big" unless you eat like you want to "get big". Just a suggestion.


Other than lifting as heavy as possible and eating a ****load, (which I'm already doing), how should I go about "getting big"? Your reply seems to be a pretty good, (albeit short and blunt) description of what I've been doing since I started the program.

[kajeaun]

I would focus more on compound movements and very little else if any. Squat, Bench Press, Dead Lift, Shoulder Press, and if you must curl and overhead extensions of equivalent. I would break it up to three times a week and continue to lift heavy. Anything more than this, lifting days and lifts, may do more harm than good. What are your 1RM's? You lifting heavy needs to be in view of those. If you are eating big, then what are you eating. Just trying to help, but can't help if don't know. May help yourself if you keep track of this as well.

[Brendonia12]

So, it's been several months since I've posted. I had to stop lifting for a period of time to allow a back injury to heal. Since then, I've gotten started on Rippetoes. I've also gotten serious about eating in the last couple weeks. I'm still not eating as much as I want to be, but I'm coming closer. I've put on 4-5 pounds in the last week and a half. I now weight 157. I'm lifting ROUGHLY 3 times a week, but some weeks only twice. I'll start posting my workouts semi-regularly, as well as what I'm eating. Any feedback is appreciated ( :

[Brendonia12]

Today I have eaten:

Breakfast = 3 eggs, 6 sausages, about 1/2 a potatoe in hash browns, and four cups of coffee

Brunch = 5 thic pieces of salami, 3 glasses of whole milk

Post workout = two Cliff Stacker bars, (270 calories each)

Late Afternoon snack = 1 foot polish sausage and a couple cups of pepsi

Dinner = A crunchwrap Supreme (large taco)

Desert = A piece of cheescake

2 more glasses of whole milk

I might have a salami and cheddar sandwhich on whole wheat in another 1/2 hour or so, (it's 9 right now)

My workout today was:

Squats
Set 1: 3 reps of 205
Set 2: 7 reps of 195
Set 3: 5 reps of 195

Standing Rows
Set 1: 7 reps of 90
Set 2: 5 reps of 90
Set 3: 4 reps of 90

Military Press
Set 1: 8 reps of 90
Set 2: 8 reps of 90
Set 3: 7 reps of 90

Pullups:
Set 1: 6 x Body Weight
Set 2: 5 x Body weight

[Brendonia12]

p.s. I realize that I was VASTLY over-estimating my calories in those earlier posts. And dis-regard it anytime I said that I did 150 on the bench, I was cheating. Same with rows, I was doing those in-correctly as well.

Oh, and sorry for being a bit of a dick Kajeaun. Looks like you're right.

[Brendonia12]

Yesterday I ate:

A plate of Molasses cookies

A large tuna and onion sandwhich

A bowl of RedBeans and Rice

3 glasses of whole milk

three pieces of lamb (each a bit bigger than my fist)
Some potatoes

3 more glasses of whole milk

A piece of vanilla cake with frosting

[Brendonia12]

oh, and a couple cups of coffee when I got home from school (after the tuna sandwhich, before the redbeans and rice).

[Brendonia12]

Oh yeah, and I had a Crunchwrap Supreme for lunch, right before the tuna sandwhich.

[Brendonia12]

today I ate:
2 glasses of whole milk
2 oranges
1 large tuna salad/onion sandwhich
1 piece of cake
2 molasses cookies
3 heavy biskets w/ gravy and breakfast paddies
1 molasses cookie
1 bisket
1 glass of whole milk

[Brendonia12]

oh, and I had a two cups of instant coffee right after the two molasses cookies

[Brendonia12]

ohhhh yeah, and I ate about a third of a large bag of beef jerky right before the oranges.

[Brendonia12]

Today I have eaten:
1 large salami and cream cheese sandwhich
1 peice of cake
1 protein bar (270 calories, 30 grams of protein, 20-ish of carbs)
1 protein bar (post work out)
1 large salami and cream cheese sandwhich
1 thick slice of meat loaf, a medium sized portion of mashed potatoes, and a salad w/ dressing
A glass of 2% milk
A banana
Half a pomegranite

My workout was like this:
Squats
11 reps at 175
6 reps at 185
3 reps at 185

Flat Barbell Bench Press
7 reps at 145
4 reps at 145
3 reps at 145

Deadlifts
8 reps at 195
6 reps at 205

Bodyweight Dips
1 set of 11
1 set of 8

[Brendonia12]

It's saturday, I see I haven't posted since wednesday. Did very well on calories thursday, and OK on friday. Here was today:
1 piece of toast + five eggs
two cups of whole milk
2 protein bars after workout
a cup of whole milk
A large cheese pizza

(I felt sick today, and couldn't eat much)

Workout:

Squats
185x9
190x7
190x5

Standing rows
90x9
90x8
90x7

Military Press
90x9
90x8
90x7

Pullups
Bodyweight x 5
Bodyweight x 4

Tricep Pushdowns (on machine)
70 x 10
80 x 4

Barbell Curls
30 x 8
30 x 7

[Brendonia12]

oh, and I had half of a MONSTER energy drink before workout, and half after.

[Brendonia12]

ate today:
5 pieces bacon
1 pb and J sandwhich (extra pb)
2 glasses whole milk
10 buffalo wings
4 pieces of celery (with dip)
A rack of ribs with sauce (absolutely huge)
2 baked potatoes (with butter and sour cream)
A small bowl of salad with lots of blue cheese
2 pieces of pie
3 scoops of ice cream
2 frosted cupcakes
2 glasses of whole milk

[Brendonia12]

I was schedueled to go to the gym, but the person I was going with (who was also my ride) got sick. Here's what I ate:

1 peanut and butter sandwhich, 5 peices of bacon and a quarter cup peanut butter on whole grain
2 oranges
1 Manwich (about 20 slices of thin sliced lunch meat, pepper jack, and whole grain bread)
2 frosted cupcakes, 5 glasses of whole milk
A T-Bone steak, 6 heads of cauliflower with cheese-sauce, and about a halfcup of fried mushrooms)
2 cups of whole-milk
1 manwich

[Brendonia12]

1/2 manwich
2 cups whole milk
1 tuna and onion sandwhich on sourdough
1 dr. pepper
A cream cheese/jelly danish
2 slices veggie pizza
a large plate of spaghetti with 5 meatballs
1 slice cheesy garlic bread
cup of tea
protein bar