Workout advice for first time poster?

Hi everyone,

I really need some help with my workout routine. I'm a fairly competitive runner, and have done occasional weight training over the past few years - more serious recently. I've been working to get my body fat down, develop my abs, and put on some mass - I'm pretty happy with the results so far. Now it's time to cut back on the cardio (but keep the fat off) and focus on gaining more mass.

My stats are:

6'2", 165lbs, 10% bf - 39" chest, 13.5" arms, and 31" waist

My main goal is to add weight, with target at 175-185lbs (pretty modest compared to many of you I suspect) and 8-10% body fat. I think that translates into approximately 42" chest and 14-15" arms. I'm expecting it will take between 6 months and one year to add 10 lbs at this point.

Here's my current routine. I've tried to limit the weight lifting to two days per week, one for chest, shoulders and back - and one for arms. I want to keep the routine fairly simple (so I'll actually stick to it), and focussed on upper body. I have free weights and also a Parabody 400 home gym. I've been mostly using the home gym. I start all sets with heavier weights, and decrease with each set, until I can do 9 reps easily and then I increase the initial weight the next week. I think my shoulders and arms are more developed than chest and back, particularly lats are lagging. Any advice would be appreciated.

Monday
- 50 minutes cardio
- 4 sets of 25 decline crunches, with 25 lb plate

Tuesday (Arms)
- bicep curls, 5 sets, 6-12 reps
- tricep pulldowns, 5 sets, 7-10 reps
- bicep curls, 4 sets, 6-12 reps
- tricep pulldowns, 4 sets, 7-10 reps

Wednesday
- rest

Thursday
- 50 minutes cardio
- 4 sets of 25 decline crunches, with 25 lb plate

Friday
- rest

Saturday
- 50 minutes cardio
- 4 sets of 25 decline crunches, with 25 lb plate

Sunday (Chest, Shoulder and Back)
- bench press, 5 sets, 5-9 reps
- shoulder press, 5 sets, 5-9 reps
- flys, 6 sets, 4-6 reps
- incline press, 5 sets, 5-7 reps
- front lat pulldown, 5 sets, 5-7 reps
- flys, 5 sets, 4-6 reps
- front lat pulldown, 5 sets, 5-7 reps
- seated rows, 3 sets, 6 reps

Thanks!

Alright look if your main goal is to gain mass then your first focus needs to be your diet.Up the caloriesyou have a day to about 3500 calories per day. Then you need to eat lots of protien. Now i am not going to give you a diet because well you know your body better then anyone so you need to figure out what foods to eat to get you to that amount of calories and protien a day. Then next for one you should break you routine down some.What i recomend ,and this is my opinion, i would make shoulder,chest,and triceps all on one day.Then have arms and back on the same day. And you really should work out your legs a little.so i would make a day for them.And there you go work out three days a week. However if you wnat to get your abs going i would work them out on every day you are resting and not worknig out the other stuff.So that is my advice take from it what you want to use.And if you dont like any of it then dont listen to anything i just said because everyones body is different. no one can tell you what to do we can only give you advice.

Chisle

Thanks for the advice Chisle. I'm going to take a close look at my diet, and add some leg work. Overall, do you think the types of exercises in my program will result in balanced growth, or do I need to beef up any area in particular?

umm yeah besides the legs, really i would workout your chest, shoulders, and triceps together. Then biceps, back, and forearms another day. And legs on their own days. And abbs on your rest days. And if you say your back and chest are slacking then really focus on them and slack on the arms and shoulders but still work them out. So that is my opinion. Hope it helps.
Chisle

Your doing way too much cardio if your trying to gain mass. Cut back to doing cardio once a week. Its like taking 1 step foward and 2 steps back if your weight training and doing cardio if you want to bulk up. Bulk up first and then go on a cutting program to cut down the fat.

P.S. check out... [URL=http://www.purelyfitness.com]www.PURELYFITNESS.com[/url]

that site doesn't have half the **** this one does. not promoting anything, just the truth. oh and all the link when clicked also link to a couple pop up advertisement pages to. fun!

If you want to put on the mass, it's a good idea to work out your larger muscles--legs, back and chest. A program centered around basic compound movements is a good way to put on muscle. Squats, deadlifts, bp, rows, dips, chins--you get the idea. Throw in a few assistive exercises and see what happens. Hope this helps.

I agree with snatch....if you're looking to bulk up, limit your cardio. Cardio tends to burn calories which is somewhat counter productive to gaining mass....not only that but if you overdo your cardio, you could break down amino acids (which is definitely not good for gaining mass). If you absolutely fell that you have to do cardio...2 times a week at 20-30 minutes...if that!

Also, agree with chisel and blargh...if you want to gain mass, work your legs! Your legs are the biggest muscles in your body...and when you increase your leg mass, you increase your metabolism which helps you increase muscle mass all over your body. And lastly....eat. Lots...especially protein!

Later

Thanks for the good advice guys.

I've added 1" to my arms, and 2" to my chest in four months. I'm now at 180lbs, up 15lbs - including 2-3% additional body fat. I've kept with the routine you suggested, and have been eating clean and lots of food.

A couple of questions ...

How often should I cycle bulking and cutting? Does it matter? How about two months bulking and one month cutting? I know that's a short cycle, but I hate putting on non lean weight.

Also, I find abs the hardest to work. After 100 decline crunches, I'm pretty much finished. I manage this about twice per week. Is this enough variation and/or repetitions?

MD.

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by cdnrunner [/i]
[B]Thanks for the good advice guys.

I've added 1" to my arms, and 2" to my chest in four months. I'm now at 180lbs, up 15lbs - including 2-3% additional body fat. I've kept with the routine you suggested, and have been eating clean and lots of food.

A couple of questions ...

How often should I cycle bulking and cutting? Does it matter? How about two months bulking and one month cutting? I know that's a short cycle, but I hate putting on non lean weight.

Also, I find abs the hardest to work. After 100 decline crunches, I'm pretty much finished. I manage this about twice per week. Is this enough variation and/or repetitions?

MD. [/B][/QUOTE]

Wow, that's awesome, congrats!! Doesnt matter for bulking and cutting, whenever you feel like it. Some find it hard to cut after bulking for too long though.

I only train my abs once or twice a month!!!

Matt

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by cdnrunner [/i]
[B]Thanks for the good advice guys.

I've added 1" to my arms, and 2" to my chest in four months. I'm now at 180lbs, up 15lbs - including 2-3% additional body fat. I've kept with the routine you suggested, and have been eating clean and lots of food.

A couple of questions ...

How often should I cycle bulking and cutting? Does it matter? How about two months bulking and one month cutting? I know that's a short cycle, but I hate putting on non lean weight.

Also, I find abs the hardest to work. After 100 decline crunches, I'm pretty much finished. I manage this about twice per week. Is this enough variation and/or repetitions?

MD. [/B][/QUOTE]

dude, that's sick. good to hear when hard training and nutrition pays off.

as for the cutting question, join the club man. for my physique, i'm all about keeping the bf% at a decent range. i've actually just finished my cutting cycle (about 4 months of it actually) and just started bulking. ha, if you ask me bulking is much more fun but damn i also hate nonlean mass.

thats the thing too, with abs. your abs looked alot more ripped the leaner you are. so its kinda a compromise when you gain alotta mass. i think i've found a good point though were i'm happy with my abs but still gaining, ya know?

try some variation in your ab routine to shock em a bit. you'll read about a million different ab excersizes anywhere ya go these days, so mix it up and just try new ones and maybe ur abs will take notice. do lower abs, then obliques, followed by upper abs. i try workin em 2-3 times a week. as chisle earlier said take whatever advice you want, but everyone IS different so all you can do is keep trying different thing still you find soemthing you like!

peace

as far as how often you sould go through out your cycles for bulking and cutting, well that all depends on you, and actually that is the great thing about bodybuilding. you make the rules. if you wanna bulk for a month or even 8 months that is up to you. you get to decide.me right now i just pic a desired weight that i want to get to, then i give myself a deadline to get to it by. then once i get to the weight that i want to weigh. then i start cutting until my bf% is where i want it at. then i go with that for awile, then i start bulking agian.
-Chisle-