Bulking goals and workout routine questions

[aeronautica86]

Alright, first a little background info: bf% is right around 12%, and these are my current unflexed measurements

height - 5' 11"
weight - ~175lbs
chest - 42"
waist - 31"
bicep - left side is 14.5", right side is 14"
forearms - 12"
thighs - 22"
calves - 15"
neck - 16.5"

my goals are

chest - +3"
bicep - +2" left side, +2.5" right side
forearms - +1"
thighs - +2"
calves - +1.5"
neck - +1.5"

I've been working out for a while now, and I know these gains aren't going to come overnight but should be pretty easily doable with some time; and through personal experience and reading this site I know that the kitchen and sleep are just as if not more important than the gym when it comes to bulking so I'll have the right diet and enough sleep throughout this process.

My questions mostly have to do with exercises/routines I should follow that would best suit my bulking goals. To me it seems that my chest and arms will need the most work. My current thoughts on a workout program are this:

two workouts - workout A and workout B, A will be done mondays and thursdays, B will be done tuesdays and fridays

Workout A - incline bench, decline bench, military press, calf raises done on every A workout day, and alternate between close grip bench and skullcrushers (ie close grip bench monday, skullcrushers thursday)

Workout B - pullups, dumbell or barbell rows, shrugs, leg press done every B workout, and alternate between hammer curls and ez-bar curls

Does this seem like a pretty good set of exercises? Is it enough? I know I don't want to overtrain, but I also don't want to undertrain either.

One consideration - I'm not doing squats or deadlifts. I've done them alot in the past and I know their benefits, but I also know a few rugby buddies of mine (now graduated, several years older than me) that did lots and lots of these lifts, with better form than I have, and have developed some lower back problems due to these exercises. I'm not willing to possibly live with 50+ years of lower back pain just because I did squats for bigger legs. Besides, I don't think it will be too hard to put on 2" to my thighs without squats.

What rep scheme should I shoot for? 4 sets with decreasing reps/increasing weight (ie 1st set - 10 reps, 2nd set higher weight, 8 reps, 3rd set even more weight, 6 reps etc) or just 4 sets of 4 - 6 reps all on pretty high weight?

Should i do "light" days and "heavy" days? Like, higher weights, lower reps on mondays and tuesday, and lower weight/higher reps on thursday and friday?

BTW, I didn't list any ab, neck or forearm work in the workout schedule because I'll be doing those at the house.

I think I can keep these workout to about 1 hours time - 20 minutes to stretch and some cardio for warmup, 40 minutes to do the lifts - about 30 seconds for each set, about 90 seconds rest between sets.

Thoughts/opinions/advice?

[deicide22]

looks like a descent plan, but when i bulk i do low reps and more weight and then i do high reps with low resistance (active recovery phase) when im trying to tone up a bit

[aeronautica86]

sounds like we've got one vote for all low rep sets and no light days

in case anyone wants to know, the supplements I'll be taking are pretty simple:

ON whey
amino acid complex
l-glutamine powder
multivitamin

[deicide22]

i think low reps are a good thing if your working each muscle group only once a week. i believe its good to give 5-7 days for a muscle to fully recover. but if you are working each muscle group twice a week i would do 1 day of low reps and the other day you should do high reps.

[deicide22]

oh and in my opinion i would throw out the glutamine and add some creatine of some kind. i did notice anything from taking glutamine, but this is an issue that people will disagree with me until their blue in the face over. if you already own it go ahead and use it.

[JamaicaBrah]

You should learn how to warm up, start off doing the exercise with light weights and progress

Eg. You bench 200lbs

Do the bar for 8 reps
Do 85 for 8 reps
125 for 6 reps
165 for 5 reps
190 for 3 reps

Then progress to the working sets

Squats and deadlifts do NOT cause back problems unless you have always had a bad back, also they are unparalleled by any exercise, but if you dont want to do them then that is your choice

Also stretch only after the workout

[aeronautica86]

You should learn how to warm up, start off doing the exercise with light weights and progress

Eg. You bench 200lbs

Do the bar for 8 reps
Do 85 for 8 reps
125 for 6 reps
165 for 5 reps
190 for 3 reps

Then progress to the working sets

Squats and deadlifts do NOT cause back problems unless you have always had a bad back, also they are unparalleled by any exercise, but if you dont want to do them then that is your choice

Also stretch only after the workout

thanks for the comments; I know quite well how to warm up - it includes light cardio (to increase heart and respiratory rate, as well as increasing blood flow and muscle temp); this is an important part of the workout, as it gets your body ready to do more intense physical work. I believe stretching (dynamic) to be a very important part of the pre-lifting routine. Static stretching is done at home after workouts or on days off. Not to mention that I've already discussed your method of "warm up" already when suggesting a workout of increasing weight/decreasing reps over each set.

as for the squat and deadlift comments, I've seen the gains that compound exercises can give, I'll even say they worked very well for me, but I've also witnessed too many people hurt themselves doing them, and even if this was caused by improper form, it seems like alot of people suffer from improper form, so my reasoning is why use it when I don't need too - I'm not looking for huge gains in lower body anyway. I'll just have to hope that my other compound movements - incline bench, standing military, pull ups and barbell rows will be enough to release the test. and hgh for good muscle growth in the absence of squats/deadlifts

[JamaicaBrah]

Ight cool, its just that there are lots of people who just do some light cardio for 5 minutes to get their blood flowing, when in truth this barely does anything to actually warm up the muscle that you're going to be working, just trying to help anyways

Also ive read that stretching before workout has no benefits, that it doesnt help to decrease injury or w/e, but whatever floats your boat, i choose to do them after

[s4lnj]

just my opinion, i would add the squats and deads-- full body movements such as those have been proven to help the body utilize/produce more testosterone, which in turn will help your upper body movements. as long as you use good form and don't sacrifice form for weight you will be fine. your at the gym to build muscle, not ego, so keep the weights within your range and use good form to prevent injury.

i used to dissmiss squats and deads also, but never saw any REAL gains until i started to impliment them into my workout. i'm not huge by any means but my strength all around has increased, which will lead to better size gains soon enough