What to do/focus on for my bulk?

[Beerculez]

I started bulking 2 weeks ago and will be doing that for the next 5-6 months, I want to hit 190 before cutting for next summer.

I've been lifting since January now. I lifted 6-7 months in HS though but stopped from 20 to 23 pretty much. To be honest a lot of my gains are from that time in HS, I dreamer bulked and worked full body 3x per week then. I did not do a lot of leg work then as I had operated my knee.

Most of my lifting this year has basically been getting my strength back to previous levels, then tried cutting from may to september. Have gained a bit of size and strength on some liffts though for sure.

Anyway some of my lifts are decent but my legs are lagging quite a bit. And I want to bring them up to speed a bit this winter but I'm not quite sure how to go about it. I want to train primarily for aesthetics but ideally I'd like to see a combo of size and strength gains for now.

My lifts right now:
Squat: around 230 (105 kg) with good form
Bench: 243 (110 kg)
Deadlift: 375 (170kg)
Press: 130*5 (60kg*5)
Can do about 15 chinups with good form from dead hang

I think my other lifts are OK but my squat is pretty weak compared to some of the other lifts and I definately have a bit of a case of the old chicken legs. My arms are also a bit crap. Shoulders/traps/chest are probably my strong points right now.

I'm not quite sure what to do for my bulk. I've been doing push/pull/legs for the past few weeks but I'm thinking about going over to a high volume full body 3x per week routine with maybe 1 day of accesory work, as Im a relative noob I think I might benefit from the higher frequency.

Anyway miscers who actually lift what would you recomend that I focus on for now? Any specific routines or programs? Should I do a strength program for my legs? It doesn't matter if it's a high volume routine, I'm willing to put the work in. It bugs me a bit that it's only 3 days per week in the gym though as I like going to the gym.

I'm also a bit confused about how much weight I should be lifting with for optimal gains and recovery. When I lifted in HS I used to do the same weight on every set and roughly the same reps then the last set to failure. This year I've been going hard almost to failure on the first 1-2 sets which forces me to pyramid down and then every set after that ends up being close to failure pretty much. Which apparently is not ideal after researching a bit. So if anyone could suggest some videos or reading material on this that would be great.

Thanks in advance.

[Wildtim]

A three time a week full body with squats first every session would be my choice. No extra days either just do it and focus on eating and putting more weight on the bar. Any of the beginning routines in the stickies will work for you and take the mystery out of it.

[jobronze]

Unless you have great neural recovery, I would avoid any set to failure on any compound exercise and for everything thing else only your last set (if the routine called for it). Your going to be able to do MORE volume at a higher poundage by saving yourself from the "grinder reps". It doesn't mean you don't lift challenging loads, its just not balls to the wall from start to finish.

Other than that as is a broken record here, get yourself on a proven beginner routine, eat, rest, repeat. No overthinking!

[Beerculez]

Unless you have great neural recovery, I would avoid any set to failure on any compound exercise and for everything thing else only your last set (if the routine called for it). Your going to be able to do MORE volume at a higher poundage by saving yourself from the "grinder reps". It doesn't mean you don't lift challenging loads, its just not balls to the wall from start to finish.

Other than that as is a broken record here, get yourself on a proven beginner routine, eat, rest, repeat. No overthinking!

Cool thanks. I did 5x5 squats today without going to failure on any sets, I loaded up 75% of my 1rm max and did 5x5 with good form, felt like I had 1-2 reps left in the tank when I was done. I didn't feel like I worked super hard though, but then again maybe that's a good thing if I'm used to working to close to failure? As long as I focus on progressively overloading by either doing more reps or weight each session? And then when I do start hitting failure I guess that would be a platou.

Are there any good resources to learn more about using the right combination of weight/reps/intensity and progressive overloading in a smart way for best progress?

[jobronze]

When I first began I had a major issues burning out too early in the workout with failure reps. Like you I was trying to find a guide on how to load correctly. I played around alot with percentages. Like if a set called for 6-8 reps, I would use a weight that was my 10RM. Pffff. After some time I realized on paper seems to make sense but you just have to listen to your body on that day.Failure will happen but...seek performance NOT fatigue!!

You dont need to feel thrashed for progress, but yeah do push yourself. Instead of failure that might mean 80%1RM or shorter rest times etc.