NEED to bulk; coming off shoulder injury.. Check it!

[Crown$Royal]

I am 5'10, 21yrs old, I currently weigh 155lbs, and my goals are total size/weight gain. My goal is to reach 180lbs.

I started "bodybuilding" about 1.5 yr. ago. Came straight out of cross country/track, ran since middle school, into highschool, and "retired" after my 1st year in college. So my metabolism is still pretty fast (honorable PR marks, 15:32 5K , 10:00 3200k, 25:00 8K).

Not knowing **** about lifting, read tons of websites, journals, etc. Always wanted to build since I was a kid, it just didn't happen till now.
Went through the AST Max-OT workout, then a few months of 5x5s, then a month or so of Pyramids, and then I went into the 20squat workout for about 3 weeks before I ****ed my shoulder up. Started at 130lbs, so i've gained 30lbs since I started, so I am now only 20lbs away from my goal. I haven't lifted in almost a month now (because of injury; shoulder dislocation not associated with lifting), planning on going back mon. The doc said I can lift as long as it doesn't hurt. I stopped by the gym the other day to see if anything would aggravate it. Holding the squat bar up hurts a tiny bit because my arm/shoulder is reaching backwards, and of course going below parallel on military press causes slight pain. But I found I can do most other things, even dumbell pullovers.

Anyways, don't know if any of you wanted to hear my "life story" , hah, but I just really need some help/advice on what my routine should be coming back. I REALLY wanna bulk, go heavy, tear through the damn weights. So this is where you bb.com pro's come into play. I need your input/advice/and routine recommendations (Mon/Wed/Fri) for reaching my goal! I look forward to reading your responses!

-Noah

P.S. Current Supplements
- ZMass PM
- RPM
- ON Serious Mass

[jgreystoke]

Anyone who truly cares about the iron game will take an interest in someone who is as serious about training as you are. Only too happy to hear your life story, as you put it.
Great that you have decided to get big. Even better that you have only a little pain when squatting and pressing.
My first piece of advice is to avoid machines like the plague:
You see, smith machines will force you to move out of your natural groove and irritate your joints. This kind of chronic injury is actually worse than the kind of acute injury you suffered.
They'll also keep your stabilizers weak making you very injury prone overall.
If you do machine moves, you'll never know how strong you are getting.
Ask a lot of guys, they'll tell you they press 155lbs for 8 reps. You think, wow! At 70-80% of one rep max this translates to a single in good form of about 195-220lbs! But they don't mean free weights!
Put a barbell in front of one of these guys and he can't clean 135lbs in good form for a single rep. No way is he strong enough to press it. Drop the weight to 110lbs and he staggers around after the clean and manages a badly executed push press. Drop the weight to 90lbs and he can't get 5 good reps!
He is not even half as strong as he thought!

To gain real mass and not just creatine bloat you have to lift big:
Forget concentration curls, triceps kickbacks, lateral raises and all the Jane Fonda type nonsense, unless you want to look like a scrawny actress.
You really want to concentrate on exercises that allow you to lift bodyweight plus for reps.
Squats and deads, chins and dips will allow you to do this right now, depending on your progress this last year and a half.
Start light with the squats and deads alternating say monday/friday and add 5lbs per week till it gets hard. Then use reduced increments using fractional plates such as large washers from industrial suppliers (you can even tape them to the bars if they don't fit).
Use these "little gems" and you'll get much more progress before you plateau. Hell, you might not plateau for over a year!
This kind of program may be old fashioned, but it works.
Build up your chins & dips to where you do ten perfect reps with no body english. Then it is time to pick a rep range, say six and add weight, a pound at a time. I use steel cored clothesline threaded thru' an open lifting belt, tho excellent dipping belts are available.
These big moves will up your appetite big time, and kick your hormonal system into overdrive....more than all the legal supplements put together!
Now it's time to add the press. Never sit down to press! This ruins the movement. Unsupported, and it is dangerous to your back. Supported, and it is really a steep incline bench. This leaves your rear delts really weak. The resulting muscle imbalance will ensure years of chronic shoulder issues like the majority of bodybuilders, but hardly any weightlifters. You should clean the weight from the floor. The press itself should be strict and finish like a behind the neck press, ie the plane of your arms behind your ears. This will do more to strengthen and injury proof your shoulders than all the L-flys in the world.
If you want weak hands, wrists knees and core(and lots of associated injuries) then go ahead and use straps, wraps and belt. Just don't let me hear about it.
Welcome to the community. I'm only a beginner here myself.There are great threads and links about form in the squat, deads, chins dips and presses. Just pick a sensible rep range, like 6 but not 12. Concentrate on adding weight, not reps. Leave high rep cycles 'til you have some substance and then do them rest pause, to keep the intensity very high. These core exercises, with poundage progression, will make you bigger and stronger than you ever thought possible.

Best of luck

[grv575]

I wouldn't go all out coming off a dislocated shoulder. That'll probably take a good while to heal fully and you're almost guaranteed to reinjure it if you let the weights get too heavy, too fast. Instead, if you do a real gradual progression of the weight over 4-6 weeks, it'll help recondition the shoulder and speed up recovery time. Then you'll be up to heavy weights and not at risk for accidentally involving your shoulder in a lift more than it was ready for and messing it up.

[awolsystems]

If you are looking for a great leg workout that will fry your thighs try doing front squats. You had said that traditional squats hurt your shoulder because of the angle or your arm. The front squat will fry your quads and may eleviate some of that pain because you will need less weight to get the job done. The only downside is that there isn't as much glute and hamstring involvement. I use the front squat immediately after full squats to issolate my quads. Keep up the good work but go easy on that shoulder. It took me 4 months to get back into that saddle after i broke my collar bone. It seems like forever but it will get easier.

Here is BB.com's link for front squats.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/exer...+Barbell+Squat