[Coffee]

I've been regularly going to the gym about 3-5 days a week (depending on how busy I am); for a few months now. Most of the workouts I do are 4 sets of 10. Each session last around an hour.

Since starting I've been increasing the weight by five or ten pounds (depending on what I'm working on) every week or so, but I still look pretty skinny despite that. I have no trouble going up in weight, its coming very naturally and doesn't feel uncomfortable either. I'm not like skin and bones type of skinny if that makes any sense; my body has gotten more "toned" but I want to get bigger too.

Should I go up in weight even more? Increase the reps or sets? Or should I eat more protein? I'm six foot two, and I was told that gains take longer for taller people.
Should I just keep doing what I've been doing or change it up completely? I'm honestly at a loss.

[TravelerKai]

You need to explain your diet and what you are eating. We also need to know how much protein per day, supplements you are taking, and what your reps/sets at the gym are like as well. You need to give alot more information if you want quality feedback on what you are doing. Look at Enigma's or Steelix's threads for ideas on how much information you need to give out in order for others to understand what you are doing.

[Montrose]

I’m 6’2 ectomorph and it took me 8 months before I started gaining weight. The first strength gains come from neurological adaptation and don’t increase muscle mass (so they say)
Also I’d advise lower reps. It worked better for me. We don’t know your age, weight or experience but you should probably check starting strength.

[Steelex]

Well has your bodyweight gone up?

How much stronger are you?

At 6'2" you're going to need to make some pretty massive increases in strength and bodyweight to look big. Like bench 350, squat 450, dead 550, bodyweight 240 with visible abdominal definition.

This ain't a pop up tent bro. You build this house brick by brick over a few years, with food, heavy weights, and probably some drugs.

How far are you from being at that point??

[General Stalin]

Eat food. Lots more food. If you are 6'2," skinny, and natural and tryna put on lots of size, you'll probably need to be eating 5000+ calories a day.

[rudebwoy]

Increase the reps.

Either lift heavier with shorter reps or do more reps.

I do reps in the 12 -20 range, depending on how I feel that day of course.

4 x 10 wont do much, your body will be accustomed to that.

Mix it up.

[Intuitive]

The continued progress is a great sign that your training is working for you. I agree with others that said you need to eat more. How much weight have you gained since you started? Typically a muscle will get bigger as it gets stronger (especially in the rep range you are using), but a lot of your early gains can be attributed to neural adaptation, which means your brain has gotten more efficient at the movement. Much like learning to ride a bike.

[Coffee]

I'll give a rough idea of things since I wasn't very descriptive.

I've been eating around 2000 calories a day (maybe I should be eating more). My weight was 160 pounds when I started and now its around 170-172 pounds or so. Gained about 10 or so pounds since I started in other words. Some of it seems to be fat and some of it muscle, since I do have muscle definition now, its just not "bulkly" per say, more so just taken shape.

I've been doing both dumbbells and machines.

For the dumbbell exercises I've been doing 30 pounds in each arm, 4 sets of 10; triceps bench press, bicep curls and hammer curls.

I don't know the names of the machines, I'll make sure to remember the names when I go again tomorrow.
One of them works the upper and side abs (130 pounds); one works the lower abs (130 pounds); one works the biceps (90 pounds); one works the triceps (110 pounds), and the last two work the chest (both at 90 pounds).

[Montrose]

https://startingstrength.com/index.html/get-started

[Bienvenuto]

If you want to bulk would you consider or are you averse to doing classic multi joint compound lifts programs - squats, deadlift, bench?

Or is it just your upper body you want to develop? In which case, does your gym have a decent range of dumbbells, benches, machines?

If you really want to gain then 20 rep squats and milk are the way ahead,

if you want to gain with your current workout then you might consider 3 to 4 exercises for chest shoulders and lats plus at least 2 each for biceps and triceps.

A good bicep example would be, 4 x 10 dumbbell bicep curls, 4 x 10 dumbbell hammer curls, 4 x 10 swinging dumbbell curls (swinging dumbbell across body to hit opposite shoulder) and 4 x 10 concentration curls on bench, one arm at a time, concentrating on hitting the peak of the bicep with each lift. Vary by swapping in barbell arm curls and preacher curl work on different workouts.

Good chest would be at least three sets (one to failure) bench press, incline press, dips followed by pec deck and/or repping out bodyweight press ups on the floor.

In terms of bulk and strength combined then programmes like Starting Strength with its emphasis on the squat as well as d/lift, bench and press is the way forward but I appreciate that not every body is into those programmes and therefore will do better concentrating on programmes that they actually enjoy.

[General Stalin]

You are doing extremely minimal work. Looks like you aren't doing ANYTHING with your lower body either.

2000 calories a day? Fuck bro I eat that in 1 meal and I'm not even that big.

Get on a comprehensive strength training program and up your food intake.

[Steelex]

Yep you're training like a n00b.

Get on starting strength. Start reading about nutrition.

[TravelerKai]

(03-23-2018 01:03 AM)Coffee Wrote:  

I'll give a rough idea of things since I wasn't very descriptive.

I've been eating around 2000 calories a day (maybe I should be eating more). My weight was 160 pounds when I started and now its around 170-172 pounds or so. Gained about 10 or so pounds since I started in other words. Some of it seems to be fat and some of it muscle, since I do have muscle definition now, its just not "bulkly" per say, more so just taken shape.

I've been doing both dumbbells and machines.

For the dumbbell exercises I've been doing 30 pounds in each arm, 4 sets of 10; triceps bench press, bicep curls and hammer curls.

I don't know the names of the machines, I'll make sure to remember the names when I go again tomorrow.
One of them works the upper and side abs (130 pounds); one works the lower abs (130 pounds); one works the biceps (90 pounds); one works the triceps (110 pounds), and the last two work the chest (both at 90 pounds).

You need a tub of weightgainer protein shake, since you do not know alot about nutrition to cook everything you will need. Make sure it has some creatine in it as well. Optimum Nutrition has a good one. Drink water throughout the day and stay hydrated. It's very important that you do this and not slack or you could get dehydrated and get pretty sick.



You also need some supplements. Get a can of BCAAs with gluatmine. Get a good multivitamin as well. I like Animal Paks, but I'm sure others can recommend another set. Ditto for the Aminos/BCAAs.





Now for the weight training, you need to find some good rotations and sets. There are some good ones on the subforum here.

Here is the key, like Rudebwoy said before, you need to lift higher weight and lower reps.

The key here is that you need to tear up that muscle fiber so that it can heal on top of the torn muscle, hence making larger muscles.

Build -> Destroy -> Build -> Destroy

Those BCAAs with the Glutamine will help you heal faster. Don't go to the gym everyday to lift like lots of beginners love doing. For one, you will burn out hardcore. Second, you will not make any gains because you never let your arms/body heal properly before tearing them up again. Always have a solid healing plan.

If you were bench pressing 100lbs for example at 10 reps, you need to go up to 150 or 170 and do 5 reps. The heavier the weight the more fibers you tear on the arms and chest.

I also recommend doing a pyramid.

If 200 is your max for example. Start at 145lb and do 5 reps, then add 10lbs, do 5 reps of 155lbs, then add another 10, do 5 reps of 165lbs, etc. etc.

You can also start at 145lbs do that at 10 reps, add 10 pounds, do 9 reps, add ten pounds, do 8 reps, etc. etc.

There are several ways to do a pyramid, but the idea is that it will KILL your arms. You need your arms to be dead when you are done lifting for that day. If you get some inflammation in your body afterwards, take some Advil to help out a little with that. Ganoderma/Ling zhi tea/extract if you are into only natural remedies.

No pain, no gainz. If you are not cussin, spitin, or throwin up, you ain't lifitng. Keep that in mind. Find a buddy if you need someone to spot you until you can get good at lifting alone, although it's always better to get a spot or help, so that you can push your limits.

Same goes for legs. Do the exact same strategy for legs. Glutes, hams, quads, calves, etc. Do back, traps, and shoulders exercises as well. Do not skip a single muscle group. Failure to keep it balanced and you will look weird, or hit plateaus too soon.

Also, do not eat too much and drink the weightgainer too much. If you start getting some flab or too much overhang, stop and go on a cut (cutting cycle). You can also mix in an ISO Whey protein that has no calories per se, if necessary. If you need help on cutting, either look at other threads for that or let us know, but cutting is all about cardio, high reps with low weight, much less calories with high protein, and burning the excess fat off, before bulking up again.

Once you get decent at this, you can start timing your protein shakes, using casein at night, using Nitric Oxide, or getting into serious stuff like what Steelix and others do. If I were you, I would start out simple until you get the hang of things. This stuff can get super deep. Don't overwhelm yourself or be too in a rush to get big and strong. Like Steelix says, brick by brick. Take your time.

[RexImperator]

I would not worry about that whey and supplements stuff. If he eats enough animal protein, he won't need extra BCAAs. Creatine can help if you are a "responder". Eating real food over powder is the healthier choice.

Read the stuff by Mike Matthews: https://www.muscleforlife.com/bigger-leaner-stronger/

He has a book and a podcast. The stuff he talks about is all backed up by research.

Basically: 1 gram per pound bodyweight of protein, moderate caloric surplus (if bulking), and progressive overload with big 4 compound lifts (bench, squat, deadlift, military press).

Mike is also in basic agreement with Rippetoe and likes Starting Strength, he's just more focused on the "aesthetic" side of things whereas Rippetoe is pure strength.

[Steelex]

Just message me bro. I'll do a consult with you, and get you set on the right path. I'll charge you a fair price for my time and help you skip the bullshit (cause obviously what you're doing isn't working). I used to be a tall skinny guy. Now im a big tall guy.

[Steelex]

Delete

[Coffee]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll remember it when further fixing up my routine. I think my biggest issue now is eating more.

I decided to make friends with some of the bodybuilders at the gym, one of them started helping me with a routine. Felt worn out after the routine he gave me for the first time in a while.

He told me to focus on improving my chest and triceps and back for now. Apparently my bicep routine is fine. He also said to think of abs as a second thought until I get better at improving the rest of my body.

[Rush87]

I wouldn't calculate calories. I would calculate macros. I can guarantee you as a former hardgainer who is now well over 200lb that without carbs it'll be like swimming upstream. Most scientific studies prove you won't use anymore than 1g per lb of protein. So for you, 150g of protein will be plenty. Next fats. Around 40g is enough for proper hormone function, but I'd jack it to 60 to be safe. If you shoot for around 3000 cal, that's around 460g Carbs. Follow the above and you'll have solid gains with minimal fat.

Training - Big sessions are a waste of time for a "hardgainer". Our recovery sucks. The whole Chest Day, Leg Day stuff will just lead to about 10 wasted sets per session, waiting another week before hitting the same muscles again. You're much better off balancing your recovery and doing 4x full body sessions per week, with around 4 sets per muscle group [I do 6 full body sessions per week, 4 sets per muscle group per session with around 16 sets max]. Haven't had DOMS once.

As for how I hit my carbs, I'm time poor. Eating 400+g of carbs from rice takes a fuck load of time. Instead, I treat carbs like a supplement rather than a macro. As such, I drink carbs on two occasions. First thing in the morning, then post training, and I try to limit their impact on my insulin levels as much as possible.

I do this by creating the following shake:

70% of my carbs from maltodextrin (1. This carb is fucking awful on it's own. It raises insulin levels through the roof but 2.) It's cheap. You can get sweet potato flour, but at 400+g's a day, that gets pricy) So...

I also add Banana, Mixed Berries, 99% Fat Free Milk, a bucketload of frozen veggies, a scoop of protein and a tablespoon of almond butter. Once combined, the glycemic index of the shake has dropped to mid-low levels. As for the rest of my day, it's just meat and veg.

My 2c on what's worked for me.

[General Stalin]

Relevant video:

[Intuitive]

(03-26-2018 12:38 PM)General Stalin Wrote:  

Relevant video:

Great video. Has me thinking about one last bulk up before I get too old.

[AcftW]

Looks like it’s been covered, but yeah definitely need to up the calories. Strength gains can come at the start without a surplus since beginner gains are mostly neurological, but at some point your body needs more space (muscle)to make those strength gains, and that comes from increasing the number of building blocks (food) available.