gaining lean mass

[richboy151]

So I am a 17 year old and I have been working out for about 6 months now. I try and workout 5 times a week and work whole body doing deadlifts, bench press, rows, curls, squats, etc. I start out these excercises with 3 sets of 6 reps as much as i can do in weight, and then go up to 10-12 reps before moving up in weight. The problem is I am 140 pounds and although I seem to be getting cut I can't manage to get any thicker. I would like to bulk up to about 155-160. I drink 1 protein shake everyday as well as eating a lot of nutrient packed calories (whole grains, lean meat, fruits n veggies) Any suggestsions on how to get BIIIIG?

[daveb]

More calories, then when your full, more calories, then more protein, more calories, more protein, more calories, and even more protein. a user in here by the name of swanso5 offers some pretty good lifting advice for mass. good luck!

[swanso5]

train less and more efficiently

if you don't to fuel 5 workouts a week then you sure as hell aren't eating to grow from 5 workouts

you seem to be doing some of the right exervcises but to train 5/week you must also be doing some worthless one's that aren't doing anything for you except using up cals thaqt you could be using to actually increase your wt

basically you need 20 x your bodyweight in pds cals per day to grow

[daveb]

Your welcome for the props swanso! lol. not that im trying to get you to have to help every newbie in here but the advice you gave me helped alot and i dont want to take credit for it.

[swanso5]

mate i just got it from someone else so feel free to steal

[richboy151]

Thanks for the tips guys. Im going to try and eat more and have less, but more efficient workouts. Iv also been looking into taking creatine( more specificly Purple K buffered creatine) any opinions on taking creatine?

[swanso5]

you don't need it yet

[richboy151]

How come you dont think i need it yet? I tried to find short and long term side effects of using it, do you know of any?

[knewell]

Worry about the basics! Supplements will account for less than .5% of your results from working out. Eat, sleep and train! Yes, creatine is good for certain people, but not beginners. Don't fall into the marketing hype!

[Boss Man]

Agreed. Creatine works better for more seasoned solid lifters. Guys new to lifting shouldn't waste time on it, as the results would for most if not all be not worth the money.

[richboy151]

thanks for the advice, im going to stick to eating and training for now

[richboy151]

On another gaining lean mass subject..i have started to workout 3/week and im trying to make them as efficient as possible. I was wandering if its better for me to do different workouts everyday ( working out 1 or 2 muscles groups a day) or full body ones ( deadlifts, bench press, squats, rows, all in one workout). the 1 or 2 muscles groups a day seems to be working good so far but would it be more beneficial to workout whole body 3 times a week?

[daveb]

3 days whole body is good as long as they are efficient workouts. dead lifts will work your back shoulders legs, so in one exercise your already doing three body parts. This routine was recommended to me by swanso5 and i just started it but it works well so far

Monday, Deadlift 5x5, Wide grip pull downs paired with weighted dips 3x8, one arm over head dumbell press paired with prone ab brace 2x12, time
Wednesday, Bench press 5x5, Romainian deadlift paired with weighted chinups 3X8, Static lunge paired with side ab brace 3x8, time
Friday, Squats 5X5, Bent over row paired with incline dumbbell press 3x8, Over head barbell press paired with reverse lunge 2x12.

That is not the exact routine he gave me, i changed certain parts of it but still follow the three day a week whole body compound exercise routine. It isnt uncommon to do an upper body lower body split though.
Monday chest, back
Tuesday squats, calves
Thursday Shoulders, Bi's, Tri's
Friday hams, lunges

using this routine though you sill want to stick to the big compound lifts and the 25 rep routine. 5x5 on the chest, back, and quads, and 3x8 or 2x12 for the rest.

I would say stick with the whole body 3/week for about six weeks then switch it to the split. like i said before most of information comes from users in here, im fairly new myself.

hope it helped.

[richboy151]

Thanks Daveb im going to try this routine out on monday

[daveb]

no problem. i just gave you the routine that was recommended to me from swanso5. just make sure you are adding 5 pounds or so every week. when you get to the point you cant complete all reps or sets just stick with that weight until you can. start slow too. dont try to kill yourself. i would recommend at least for the first week of this to start with something somewhat light and if it feels too easy add ten or twenty and do another set until you get to a weight that is heavy but manageable by your last set and use that as your start for the next week. It wont really hurt, especially cause we are both pretty new, to use a lighter weight and work your way up. one more bit of advice, take a before picture from the front side and back, and after about a month or six weeks take another one. you should really be able to see some changes. you wont be at your goal yet, but just seeing some changes with push you a thousand times harder. good luck.