Strongest Man In The World
07-25-2005, 12:59 AM
Like I promised, here is a nice list of a couple different general lifting schedules to follow to put on mass. Please note that for this to work (mass building) YOU MUST EAT!! Eat as much as possible. Even if you have to suppliment it with a dirty meal every once in a while, DO NOT SKIP MEALS
This first schedule is something my buddy informed me of. I was on it for 3-4 months(all natural of course) and saw some very nice gains. its commonly refered to as the "5X5" Heres how it works.
Find out what your 1 rep max is for each body part and take 75-80% of that. (say you can bench 250 1 time, you would want to use between 190-200 lbs to start off with) do 5 sets of 5 reps with the same weight (do not pyramid up or down). By the 3rd or 4th rep of the 5th set, you should hate life. Repeat for 2-3 workouts per body part, If you still have the energy to do more that that, you are A) Big Ron coleman or B) not going heavy enough. Do this for Biceps, chest, shoulder, back, quads, hams, glutes (it really doesnt apply to quick healing muscles such as triceps, calves and forearms) After the second week or so, you should be increasing the weight every week, weather it be by 2 lbs or 10 lbs(depending on body parts) This works best with at least a 5 day split so you can isolate each muscle and have enough rest time.
This is the workout im currently doing right now. Its pretty much your basic pyramid routine, just using 2-3 workouts / body part doing one warm up set and 3 sets (10-8-6 reps). I currently pair Chest with Back, adding in super sets randomly to keep my heart rate up (this is a great combo to super set seeing its opossing muscles, so neither are fatigued by each other) combine biceps and triceps (at least 2 days apart from chest). heres where it may differ. I split my leg days up into quads (and occasionaly forearms) one day and hamstrings and calfs on another. The reason i do this is b/c after im done with my 4th set of squats, im about ready to pass out and I usualy dont get a very strong hamstring workout after that, or visa versa. finishing up my split is my shoulder/trap day and i try to dedicate my 6th day to cardio.
Some excelent exercizes to do to help gain mass are
Quads- Freeweight barbell squats, hacksquats, machine legpress, hip adductor.
Hams/glute- Stiff legged deadlifts, standing leg curls, lying leg curls, weighted Lunges, reverse cable leg lifts
Chest Barbell bench press, barbell incline press, dumbell flat press, dumbell incline press, Cable flys, Flat bench flys, dumbell pull overs
Bi's dumbell hammer curls, Seated dumbell curls, EZ bar wall curls, one handed cable curls, concentration curls, preacher curls
Tri's Weighted dips, Cable pushdowns, rope pull downs, french curls (skull crushers) overhead tricep extension, weighted flatbench dips
delts barbell miltary press, Side laterals, front laterals, bent over laterals, shoulder shurgs(works traps as well) dumbell shoulder press. cable crossovers
calves- Donkey calf, standing calf, seated calf. bottom tier of legpress machine.
Back, Tbar rows, Lat pull downs, weighted chin ups, bent over rows, hammerstrength downward row, Close grip cable rows
That should give you some ideas on what to do if your at a plateau or just looking to gain size quicker. remember, 90 of your success rides on your diet. SO EAT!
This first schedule is something my buddy informed me of. I was on it for 3-4 months(all natural of course) and saw some very nice gains. its commonly refered to as the "5X5" Heres how it works.
Find out what your 1 rep max is for each body part and take 75-80% of that. (say you can bench 250 1 time, you would want to use between 190-200 lbs to start off with) do 5 sets of 5 reps with the same weight (do not pyramid up or down). By the 3rd or 4th rep of the 5th set, you should hate life. Repeat for 2-3 workouts per body part, If you still have the energy to do more that that, you are A) Big Ron coleman or B) not going heavy enough. Do this for Biceps, chest, shoulder, back, quads, hams, glutes (it really doesnt apply to quick healing muscles such as triceps, calves and forearms) After the second week or so, you should be increasing the weight every week, weather it be by 2 lbs or 10 lbs(depending on body parts) This works best with at least a 5 day split so you can isolate each muscle and have enough rest time.
This is the workout im currently doing right now. Its pretty much your basic pyramid routine, just using 2-3 workouts / body part doing one warm up set and 3 sets (10-8-6 reps). I currently pair Chest with Back, adding in super sets randomly to keep my heart rate up (this is a great combo to super set seeing its opossing muscles, so neither are fatigued by each other) combine biceps and triceps (at least 2 days apart from chest). heres where it may differ. I split my leg days up into quads (and occasionaly forearms) one day and hamstrings and calfs on another. The reason i do this is b/c after im done with my 4th set of squats, im about ready to pass out and I usualy dont get a very strong hamstring workout after that, or visa versa. finishing up my split is my shoulder/trap day and i try to dedicate my 6th day to cardio.
Some excelent exercizes to do to help gain mass are
Quads- Freeweight barbell squats, hacksquats, machine legpress, hip adductor.
Hams/glute- Stiff legged deadlifts, standing leg curls, lying leg curls, weighted Lunges, reverse cable leg lifts
Chest Barbell bench press, barbell incline press, dumbell flat press, dumbell incline press, Cable flys, Flat bench flys, dumbell pull overs
Bi's dumbell hammer curls, Seated dumbell curls, EZ bar wall curls, one handed cable curls, concentration curls, preacher curls
Tri's Weighted dips, Cable pushdowns, rope pull downs, french curls (skull crushers) overhead tricep extension, weighted flatbench dips
delts barbell miltary press, Side laterals, front laterals, bent over laterals, shoulder shurgs(works traps as well) dumbell shoulder press. cable crossovers
calves- Donkey calf, standing calf, seated calf. bottom tier of legpress machine.
Back, Tbar rows, Lat pull downs, weighted chin ups, bent over rows, hammerstrength downward row, Close grip cable rows
That should give you some ideas on what to do if your at a plateau or just looking to gain size quicker. remember, 90 of your success rides on your diet. SO EAT!