# My goal



## fitz (Jul 25, 2009)

Evening all,

I just thought id share my plan and get a bit of advice from anyone who has done what i would like to do.

Im 20 and have always been really skinny. I weighed myself on monday at 
9st 1lb and im 5ft 10" 

So i decided that i wanted to change and gain some muscle. So this week (starting on monday) i began working out, 2 days on one day off. Nothing major just pull ups, crunches, press ups and squats etc.

Ive changed what i eat to try and get around 100g of protein a day and not eat any rubbish. Which i have done so far and try to drink 1.5 litres of water a day instead of any fizzy drinks but i still have fresh juices. 

I have noticed a difference (gained 2 lbs already) and am going to get some protein shakes soon to have straight after a workout and before bed. 

My brother is going to give me some PHD pharma whey for post workout and some 6hr blend for before bed which should help me on my way. If anyone has had any experience with this protein please feel free to comment. 

If anyone has any advice or has had any experiences it would be much appreciated.

Cheers 
Tom


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## PaulGTI (Oct 21, 2006)

Im not an expert, but from my results if you want to be putting on muscle you need to be doing weigts that you can only do 4 to 6 reps with. Less that 4 and its too heavey, more than 6 and its too light. Do about sets with a good 3 or 4 minutes rest between.

Use that system for 3 weeks, have a week off. Do another 3 or 4 weeks then use a lighter wieght system for a few weeks, then start it off again.

Although before doing that you need to have built up good technique, so no swinging when doing dumbell curls!

Hope that makes sense.


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## -Ashley- (Nov 19, 2010)

You're in a much more fortunate situation than me. I have to eat really really healthily just to stay the weight I am, and i aint light!!! I'm not a fat slob, although i'm sure people take one look at me and think this. I play loads of football, badminton, etc etc etc . . . i'm just naturally bigger.

Anyway as for your topic. As PaulGTI said in order to add muscle mass you need high kg weights and low reps. Low weight excercises just add definition and improve muscular stamina (the change over between anaerobic and aerobic).

So in short, get some beefy dumbells and these will lead to a beefy you .


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## Mixman (Dec 18, 2007)

The PHD Pharma Wheys are the best tasting protein supplements I have ever tasted and so easy to mix too


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## DCR (Sep 12, 2008)

Im sorry chaps, but your advice is way off. Muscle mass is gained in the 8-12 rep range. Any lower/heavier than that and you are hitting different muscle fibres.

If you only want muscle mass, then you only need to be lifting 60%-70% of your maximum strength in uncur "hypertrophy" i.e. muscle growth

Lower reps with high weight are used for power, and while you will still get growth from that, you wont get as much as from a higher set range with a lower weight.

My advice, dont stick to one set form. Mix it up doing a combination of set ranges. That way you dont get bored and your body will benefit from the variety.

You also need to eat more than 100grams of protein per day. Advice states that you need 1-1.5 grams per lb of body weight you wish to be. So if you wish to be 200lbs, then you need to be eating a min of 200 grams per day.

Lastly, take a good look at your diet. People think that size is gained in the gym, when its actually gained in the kitchen. Protein/mass powders are good, but not as good as a nailed down diet.

Try muscletalk.co.uk for more advice


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## Bill58 (Jul 5, 2010)

Good advice from DCR. I would add that before working out with weights you need to be shown how to work out correctly. Bad technique can cause irrepairable damage to muscles, joints, ligaments etc. 
A proper warm up routine is very important. Good luck with your training.


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## vectra ed (Feb 4, 2006)

Good luck with the training. I wouldn,t worry too much as long as your BMI is ok. But if you enjoy the training then that can not be a bad thing.:thumb:


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## Ben_ZS (Sep 28, 2008)

At the moment I have been trying out Dorian Yate's High Intensity Training. I've been doing *2 SETS ONLY* on each machine/apparatus. With a heavy enough weight to make me work hard, but also keeping good strict form at the same time. I aim for about 8-10 reps. Before each set say over and over again '100% nothing less' and just give it all you have on every set. My training rountine looks like this;

Every session 10 minutes warm and full body stretch

Day 1-Chest & Triceps
Day 2-Rest
Day 3-Deltoids, Traps & Legs
Day 4-Rest
Day 5-Back, Biceps Forearms

Depending on how I feel on different days I fit Abs and Cardio in.

I am 6ft 14st with hardly any body fat. I eat a fair bit throughout the day including 3 protien shakes a day, Prawn ****tails, Tuna, Chicken, Turkey, Soya and Linseed bread, Cornish Pasties, steak, rice, pasta etc. Remember it's not just protein you need it's carbs, calories and different types of fats.

I have tried a fair few supplements and powders, this is what I am currently on;

Pre Workout-USP Labs Jack3d (Nitric Oxide)
During Workout-Gaspari Size On (Creatine+Amino Acids)
Protien Power- http://www.bodyshapersfitness.com/p...-universal_nutrition_ultra_whey_pro_4_5kg.htm
Supplements-Magnesium, Zinc & Chronium Picolinate (sp)

Other Protein Powder I have tried and liked are;

Cytosport Muscle Milk
Gaspari MyoFusion
CNP Pro Mass
Dorian Yates Tempro

HTH


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## PaulGTI (Oct 21, 2006)

DCR said:


> Im sorry chaps, but your advice is way off. Muscle mass is gained in the 8-12 rep range.


Thats not my experience, but I have read a lot about it and there is so much conficting advice from experts that I think the only thing people can to is try a few systems, and see which work and which dont.

Also, as I said, dont stick to just one systen, I do mine in a block of 3 weeks, then have a week off weights and do extra cardio, do another 3 or 4 weeks, then do a higher rep (8-10 reps) for 3 sets, then use a really low weight and do 50-100 reps, week off, back to the 4-6 reps...

Whatever works for you is best.


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## DCR (Sep 12, 2008)

Im not sure the advice is that conflicting TBH. Its well documented that 8-12 is the desired rep range for hypertrophy.


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## The Cueball (Feb 8, 2007)

Common Belief 1) Mass Gains 

Heavy weights - 4-6 repetitions per exercise

Common Belief 2) Strength Gains 

Medium weights - 8-12 repetitions per exercise

Common Belief 3) Toning / Cutting / Fat Loss 

Lighter weights - 16+ repetitions per exercise 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

So how familiar are those rep ranges to you? 

The first thing that must be mentioned is that each and every time you walk in the gym you need to cause your muscles something called 'microtrauma' which is when your muscle fibers are damaged due to forcing resistance against them. 

Growth happens during recovery when the process of protein synthesis occurs to repair those 'micro torn' muscle fibers into a stronger and larger state.

So when you are training for mass gains, strength gains or even fat loss your number 1 priority is to cause as much microtrauma as physically possible before your muscles fatigue and eventually fail. 

So what rep range is ideal for building muscle? 

I want you to totally forget about rep ranges from now on and start concentrating on 2 factors;

1) Isolating the targeted muscle group

This is important during every set because it ensures that the targeted muscle group is the actual muscle group doing the majority of the work. Try grabbing the heaviest set of dumbbells in your gym and lifting for a set of standing dumbbell curls. How many reps did you manage to get out? 2, maybe 3 on each arm? Now grab a pair of dumbbells half that weight and see if you can complete any reps. Wow, you managed to complete a full set of 8 each arm, what that's telling you is that the ultra heavy set really had no impact on fatiguing your biceps to the point they need to grow beacause you were able to complete a full set with the correct weight immediately after. 

Use a weight that allows for maximum muscular isolation/stimulation on all repetitions.

2) Lift with good form using the heaviest possible resistance

Understand that; the heavier the weight you use, the larger the surface area of a muscle is recruited to move it. 

Each muscle in your body is made of inter-connecting muscle fibers, now think about the size of your pecs and quadriceps, they are huge muscles that span both the width of your torso and upper legs respectivly. Your goal when training them is to recruit as many of those muscle fibers as possible during each set and exercise.

Perfecting each and every set... 

Let's say for example sake that your pecs are made up of 1000 muscle fibers. 

If you had a 1RM (1 repetition maximum) of 220lbs (100kg) on your bench press that would indicate that all 1000 of those muscle fibers would have been used in that 1 repetition. 

That would be effective in one sense but a waste in another because you only applied 1 reps amount of tension on those muscle fibers (around 3 seconds), NOT causing effective muscle fiber fatigue. 

Let's say you dropped the weight lifted to 175lbs (80kg) and managed to get out 6 repetitions at this weight before your muscles failed.

This would be much more beneficial to you because those 1000 muscle fibers were again all recruited (due to reaching muscle failure) and you applied 6 reps of tension to the muscle (around 20 seconds)

How I can make your workouts even better... 

In the following example you have taken your muscles to the point needed for them to grow (microtrauma), you should then maintain this point of maximum stimulation by performing a simple drop set or static set directly after your muscles fail for the first time. 

Imagine your muscles work on a capacity scale of 0-100. 

When your muscles are at rest (sleeping), let's say they are running at around 5 capacity. 

When a muscle completely fails due to resistance training it is obviously at a capacity level of 100. 

It is at level 100 that you want to be at MOST OFTEN during a workout. 

When you recover between sets, your muscles can recover back to around level 40 before your next set. 

The KEY is to maintain high capacity levels (> 80) for as long as possible. 

Lifting a heavy set like the example above to failure puts you at level 100, then moving directly into another lighter set straight after (lifting to failure again) maintains that high capacity level for the double the amount of time than lifting for just 1 heavy set on it's own!

Something to think about maybe...

:thumb:


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## fitz (Jul 25, 2009)

^^^^^^ Fantastic!

Thanks everyone for your input its much appreciated!


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