Conditioning or Bulk?

[Toby]

I've tried bulking up by training (bench press, curls, push ups, etc) and it doesn't seem to work... Maybe it's the way my body's built... I'm 5'7, 55kg, but still pretty strong for my size... I'm thinking I should concentrate more on my conditioning rather than bulking up. As it is, it's impossible for me to put on weight, no matter how much or what I eat.

What do you guys think?

[Anbu Alex]

yea i had the same problem conditioning does help if u want to take damage and for making ppl hurt more

[Sohan]

Your profile says you like going out and partying. If you're a tough gainer, try getting 8-9 hours sleep every night, take protein supplements, eat more total calories, and train with reps in the 6-10 range. Go for training volume but don't overtrain. Don't train a major muscle group on weights more than 2x per week. Rest, rest, rest, between workouts.

Anyone can gain weight. Trust me, in 10 years you'll see how easy it is without trying.

Respectfully,

Sohan

[Toby]

Thanks for the replies... Here's a rundown...

Breakfast is weetbix - 2 with sugar on top.

Lunch is 6 chicken nuggest.

Afternoon tea is a sandwitch with penut butter or vegimite or nutella, a bananna, a nuta grain bar, and a fruche (yoghurt).

Tea is either sausages and mash potatoes, roast with veggies and salad/chips, fish with salad chips. Sometimes cooked eggs.

Night snaks are crumpets with vegimite, penut butter, or nuttela, maybe another bananna or fruche, and maybe some more nuggets, or a pasty, or something similar.

All I drink during the day is water, some orange jucie, and one glass of milk before bed (and raw egg yoack).

My training isn't too much nowdays, about 10mins on the bike, row machine, 3 sets of 30 pushups, 3 sets of 12 reps of 30kg weights, and some work on the punching bag.

Hope that's a clearer picture.

[Sohan]

Thanks for the replies... Here's a rundown...

Breakfast is weetbix - 2 with sugar on top.

Lunch is 6 chicken nuggest.

Afternoon tea is a sandwitch with penut butter or vegimite or nutella, a bananna, a nuta grain bar, and a fruche (yoghurt).

Tea is either sausages and mash potatoes, roast with veggies and salad/chips, fish with salad chips. Sometimes cooked eggs.

Night snaks are crumpets with vegimite, penut butter, or nuttela, maybe another bananna or fruche, and maybe some more nuggets, or a pasty, or something similar.

All I drink during the day is water, some orange jucie, and one glass of milk before bed (and raw egg yoack).

My training isn't too much nowdays, about 10mins on the bike, row machine, 3 sets of 30 pushups, 3 sets of 12 reps of 30kg weights, and some work on the punching bag.

Hope that's a clearer picture.

Yikes. You sure do eat differently from us Yanks. Though you and I share a love for tea. Green would be my choice.

It's your diet that is your main issue. You need a heftier breakfast and lunch. Eat a midmorning snack. Less food in the evening. More protein at every meal (buy yourself a protein powder supplement and take 2-3 servings per day). No raw egg yolk--you can salmonella from it.

Get a trainer or a good book to learn a proper weight training plan that focuses on basic multiple joint movements. If you can't afford that, do this (each set has increasing weight):

Mon/Thur:

Bench Press: 4 sets of 10 (warmup), 8, 6, 8 reps

Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 3 sets of 8 reps

Dumbbell Row: 3 sets of 8 reps

Barbell or Dumbbell Biceps Curl: 3 sets of 8-10 reps

Tues/Fri

Squats: 4 sets of 12 (warmup), 10, 8, 10 reps

Lunges with Dumbbells: 3 sets of 10 reps per leg

Calf Raises with Dumbbell: 3 sets of 15-20 reps per leg

And save the pushups for a warmup, nobody gains bulk from pushups.

Hope this helps.

Cheers::

Sohan

[elbows_and_knees]

your workout regimen is not really conducive to gaining size.

[BUCKEYE]

Toby,

When I first joined the military, I weighed 185 lbs. I'm 6'1" and now weigh anywhere between 235 and 255 (depending on my cardio expenditure). Supplements other than BCAA's, Protein, and daily vitamins are a waste of money.

If you want size...you need to lift HEAVY (do not hurt yourself, but you need to push yourself) and eat a lot. This is what works for me and what I have seen work for other people in the past....

The Anabolic Diet...(designed by Dr. Mauro Di Pasquale)

The basics are Monday through Friday eat very low carbs and a very high protein & fat intake (protein and fat will shift the your body into a state of Ketosis and lower Insulin levels thus increasing your GH release).

Saturday and Sunday switch to a lot of carbs and very low protein and fat (Carb Loading will create an insulin spike, moves nutients into your system). This will give you that Anabolic effect and when you lift on Monday after switching back to high protein, low carbs............holy Crap - Watch Out - you will see why they call this The Anabolic Diet.

You need to take in a lot of calories per day though, otherwise you will lose weight! I'm talking about 2500 to 3000 calories per day, maybe more!

If you have any health concerns then obviously see a Dr. before you go on this.

let me know if you ahve any questions....

Respectfully,

Buckeye

[BUCKEYE]

On weight training.... I suggest the following for weight gain (not weight loss).

Day 1:

Chest/Back

Day 2:

Biceps/Triceps

Day 3:

Shoulders/Legs

Day 4:

Rest

Day 5:

Chest/Back

Day 6:

30 minutes of Cardio

Day 7:

30 Minutes of Cardio

Day 1:

Repeat cycle

If you do too much cardio, you will not gain as much muscle mass, but you still need to do cardio. If your MA training is anything like mine....it might as well be one hour of sweat pouring cardio as far as your body is concerned.

Go heavy on the weights, start out at about 60% of what "you think that you're max is" and do that for a warm up. Then go as heavy as you can in order to do 6-8 reps (safely and properly). Drop your weight 5-10lbs and repeat reps. Do this for 3-4 sets until muscle failure.

In two to three weeks you won't believe how much more weight you can lift then when you started. I started my Brother-in-Law on this 2 months ago and he has gained over 10 lbs. Best of luck!

Respectfully,

Buckeye

[Toby]

Thanks again for all the replies...

I'll give it a go and try out the various traning methods and diet each of you have suggested and see which works best. It's just hard getting motivated.

I'll be starting footy traning again today, so there's another good workout.

I guess both conditioning and bulk work hand in hand.

[elbows_and_knees]

On weight training.... I suggest the following for weight gain (not weight loss).

Day 1:

Chest/Back

Day 2:

Biceps/Triceps

Day 3:

Shoulders/Legs

Day 4:

Rest

Day 5:

Chest/Back

Day 6:

30 minutes of Cardio

Day 7:

30 Minutes of Cardio

Day 1:

Repeat cycle

If you do too much cardio, you will not gain as much muscle mass, but you still need to do cardio. If your MA training is anything like mine....it might as well be one hour of sweat pouring cardio as far as your body is concerned.

Go heavy on the weights, start out at about 60% of what "you think that you're max is" and do that for a warm up. Then go as heavy as you can in order to do 6-8 reps (safely and properly). Drop your weight 5-10lbs and repeat reps. Do this for 3-4 sets until muscle failure.

In two to three weeks you won't believe how much more weight you can lift then when you started. I started my Brother-in-Law on this 2 months ago and he has gained over 10 lbs. Best of luck!

Respectfully,

Buckeye

This is more of a body builder style workout though - a single day for tris and bis - very isoloative. same with shoulders. for martial arts, compound exercises tend to work best.