I have been really busy with work and family these few days, but here I am writing again. The stuff I had written about was definitely incomplete, but that was weighlifting for beginners, you have to practice to master it.
Things to remember while bulking :
1) Remember your input has to be greater than your output by about 200-500. On workout days, you use more calories so eat more , vice versa.
2) Diet matters. If you bulk on junk food, you are FAILING the program as you are gaining more fat than muscle. No ice cream, sweet stuff, pop/soda/coke, potato chips, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza and many more. Rule of thumb, avoid high calorie food (fat and sweet). Exception to sweet things are only post and pre workout.
3) Please remember, you are not in cutting/ fat loss phase , so please don't go low carb or switching to low calorie high volume food. For example getting your carb only from oats or avoiding carbohydrates. We need the carbohydrates during bulking, please remember that insulin helps to sens muscle cells with your nutrients and protein. Eating only high volume, low calorie carbs like apples/fibre type of food or oats is good for the your bowel movement, but you are probably going to puke because you have to eat so much of them to fill up your daily caloric needs. Wholemeal and white bread is still fine. Rice is acceptable too.
4) Once you get used to the weightlifting exercises, make a schedule. The schedule should include a cardio day to boost your heart performance, improve blood vessels that can boost our muscle gain. It could look like :
Monday - upper body + mid
Tuesday- lower body + mid
Wednesday - rest
Thursday- cardio
Fri - repeat from monday
You know yourself better than I do, so make your own.
5) Get enough rest, pretty basic. Since you build muscle during rest, you need to rest, seriously. Go for 9 hours a day of sleep.
These are some of the responses that people got when people tried bulking and my answers to them :
1) Bulking is so great, I am losing my weight and I am becoming slimmer significantly....
ANS: If you do the program correctly, you are supposed to gain muscle. So if you lost a significant amount of weight and you can feel that you are becoming thinner chances are that instead of BULKING , you are CUTTING. In other words you are not getting enough calories to compensate for your output.
2) Can I cut first then bulk later ? I am not comfortable with gaining weight ...
ANS: It's your own choice, I am just recommending you the things that I have learnt from experience. Personally , it's faster for you to reach your goals, if you bulk first. Remember that the muscles are like a supercharger that you install in your engine, it makes you go faster.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
Weight lifting for dummies
I won't tell you everything, but I'll give you the basics. The rest you have to learn some on your own, buy a book or learn from your friends.
This won't be hard, but you need a gym, even a makeshift one will do. You have to learn the different forms of weightlifting, different exercizes to target the muscles.
For example, I will list the important ones :
Bicep curl - biceps ( pretty obvious)
Tricep curl - triceps
Deadlift - lower back , thighs
Squats - almost everything at the lower body
sit ups/crunch - abs
pull up - upper back, shoulders
shoulder press - shoulders
hack squats - thighs
bench press - chest
repetitions/reps : obvious, but it is the number of times you do an exercise at one go
Before you do weightlifting always check with your medical doctor for any underlying disease that might harm you.
First thing you should bring to the gym, is a piece of paper and pen, your workout drinks and yourself. Learn the proper form of all the exercises listed above.
Proper form beats heavier weight but bad form.
Go choose an exercise listed above, choose a weight (for example 10 pounds) that you feel comfortable with , test HOW MANY REPETITIONS YOU CAN DO until you are unable to lift it in PROPER FORM ( until you mess up/slant sideways, fail). Record the number if the number is in the range of 7-11 then it's a good weight. Note it down and go over the rest of the exercises ( you can add more if you want).
The thing you just recorded is your starting strength list, it should be updated every two weeks to check your progress/regression.
Let's say you recorded down a fail in ten reps for your bicep curl. Do 8 reps ( 10-2=8 ) , 4 times
I always go for volume, in the example above the volume is 4 times 8 reps ( 8x4 =32 ). Volume should always be around 25-30ish.
How long should I rest between exercises ?
Depends on how heavy/tiring the exercise is. For squats and deadlift, I reccomend 1 to 1 and half minute. For the rest I reccomend 10-30 seconds.
What muscles should I exercise in a session ?
I prefer you target both upper and lower body in a session. Just do 5-6 types of exercise in one session, and do not do squats and deadlift at the same time.
I have sore muscles...
I have said that weightlifting itself doesn't actually build you muscle, it's the recovery from your weightlifting that does. It's normal to feel sore at the beginning for a few days but remember not to exercise the sore muscles.
Remember to track your progress. Maybe you realize after one week you can lift more reps, you can try to increase the weight. One of the most obvious ways to check on your muscle building program is to check your improvement in the weights. The fact that you are stronger means that you have built muscle. Another way is to use measuring tape to measure your different muscles weekly.
Please remember to take your POST and pre workout drinks/meal .
This won't be hard, but you need a gym, even a makeshift one will do. You have to learn the different forms of weightlifting, different exercizes to target the muscles.
For example, I will list the important ones :
Bicep curl - biceps ( pretty obvious)
Tricep curl - triceps
Deadlift - lower back , thighs
Squats - almost everything at the lower body
sit ups/crunch - abs
pull up - upper back, shoulders
shoulder press - shoulders
hack squats - thighs
bench press - chest
repetitions/reps : obvious, but it is the number of times you do an exercise at one go
Before you do weightlifting always check with your medical doctor for any underlying disease that might harm you.
First thing you should bring to the gym, is a piece of paper and pen, your workout drinks and yourself. Learn the proper form of all the exercises listed above.
Proper form beats heavier weight but bad form.
Go choose an exercise listed above, choose a weight (for example 10 pounds) that you feel comfortable with , test HOW MANY REPETITIONS YOU CAN DO until you are unable to lift it in PROPER FORM ( until you mess up/slant sideways, fail). Record the number if the number is in the range of 7-11 then it's a good weight. Note it down and go over the rest of the exercises ( you can add more if you want).
The thing you just recorded is your starting strength list, it should be updated every two weeks to check your progress/regression.
Let's say you recorded down a fail in ten reps for your bicep curl. Do 8 reps ( 10-2=8 ) , 4 times
I always go for volume, in the example above the volume is 4 times 8 reps ( 8x4 =32 ). Volume should always be around 25-30ish.
How long should I rest between exercises ?
Depends on how heavy/tiring the exercise is. For squats and deadlift, I reccomend 1 to 1 and half minute. For the rest I reccomend 10-30 seconds.
What muscles should I exercise in a session ?
I prefer you target both upper and lower body in a session. Just do 5-6 types of exercise in one session, and do not do squats and deadlift at the same time.
I have sore muscles...
I have said that weightlifting itself doesn't actually build you muscle, it's the recovery from your weightlifting that does. It's normal to feel sore at the beginning for a few days but remember not to exercise the sore muscles.
Remember to track your progress. Maybe you realize after one week you can lift more reps, you can try to increase the weight. One of the most obvious ways to check on your muscle building program is to check your improvement in the weights. The fact that you are stronger means that you have built muscle. Another way is to use measuring tape to measure your different muscles weekly.
Please remember to take your POST and pre workout drinks/meal .
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)