RE: Optimum Growth
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Wednesday, March 08, 2006 8:38 PM
Definitely.
First thing, head over to the nutrition forum and look for a post called "Calculate expenditure"- you'll find out exactly how to figure out how many calories per day your body needs in order for it to grow new muscle. It sounds to me like you're definitely falling short there. The basic rule is, five or six meals a day, each with a good source of protein, carbs and fats of the right types. Personally, I eat a lot of chicken- It's an excellent source of protein. Whole grain brown rice is my favorite carb, especially because it's a slow burner- It takes the body longer to digest than white rice, which means my body's burning fat for a longer period of time due to digestion. I supplement my fat intake with some fish oil- Omega 3 fats. Today, I took in approx 3200 calories.
Next, the workout- You're going to need to change that quite a lot.
First, you have to work your legs if you're even the least bit serious. You're an upper body only guy right now, so I'm guessing you find leg workouts to be boring. Well, you're missing out on tons of upper body growth by not working your legs. A good leg workout builds more overall body muscle than any other workout- See, squats use the most muscle out of any exercise. Besides building your legs into a nice solid base for the rest of your body, they also help build the rest of your body at the same time- When you have all that weight on your shoulders, for example- What do you think keeps the weight in the proper position? Your upper back. You have to keep that bar from rolling down your spine, so your traps and rear delts come into play under a lot of weight. And what muscles do you think stop you from falling forwards or backwards? Your lower back and your abs, also working under all that weight. Believe it or not, I never got such great gains in my abs until I got serious about my leg workouts. And lower back, well- Who likes injuring their lower back? No one. With a good squat workout, you can make your lower back virtually bomb proof- Besides all that, everyone is always concerned with how much weight you can bench, right? Well, the squat is actually the king when it comes to determining someone's actual overall strength- And because it uses so much muscle, with a little work, your squat weight grows in leaps and bounds. So next time you run across some upper body junkie with sticks for legs and he wants to know how much you bench, go ahead and blow him away with your bench weight (Because stronger squat= stronger lower back= stronger military press= stronger shoulders= stronger bench press)- And then ask for his squat weight.
And don't tell us your legs are in good enough shape for any excuse- We've had people tell us that their legs are fine because they run, or they do martial arts or mountainbiking. It's not the same thing, nowhere near it.
But anyway-
You asked for a routine. Try this out.
Monday- Chest
Flat, incline, decline
Tuesday- Legs
Squats, stiff leg deadlifts, calf raises
Wednesday- Shoulders
Standing military press, side lateral raises, shrugs
Thursday- Back
Deadlifts, bent over rows, pullups
Friday- Arms
Standing barbell curls, reverse curls, alternating dumbbell curls
close grip bench press, skullcrushers, triceps pressdowns
For each day, do a couple of light warmup sets, then do three sets of eight to ten reps for each exercise. No need to warm up again within the same muscle group. Rest two to three minutes in between sets.