I'm curious as to how fast most guys can build muscle (bare with me, this isnt what it looks like)

For the past 3 days i've been eating only eggs, tuna, pasta, salad, milk, toast and soup.
ANd doing pressups/crunches/arm weights about twice a day, for 15 minutes.

After 3 days, i notice my arms are a tiny bit bigger, man boobs starting to return (the good type), and my 6 bulge* is more defined

*I've never had a 6pack, far too much work.


So as for the rest of you,

HOW do you bulk up. WHat routine?

And how fast do u see results, after a period of being lazy and thin.?

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I chop wood when I need to feel manly. I don't work out though. I feel no need to have bulging muscles.

I need to get back to working out. Not that it helped me much before -- I was still a stick v_v

To answer your questions: I dunno. Maybe never?

I don't know how fast, but starting today, I intend to find out! GRAHHHHH

How do I bulk up? By a good routine!

Three exercises isn't going to improve your body much...well, if at all.

Rotate between two themed routines: Legs and lower body, and Arms and upper body. First, always run at least 10-15 minutes every day, jogging pace will do.

For day one, do some:

Press-ups/bench
Incline
Dumbbell vertical raises
Dumbbell horizontal raises
Lateral pulldowns
Horizontal Rows
Tricep-pulldowns
Dips

For day two, do some:

Leg Extentions
Leg Flex
Squats!
Skullcrushers
Leg ups
Pull-ups
High pulls

theres some beginners stuff for you.

There's some other body builders on here...like Avenger, who will probably give advice too.

Bodybuilding=lose.
Functional training=win.

omg no you didn't

Some people would say that body building is an attempt to harden every part of the body like an erection.

When the weather is tolerable I hike quite a bit and am planning to take up mountain biking this year. I do sit ups, push ups, and shadowbox on a daily basis. That's about all I care to do at this point. I used to be quite tone when I was involved in martial arts, but my interests have changed.

This is good too

Yes I did.

Bring it sister.

I started lifting about 10 months ago, and have gained 25 pounds or so. I've accumulated some fat, but I'm still a fairly lean individual. I've been trying to keep my routine steady and intense, but I was only hardcore into it over the summer. I did 3 full body workouts a week, in my prime.

My routine isn't too sophisticated, but it got me results fairly quickly. One of these days I'm going to have to sit myself down and draw up something new. Anywho, here it is:

(I should say that pretty well all of my exercises have followed a 4 sets of 5 reps rule, but I could probably stand to up that a bit)

-bench presses, for my chest and triceps
-Same thing on the inclined bench, then military presses for my deltoids

-curls with an EZ curl bar, then some hammer curls to work the brachialis more

-lateral pulldowns for my back, but I sometimes switch it up with t-bar rows

-squats and leg curls are my biggies for the lower body. I also do seated calf raises

All that being said, Anovis' looks to be the more thorough program. I really just learned by mimicking a friend of mine. Soooo yeah, that's what I've done, and those are my results thus far.

Whatever you decide to do, keep up that diet, and in a BIG way! If your metabolism is anything like mine, you'll be needing to have meals in between meals. I also take a weight gainer after workouts. N-Large 2 has been my powder of choice. I highly recommend the strawberry flavour:).

Well, that's it from me. Bon chance!

you can't possibly expect long-term weight gain from pushups and crunches

Not necessarily. You'd be amazed how in shape you can get with just body weight exercises, although admittedly it would require a fair commitment, not just 10 or so pushups here and there. Supplementing with weights is still usually advisable though.

As for me, I use the Bowflex. I don't know if it's just how the machine is designed ot my body structure, but I seem to put on muscle very fast (to a point) and then keep it for weeks even if I hardly do anything (I've been quite lazy lately). I'm about 6'2", 180 lbs, so fairly lean, but even when I was more committed in my workkouts, I only seemed to gain mass to a point, even though I was getting stronger. I imagine real weights would probably give me more bulk, but I currently dislike how they hurt my tendons. I seem to get painfully sore very easily from free weights.

Hard core big rubber tire bashing with a sledge hammer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJWqx-zPffs&mode=related&search=

or Budget Training with Coach Ross
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6JvhCTjicY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57pv_1j4dH0&mode=related&search=

Ross Enamait For the WIN

I run 3 to 4 miles every morning before school and when I get done with school and work I usually do biceps chest and abs every other day. I dont do any workouts for legs/shoulders/whatever.

In shape isn't the same as bulking up. Yes, you can add muscle mass to a certain extent with body weight exercises, but given the high number of repetitions you eventually get to, the muscles doesn't get bigger. A leaner muscle tends to develop.

To really bulk up, you need heavy weights to a low number of repetitions. This breaks the muscle down to a much greater degree, which causes them to grow back larger.

If you're sore after using free weights, that means its working muscles that you aren't used to using when using a machine, even something like a bowflex. Also, machines aren't nearly as effective at strengthening your tendons, so that could be a factor too.

avenger sees it.

Screw all that running around.

Crunches works away any flab on the stomach so you can see your 6 pack

Push ups strain the shoulders and build up pecks.

hand weights (doing 7Kg) rip the biceps and forearms and increase size over time.



The increase in muscle size over time is actually what its about. So far .. the change is very fast.

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Hmm, maybe I should start building up muscles before military service which is in... 11 months.

Nah.

Okay. Here we go...

[url]www.crossfit.com[/url]

This is real fitness. If you really want to "bulk up" go to any gym and "work out" on their precious little machines. Go look like Arnold.

Big muscles != strong muscles. I was actually reading an interesting article the other day, talking about how if you stretch the muscles after a heavy muscular workout, not only does it prevent them from getting as sore, but you also get less of a "buldge" with the muscle. It appears physically smaller. However, it's also stronger.

Callisthenics, and fullbody workouts are the best kind there are. Machines work along tracks. Sure, maybe you can lift 300lbs with machine X, but it's along a certain, specificed track. All you have to worry about is pushing or pulling. You're only using one, maybe two, muscle groups. Bicep curls, same deal. You're using your bicep. (And most likely you're not even doing a good curl) Fantastic. You can get MASSIVE GUNS LOLZ. However, you're only working those one or two muscle groups. Doing full body, or large parts of the body, exercises works not only the biceps or whatever muscle group you're focusing on, but all of the supporting muscle groups too.

Remember, your body is like a chain. In the real world, you're only as strong as the weakest link in the chain. So if you have abs of steel, but your obliques are like jello.. then when it comes to doing something that involves more than just the abs, you're toast.

If you want to do weights, do things like Overhead Squats, cleans, snatches, etc. (Lots of examples on the crossfit site) If you want to work with callisthenics, do things like L-pullups, box jumps, a whole variety of pushups, crunches, side crunches, etc. (Again, check the site, or just talk to me..)

Personally, I advocate a combination of weights (such as those on the crossfit site), callisthenics, and running. Nothing can beat a good old fashioned run.


So long story short, if you really want to be strong, and physically fit in the best way possible, give something like crossfit a try.

I don't bulk up. However, when I was in training. I could easily run a 10 - 13 mi. run.

Edit: After many months of not running, I was still able to do a 4.25 mi. run. Granted I did have to walk up some steep hills but on the flatter terrains I was running pretty well.

It's nearly impossible for me to bulk up. I worked out for several years, and never gained any weight. I got a lot stronger, but never got any bigger. I did gain 15 pounds or so after a few years, but that was mainly because I was eating a 2000 calorie diet and eating over 200g of protien every day. And that gets expensive.

That is the best way to go for sure.

I thought you went away.

15 minutes Ruth? You pansy. I actually bulk up pretty quickly, on the other hand I don't take advantage of that and am a big slacker so i'm stuck with a pot belly now. Getting back to cardio and weights.... tommorow.

I'm pretty darn skinny. 5'11'' and 115 to 120lb or something.

I'm not sure what it is, I've always chalked it up to the large quantities of fish I eat, but I can bulk fairly quickly. Only problem is eventually other things get in the way and I'll lose anything.

Mind you, I'm not someone that wants Ubermuscles. I'd just like to be a little fitter/toneder. Toneder isn't a word, is it?

YES.

Take calisthenics one step further though, turn it into gymnastic training.

Or take it one step further than that and turn it into parkour training...

>.>
<.<
>.>

</shameless plug>

hurrah

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While I am happy to see more traceurs on Massassi, I don't think Parkour training is fitness training. Fitness training is Parkour training though.

Good parkour requires a ridiculous degree of physical fitness.

Therefore, to be a good traceur, one must be quite physically fit.

And there are plenty of ways to work physical fitness into PK. See: [url]www.primal-fitness.com[/url] for an example of Crossfit combined with Parkour.

I agree though, drilling the Parkour techniques alone won't get you superfit.

I just have one question:

Where in the hell did the term "ripped" come from?

Probably because when you workout, essentially, you are "ripping" your muscle tissues by straining them to their limits. Muscle growth can only occur after you have overstimulated existing tissue, in which case your body works overtime to compensate for the damage, building larger/stronger muscles, depending on your workout. Plenty of protein, water, and sleep is needed for optimal growth however. Overtraining can occur when you "rip" your muscles beyond reasonable limits, which is obviously not advisable.

It came from guys ripping the sleeves on their shirts. Good explanation of muscle building though.

Bluntly put my friend, smoking without running and bulking up is a recipie for what's it called....pain. Or something. Also, this doesn't apply to you, but working the abs is a muscle, and the fat you see on people lays over the muscle. So running is needed if you want definition.

The reason you run before lifting is to circulate your blood so you won't be sore after lifting the next morning. It also improves your endurance, which is different from strength, and endurance is used to build strength

Push-ups and crunches won't get you the man-bulk body you see in magazines or anything. Working 4-5 days a week with freeweghts do. (Like Avenger said, machines arn't suppose to make things hard for you, they make things easier. And when you're lifting, you want difficulty as much as possible.)



Or...maybe when you see definition in someone you say they're ripped because they do, in fact, looked ripped in parts?

some of this is good stuff, but i just do what im suppose to for offseason football.

3x a day workingout 40mins before school, 1hr during school, 50 mins after
it pays off big time.

alternated between lower and upper body lifting and do other exercises thats a bit weird if u ask me lol

well i bench 255, squat 305 (its a tad lower then what should be, pulled lower back a while ago, and didnt workout my legs in middle school), deadlift 400 easy, powerclean 215 though i could do more but i have bad form and a bad wrist.

just eat lots of protien and dont take days off.

push ups help alot, when i was in middle school i wasnt in athletics so i worked out before i went to bed. pushups, curls, military press, tricep extensions. just that got me in very good shape for when i went into football my freshman years though my legs lacked but they are catching up just fine.

im a sophomore now, couldnt even bench 90lbs at 7th grade lol wow

I'd like to get stronger, but I have a high metabolism and I hate eating. Of course that leaves me with no energy so I may have to just do it anyway.

Well, if you have no weights, I found this site useful.

http://www.frixo.com/sites/fitness/exercises.html