Bodybuilding Journal - My Quest To Gain 50lbs of Muscle

[Gsus]

Hi everyone

Obviously as the title suggests, over the next 18 months I'll be aiming to pack 50lbs on to my 5'11 frame.

I know that may sound a little too ambitious to some people, but just to point out that I do previously have a steady background in weight lifting & fitness. In the past I have reached a decent 200lb supporting frame and have been very involved in fitness, which does give me the advantage of gaining the weight back a lot quicker.

I now currently weigh anywhere from 165-170lb depending on how my nutrition/water intake is.

Last year I dropped to an all time low of 140lb, which on a 5'11 frame is on the very skinny side to say the least.

My diet consists of roughly 50% carbohydrates, 30% protein & 20% fats. I eat the same food everyday for simplicity reasons and my main food sources are,

Fish, Beef, Egg Whites & Yolks, Cottage Cheese, Whey Protein Isolate (Protein)
Brown Rice, Pasta, Oatmeal, Wholegrain Bread, Bananas (Carbs)
Almonds, Oils, Peanut Butter (Fats)

I wake up at 4:30am weekdays, have my breakfast, prepare all my food for the rest of the day. I then head off to the gym and train for 6:30am, and then on to work from 9:00am - 5:15pm.

I eat 6 meals per day, spread around 2.5-3 hours apart.

My training is a variation of a 12 week program called 'Triphase Training' designed by an ACE certified personal trainer & natural competitive bodybuilder. I won't go into detail on this, since you can find this easily with a few searches on Google.

Hopefully, as opposed to me just tracking a log for myself. Posting it on here will also inspire and motivate others, and, also provide a source of motivation for myself.

Also if anyone has any questions or needs advice I'll be more than happy to help out.

[mlc82]

This should be interesting, I'll be checking in on it!

I'm on the first day of a week off for recovery here, it's been WAY too long since I did that in the first place, and also forced myself to not drink coffee in the evening/nighttime so I'm sleeping much better. I'll be doing the opposite when I start back, trying to get rid of the fat I've put on my midsection since bulking up. Good luck!

[thecubemonkey]

Gsus,

Good luck on your muscle building routine. Ironically I just started a routine this week with the goal of adding muscle. It is a year long program that I found in Men's Fitness about 3 years ago. I like it because there are 4 phases. 1) Get Started - A good combo of cardio and lifting. Even if you are a gym rat, they suggest starting here. 2) Get Big - this is the add bulk stage. 3) Get lean - after packing on 10-15 pounds of muscle, it is tim to shed a bit of the fat that you may have put on during the bulking stage, 4) maintenance.

If you wanna gain more mass, skip stage 4 and repeat stage 2.

I'm on day two - so far, so good. I just hope for no injuries.

Good luck again. Do you have a blog with photos to track your progress. I still need to take mine.

[Flubsto]

Gsus, I hope you achieve your goal!

The thing that has caught my attention more powerfully about your post is that you wake up at 4:30! At what time do you go to bed? Do you take naps?

I'm another bodybuilding enthusiast and I really admire you for having such determination as to wake up so early to go to the gym.

[Gsus]

Originally Posted by thecubemonkey

Gsus,

Good luck on your muscle building routine. Ironically I just started a routine this week with the goal of adding muscle. It is a year long program that I found in Men's Fitness about 3 years ago. I like it because there are 4 phases. 1) Get Started - A good combo of cardio and lifting. Even if you are a gym rat, they suggest starting here. 2) Get Big - this is the add bulk stage. 3) Get lean - after packing on 10-15 pounds of muscle, it is tim to shed a bit of the fat that you may have put on during the bulking stage, 4) maintenance.

If you wanna gain more mass, skip stage 4 and repeat stage 2.

I'm on day two - so far, so good. I just hope for no injuries.

Good luck again. Do you have a blog with photos to track your progress. I still need to take mine.

I don't currently have a blog although depending on how things go I may eventually look into it. But I will be posting progress pictures in the future.

Originally Posted by Flubsto

Gsus, I hope you achieve your goal!

The thing that has caught my attention more powerfully about your post is that you wake up at 4:30! At what time do you go to bed? Do you take naps?

I'm another bodybuilding enthusiast and I really admire you for having such determination as to wake up so early to go to the gym.

Thanks, Flubsto.

Trust me waking up at 4:30 wasn't easy to begin with, but it's something you just get used to pretty quickly.

I personally would have never decided on getting up at 4:30. But I started a pre-contest diet a while back, in my 'fatty' days and the meal schedule consisted of 7 meals, the first at 5:00am followed by morning training.

I could have adjusted it, but I fancied the challenge and so it just went from there basically.

I love it this way though and enjoy training first thing in the morning. I don't take naps, since I don't really have the time too.

I usually get to sleep at around 8:30-9:00pm which gives me a good 7-8 hours of sleep.

[Gsus]

Week 1 - Day 1 - Chest & Shoulders

Bench Press 121lb x 10, 10
Incline DB Press 44lb x 10, 48lb x 8
Dips Bodyweight x 10, 10
Seated DB Press 35lb x 10, 40lb x 8
Seated Side Lateral Raises 30lb x 10, 35lb x 8

Today was my first day of training. I felt really weak, obviously the past few weeks of Xmas feasting on chocolate and soda have taken their toll.

It was a struggle just getting out of bed this morning since my sleep patterns have been all over the place. It took me about 3 hours last night just to fall asleep, so all in all I only got about 4 hours sleep.

As well as gaining overall strength & mass I'll be aiming to hopefully bring up my lagging bodyparts - Mainly my pushing movements, bench press, shoulder press, tricep movements etc. since I'm a lot stronger on my pulling movements.

Tomorrow morning is back & traps which is my favourite day. Absolutely love training my back!

[Gsus]

Week 1 - Day 2 - Back & Traps

Deadlift 187lb x 10, 198lb x 8
Pulldowns 74lb x 10, 10
Bent Barbell Rows 138lb x 10, 10
Barbell Shrug 198lb x 7, 4
Dumbbell Shrug 57lb x 10, 62lb x 8

[somiab1]

Hi there

all the best in your quest for putting on 50 lbs. Obviously I can hardly imagine that all of the weight would be muscle, but hey that's what a bulking period is for, eh?

I've just stopped a 10 weeks bulking and started cutting. Oh I train as well, just perparing for a comp in June.

But I'm having my own bit of challange as well. I used to be a vegan and I did a period of raw food as well but after I started training I did all the high protein thing but I kind of dont feel great about and would much prefer to go back to back to my vegan mostly raw diet. Am a bt concerned with the protein but it will be an experiment. I may or may not lose muscle but I will find out the answer!

Today I've only had fruits and nuts, and raw veg! I would like to give it a try and stay this way for a few weeks and see how I get on!!! I have a few pounds of fat to drop in the next few weeks. I have a photoshoot early March.

But losing the fat is not a problem for me I have done the bulk and cut thing before. I just hope the raw vegan thing goes well.I dont feel like taking protein shakes either!

All the best to you
Somi

[Spirittap]

Good luck with your goal.

I think 50lbs may be pushing it though. Natural bodybuilders i've heard from say a reasonable goal is 10-15 pounds of muscle in one year. You have to also remember that natural bodybuilders are not actually doing it the "natural" way, but instead the legal way. Products range from creatine to growth hormone over the counter products. Are you taking any of these products? It seems any guy can pick up a certain supplement or drug, work out, and gain muscle in no time.

When you said "Bench Press 121lb x 10, 10", do you mean you're doing 10 reps and 10 sets?

Seems more set for endurance than anything else. The best thing that has helped me gain muscle is working out with weight that only allows between 4-6 reps and at least 3 sets per muscle group.

[Gsus]

Originally Posted by somiab1

Hi there

all the best in your quest for putting on 50 lbs. Obviously I can hardly imagine that all of the weight would be muscle, but hey that's what a bulking period is for, eh?

I've just stopped a 10 weeks bulking and started cutting. Oh I train as well, just perparing for a comp in June.

But I'm having my own bit of challange as well. I used to be a vegan and I did a period of raw food as well but after I started training I did all the high protein thing but I kind of dont feel great about and would much prefer to go back to back to my vegan mostly raw diet. Am a bt concerned with the protein but it will be an experiment. I may or may not lose muscle but I will find out the answer!

Today I've only had fruits and nuts, and raw veg! I would like to give it a try and stay this way for a few weeks and see how I get on!!! I have a few pounds of fat to drop in the next few weeks. I have a photoshoot early March.

But losing the fat is not a problem for me I have done the bulk and cut thing before. I just hope the raw vegan thing goes well.I dont feel like taking protein shakes either!

All the best to you
Somi

50lb is certainly optimistic. Obviously I don't expect to gain 50lb of purely solid muscle. In 18 months if I can hit 210-215lb that's 35-40lb - I'll be happy with that.

All in all, I guess it depends how hard I want it and how hard I work for it. Like I said, do bare in mind I'm not starting from scratch. Here is a great example of muscle memory - Busting back onto the wagon....Hardcore Training Ahead - Bodybuilding.com Forums

That transformation was from a natural bodybuilder in just 12 weeks, muscle memory plays a big part in gaining the weight back that quickly.

Originally Posted by Spirittap

Good luck with your goal.

I think 50lbs may be pushing it though. Natural bodybuilders i've heard from say a reasonable goal is 10-15 pounds of muscle in one year. You have to also remember that natural bodybuilders are not actually doing it the "natural" way, but instead the legal way. Products range from creatine to growth hormone over the counter products. Are you taking any of these products? It seems any guy can pick up a certain supplement or drug, work out, and gain muscle in no time.

When you said "Bench Press 121lb x 10, 10", do you mean you're doing 10 reps and 10 sets?

Seems more set for endurance than anything else. The best thing that has helped me gain muscle is working out with weight that only allows between 4-6 reps and at least 3 sets per muscle group.

Sorry should have made that a little clear. It's 121lb for 2 sets of 10 reps. (121lb x 10, 10)

10-15lb in a year would indeed be VERY reasonable, but I don't want to be reasonable.

Generally a person who is new to weightlifting can gain a lot of weight when they first start out. It's certainly not uncommon for them to add around 25lb or more in their first year. Also, people who have previously trained (Like myself) but stopped can also gain muscle a lot faster than the experienced lifter with a few years under his belt. Just like the example I posted above.

Also another great example is Christian Bale while preparing for Batman Begins, going from 120lb to 200lb in 6 months.

[yorik]

The trouble with magazines like Men's Health is that they exist to put ads in front of your face, not provide information. I'll admit Men's Health is better than most though.

Personally, I get my weight training info at TESTOSTERONE NATION, but I look at bodybuilding.com too. T-Nation has a pretty slick layout and they are up front that they want to sell you their product, but they don't slap you in the face with a sales pitch. (Not that bodybuilding.com does.) T-Nation's info is pretty good and pretty detailed. They will probably have a better workout plan for you than anything you'll find in a magazine.