How to gain some weight!

[repoman0]

Today -

Squat - 115lbs
Overhead Press - 75lbs
Barbell Row - 100lbs
Bench Press - 120lbs
Deadlift - 165lbs

Deadlifts and squats seem to keep getting easier even as weight goes up. The other three are much harder for me to do.

Should I be doing all five of these in one day? I do 5x5 of each and am not too tired afterwards, and never sore. Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, takes about an hour and a half.

 

[TheNinja]

Today -

Squat - 115lbs
Overhead Press - 75lbs
Barbell Row - 100lbs
Bench Press - 120lbs
Deadlift - 165lbs

Deadlifts and squats seem to keep getting easier even as weight goes up. The other three are much harder for me to do.

Should I be doing all five of these in one day? I do 5x5 of each and am not too tired afterwards, and never sore. Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, takes about an hour and a half.

There are a lot of ways to split up a workout. I know some people who do similar to you and do every body part 3x a week. I see other people who do each body part every 5-7 days.

I personally think that doing all 5 of those in 1 day 3x a week is too much. You aren't giving your body enough time to recover.

I would think about splitting it into 2 workouts. That way you'd hit each workout every 4-5 days.

Workout 1 - Upper Body
Workout 2 - Lower Body

Some also try
Workout 1 - Pushing exercises (bench, squat, etc.)
Workout 2 - Pulling exercises (rows, deads, etc.)

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

I agree with The Ninja.

You do the exercises in 5x5 format from Stronglifts. Just use that program instead.

A:
squat
bench
bent over rows

B:
squat
overhead press
deadlift (Stronlgifts says to do 1x5 on this, I don't but might as weight increases)

O:
Off day

odd week:
A-O-B-O-A-O-O
even week:
B-O-A-O-B-O-O



Muscle soarness does not mean that "it" is working.

For me, the lifts don't get harder till I am near my max 5x5 set.

 

[repoman0]

Between Sunday and today -

151lbs

Squat - 125lbs
Overhead press - 80lbs
Barbell Row - 105lbs
Bench Press - 125lbs
Deadlift - 175lbs

I've decided to go with:

Squat, Overhead, Deadlift on Mondays
Squat, Row, Bench on Wednesdays
All five on Fridays

Mondays and Wednesdays are too tiring to do all five since I have to get up so early. Also: should I add calf raises anywhere in here? I feel like I work out everything except the calves.

 

[elitejp]

unless your lifting program really really sucks then the reason your not gaining weight is because you arent eating enough. Like someone already mentioned get that 1+ g/lb of protein in and then start messing with the ratio of your fats and carbs. Try to keep a log and you will start seeing how your body reacts to changing between high carb low fat to low carb high fat. and wehn you arent gaining weight you start upping your overall calories.

Edited:
Start talking to people who have put on some serious muscle size on and every single one would accredit it to how they ate. Not to how they worked out.

 

[repoman0]

unless your lifting program really really sucks then the reason your not gaining weight is because you arent eating enough. Like someone already mentioned get that 1+ g/lb of protein in and then start messing with the ratio of your fats and carbs. Try to keep a log and you will start seeing how your body reacts to changing between high carb low fat to low carb high fat. and wehn you arent gaining weight you start upping your overall calories.

Edited:
Start talking to people who have put on some serious muscle size on and every single one would accredit it to how they ate. Not to how they worked out.

Problem isn't gaining weight anymore, the workout program + protein intake I've started in the past month is already really working. I've added about 40lbs to squat, 15 to overhead press, at least 20 to row, 30 to bench, and 50 something to deadlift. I've only actually gained 5 or 7 pounds but I look way stronger and have had at least 5 people tell me that - people who don't know I go to the gym!

So I guess this means thanks AT for the help! I'll keep updating, now how about that calf raises question? Am I working them at all with these exercises?

 

[purbeast0]

how much weight have you gained?

trust me - you CAN gain weight. i was one of those real skinny people growin up my whole life and would eat whatever i wanted. when i started lifting in college i was like 150lbs, 5'11. then all through college i thought i was eating a lot but i wasn't. i was lifting though and was really ripped. i was probably 160 or 165lbs when i graduated at age 23.

after that, i REALLY tried to gain weight and actually made myself eat more.

i'm 29 now and last year i was my heaviest, nearly 220lbs at 218lbs. and i wasn't fat either. i mean i wasn't ripped or cut, but i was not fat by any means. so it is definitely doable, just continue to eat more and keep working out!

 

[TheNinja]

how much weight have you gained?

trust me - you CAN gain weight. i was one of those real skinny people growin up my whole life and would eat whatever i wanted. when i started lifting in college i was like 150lbs, 5'11. then all through college i thought i was eating a lot but i wasn't. i was lifting though and was really ripped. i was probably 160 or 165lbs when i graduated at age 23.

after that, i REALLY tried to gain weight and actually made myself eat more.

i'm 29 now and last year i was my heaviest, nearly 220lbs at 218lbs. and i wasn't fat either. i mean i wasn't ripped or cut, but i was not fat by any means. so it is definitely doable, just continue to eat more and keep working out!

That's so true. A lot of people claim they are hard gainers. I am one of them, naturally thin. I thought I was eating a ton when trying to gain weight but was probably around 3500 calories a day. If you want to gain weight you force feed yourself 5000 calories a day and lift heavy and you will gain weight.

A lot of people think they are eating a lot, but when they count calories it's really not THAT much. I never went into the 5000 calorie range or anything crazy when bulking just b/c it was too expensive and I didn't want to gain that much weight where I had to buy new clothes and stuff. But look at my earlier post in this thread about eating...you physically have to gain weight if you eat like that

 

[dealmaster00]

lift and eat more.

 

[elitejp]

ya i would add calf raises. Calves can handle alot and recover quickly.

 

[repoman0]

^Nice, thanks.. will do them Mondays and Wednesdays.

I added 5 lbs to everything today, at least for the last two sets. Still about 151lbs.

Problem though - my back is apparently stronger than my fingers - on the deadlift I'm at 180lbs and can manage 3 sets of 5, but my grip starts to slip towards the end; my fingers can't hold on anymore with this much weight. Also on the row as the weight comes up to my chest, the bar seems to hit a nerve in the fingers of my left hand (and more rarely, right hand too) and a weird sharp feeling comes up my arm.. it doesn't really hurt, but doesn't feel good either.. kind of like when you hit your "funny bone." Would using workout gloves for these two exercises help remedy these problems?

 

[repoman0]

today / monday

squat - 140lbs
overhead - 85lbs
row - 115lbs
bench - 130lbs
deadlift - 185lbs

I feel pretty stuck at these weights for the overhead press, row and bench. I did a couple sets at 135 on the bench press with a spotter on Friday but now 130 is harder than it was last week. Squat and deadlift are easier to keep moving up, particularly the deadlift. Any suggestions on how to move up again?

 

[TheNinja]

^Nice, thanks.. will do them Mondays and Wednesdays.

I added 5 lbs to everything today, at least for the last two sets. Still about 151lbs.

Problem though - my back is apparently stronger than my fingers - on the deadlift I'm at 180lbs and can manage 3 sets of 5, but my grip starts to slip towards the end; my fingers can't hold on anymore with this much weight. Also on the row as the weight comes up to my chest, the bar seems to hit a nerve in the fingers of my left hand (and more rarely, right hand too) and a weird sharp feeling comes up my arm.. it doesn't really hurt, but doesn't feel good either.. kind of like when you hit your "funny bone." Would using workout gloves for these two exercises help remedy these problems?

Gloves wouldn't necessarily help, but lifting straps would. They allow for a lot of the weight to be transferred to your wrists and arms instead of making your grip hold the weight. They are cheap too. I guess they have some padded ones for $6.50 too

http://www.nutraplanet.com/product/valeo/cotton-lifting-straps-one-pair-black.html

http://www.nutraplanet.com/product/valeo/padded-lifting-straps-one-pair-black.html

 

[Saint Nick]

You aren't eating enough, getting enough protein, or getting enough sleep. My lifts suffer greatly if I do not get enough of the above.

I do my best to eat 4000 calories per day, as well as get around 270g of protein. I also go to bed early every night. I have a slight insomnia, so I usually nap for at least an hour and a half (sometimes three hours!) before a lift. I try not to focus on my macro nutrients too much. I try to keep fat relatively low while I don't really care about my carb intake.

6' 5"
185lbs

I weight around 150 lbs when I was in high school. I still have a very long way to go...my ideal weight would be around 215 or 220 lbs LBM.

 

[repoman0]

Thanks, I've seen guys with those straps and figured that's what they were for.

and Saint nick, you might be right - it gets so damn expensive to eat so much though! Particularly the protein, I already go through one thing of ON per month and eat about 3 scoops per day.

 

[Powermoloch]

Good to see you're gaining progress. You and I have the same height. In my situation, I had to lose weight just more than a year ago. Now I'm hovering around 183~ lb morning weight. I was 223 lb and 179 at the lowest. The strong lifts are the best thing in my life (been doing it for a year), I gained alot of strength especially in my leg exercises. I can definitely see results in a mirror test, I'm gaining new muscle slowly but surely XD !

Unfortunately I don't have the luxury of insane metabolism like some of you guys, I just have to watch out what I eat .

 

[Ventanni]

Eat well, lift harder just like the others are saying. At my lowest I was 165, but over the last 8 years I've steadily gained muscle mass and strength, hovering at almost 200 now. I'm 6ft.

I'm also a longtime runner. I know I'm in a different camp when I say that cutting cardio doesn't seem smart to me. Its like putting new high performance heads, and aggressive cam, and freer flowing headers on your motor and not touching the fuel pump.

I don't eat enough to really gain any more than what I'm at. Cardio does build muscle though. Cardio muscle! And that's an extremely important group of muscles to keep strong even outside of weight training.

 

[Exodist]

...............
I'm also a longtime runner. I know I'm in a different camp when I say that cutting cardio doesn't seem smart to me. Its like putting new high performance heads, and aggressive cam, and freer flowing headers on your motor and not touching the fuel pump.
...........

I tend to agree with you on the Cardio, no sense in getting all beefed up looking like you can smash an army if you get winded 30 seconds into battle. Well thats my post traumatic stress analogy..

I how ever dont run anymore, but found long time go that elliptical machines can give me twice the work out as running in half the time. Plus it adds resistance for training your legs and doesn't hurt any joints. I was in the Navy on-board an aircraft carrier for 52 months, in that short period no one told me that going down the ladder wells would wear on my knee caps. So they are little tender at a certain spot, esp when you weigh in to much like I do now. But elliptical doesn't bother them. Thankfully they haven't bothered me during my squats as well. :\

 

[repoman0]

About the cardio, now that my squats are up at ~145lbs, a set of 5 gets my heart and breathing going pretty hard for at least a few minutes. So with 5 sets, that's a good 20 minutes of cardio No but really, I'm going to get back into biking in the spring. By then I'd like to be at 160-165lbs and stay there.

Anyway:

Squat - 145lbs
overhead - 90lbs
row - 120lbs
bench - 125/130lbs
deadlift - 190lbs

really struggling on the bench for some reason while the rest keep getting better.

 

[Lamont Burns]

If you can't add 10 pounds to your squat or deadlift as a beginner you are not eating enough.

 

[Lamont Burns]

Your overhead is strong when compared to the rest of the lifts. Be ready for that one to stall while the others go up.... don't fret, this will put you in with the rest of the human SS/SL population.

 

[repoman0]

I moved to the 3x5 program since nothing has gone up in weeks (rather gone down due to form concerns). So today -

150 pound squat (body weight finally!)
90lb overhead press (with good stable form)
195lb deadlift (I was happy with how these felt and will move up next time)
1 set of 6 pullups then 1 set of 3 - I was exhausted by this point or I would have done more.

Hopefully with less sets I'll be back to moving up in weight at a reasonable pace. I also think I need to eat more and drink more water as others in the thread have posted, but it gets expensive as a college student.

 

[repoman0]

Figured I would update this and make it a journal since it's been a while.

Looking back at my previous posts it looks like I haven't really progressed a whole lot in terms of weight, but I feel MUCH more confident about my form because I've gone up too high and come back down in weight to fix all lifts at least a couple times. Also I took a couple weeks off due to a sprained wrist and another week off due to spring break. Anyway, at the beginning of this thread, I was 5'10" and 140lbs and over the past six months have gained nearly 25lbs, nearly all of which is muscle - definitely a small amount of extra belly fat that has never been there before in my life but I'll take it. My diet hasn't been fantastic but is adequate, usually consists of two servings of frosted mini wheat cereal in the morning with whole milk + a banana and another half liter of whole milk, some sort of sandwich during the day and a couple more bananas, some coffee, and for dinner chicken or a burger or whatever else I have on hand, and lately I've been adding 300-350 calories worth of straight olive oil (delicious actually, haha). I typically drink 1/2 to 2/3 gallon of whole milk per day (1200 - 1600 cal - this also serves as a lot of my protein intake as I stopped buying whey months ago). Probably about 3500 calories a day, but I don't really keep track of nutrient ratios or anything.

Anyway, today:

Weight - 162lbs

Bench - 135 5x5x5x5x4 - first four sets and the beginning of the fifth were good but spotter had to help on that last rep. I was at 140lbs in bench but moved back to stop bouncing it off my chest and it feels a lot better.

Squat - 175x5, 180 5x5x5x5 - didn't expect to make 180 today but 175 felt easy and it turns out 180 did too. I fixed form on these recently too, stopped going all the way down like a frog thanks to some advice by SociallyChallenged which made me take some weight off. I still squat pretty deep compared to most people I see

Rows - 120 5x5 - couldn't do these for the longest time because of my sprained wrist, but finally can pull close to what I was doing before the injury and they feel better than ever, today at 120lbs was easy even and I hardly had to rest between sets. I have the hardest time progressing on the bench press but my rows are disproportionately high, weird.

 

[Sid59]

Figured I would update this and make it a journal since it's been a while.

Looking back at my previous posts it looks like I haven't really progressed a whole lot in terms of weight, but I feel MUCH more confident about my form because I've gone up too high and come back down in weight to fix all lifts at least a couple times. Also I took a couple weeks off due to a sprained wrist and another week off due to spring break. Anyway, at the beginning of this thread, I was 5'10" and 140lbs and over the past six months have gained nearly 25lbs, nearly all of which is muscle - definitely a small amount of extra belly fat that has never been there before in my life but I'll take it. My diet hasn't been fantastic but is adequate, usually consists of two servings of frosted mini wheat cereal in the morning with whole milk + a banana and another half liter of whole milk, some sort of sandwich during the day and a couple more bananas, some coffee, and for dinner chicken or a burger or whatever else I have on hand, and lately I've been adding 300-350 calories worth of straight olive oil (delicious actually, haha). I typically drink 1/2 to 2/3 gallon of whole milk per day (1200 - 1600 cal - this also serves as a lot of my protein intake as I stopped buying whey months ago). Probably about 3500 calories a day, but I don't really keep track of nutrient ratios or anything.

Anyway, today:

Weight - 162lbs

Bench - 135 5x5x5x5x4 - first four sets and the beginning of the fifth were good but spotter had to help on that last rep. I was at 140lbs in bench but moved back to stop bouncing it off my chest and it feels a lot better.

Squat - 175x5, 180 5x5x5x5 - didn't expect to make 180 today but 175 felt easy and it turns out 180 did too. I fixed form on these recently too, stopped going all the way down like a frog thanks to some advice by SociallyChallenged which made me take some weight off. I still squat pretty deep compared to most people I see

Rows - 120 5x5 - couldn't do these for the longest time because of my sprained wrist, but finally can pull close to what I was doing before the injury and they feel better than ever, today at 120lbs was easy even and I hardly had to rest between sets. I have the hardest time progressing on the bench press but my rows are disproportionately high, weird.

Nice update. Sine the original part of the thread is gaining weight and that's accomplished, how do you feel your strength progressed?

I'd imagine after going 5x5 and then 3x5, your strength and lifts would go up.

 

[repoman0]

Nice update. Sine the original part of the thread is gaining weight and that's accomplished, how do you feel your strength progressed?

I'd imagine after going 5x5 and then 3x5, your strength and lifts would go up.

I actually moved back to 5x5 after that update and just started eating closer to the 3500-4000 Cal range (was probably at ~3000 before) and also started carrying a water bottle with me so make myself drink more water and things started to progress again. Also I'm sure my form back then was holding me back a bit. Strength has definitely progressed nicely - I think I started out at something like this

Squat - 85
press - 65
row - 75 (?)
bench - 85
deadlift - 115

Now they're 180, 95, 120, 135, 220 respectively. Squats and deadlifts feel really good too, like they still have some nice room to go up. Might be time to go 3x5 for real on the two pushing exercises (press and bench) though because they definitely don't want to go up anymore.