I have been training for 4 years, although you wouldn't really know it to look at me. My current stats are:

Legs - 22"
Arms - 14"
Shoulders - 49"
Chest - 44"
Waist - 32.5"

5'9" - 166lbs

My best lifts are:

Bench : 113kg
Squat : 140Kg
Deadlift : 140Kg

I have a decent diet plan that seems to be working. 3 weeks in and I've put on weight, not all lean, but every lift is going up so I'm happy. My routine is fairly simple (two days a week):

Day 1

Squat (4x8)
SLDL (3x8)
Bent over rows (3 x 8)
Strict ez bar curls (2 x 8)

Day 2

Flat bench press (4 x 8)
Military press (3 x 8)
Strict Skullcrushers (2 x 8)
Abs


As you can probably tell, I like to keep things simple, few exercises, but with great intensity. Each week I aim to increase the weight for each exercise. If not I'll add a rep or two to the previous week until I can handle a heavier weight. Progression, it seems, is the key to gaining size for me. Over the last few years I didn't progress my weights, and guess what....I didn't grow for ****.

My goal is to bulk until I hit 15" on my arms. This will be very hard for me, my arms are very stubborn, despite being fairly strong. So, I could be bulking a while!

My body type - ectomorph.

My previous routine of 5x5 didn't do much for me, despite eating a tremendous amount of good foods and bulking up to 190lbs, I hardly put on any lean mass. I had more chins than a Chinese phone book. Having cut that off, I am now trying this new fairly simple routine, and the first few weeks have already seen an 8kg increase on the bench press. Happy days!

I'm determined. This time...I'ma f*ckin grow.

Watch this space

03 / 01 / 2007

Bench press - 90 x 8, 90 x 6, 80 x 7(grr)
Military press - 50 x 8, 45 x 8, 45 x 6(grr)
Skullcrushers - 42.5 x 8, 42.5 x 8

Good workout, fairly happy with the weights. They go up from here!

ill be watchin mate good luck

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06 /01 / 2007

Squats - 100 x 8, 100 x 8, 100 x 8, 100 x 8
SLDL - 90 x 8, 90 x 8, 90 x 8
Bent over rows - 40 x 8, 50 x 8, 50 x 8
Bicep curls - 35 x 8, 35 x 8

Good session, 45 mins, all targets hit, all weights will go up next week.

09 / 01 / 2007

Nuts workout, I'm knackered! Just about to go and eat a horse...but thought I'd write down the numbers.

New PB on the bench! loving that!

all in KGs...

Bench - 92.5 x 8, 90 x 6, 80 x 7
Military Press - 50 x 8, 50 x 6, 45 x 8
Skullcrushers - 40 x 8, 42.5 x 6

I did the skullcrushers with stricter form this week which is why the weights have gone down.
Both bench and Military press are up!

According to the one rep max calculator...92.5 x 8 should equate to a 115kg one rep max, I can finally bench 1.5 times my weight!! Been trying to do that for years!

Time for some munch

I'll upload some pics soon :P

Start of bulk and after approx 3 weeks (top is before, after below) :-




I seem to look leaner in the second pic...although I'm about 4-5 pounds heaver?

Strange but I'm not complaining!

Measurements :

Arms - 14.5" (+1/2")
Waist - 32.5" (Same)
Legs - 24" (+2") ??? <-- must have measured wrong first time round
Shoulders 49" (Same)
Chest 44" (Same)

Weight - 170lbs

Not a bad start....Can anyone see any noticeable improvement? 3 Weeks is a bit early to tell I think!

grrr computers ...i'll fix it after footy later

Fixed it pics should be working now...

12/01/2007

Good workout, missed out a set on the SLDLs 'cos of lack of time.

All weights in KGs

Squats - 110x8, 110x8, 110x8, 110x5
SLDLs - 95 x 8, 95 x 8
Bent over rows - 52.5x8, 52.5x8, 52.5 x 8
Bicep curls - 37.5x8, 37.5x8

Squats up 10kg, SLDLs up 5kg, Bent over rows up 2.5kg, curls up 2.5kg

Squats were bloody hard, to the point where I couldn't do the last set, weights are up owww!!

Good luck with the bulk mate. Do you have an eventual weight you'd like to reach in mind?

Have you considered pyramiding your sets up in weight down in reps?

You do look leaner in the second picture, could be the lighting?

Thanx Paul.. I don't really know what weight I want to reach, I'm not much of a planner!! I think I'll reassess my physique as soon as I hit 13 stone. I'll compare my pics at 13 stone with those I took at the beginning and see if I like the changes. If I do I may continue to add a few lbs. I find it bloody hard to put on muscle, so any increase in muscle mass is a big thing for me!

I have never tried pyramiding before. Have you had good gains with that then?

Good luck with the journal mate i'm trying to bulk to, never thought eating could be such a chore any chance of seeing a sample menu of want ur eating...

All new cutting journal

http://www.muscletalk.co.uk/m_1810829/tm.htm

Occy I'll post my diet up tomorrow evening when I get back from work....

Although at the moment I think it will change because I'm getting some bad ass acne from Prolab N-Large mass gainer...So I'm gonna have to stop taking that and have a rethink

Right Occy - here's my diet (I wouldn't copy it, it's not great!)

8:15am - 150g Oats in Water, Scoop of whey, Banana all blended together

10:30am - 150g Oats in milk, scoop of whey

12:30 - Lunch (this varies it will usually be 1 can of tuna and two jacket potatoes and salad / chix and brown rice and veg)

3:00pm - 150g Oats in milk, scoop of whey

6:00pm - Dinner (Usually chix / fish with rice / potatoes and vegetables)

7:30pm - Training (I sip on a dextrose and protein shake about 50g dextrose and 50g whey)

8:15pm - PWO (I'll rinse the rest of the shake)

10:00 - 150g Cottage Cheese and a couple of slices of wholemeal bread with olive oil spread

After this if I'm hungry I munch milk / maybe another shake / whatever I fancy (I'm an ectomorph so I don't necessarily need to watch what I eat!)

I hope this is useful Occy!

Nice one mate i can highly recommend looking at toxic toffees bulking diet on the nutrition forum i think its a sticky if you haven't already done so. It shows you where you have to be calories, carbs, protein etc. Its a hell of a lot of food but i tell you what if you do manage to do it or get close to it, boy does ur weight shoot up!!! good gains as well.

All new cutting journal

http://www.muscletalk.co.uk/m_1810829/tm.htm

15/01/2006

I've changed my Chest / Tris / Shoulder routine to concentrate less on my chest and more on my weaknesses (Shoulders and Tris)

Had a stonking workout tonight...Loving it baby!

Close grip bench press - 60x8, 70x7, 65x7
Military press - 55x5 (I'll do 8 reps of these soon), 50x8, 50x8 (Getting better, up on last week)
Skullcrushers - 42.5x8, 45x8 (Up on last week)

Things are looking UP. Weighing in at 172lbs. Seem to be gaining quite well at the moment.

The weight is piling on...probably too fast!! Just weighed in at 174lbs!!

Time to get fat baby!

17/01/2007

Squats - 8x112.5. 8x112.5, 8x112.5, 8x112.5
SLDLs - 8x95, 8x95, 8x95
BOR - 8x55, 8x55, 8x55
Curls - 40x8, 40x5 (+ 1 Cheat rep) will try to get up to 8 next week.

Good workout....Squats up 2.5k, SLDLs up 2.5k, BOR up 2.5k, Curls up 2.5k....lovin it

I'm hungry

Right have decided to mix things up a bit...

My new diet!

New diet plan

8:00 - Weetabix x 5
Pint of milk with 1/2 scoop whey


10:30 - Chicken or tuna sandwich (maybe pitta bread)
Salad, peppers, tomato etc. bit of mayo perhaps :p

13:00 - Tuna Jacket Potato or Chicken or another fish or whatever other nice protein portions are on offer from cantene!
Rice / potatoes / chips (1 day a week!!)
Salad


15:30 - Chicken or tuna sandwich (or pitta bread)
Salad, peppers, tomato etc.

17:30 - Weetabix x 2, Coconut milk, One scoop whey, Water / Milk (blended - I'll experiment with the ingredients)

19:30 - A protein source (meat / fish) with rice / potatoes / pasta and some vegetables

22:00 - Cottage cheese with a couple of slices of wholegrain bread

Might munch some stuff after this if I get hungry....

What do you think to that?!! Gotta be able to put on some mass from that diet!

Less oats (none), less mass gainer (none), less whey (1 1/2 - 2 scoops a day) and more real food. The protein powders don't agree with me, I'm talking spots...and what's more the toilet gets brutally punished.

Too much info.... oh well we're all friends here huh

22/01/2007

Good workout baby!

Military Press - 8x52.5, 8x52.5, 5x52.5
Close grip BP - 8x65, 7x65, 7x65
Skullcrushers - 8x45, 7x45
Abs

All weights up again, we'll have some of that!! Getting heavier...New diet has more calories coming from proper foods so should give me better gains (from what I've been reading on some topics on this board!)...I'll post progress pics in 3 weeks again. Hopefully at around 180lbs.