Dan's Workout Log For Gaining Mass v2

Okay for some reason I can't re-edit my original thread on my log, so can Mods please delete the original?

This is v2 with a different routine based on the feedback I received from older and wiser heads in the original thread (cheers fugly, filth and DanZy)

I currently weight a skinny 138lbs and work out my calorie intake to be in the range of 3000 based on my current weight if I intend to gain mass while lifting.

I aim to get in the gym 3x a week working full body workouts utilising the 5x5 system taking anywhere from 1-3 days off after each workout depending on my body. 3x a week may easily become 2x if I risk overtraining.
I aim to increase weight used in each excersize week on week.

Current Workout below:

Monday - Squats/Bench Press/Wide Grip Pull Up/Weighted Sit Ups + 15mins HIIT Cardio
Tuesday - Off
Wednesday - Deadlift/Seated Barbell Press/Barbell Curls/Seated Calf Raises
Thursday - Off
Friday - Front Squat/Close Grip Bench/Bent Over Row/Romanian Deadlift + 1hr game of Squash
Saturday - Off
Sunday - Off

And then this would rollover into week 2 etc. Each 2 weeks I will do a 1MR on each excersize through trial and error so it may take awhile to find my level but I aim to increase this every 2 weeks ideally however small that increase may be.

I currently look like this
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/822/img0032lw.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/163/img0043ke.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/600/img0033cn.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/208/img0046vs.jpg/


Concerning Diet I'm aiming to get in over 3000 calories daily and in doing this I will eat a large breakfast of oats/cereal, sandwiches for lunch and ideally some form of meat for supper. In addition I will utilise homemade mass gainer shakes of 1000 calories+ twice daily and take it always after my workout on the days I'm at the gym.

My shake is as follows:

80g of Oats
700ml of Milk (pint and a half near enough from the milkman )
2tbsp of Wholegrain Crunchy Peanut Butter
2 Scoops Matrix All-in-one protein

I may occasionally whack a banana in here as well, depends how I feel post workout I'll post a breakdown of macro's and nutrients of the shake when I have all the ingredients in front of me

Things will kick off come Monday.

Wouldn't you need many more calories than 2350 to seriously bulk up? I don't know if you've calculated what your maintenance calories are but 2300 on a bulk seems low to me.

TheStig said:

Wouldn't you need many more calories than 2350 to seriously bulk up? I don't know if you've calculated what your maintenance calories are but 2300 on a bulk seems low to me.

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I actually just re-weighed myself and I've lost weight (probably water weight) so I'm down to 126.

I've worked my basic metabloic rate to be 1623.48 from using my age, current weight and height as measurements.

Then I multiply 1623.48. using the Harris Benedict Activity Formula and selecting moderately to give me 1.55 which when multipled with 1623.48. give me a daily calorie count of 2517 (rounded) to get through the day.

Adding 500 onto this gives me 3K Calories a day. Well sh!t I was miles off for some reason... Thanks Stig for putting me straight

EDIT: Looking at things now it seems I got my maintenance calories confused thinking that was the amount I'd need to gain mass rather than the additional 500 added on to it.

Haha no problem dude I was actually gonna suggest somewhere around 3k cals

I would do cardio completely separate from lifts. Either a separate day or am/pm sessions.

Purefilth said:

I would do cardio completely separate from lifts. Either a separate day or am/pm sessions.

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Unless the HIIT is sprints, I agree. For some reason running sprints after a lift feels great.

TheStig said:

Unless the HIIT is sprints, I agree. For some reason running sprints after a lift feels great.

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on leg day? good luck with that!:crackup:

Workout #1

Ok, things kicked off today in sh!tty style in the gym. Was not a great workout at all, gym was rammed and I bumped into old school friends who I let get to me and found myself intimidated by them:cuss:

Regardless I did more than I would've done sat on my arse at home.


Squat 5x5 - 10kg/12.5kg/15kg/15kg/15kg
Assisted Pull Up - 37kg weight. Managed 1 set of 10 and failed on the 8th rep on the second set. Will increase the weight to make it easier next time round.
Ab Cruncher - 37kg weight. 1 set of 20 and failed at 15 second set. Will lower weight next time round.
Did not Bench Press, was not able to nor felt like lifting weights without a spotter in front of all my old school people :cuss:

Pretty pissed off with myself, I'm back in the gym Wednesday in the morning so it won't be rammed and I will get a solid workout from that.

Diet wise today I've had the following:

Small bowl of cereal
Small bowl of fruit salad
Bacon & Sausage Sandwich
2 Beef Rolls
1 Bannana
1 500 calorie shake
Plaice, green beans and 1 jacket potato.

I intended to have another 500 calorie shake after my workout but it was that demoralising I didn't bother.

PairPlusRoyalFlush said:

I would recommend you try this: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/dorian-yates-blood-guts-6-week-trainer.htm

I think that will give you a good idea as to the number of sets and exercises you should do gain size. I personally think this is an amazing workout. I go a little more hardcore but if your diet is solid then this is just fine.

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That looks like any generic workout I've seen. I seriously doubt he even wrote the thing due to the absence of Yates row, an exercise named after him because he used it so much and so effectively. High rep deads to failure? That's just asking to fvck yourself up.

Stick with heavy compounds and you'll be fine. You're not going to overtrain doing what you're doing. I quite like Jamie Lewis's, of Chaos and Pain (check it out it's awesome but NSFW), view on it: There's no such thing as overtraining, only under-sleeping and under-eating.

PairPlusRoyalFlush said:

I would recommend you try this: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/dorian-yates-blood-guts-6-week-trainer.htm

I think that will give you a good idea as to the number of sets and exercises you should do gain size. I personally think this is an amazing workout. I go a little more hardcore but if your diet is solid then this is just fine.

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Sorry, unless you are on steroids, you should never follow advice from pro bodybuilders. Any type of training will work for them.

Dan08 said:

Ok, things kicked off today in sh!tty style in the gym. Was not a great workout at all, gym was rammed and I bumped into old school friends who I let get to me and found myself intimidated by them:cuss:

Regardless I did more than I would've done sat on my arse at home.
This is the best attitude to have. Kudos.
Squat 5x5 - 10kg/12.5kg/15kg/15kg/15kg
Assisted Pull Up - 37kg weight. Managed 1 set of 10 and failed on the 8th rep on the second set. Will increase the weight to make it easier next time round.
Ab Cruncher - 37kg weight. 1 set of 20 and failed at 15 second set. Will lower weight next time round.
Did not Bench Press, was not able to nor felt like lifting weights without a spotter in front of all my old school people :cuss:

Pretty pissed off with myself, I'm back in the gym Wednesday in the morning so it won't be rammed and I will get a solid workout from that.

Diet wise today I've had the following:

Small bowl of cereal
Small bowl of fruit salad
Bacon & Sausage Sandwich
2 Beef Rolls
1 Bannana
1 500 calorie shake
Plaice, green beans and 1 jacket potato.

I intended to have another 500 calorie shake after my workout but it was that demoralising I didn't bother.

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Man don't worry about your first workout being sh1tty, they almost always are (in my experience). Lifting weights is something that gets better and better over time. Just keep on man, you'll get where you wanna go, with perseverance.

Sh!t happens in the gym, you have good days, bad days and some days you will be stronger or weaker. Its just a part of training.

Tear it up next time!

As far as your program, do whatever you believe in. If it works, it works. If you aint getting bigger or stronger. Either drop the program or look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself why you are not making progress...

PairPlusRoyalFlush said:

LOL. You realize the man is standing right there explaining everything right? Who cares if one laborious workout is missing? Many, many bodybuilders do high rep deads. OP, follow this workout.

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He only seems to be there because he was paid to be, not because he designed the program.

It's a big deal that Yate's rows are missing, the man himself credits the exercise as the reason he had such a fantastic back and biceps. There's a reason it's named after him. If he really designed the program, he would have included the exercise that he built his physique on; it's that simple.

High rep deads maybe but combining that with going to failure? I don't think so.

EDIT: You have to remember that the OP is fairly new to this and strength work is what he should concentrate on. Yate's mentions Arnold, who only started bodybuilding properly after he was strong as an ox. All the greats have the same basic story: Bodybuilding only came after they had been lifting heavy for numerous years (5+) and were strong as fvck

Day 2 Diet

Thanks for all the support guys and suggestions on workouts. I'll stick with the current one and go from there.

Not in the gym today, but diet so far:

1 bowl of cereal
1 bagel with peanut butter
2 beef rolls
500 calorie shake
3 pieces of toast
1 banana

Hey man no offense, but your diet could still use a lot of work... in short it sucks haha.

You said in another thread you're doing pretty good financially, so why not consume the large amounts of meat like I'm suggesting?

Here's a sample diet for ya:

Meal 1: 1/2 cup oat meal + 40 g whey isolate OR 6 whole eggs and fruit

Meal 2: 1-2 cups vegetables/salad prep (can use olive oil-based dressing) + 150 g meat/fish (preferably red meat)

Meal 3: 1 bowl pasta or 1 yam + 150 g meat and veges.

Meal 4: Same as meal 2.

Meal 5: 1 cup cottage cheese w/ 50 g almonds.

Supplements: Mens' multivitamin, timed release B-complex, fish oil (get the concentrated stuff), whey isolate.

This diet will only get you 150-200 g protein/day and I think its totally doable even for a beginner.

I know you said you're 138. How tall are you? To give you an idea I was 125 when I started, now I'm around 190... not as lean as I should be, but still increased by bodyweight by 50%.

I'm gonna keep giving you shiit about your diet til you get it right!

Fuglydude said:

Hey man no offense, but your diet could still use a lot of work... in short it sucks haha.

You said in another thread you're doing pretty good financially, so why not consume the large amounts of meat like I'm suggesting?

Here's a sample diet for ya:

Meal 1: 1/2 cup oat meal + 40 g whey isolate OR 6 whole eggs and fruit

Meal 2: 1-2 cups vegetables/salad prep (can use olive oil-based dressing) + 150 g meat/fish (preferably red meat)

Meal 3: 1 bowl pasta or 1 yam + 150 g meat and veges.

Meal 4: Same as meal 2.

Meal 5: 1 cup cottage cheese w/ 50 g almonds.

Supplements: Mens' multivitamin, timed release B-complex, fish oil (get the concentrated stuff), whey isolate.

This diet will only get you 150-200 g protein/day and I think its totally doable even for a beginner.

I know you said you're 138. How tall are you? To give you an idea I was 125 when I started, now I'm around 190... not as lean as I should be, but still increased by bodyweight by 50%.

I'm gonna keep giving you shiit about your diet til you get it right!

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Hahaa none taken mate its complete bollocks really! Your beginning we diet seems very manageable for me. I might sub out the cottage cheeses for something else but I will try and get that into place over the coming days or something similar

And please feel free to keep on at me till I get this **** right

Also, height wise I'm just under 6ft

Remember TUT. Time Under Tension.

Don't go for huge weights and fast reps. Drop the weight and take slow reps. Count to 3 on the pull and 2 on the return. (Or something like that- depends on the exercise.)

Don't go making pullups and dips easier. Use bodyweight. Then whe you fail do lat pulldowns at just below bodyweight.

(I know it sounds like contrasting advice there, but shiit if you listen to everything you hear it all contrasts.) Point is I keep bodyweight exercises at bodyweight until I add weight to them.

Now I'm doing dips with 20-25kg and pullups with 15 kg. Not a huge amount, I know, but its gains.

To start with I couldn't do more than 2 pullups @ 75kg bodyweight but refusing to have the machine assist me and I'm at 95kg bodyweight and adding more.
Hold on to the failing rep as long as possible and then try for some negatives there too.


IT NEVER GETS ANY EASIER - YOU JUST GET STRONGER.

^ words to remember - reasons to go for one more rep.
Just perspective there.

Purefilth said:

Remember TUT. Time Under Tension.

Don't go for huge weights and fast reps. Drop the weight and take slow reps. Count to 3 on the pull and 2 on the return. (Or something like that- depends on the exercise.)

Don't go making pullups and dips easier. Use bodyweight. Then whe you fail do lat pulldowns at just below bodyweight.

(I know it sounds like contrasting advice there, but shiit if you listen to everything you hear it all contrasts.) Point is I keep bodyweight exercises at bodyweight until I add weight to them.

Now I'm doing dips with 20-25kg and pullups with 15 kg. Not a huge amount, I know, but its gains.

To start with I couldn't do more than 2 pullups @ 75kg bodyweight but refusing to have the machine assist me and I'm at 95kg bodyweight and adding more.
Hold on to the failing rep as long as possible and then try for some negatives there too.


IT NEVER GETS ANY EASIER - YOU JUST GET STRONGER.

^ words to remember - reasons to go for one more rep.
Just perspective there.

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Dan, if you only remember one thing...remember this.

Workout #2

Okay todays workout was 10x better, gym was quiet, I picked good starting weights and got through all my excersizes successfully.
However, anything gained in the gym has easily been lost today by my lack of food (2 bowls of cereal and 2 bagels with peanut butter, I know I know utter shiiite)

Regardless my lifts are below (keep in mind im not including the bar weight on these lifts)

Deadlifts

Set 1 - 7.5KG for 5 reps
Set 2 - 10 KG for 5 reps
Set 3 - 12 KG for 5 reps
Set 4 - 15KG for 5 reps

Bar Military Press

Set 1 - 5KG for 5 reps
Set 2 - 7.5KG for 5 reps
Set 3/5 10 KG for 5 reps

Biceps Curl

Set 1- 17.5KG for 5 reps
Set 2- 20KG for 5 reps
Set 3/5 - 22.5KG for 5 reps

Calf Raise

Set 1 - 11KG for 5 reps
Set 2 - 15KG for 5 reps
Set 3/5 - 20KG for 5 reps

EDIT - Thanks for the perspective filth, I'll keep that in mind.

Fuglydude said:

Here's a sample diet for ya:

Meal 1: 1/2 cup oat meal + 40 g whey isolate OR 6 whole eggs and fruit

Meal 2: 1-2 cups vegetables/salad prep (can use olive oil-based dressing) + 150 g meat/fish (preferably red meat)

Meal 3: 1 bowl pasta or 1 yam + 150 g meat and veges.

Meal 4: Same as meal 2.

Meal 5: 1 cup cottage cheese w/ 50 g almonds.

Supplements: Mens' multivitamin, timed release B-complex, fish oil (get the concentrated stuff), whey isolate.

This diet will only get you 150-200 g protein/day and I think its totally doable even for a beginner.

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In addition to the protein fugly I'm not entirely confident this would allow me to hit 3k calories daily. I will likely have a bigger meal 5 and throw in the odd 500 calorie shake.