Need help making changes to bulk

[danro]

I'm going to be heading home for the Summer so I will be able to eat a cleaner diet and a heavier calorie diet. I'm hoping to bulk about 8lbs over the Summer. Since I want to gain this weight for MMA I will also be doing heavy cardio to lower my bodyfat substantially and improve my endurance. My current routine has worked alright for me so far (gained about 5lbs in about 15 weeks) but I would like to try and take it to the next level. I don't want to bulk to much because it would make the weight cut for competition to drastic. Any help you guys can offer would be great.

My current routine looks like this.

Height: 5' 9" Weight: 162lbs
Squat 7x185lbs
Bench 7x120
Seated Row 8x120
Bi angular Shoulder Press (machine) 8x112lbs
Bicep Curl(dumbbell) 8x30
Tricep Extensions 8x25
Flies 6x40
Ab set

I do 2 sets of each and am thinking of making it 3. I'm also thinking of adding deadlift and changing the exercises I do on machines to free weights. I do this routine on Mondays and Fridays. On Wednesdays I do lighter weights but higher reps (about ten less on the bigger lifts, 5 less on the smaller lifts).

Thanks for the help!

 

[CarlitosWay]

I'm going to be heading home for the Summer so I will be able to eat a cleaner diet and a heavier calorie diet. I'm hoping to bulk about 8lbs over the Summer. Since I want to gain this weight for MMA I will also be doing heavy cardio to lower my bodyfat substantially and improve my endurance. My current routine has worked alright for me so far (gained about 5lbs in about 15 weeks) but I would like to try and take it to the next level. I don't want to bulk to much because it would make the weight cut for competition to drastic. Any help you guys can offer would be great.

My current routine looks like this.

Height: 5' 9" Weight: 162lbs
Squat 7x185lbs
Bench 7x120
Seated Row 8x120
Bi angular Shoulder Press (machine) 8x112lbs
Bicep Curl(dumbbell) 8x30
Tricep Extensions 8x25
Flies 6x40
Ab set

I do 2 sets of each and am thinking of making it 3. I'm also thinking of adding deadlift and changing the exercises I do on machines to free weights. I do this routine on Mondays and Fridays. On Wednesdays I do lighter weights but higher reps (about ten less on the bigger lifts, 5 less on the smaller lifts).

Thanks for the help!

See what I put in bold? Hmm....you have two conflicting goals, not saying you can't do heavy cardio, but understand one thing. You're rprobably burning a **** load of calories trying to sustain heavy cardio, mma training + lifting.

IF anything I would put the cardio in on days off from weight training, only in the mornings, this will rev you your appetite up for the day.

5 lbs in nearly 4 months is crap, sorry. You should have done that in less than 1/2 the time even less if you're young and new to weight training.

westside for skinny bastards is a great routine and I know many MMA guys are using something like this or similar upper/lower body split or a push, pull sort of split. www.defrancostraining.com/articles.html

 

[danro]

Yeah, I realize 5lbs in that time is sh!tty. I just thought it was pretty good because I was weight lifting for a class so I had limited time (some days I wouldn't be able to get the whole workout in) and since I'm a broke ass college student I never had good food to eat.

Thanks for the suggestion on cardio. I was planning on doing cardio on off days from lifting already, but I can't do it in the mornings since I work at 6 a.m., I'm not getting up any earlier than that Thanks for the link, I'm gonna check it out!

When it says to work up to a max set on that article what do they mean? Sorry I'm a newb when it comes to the weight lifting lingo haha.

 

[CarlitosWay]

Yeah, I realize 5lbs in that time is sh!tty. I just thought it was pretty good because I was weight lifting for a class so I had limited time (some days I wouldn't be able to get the whole workout in) and since I'm a broke ass college student I never had good food to eat.

Thanks for the suggestion on cardio. I was planning on doing cardio on off days from lifting already, but I can't do it in the mornings since I work at 6 a.m., I'm not getting up any earlier than that Thanks for the link, I'm gonna check it out!

When it says to work up to a max set on that article what do they mean? Sorry I'm a newb when it comes to the weight lifting lingo haha.

If you look in my journa or RMM's journal, you see how we ramp up or essentially "warm up" to a to a top set/last working set or two...

A lot of people get **** confused and will do straight sets with the same weight every damn set...it's POINTLESS.

For instance working up to a max set in incline bench press say you want to go for a max 3-5 rep set...

You warm up with the bar first, get the groove going....
than depending on your strength level (since you sound relatively new)

You could make small jumps

Maybe only adding 30lbs each set or what you feel "works" for you

You said you do 120 lbsX7 for bench eh (scrap that I'd use low incline barbell or low incline dumbbell press, trust me)

so you could go like
barX10
+30 lbs
75X5-8
105X3
135X3 or whatever you can get ....here is your "main" working set the give it your all balls to wall set... In ws4sb, you have a repetition day and you hit higher rep hypertrophy work. Your max effort days are for maximizing strength gains. Read thoroughly how it's mapped out and ask any questions you have. here's his youtube channel plenty of vids to see how to do the exercises and some real good training vids to amp you up, bottom line Defranco gets payed to train BEASTS and also gets payed to turn people in to them.

I generally ramp up to a higher rep like 6-10, cause it puts you under more tension which means more possible size gained....yet strength is always something I want to increase no matter the rep range......!!! You should always strive for more reps/weight or work on form...ALWAYS LOOK TO ACCOMPLISH SOMETHING ANYTIME YOU TRAIN.

Say you ramped up and did a max set for your bench, if the next exercise is for shoulders or another chest exercise not much warming up is needed as your shoulders/triceps/chest will already be warmed up decently...so not as many sets is needed.

Remember though you're not going gain **** for size if you're not eating at least 700-800 calories over maintenance use http://www.fitday.com it's free and you can get a rough estimate of what you burn on average.

You might have to hit up taco bell or get some burgers 1-2 times a week if you can't afford a lot of food (chicken burritos with rice 89 cents, 18 grams of protein son!!)

 

[Cure]

mate you seem to have the right ideas already, do everything you said you were thinking of doing.

The main thing is eating, if you've only gained a few pounds in 4 months, you are not eating enough, you need to eat more.

If you want to gain AND do cardio and MMA, you need to eat A LOT more.

Cheap calories is eggs, milk, some fish. Also try and get pleanty of beef and chicken in.
Do some cardio but dont over do it, better to tweak your diet.

eat eat eat!!!

Cure.

 

[runner83]

mate you seem to have the right ideas already, do everything you said you were thinking of doing.

The main thing is eating, if you've only gained a few pounds in 4 months, you are not eating enough, you need to eat more.

If you want to gain AND do cardio and MMA, you need to eat A LOT more.

Cheap calories is eggs, milk, some fish. Also try and get pleanty of beef and chicken in.
Do some cardio but dont over do it, better to tweak your diet.

eat eat eat!!!

Cure.

Yes, nutrition is a major key. Aim for 5 to 7 meals a day (either solid or liquid). Keep eating. Aim for close to a gallon of milk a day.

Another good thing I've found (and cheaper if you get it from the right places) is whey protein powder. Buy a 20kg bag off the net, and use that with milk when you can't fit in any more solid food.

Eat breakfast, eat before you workout, eat after you workout (as much as you can) and eat before you go to bed.

Going more than 2 or 3 hours without getting some protein into you is muscle building suicide...