started bodybuilding ended up with worse body...

[Fuglydude]

6'2" and under 150 lbs??? You had no business trying a traditional bodybuilding type program w/ cutting/bulking cycles with those stats. Instead you should have taken a couple of years and established a good sound strength base/conditioning, and gained 60-70 lbs of bodyweight... most of which should have been lean muscle.

I'm a competitive bodybuilder, and I don't even cycle back and forth as much as you do. I'm 5'8" - 185 lbs and still need a belt to make sure that my 32" waist pants fit properly.

You should have just done a pure bulk program for a couple of years like I said. Taking in around 4000 cals/day w/ 250+ g protein. 1-1.5 lbs of meat/day w/ 1-2 weight gainer shakes and whey isolate as required. Your program should have been based around squats, deads, bench, shoulder press, chins, rows and dips. You could have added isolation work as you wanted but given how skinny you were when you started you really should have established a solid muscle base before you tried to get ripped.

As far as Kerpal's comments about bodybuilding... there really isn't anything I can say against it. Bodybuilding isn't a sport in my view. Its a hobby. I attended a national level "natural" show this weekend, and competitions are highly subjective especially for categories like women's figure/bikini. In addition there's a lot of politics.

I have a natural affinity for more objective sports like powerlifting/olympic lifting. However, with my body type, I'm simply more likely to succeed in bodybuilding than as a PL/OL. This is why I wanna compete as a bodybuilder rather than as a PL/OL. I definitely hate how bodybuilders do not train for strength... Personally, I make it a point to lift heavy at least 2-3 times a month.

Kerpal, bodybuilding judges can be female too you know!! And I think its easier for bodybuilders to get laid cuz we look better than PLs!

There's definite good and bad things to take out of any fitness discipline. Its up to the individual to glean useful stuff from every discipline to be the best possible athlete. Bodybuilders are absolutely fantastic at designing diet/supplementation plans. If your diet/supplementation is sub-par then you're not gonna get far. This is what has really helped me to progress. In addition, enhanced builders also have a reasonably good knowledge base with anabolics, should you decide to take that route. There's tons of shiiity things about bodybuilding as well... too many to name!

With PL/OL, my biggest problem was my susceptibility to injuries. I've been lifting since before most of you guys learned to jerk off, and I'll tell you right now that constant heavy/explosive lifting does take a toll on your joints. Bodybuilding is great for old farts like me. My joints have never felt this good. Pound-for-pound, I think olympic lifters are among the strongest guys out there. As far as overall athletic ability goes, I think wrestlers and gymnasts are the best.

Typical, great points about trying to excel in a couple of areas to become the best athlete that you can be.

 

[vwmaniac]

You're focusing on your legs waaaay too much and making gains in the muscles that don't make you look/feel more muscular. If you want to trim up your chin and get a 6 pack you have to do cardio, get out running or biking 3 days a week, every other day. On the days in between do your pull ups, arms, chest, back, and abs. Example week, I'm no professional, so anyone that knows better please chime in, but this is what I would do in your situation:

Mon - Pulls ups, chest, abs
Tues - Run 2-3miles (or work up to that)
Wed - Bicep/Tricep, abs
Thurs - Bike 45min (stationary or outside)
Fri - Pull ups, back, abs
Sat - Fun cardio (heavybag, sports, 2hours of sex, etc)
Sun - Rest

Only take protein right after lifting and keep it under 50grams. Look up a few basic exercises for those muscle groups that make your workout around 30 minutes doing sets with short rests (20-30 sec), or make super-sets out of 3-4 exercises with 2min rests between.

 

[Kerpal]

You're focusing on your legs waaaay too much and making gains in the muscles that don't make you look/feel more muscular. If you want to trim up your chin and get a 6 pack you have to do cardio, get out running or biking 3 days a week, every other day. On the days in between do your pull ups, arms, chest, back, and abs. Example week, I'm no professional, so anyone that knows better please chime in, but this is what I would do in your situation:

Mon - Pulls ups, chest, abs
Tues - Run 2-3miles (or work up to that)
Wed - Bicep/Tricep, abs
Thurs - Bike 45min (stationary or outside)
Fri - Pull ups, back, abs
Sat - Fun cardio (heavybag, sports, 2hours of sex, etc)
Sun - Rest

Only take protein right after lifting and keep it under 50grams. Look up a few basic exercises for those muscle groups that make your workout around 30 minutes doing sets with short rests (20-30 sec), or make super-sets out of 3-4 exercises with 2min rests between.

 

[vwmaniac]

Input helps, I said that's what I'd do and if it's soooo wrong to say why, that's how anyone learns to do something better. Since you know more and are respected in this section, why don't you give him some kind of structure. Maybe you can give this guy a decent schedule to follow and the mods can delete mine so he doesn't get confused?

 

[Kerpal]

www.StartingStrength.com

 

[Pimp-sicle]

You're focusing on your legs waaaay too much and making gains in the muscles that don't make you look/feel more muscular. If you want to trim up your chin and get a 6 pack you have to do cardio, get out running or biking 3 days a week, every other day. On the days in between do your pull ups, arms, chest, back, and abs. Example week, I'm no professional, so anyone that knows better please chime in, but this is what I would do in your situation:

Mon - Pulls ups, chest, abs
Tues - Run 2-3miles (or work up to that)
Wed - Bicep/Tricep, abs
Thurs - Bike 45min (stationary or outside)
Fri - Pull ups, back, abs
Sat - Fun cardio (heavybag, sports, 2hours of sex, etc)
Sun - Rest

Only take protein right after lifting and keep it under 50grams. Look up a few basic exercises for those muscle groups that make your workout around 30 minutes doing sets with short rests (20-30 sec), or make super-sets out of 3-4 exercises with 2min rests between.

No offense I know your only trying to help, but why would you even give advice when its clear that your also implying you don't know what your talking about?

Protein only after lifting? Really??! Keep it under 50 grams? Why?


I'm not going to go in depth but will simply tell you that abs are a muscle group, they are built the same way that other muscle groups are built. From resistance training. Yes having your abs completely show is more a function of diet, but cardio in excess is catabolic and again effective cardio has everything to do with heart rate and nothing to do with duration.

Lastly, ever heard of over-training? Training 6 days a week with only one day of rest is a recipe for disaster esp in higher volumes unless your a drugged athlete or highly experienced and know how to make up for that deficit through diet. I'm not saying the schedule you outlined above would be over-training, since it splits cardio and resistance training to separate days, but a 6 day on 1 day off schedule is not optimal for the OP's goals.


I'm not trying to attack you, but it gets frustrating reading this particular forum since there are so many people passing along advice that either are not sure or simply rehashing what they read on Google. I'm all about education, but the best proof is real life application of said methods.




PIMP

 

[vwmaniac]

No offense I know your only trying to help, but why would you even give advice when its clear that your also implying you don't know what your talking about?

I'm going off my own experience, and don't want to come off like a pro. I'm looking to have guys that are more experienced explain what is good or bad about what I suggested to help the OP. Like mentioning over-training, now he'll know that just because one person can do 6-days a week (my sat is intended to be lazier) doesn't mean he should try to right off the bat. If he could bench his body weight I'd tell him to take no protein and get tons of reps in to trim down. I'm 6' and have gone from stick thin 140lbs, to fat 165, to trim 185, then to not fat but not thin 210, and now at a comfortable 195 over the last 10 years. I'm not looking to cause problems so I'll just stay out, it's just amazing how fast I'm dead wrong but nobody else has given him anything meaningful to digest except fugly.

 

[Kendrick]

Most common benefits of the bodybuilding are:
- It increases resistance to injury.
- It increases bone mass and mobility.
- It helps reduce the risk of heart disease and lowers the levels of LDL cholesterol.

 

[Pimp-sicle]

I'm going off my own experience, and don't want to come off like a pro. I'm looking to have guys that are more experienced explain what is good or bad about what I suggested to help the OP. Like mentioning over-training, now he'll know that just because one person can do 6-days a week (my sat is intended to be lazier) doesn't mean he should try to right off the bat. If he could bench his body weight I'd tell him to take no protein and get tons of reps in to trim down. I'm 6' and have gone from stick thin 140lbs, to fat 165, to trim 185, then to not fat but not thin 210, and now at a comfortable 195 over the last 10 years. I'm not looking to cause problems so I'll just stay out, it's just amazing how fast I'm dead wrong but nobody else has given him anything meaningful to digest except fugly.

One person does not equal the norm.

What does benching your bodyweight have to do with protein requirements?

I wasn't trying to insinuate that you were causing problems, I think hearing different perspectives is interesting and good because to be truthfully honest there is no set formula that will work for everyone. Everyone has to tweak based on their metabolic rate, activity level, age, deficiencies in their kinetic chain etc etc.

I apologize if I came off as "i'm right, your wrong" wasn't the point. I was questioning some of your suggestions and wanted to learn more about why you were saying them. As I look back at my response I should I have worded it better, my bad.

Stick around and I would be happy to give you my school of thought.




PIMP

 

[GoodButNotGreat]

You're focusing on your legs waaaay too much and making gains in the muscles that don't make you look/feel more muscular. If you want to trim up your chin and get a 6 pack you have to do cardio, get out running or biking 3 days a week, every other day. On the days in between do your pull ups, arms, chest, back, and abs. Example week, I'm no professional, so anyone that knows better please chime in, but this is what I would do in your situation:

Mon - Pulls ups, chest, abs
Tues - Run 2-3miles (or work up to that)
Wed - Bicep/Tricep, abs
Thurs - Bike 45min (stationary or outside)
Fri - Pull ups, back, abs
Sat - Fun cardio (heavybag, sports, 2hours of sex, etc)
Sun - Rest

Only take protein right after lifting and keep it under 50grams. Look up a few basic exercises for those muscle groups that make your workout around 30 minutes doing sets with short rests (20-30 sec), or make super-sets out of 3-4 exercises with 2min rests between.

wheres your shoulders bro? shoulders are so important lol

 

[PeterSiddle]

I think that you need to keep on doing the same work out routine,just change up your diet plan.I think that 142 is a good weight and you need to worry about it as much...
Who told you that you are skinny???
Personal Training St Kilda