Thread: My First Attempt at Bulking

I thought that rather than blogging about this I will put it all in one thread! I have never tried bulking before but I seem to be getting on really well and have somehow managed to time it just right in time for a cut for the winter body challenge! I'm now halfway through my first proper week but I will post how I have got on up to this point from my blog so its all logged from the beginning.

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MEASUREMENTS
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Weight - 11st 8lb
Arms - 15"
Chest - 41.5"
Thigh - 23"
Waist - 33"

I'm hoping to be nearer to 12 stone over the coming weeks and have more muscle to show for it!

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DIET
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Meal 1 (06:00) – Pre Workout
2 Whole Eggs and 3 Egg Whites Scrambled with 2 Slices Wholemeal Bread & 210g Baked Beans
100ml Apple Juice with 5g Creatine
CAL = 553kcal, PROTEIN = 40.1g, CARBS = 67.7, FAT = 13.1g

WORKOUT (07:00) – 1L Water

Meal 2 (08:30) – Post Workout
20g Pharma Whey with 25g Oats and 250ml Semi-Skimmed Milk
1 Banana
CAL = 425kcal, PROTEIN = 30.2g, CARBS = 61.1, FAT = 7.6g

Meal 3 (10:30)
1 Wholemeal Pita Bread with 100g Chicken Breast, 1 tbsp. Mayonnaise & Lettuce
10 Almonds
CAL = 425kcal, PROTEIN = 39.1g, CARBS = 39.2g, FAT = 13.9g

Meal 4 (13:00)
1 Wholemeal Pita Bread with 100g Chicken Breast, 1 tbsp. Mayonnaise & Lettuce
10 Almonds
CAL = 425kcal, PROTEIN = 39.1g, CARBS = 39.2g, FAT = 13.9g

Meal 5 (15:30)
20g Pharma Whey with 25g Oats and 250ml Semi-Skimmed Milk
CAL = 304kcal, PROTEIN = 29.2g, CARBS = 30.1, FAT = 7.6g

Meal 6 (19:00)
Baked Potato with 100g Beef Steak 100g Green Beans & 200g Broccoli
20 Almonds
CAL = 466kcal, PROTEIN = 43.9g, CARBS = 68.4g, FAT = 13.2g

Meal 7 (22:00) – Before Bed
30g Bedtime Extreme Protein with 500ml Semi-Skimmed Milk
CAL = 351kcal, PROTEIN = 39.7g, CARBS = 25.3g, FAT = 10.1g

TOTAL
CAL = 3047kcal, PROTEIN = 261.3 g, CARBS = 331g, FAT = 70.4g

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TRAINING
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Monday - Chest and Triceps
Tuesday - Legs and Forearms
Wednesday - Rest OR Cardio
Thursday - Shoulders and Abs
Friday - Back and Biceps
Saturday - Rest
Sunday - Rest

And thats how things are looking at the minute. Any criticisms or advice then let me know!

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Monday 06/09/10 - Chest & Triceps
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Today has gone very well so far! I have stuck to the diet 100% and had a good workout this morning. Unfortunately I was a few minutes late as living in the middle of nowhere brings no pleasure at all when all the roads are full of tractors at half 6 in the morning. Due to the fact the gym opens at 7 and I have work at 8:30 I literally get 45 minutes to workout or i'll be late for work!

However, it all went well and I feel as if I pushed myself a lot more than usual. Another thing I was excited about was using the new gloves I bought at the weekend lol sad i know but my hands were taking a beating from using weights at the gym and then tools all day long!

Anyway the workout went something like this with a quick warm up set using 10KG on the Smith Bench Press as a warm up. Also I've never done decline presses or cable crossovers so was unsure of the weights to begin with! I was aiming for 3 sets of 8 for all exercises and I'll write it in this format:

Exercise
Weight (Reps)

Flat Smith Machine Bench Press
40KG (10-8-7)
Incline Smith Machine Bench Press
30KG (8-8) 32.5KG (7)
Decline Smith Machine Bench Press
25KG (10) 30KG (10) 32KG (8)
Cable Crossover (OR Dumbbell Flyes OR Pec Deck)
2x15KG (10) 2x20KG (9-8)
Assisted Dip
-25KG (10-8-8)
Skullcrusher (OR Seated Overhead Extension)
10KG (8-6-6)
Tricep Push Down
20KG (10) 25KG (8-10)

My arms were feeling it towards the end but I managed to push really hard for the last push downs and power through to 10 reps which is what I need to do more and more with every exercise. Next week I may slightly adjust the triceps section to four exercises as part of 2 supersets which are:
1a) Assisted Dip
1b) Tricep Push Down
and
2a) Dumbbell Kickback
2b) Overhead Dumbbell Extension

I'd appreciate thoughts on whether I should do this or just keep it as it is. As I'm now more wiser as to what weights I can handle next weeks sessions should go much better and I'll be able to push myself even harder.

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Tuesday 07/09/10 - Legs & Forearms
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Legs and Forearms today. I did about 6 leg exercises followed by a superset of both normal and reverse wrist curls for the forearms. My diet has been how I planned it and I have managed to keep to it very well so far.

I did a quick warm up with just the bar for some smith squats and then cracked on with my workout.

Smith Machine Squat
40KG (12) 45KG (10) 47.5KG (8)
Leg Curl
40KG (12) 45KG (6-5)
Leg Extension
35KG (12) 40KG (9) 45KG (8)
Leg Press
80KG (10) 100KG (8) 110kg (8)
Glute Press
40kg (12/12) 45KG (10/10) 50KG (8/8)
Smith Calf Raise
40KG (12) 50KG (12) 60KG (10)
Wrist Curl & Reverse Wrist Curl
10KG & 7KG (12 &12) 12KG & 8KG (10 & 9-10 & 10)

Felt like I'd had a good workout and like I said yesterday, next week will be much better as I'll have a much better idea of weights of start on.

Don't know whether to have a cardio session tomorrow or just leave out cardio for now and have a rest day?

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Wednesday 08/09/10 - Rest Day
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I decided to have a rest day today as my legs were feeling worked enough from yesterdays workout and I was rather tired! So nothing much to say for today apart from the fact that my diet it going well and I'm looking forward to my shoulders and abs workout tomorrow morning which I am currently trying to put together.

Looks like a good routine you got going on there.
Keep it up mate! and let us know how you get on.

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Thursday 09/09/10 - Shoulders & Abs
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Well I had an average workout today but I wasn't very happy with it to be totally honest. I tried some new exercises for the abs which just didn't seem to be very effective and I didn't feel a great amount on the shoulders. I don't know a lot of shoulder exercise so I just did the ones I could think of. I would appreciate it people could help me put together a better workout for these body parts so I can really hit them hard.

Any this is what I did, bearing in mind i'd never done rope crunches which I thought weren't great lol and also I tried some cable side bends but soon changed back to dumbbells! I was quite disheartened really as after my other 2 workouts this week I've felt great and like I've really pushed myself but today was nowhere near as good.

Shoulder Press
40KG (9-7-6)
Front Raise
6KG (10/10)
7KG (7/7-8/8)
Arnold Press
10KG (12/12) 12KG (10/10) 14KG (8/8)
Lateral Raise
8KG (8/8-9/9) 9KG (6/6)
Crunch (in the machine thing lol don't know what its called, first time i've used it)
0KG (12) 5KG (10) 10KG (10)
Rope Crunch & Side Bend (1 set cable, 2 sets dumbbell)
25KG & 25KG (12-12/12) 50KG & 30KG (12-12/12) 60KG & 25KG (12-10/10)

Thats it, not great I know lol hopefully you guys can help me put something better together for next week

Looks like you are off to a pretty good start there Austin.

If you want some different exercise ideas you could do worse than check this place out: http://www.t-nation.com Loads of variations, routines,articles etc and quite a lot of demo videos with the later articles.

I find when I'm doing some new exercises it sometimes take a session or two to really dial it in and get it feeling right.

It's also worth remembering that everyone's different and not everything that works for me will necessarily work for you, so you may have to experiment to find out what works best for you.

Cheers mate, I'll take a look at the website and see what I could do instead.

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Friday 10/09/10 - Back & Biceps
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I had a good workout yesterday and can really feel it today. I stuck to the diet most of the day however I did have a beef chow mein from the chinese for dinner but when I think about it, its less then I would have used to of bought and also with the body challenge coming up theres plenty of time to make up for it! I underestimated how much I could lift with my biceps after all the back exercises but soon pushed myself after the barbel curls and kept increasing the weight. I feel i've had a successful week and now I have a good idea of the weight I can lift for each exercise I will be able to push myself even harder next week!

Deadlift
35KG (12) 40KG (12) 50KG (8)
Seated Row
50KG (12) 56.5KG (10) 62.5KG (9)
Barbell Bent-over Row
30KG (5) 25KG (8,7)
Assisted Pull-up
-25KG (6) -30KG (6) -35KG (8)
Barbell Curl
15KG (6-5) 10KG (10)
Hammer Curl
8KG (9/9) 9KG (8/8) 10KG (8/8)
Preacher Curl
25KG (10-9) 30KG (7)

Thats me done for week, time for some rest over the weekend and i'm already looking forward to starting over again on monday!

Have a good weekend people!

After last week I have shuffled around the exercises which I am doing and taken the odd one out and added ones in which has finally given me a final plan which I am happy with
So this is my workout plan for my current bulking period and probably the next as well.

MONDAY - Chest & Triceps

1) Smith Flat Bench
2) Smith Incline Bench
3) Smith Decline Bench
4) Cable Crossover
5) (Assisted) Dip
6) One-arm Dumbbell Extension
7) Skull Crusher

TUESDAY - Legs & forearms
1) Smith Squat
2) Leg Curl
3) Leg Extension
4) Leg Press
5) Glute Press
6) Smith Calf Raise
7) Wrist Curl & Reverse Wrist Curl

WEDNESDAY - Rest Day

THURSDAY - Shoulders & Abs
1) Shoulder Press
2) Side Lateral Raise
3) Rear Delt Row
4) Upright Row
5) Machine Leg Raise Crunch
6) Dumbbell Side Bends
7) Seated Side Crunch & Seated Crunch

FRIDAY - Back & Biceps
1) Deadlift
2) Seated Row
3) Barbell Bent-over Row
4) (Assisted) Pull-up
5) Barbell Curls
6) Hammer Curls
7) Preacher Curls

SATURDAY & SUNDAY - Rest Day