Please Critique my Regime-Aiming for 6-8kg weight gain

[ITRDC5]

Hi Guys,

I'ma a grappler with around 4 years experience in BJJ, thing is im 62kg soaking wet. Recently I've been quite unhappy with how small I am, I'm quite strong for my size but I would like to be physically bigger aswell.

I've started lifting again and my regime currently starting strength with some additional exercises thrown in. Working out 3 times per work as the book suggests. I'm a bit unsure of power cleans as my form is way off.

A
Squats 3 x 5
Deadlifts 3 x5
Bench 3 x 5
Bicep curls- 3x10

B
Squats 3 x5
Shoulder Press 3 x5
Bent Over rows 3 x5
Pull ups 3 x 10
Tricep pull downs 3 x10

Saturday

A or B



In addition to these workouts I am also grappling 3/4 times per week, so I'm concious that I have to start looking at increasing my food intake.

Just looking for some critique into the above regime, and general advice you could give me .

 

[Flash_Monsta]

Although resistance training will aid in muscle growth (assuming you want to put on lean mass) I think you need to be realistic about how much effort is needed to gain 6-8kg, and the time frame it's actually going to take.
On the other hand you can put on 6-8kg, some muscle but mostly fat, by simply eating in a caloric surplus. Well, you need to be eating in a surplus regardless if your looking to put on any sort of weight.

Start a log if you have the time and post videos of your form, I'm sure most of the regular guys around here will be more than happy to critique your form and give you constructive feedback.

 

[ironwolf]

Regime....regimen.....tomato/tomato.

 

[MilkManUK]

Yeah up those calories for sure, get in a slight surplus each day, alter as necessary if you are putting on too much fat. I find it pretty easy to gain weight, by just eating Alot more, but the tricky part is ensuring the bulk of it is muscle as opposed to blubber, so increase gradually and monitor.

 

[BOWHUNTER]

Hi Guys,

I'ma a grappler with around 4 years experience in BJJ, thing is im 62kg soaking wet. Recently I've been quite unhappy with how small I am, I'm quite strong for my size but I would like to be physically bigger aswell.

I've started lifting again and my regime currently starting strength with some additional exercises thrown in. Working out 3 times per work as the book suggests. I'm a bit unsure of power cleans as my form is way off.

A
Squats 3 x 5
Deadlifts 3 x5
Bench 3 x 5
Bicep curls- 3x10

B
Squats 3 x5
Shoulder Press 3 x5
Bent Over rows 3 x5
Pull ups 3 x 10
Tricep pull downs 3 x10

Saturday

A or B



In addition to these workouts I am also grappling 3/4 times per week, so I'm concious that I have to start looking at increasing my food intake.

Just looking for some critique into the above regime, and general advice you could give me .

Ditch the direct arm work, and eat more food. You need to eat more food to gain weight. Again if you want to gain weight eat more food. The food put it in your mouth and chew then swallow.

 

[j123]

Depends on your diet plan. Of course everyone's different, n00b gains would be pushing you through the roof if this would be your first time doing a proper lifting and bulk routine.

Going through a proper lean bulk, you could put on around 10-15lb of quality mass during the first year. The earlier being more realistic while the latter being you with good genetics.

Ditch the direct arm work, and eat more food. You need to eat more food to gain weight. Again if you want to gain weight eat more food. The food put it in your mouth and chew then swallow.

I'll play devils advocate.
Why is it that bad? TS has all the compound movements and the basics of a Starting Strength routine. Doing that small amount of assistance work can't hurt, besides 3x10 on curls / pushdowns isn't going to tax him on the lifts or his BJJ.
I used to do a 5x5 / 531 type routine sticking with only the basic compounds, heavy (nothing higher than 5 reps) and stalled / plateaued for years. I switched things up last November to a slightly more bodybuilding-esque routine (PHUL, PPL) and my main lifts are shooting through the roof with no sign of plateauing anytime soon. I found the assistance exercises and high volume helped tremendously. Also its not interfering with my Muay Thai, BJJ, MMA, etc

 

[NurseKnuckles]

Direct arm work programmed correctly can really help to strengthen joints which helps to continue progression. Now, if his whole program was based on curls and brodowns, then we'd have to make some changes, otherwise it looks pretty solid.

 

[Sano]

Looks good. As the other guys said, being at a (small) surplus will be key if you want to gain size. Have fun, take your time.

 

[selfcritical]

Have you ever completed a novice progression?

 

[blackhat]

To build muscle fast you want to do high rep ranges (8-12). You also want to get a good mind muscle connection and force a "pump" in your muscles (load your muscles with blood).

Don't focus on set programming so much as building the muscle connection, getting a pump, reaching failure. Worry about programming once you're an advanced lifter, as a newbie just have fun, start with 20 minute sessions and each week add more time until you reach 50 minutes.. try to focus on building up your body with perfect form.

The good thing about high rep ranges is it gives you more of a chance to build good form into your muscle memory. Starting off with a medium - heavy weight for squats and deadlift without a coach isn't a good idea. Make sure you film yourself to make sure your lower back isn't in a bad position.

-

When gaining muscle diet is KEY. Without excess calories you will gain extremely slowly if at all. Gradually work your way up past 3500 calories of healthy food per day. Don't worry about macros, just try to stuff your face with as much clean, healthy food as possible.

To put things in perspective of how fast you can gain weight.. I'm 6 feet tall and my body naturally stays around 165lbs. I got pneumonia and almost died and my weight dropped to 135. I started bulking and worked up to eating 4500-5000 calories a day, and within 8 months I was over 200 lbs (without much fat gain but my stomach was a bit bloated from all the food).

Your diet plus the quality and intensity of your training are the main factors which will determine how fast you reach your goals.

 

[JauntyAngle]

The good thing about high rep ranges is it gives you more of a chance to build good form into your muscle memory.

I don't think this can be true. If you are going to fatigue and generally keeping going when you are feeling frazzled, a lot of your reps will be crappy. Doing 30%-ish of your reps crapily doesn't seem to me to be a great way to ingrain perfect form.

IMO the set/rep ranges that promote really good form are ones where you do an absolute boat load of singles, doubles and triples. High total volume, but almost every rep done at least pretty well. Like Sheiko (as I understand it).

Also, what is "mind-muscle connection"?

 

[blackhat]

I don't think this can be true. If you are going to fatigue and generally keeping going when you are feeling frazzled, a lot of your reps will be crappy. Doing 30%-ish of your reps crapily doesn't seem to me to be a great way to ingrain perfect form.

IMO the set/rep ranges that promote really good form are ones where you do an absolute boat load of singles, doubles and triples. High total volume, but almost every rep done at least pretty well. Like Sheiko (as I understand it).

Also, what is "mind-muscle connection"?

If I'm going to train to failure either way, I think it's much safer to train high reps rather than low. It's just from my own personal experience and preference, I know a lot of other lifters disagree. You should stop if your form breaks down regardless how many reps you do IMO.

As far as I know Sheiko isn't for building mass, it's a pure strength program for powerlifters. High rep range encourages more hypertrophy, low reps encourage strength gains over mass.

A good example of mind muscle connection would be a newbie trying to hit his lats doing wide grips pull downs.. for a new lifter, they will have trouble engaging the correct muscles. It's kind of a strange concept to explain, especially if you've never had the issue, but there's a lot of articles on it.

 

[JimRussel]

If I'm going to train to failure either way, I think it's much safer to train high reps rather than low. It's just from my own personal experience and preference, I know a lot of other lifters disagree. You should stop if your form breaks down regardless how many reps you do IMO.

As far as I know Sheiko isn't for building mass, it's a pure strength program for powerlifters. High rep range encourages more hypertrophy, low reps encourage strength gains over mass.

A good example of mind muscle connection would be a newbie trying to hit his lats doing wide grips pull downs.. for a new lifter, they will have trouble engaging the correct muscles. It's kind of a strange concept to explain, especially if you've never had the issue, but there's a lot of articles on it.

What in the actual fuck am I reading?

Sheiko is a ridiculously, insanely good style of programming for putting on mass.

I'm not even going to address the rest.

 

[blackhat]

What in the actual fuck am I reading?

Sheiko is a ridiculously, insanely good style of programming for putting on mass.

I'm not even going to address the rest.

lol you're sounding a bit rustled champ. not sure it's even worth responding to you..

it's my opinion. there's better mass building routines then sheiko. I've only heard of powerlifters and strength athletes running that program.

bodybuilding routines are obviously more efficient at packing on muscle.

 

[JimRussel]

lol you're sounding a bit rustled champ. not sure it's even worth responding to you..

it's my opinion. there's better mass building routines then sheiko. I've only heard of powerlifters and strength athletes running that program.

bodybuilding routines are obviously more efficient at packing on masalmost always high rep ranges with short breaks in between sets. powerlifting routines are almost always low rep ranges with longer breaks.

Powerlifters and strength athletes don't want mass?

It's a very high volume training methodology. If you eat appropriately, you'll grow like a fucking weed. I know. I used that programming for 14 months straight.

Again, I'll spell it out in case someone who doesn't know any better is reading this: you have very little knowledge on the subject about which you're posting.

 

[NurseKnuckles]

lol you're sounding a bit rustled champ. not sure it's even worth responding to you..

it's my opinion. there's better mass building routines then sheiko. I've only heard of powerlifters and strength athletes running that program.

bodybuilding routines are obviously more efficient at packing on masalmost always high rep ranges with short breaks in between sets. powerlifting routines are almost always low rep ranges with longer breaks.

Unless you're Boris Sheiko's older, better fucking brother I'd say your opinion on how to gain mass is fucking useless right now.

 

[j123]

lol you're sounding a bit rustled champ. not sure it's even worth responding to you..

it's my opinion. there's better mass building routines then sheiko. I've only heard of powerlifters and strength athletes running that program.

bodybuilding routines are obviously more efficient at packing on masalmost always high rep ranges with short breaks in between sets. powerlifting routines are almost always low rep ranges with longer breaks.

The volume on sheiko is very high, more than most bodybuilding routines actually. Being on a surplus with that, I don't see how its not good for mass.
This is coming from a guy who does a bodybuilding-esque routine (531 + Push Pull Legs)

Besides, there are powerlifters who do hypertrophy work as well. WSBB has their accessory work with hyper rep ranges. 5/3/1 BBB (which happens to be the most popoular variant of it) has hypertrophy work, although the volume is short compared to a full on bodybuilding routine, you can't say (5x10)x5 is low reps

 

[blackhat]

Powerlifters and strength athletes don't want mass?

It's a very high volume training methodology. If you eat appropriately, you'll grow like a fucking weed. I know. I used that programming for 14 months straight.

Again, I'll spell it out in case someone who doesn't know any better is reading this: you have very little knowledge on the subject about which you're posting.

You confused what I wrote.

I was saying programs specifically for gaining mass are more effective..

I'm also not saying I know much about Sheiko. I researched it once quickly and that was probably 1 1/2 years ago. It seemed like way too much time investment and high potential for injury unless you're an enhanced lifter. That program is more well suited to advanced lifters, and lifters on gear.. not newbies like OP IMO.

Look at Ben Rice on youtube, he's definitely natural. He's been lifting for 10+ years, he's done Sheiko and all kinds of other powerlifting routines.. he's strong as a bull, but he's got a physique that doesn't look very built. If he was doing hypertrophy work along the way he'd be way bigger.

Unless you're Boris Sheiko's older, better fucking brother I'd say your opinion on how to gain mass is fucking useless right now.

It's funny, you claim I don't know shit about gaining mass.. yet I trained with and got programming from Freddy Palmer, who was an absolute monster in his day and competed with 22" arms. He also still trains some of the biggest, most shredded guys in my area that win bodybuilding competitions.... not to mention when I was bulking I gained mass faster than just about anyone I've heard of. 12lbs/month gained on average without drugs.

Once I start my next bulk, I'll be going from 170-260. I'll keep a progress log on Sherdog if there's a place for it. Then you can make an accurate judgment on my strength and mass gains.

The volume on sheiko is very high, more than most bodybuilding routines actually. Being on a surplus with that, I don't see how its not good for mass.
This is coming from a guy who does a bodybuilding-esque routine (531 + Push Pull Legs)

Besides, there are powerlifters who do hypertrophy work as well. WSBB has their accessory work with hyper rep ranges. 5/3/1 BBB (which happens to be the most popoular variant of it) has hypertrophy work, although the volume is short compared to a full on bodybuilding routine, you can't say (5x10)x5 is low reps

Hm. The thing is, I don't think total volume makes up for the lack of doing high rep ranges. Total volume is important, but if you're still doing very low rep ranges with long breaks between sets, it's not having the same mass building effect.

As long as there's hypertrophy work in the powerlifting routine and you eat properly you'll gain mass IMO. If you're underweight or don't mind waiting you'll gain from powerlifting + a good diet.. but I still think bodybuilding routines are ideal for gaining lean mass very quickly though.

 

[selfcritical]

If you didn't care about your numbers on the big three, you could probably concoct a mass building scheme that is less stressful than the sample Sheiko programs (which again, are just samples, not meant to be applied to just whoever in the population), which are primarily about doing as much sport specialization as the body can handle. Very light sets taken toward failure, more frequent rotation of exercises, no peaking phases, occlusion sets, all these sorts of things I would expect to see in a well-made bodybuilding routine rather than using a specialized powerlifting routine that is designed to take you to the limits of your volume tolerance while training for another sport. I seriously doubt that Boris would take one of his unmodified powerlifters programs and ever assign it to someone who was primarily competing in a sport that isn't powerlifting.

 

[Seriously-Dead]

Hm. The thing is, I don't think total volume makes up for the lack of doing high rep ranges. Total volume is important, but if you're still doing very low rep ranges with long breaks between sets, it's not having the same mass building effect.

Total volume is all that really matters. There are a bunch of ways to gain mass. Working with lighter weight in higher rep ranges possibly allows people to get in more volume over time though with a smaller risk of injury and/or burnout.

But it's important to note that working in lower and more intense rep ranges probably does predispose a person, especially if they are new to lifting, to more injury risk and possibly longer recovery between sessions. I don't really think that's debatable, but maybe some people here will disagree.

Let's just all stop pretending that Sheiko/531/Stronglifts are the holy grail of getting big. They absolutely work, but there are plenty of ways to gain mass without some of the caveats of intense strength work.

What needs to be considered in this specific circumstance are the OP's goals, which seem to be more oriented towards sports performance for BJJ. In that case, some strength and power work is absolutely necessary and a pure hypertrophy program alone wouldn't be ideal. A mixture of both types of work would probably be ideal in his specific case. In particular, I would say he could use more upper body hypertrophy work just because (in my experience) the upper body is a little more prone to injury, a little more complex in terms of joint movement, and as a result a little less responsive to only lower rep ranges and fewer exercises.