Question about muscle gaining

[edvc520]

Hi, I'm currently working out Mon, Wed, Fri
I hope to gain muscles faster
Just wondering is working out daily or every other day is better?
Or any tips to gain muscles fast?

[poedua]

Hi, I'm currently working out Mon, Wed, Fri
I hope to gain muscles faster

Just wondering is working out daily or every other day is better?

Or any tips to gain muscles fast?

Define " fast " .

What's your height ? Weight ? Male / Female ? Age ?

Also, how long have you been training Mon, Wed, Fri - i.e are you a newbie to training ?

What does your current typical training session look like - i.e types of exercises, do you primarily use machines / free weights ? # of sets / reps etc. etc. ?

What's your diet like ...i,e are you taking in enough calories to support your training ?

That aside, with respect to " working out daily or every other day is better ", so long you work the same muscle groups on non-consecutive days ..then ( in theory ) you can train every day if you want....4, 5 or even 6 days a week ( i.e. programs referred to as 4, 5 or 6 day splits ).

But that said, even training 4, 5 or 6 days a week may not be the most effective and efficient way ( i.e a panacea ) to pack on muscle if the training itself isn't done in a proper manner to optimize muscle growth. For example, training properly, you can still easily pack on muscle doing a full body workout for an hour a day on Mon, Wed, Fri.

[edvc520]

Thanks for your response
I'm a male in the 20s
I'm a noob to training, been training mon, wed, fri for a month. I can see that I'm way more toned when compare to a month ago.
I do whole body work out every training day.

My routines are like this:
Warm up
- Sit ups for around 30 reps
- Bench bar for 10 reps

Chest
- Bench press 3 sets of 8-10 reps
- Dumbbell Flys 3 sets of 10 reps
- Dumbbell press 3 sets of 8-10 reps
- Cable 3 sets of 10 reps

Delts
- Barbell Military press 3 sets of 10 reps
- Dumbbell Shoulder "flys" 3 sets of 10 reps
- Dumbbell press 3 sets of 10 reps
- Dumbbell Back delt work out (don't know the name of the drill) 3 sets of 10 rebs

Biceps and Triceps
- Barbell Curls 3 sets of 10 reps
- Barbell Triceps work out (don't know the name of the drill) 3 sets of 10 reps

Leg press 4 sets of 10 reps

As for my diet, I don't really watch on my diet, but I don't really junk.
Mostly chicken and rice.

Thanks for the advices!

[Sibica]

Thanks for your response
I'm a male in the 20s
I'm a noob to training, been training mon, wed, fri for a month. I can see that I'm way more toned when compare to a month ago.
I do whole body work out every training day.

My routines are like this:
Warm up
- Sit ups for around 30 reps
- Bench bar for 10 reps

Chest
- Bench press 3 sets of 8-10 reps
- Dumbbell Flys 3 sets of 10 reps
- Dumbbell press 3 sets of 8-10 reps
- Cable 3 sets of 10 reps

Delts
- Barbell Military press 3 sets of 10 reps
- Dumbbell Shoulder "flys" 3 sets of 10 reps
- Dumbbell press 3 sets of 10 reps
- Dumbbell Back delt work out (don't know the name of the drill) 3 sets of 10 rebs

Biceps and Triceps
- Barbell Curls 3 sets of 10 reps
- Barbell Triceps work out (don't know the name of the drill) 3 sets of 10 reps

Leg press 4 sets of 10 reps

As for my diet, I don't really watch on my diet, but I don't really junk.
Mostly chicken and rice.

Thanks for the advices!

Working out 3 days a week is a good place to start and what most people do. So you're OK there, but you are doing WWAAAYYY too much in one day. If I understand correctly, you're doing all that you listed in one day right? If so, too much. Also, you need to add more barbell work and less dumbbell work, such as squats, deadlifts and barbell presses for shoulders. That being said, I see no back exercises which means you;re missing a major muscle group.

Keep it more simple: if you feel you like doing full body, then go:

flat bench 4 x 8-10 reps
pull-ups 4 x max
barbell shoulder press 4 x 8-10
squats 4 x 8-10
ab and/or core work

Next day, change the exercises! For example:

incline bench (with bar or DB's)
chin-ups
side DB raises
deadlifts
ab/core work

And third day, change them again. Now notice I did not include arm work because I feel you will get plenty with this setup, but if you feel the need to add it in, do it at the end of the workout. Up to you.

Next thing is diet. To add muscle you need to stimulate the muscles (workout) then feed them to recover (eat!). That means upping the amount of food you eat. My opinion is to limit your carbs (ie. to only non-starchy vegetables and limited berries) and up the FAT and PROTEIN. Which means eating mostly meat, eggs, fish with veggies. If you aren't growing, it most often is lack of food intake.

This can be hard to do (it is for me) and that being said, supplement with shakes if need be. Any easy one I do includes:
1 1/2 cups water (or coconut milk/cream)
1/2 avocado
1-2 scoops protein
handful or more of baby spinach
1 cup frozen berries.
Blend and enjoy. Add two of those a day and you will be PACKING in nutrients, fat and protein. Not to mention, good calories.

[Squageli]

I agree with the post above.

For me I have gained the most muscle mass by doing front and back squats (with a free bar not on a machine) and chin/pull ups. I have been doing squats along with my Olympic lifts for years and started doing chins/pulls ups recently. I gained muscle in my upper body fast. Chins are like squats for the upper body. Back when I started squatting I put on around 10lbs fast, I weighed about 150lbs back then.

There is a ton of information here http://www.charlespoliquin.com/blog.aspx.

[amz155]

Leg press 4 sets of 10 reps

That's it for lower body? Where's the rest of the lower body stuff? You seem like one of those gym noobs who just work out upper body

I think you should consider adding squats or deadlifts to your routine. Maybe even some Bulgarian split squats and step ups. Keep in mind that squats and DL will not just work your lower body' they are basically the king and queen of all gym exercises and work almost your entire body as they are compound exercises. It would be important to perform them correctly though, to get benefit from them and not hurt yourself.

I'd also recommend you throw some planks in there. Either traditional, side plank, feet elevated, whatever.

And other RFDers will correct me if I'm wrong but:

1) You can't build muscle 'fast'
2) If you are training for strength or hypertrophy you need to use bigger loads (more weight) and lower volume (less reps). I'm a fan of 5 x 5 workouts.

[poedua]

Thanks for your response
I'm a male in the 20s

I'm a noob to training, been training mon, wed, fri for a month.

O.K....so you're a raw noobie to training ..at it is now, you've been at it for only 4 weeks. You're obviously going to get stronger as you progress but you may not see that strength gain translated into seeing more muscle just yet as you may be expecting. Here's why.

During the first few weeks of training for a beginner you can see some pretty impressive increases in your strength in which there is very little change in your muscle size. That's because the gains in strength are coining primarily from neural ( central nervous system ) adaptions - not muscular ones. Your central nervous system ' adapts ' by recruiting more more muscle fibers to lift more. The more fibers you have working , the stronger you get ....but not necessarily with bigger muscles.

You've only been at it 4 weeks.....be patient.

I do whole body work out every training day.

My routines are like this:
Warm up
- Sit ups for around 30 reps
- Bench bar for 10 reps

Chest
- Bench press 3 sets of 8-10 reps
- Dumbbell Flys 3 sets of 10 reps
- Dumbbell press 3 sets of 8-10 reps
- Cable 3 sets of 10 reps

I'd drop the cable and eventually move toward a barbell bench press, barbell incline press and dumbbell fly - those 3 exercises should do it...for now .

Delts
- Barbell Military press 3 sets of 10 reps
- Dumbbell Shoulder "flys" 3 sets of 10 reps
- Dumbbell press 3 sets of 10 reps
- Dumbbell Back delt work out (don't know the name of the drill) 3 sets of 10 rebs

The first 2 should be sufficient for delts ....Barbell Military press & dumbbell shoulder "flys.

However, you need to add about 3 dedicated back exercises - i.e Single Arm Dumbbell Rows, Barbell Deadlifts, Pull ups / Chin Ups, Bent Over Rows, Lat Pulldowns, Inverted Rows, Seated Cable Rows etc.

Biceps and Triceps
- Barbell Curls 3 sets of 10 reps
- Barbell Triceps work out (don't know the name of the drill) 3 sets of 10 reps

Leg press 4 sets of 10 reps

Leg press is a ' so so ' choice...your #1 leg exercise IMO is the basic squat ( dumbbell, barbell, machine, body weight ) and all it's variations ...I'd always do this as a minimum each session. Legs = squats, squats, squats IMO.

In addition, you can do dead lifts as I mentioned earlier and lunges ( all forms ), step-ups, etc.

[toeknee89]

That's it for lower body? Where's the rest of the lower body stuff? You seem like one of those gym noobs who just work out upper body

I think you should consider adding squats or deadlifts to your routine. Maybe even some Bulgarian split squats and step ups. Keep in mind that squats and DL will not just work your lower body' they are basically the king and queen of all gym exercises and work almost your entire body as they are compound exercises. It would be important to perform them correctly though, to get benefit from them and not hurt yourself.

I'd also recommend you throw some planks in there. Either traditional, side plank, feet elevated, whatever.

And other RFDers will correct me if I'm wrong but:

1) You can't build muscle 'fast'
2) If you are training for strength or hypertrophy you need to use bigger loads (more weight) and lower volume (less reps). I'm a fan of 5 x 5 workouts.

+1 for the first mention of the deadlift. You should really do those. It is extremely taxing and while give you a good burn. Also, the upper body includes the back too =P I would also like to mention that "fitness" is a marathon, not a race. So if you're planning on seeing major results in a month you're setting yourself up for disappointment. It'll take you at least 2 weeks to perfect compund movements like the squat or deadlift. Form is key to results. Set a longterm goal and you'll eventually be happy when you reach that goal.

[petern87]

Scrawny to Brawny is a good book for people who find it hard to gain muscle. It provides 4 good sequential programs to follow, but you can just skip to the second or third one. You can look up the pdf online.

MAKE A LOG!! This is important cause it lets you know how your progressing. Write down your exercises, sets and reps and weight. It will provide you motivation.

You have a lot of shoulder exercises. Add more back, lower body exercises, olympic lifts. Look at the size of your shoulders compared your back, huge difference. Also, I would consider focusing on a body part(s) for each day you work out. If you do a three day split, a suggestion is
M- Legs - get it out of the way for the week cause if you leave it for fri chances are you'll skimp out on the work out. plus the racks are always open cause mon is usually chest and bi's day for every guy at the gym, unless some idiot is doing curls at the squat rack
W-Upper push (chest/shoulders/tris)
F-Upper pull (back/traps/bis)

If you are training for strength or hypertrophy you need to use bigger loads (more weight) and lower volume (less reps). I'm a fan of 5 x 5 workouts.

Lastly, what is said above is correct. If you want size and strength you have to increase the load and decrease the reps. The 5x5 program(5 sets of 5 reps) is an awesome program. Do it for your main lifts (squats, deads, benchpress, etc) and you'll notice gains pretty soon.

Personally what worked for me when I was bulking I was doing legs two times a week. Quad centric excercises one day and hams/glutes another day, but you will got some crossover with certain exercises especially closed chain ones like squats, deads etc. My legs were growing so fast that I have stretch marks all along my inner thigh. Like someone mentioned above, I also rarely ever did just arms workouts since they should get a lot of work when you do the bigger exercises. Diet is huge, on top of what people above suggested, eat some cottage cheese at night. Sounds gross, but if you put a tablespoon of salsa in it you barely taste it. Cottage cheese has casein protein which is a slower metabolizing protein which is what you want for the night. Good luck with your training and don't be discouraged if you don't see immediate results, it takes time.