Proposed split routine for anabolic growth

[bmcel7]

Hello everybody,

After reading over old posts by Royce, Douglis, and others I have decided to try out a split routine for muscle size and strength gains. Thus far vrt has helped me to feel incredible as described in a previous thread. But, I have not seen any evidence of size gains. I am a skinny hardgainer who has tried virtually everything to gain a little bit of substance to my body with no result but a lighter wallet. Even after nearly 2 years of transformetrics, I have not grown even a quarter of an inch in any of my measurements. This has been one of my ongoing goals with transformetrics.

Now, inspired by Douglis's results with a split routine, and Royce's suggestions, I am going to try it out. This is my proposed routine:

Day 1 Chest and Upper Back

Spine flex
Chest flyes - lower, middle and upper
Bent over rows
Chest press
Pull ups

Day 2 Legs and arms

Spine flex
Squats
Calf raises
Bicep curls
Triceps extensions
Forearm Dvrs
Fist squeeze and extension

Day 3 Abs, Lower Back and Neck

Spine flex
Deadlift
Standing Ab crunch
Side bends
Stomach exercise from m7
Neck dsr's

I have not decided on sets and reps at the moment. I will figure that out as I go along. I am also open to comments and suggestions. Thanks,

Brandon

[VRT Man]

Hey Brandon,

I would work my way through this with a total "intuitive" manner, as to your level of ability and point of exhaustion that you can attain by the number of sets of your posted exercises. I would recommend a diet rich in fat and protein, with a level of calories at least twice, and more like 3 times the normal caloric need for an average person; that would be 2 to 3 times 2,500 calories, or 5,000 to 7,000, if you are looking to gain muscular weight. And that has been your major complaint by your letter. I have had correspondence with several ectomorphs down through the years who had tremendous difficulty gaining weight, and like you, have spent a small fortune on health food powders, and weight gain mixes, to put on weight. It really doesn't matter what method of bodybuilding exercise one chooses to build muscle; the ability to gain weight, or not to gain weight, is purely an individual metabolic response. Yours is one that needs particular attention. (Be thankful it isn't the other way around!)

Go at your VRT with high intensity, but respond intuitively as to when to stop, but the size gain that you're concerned about requires a real dedication to eating more, and even still more, of foods to create anabolic gain.

Greg Mangan

[bmcel7]

Mr Mangan,

Thanks for your reply. I like to think that I already eat a lot. I frequently get responses like "I don't know how you stay so skinny with all the food you eat" or "where do you put all that food". I guess I need to increase the amounts even more and give my muscles enough time to recover from workout to workout. That is the main reason I have decided to do a split routine, so the different muscle groups have enough time to recover by the next time they are worked.

Any advice on the kinds of foods to eat, quantities, and especially easy ways to prepare them would be appreciated. Or if you know of any other resources that make it idiot proof that would be great.

Thank you,
Brandon

[VRT Man]

Brandon,

Well, I do know that high fat, high protein consumption is the way to go to create an anabolic weight gain, of course combined with an intense bodybuilding program...and that's what VRT is, a bodybuilding program.

Vince Gironda had a marvelous weight gain formula of blending a dozen eggs in a quart of cream; drinking this throughout the day, combined with high-intensity workouts, would put on roughly one pound a day for those with a not-so avaricious metabolism, for it would add up to 3,200 to 4,000 calories or more; roughly the caloric weight gain of one pound. Consumed on a daily basis, this would add a few pounds per week.

I found a number of weight-gain diets by simply Googling that phrase; Normally I don't proceed in this direction, but in the exact opposite, due to my slower metabolism.

If anyone else has any weight-gain ideas for Brandon, feel free to post them.

Greg Mangan

[bmcel7]

Thanks Greg, that recipe sounds like it would be perfect for getting the extra calories i need on top of my normal food consumption. I will probably use whole milk though with the eggs and maybe add in other things like peanut butter and whey protein. Sounds great, thanks for the suggestion.

[farrout]

Hey Brandon,

I am a 43 year old predominantly ectomorph, however I have been able to overcome this gentically predisposed challenge.

At the age of 16 I weighed a mere 84lbs, ended up at 198 at my heaviest - mid 2005 - & have now settled at 183 with lowish bodyfat.

What Greg has stated above regarding nutrition is absolutely correct, however there is also another often overlooked factor that in my opinion is equally important for those wishing to gain muscular bodyweight & that is nervous tension.

I have always been anxious & worried a lot for as long as I can remember & believe that due to this my body has been in a catabolic state more so than an anabolic one due to this. The cortisol released during times of stress is a real killer.

Even at 43, I have to work hard at managing stress - -I guess that's just how I'm wired. Just wanted you to know that you are not alone & wanted to mention the importance of a tranquil, peaceful mind where possible as it will contribute greatly in your quest for muscle.

If you are finding it difficult to increase your food intake, try taking fenugreek capsules or soaking fenugreek seeds in water & eating a teaspoon or so once they have absorbed water. Doing this increased my appetite like crazy & enabled me to eat huge amounts of food. If you try this be careful at first as initially until I got the dosage dialled in it had a laxative effect!

Take care,
Steve

[duff]

Sounds like a good plan. I'll be watching your progress!

If you blend raw eggs, make absolutely sure they are organic and free-range. Even most so-called organic eggs aren't really organic and come from diseased hens kept in tiny cages, or else 10's of 1000s of hens in giant, smelly warehouses. (See http://www.cornucopia.org/organic-egg-scorecard/ for specifics.)This is one place where buying the expensive version is worth it as it will greatly decrease any risk of salmonella poisoning (which is really only much of an issue for children, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems though---otherwise it's basically like the flu).

Skinny ectomorphs like us do tend to have a lot of nervous tension like farrout mentioned, but from what I've read of your posts, you already do some meditative practices so this might not be the critical factor. For me, I've gained 10 lbs or so of muscle in the past year or so largely because I've healed some digestive issues and am avoiding soy, which I had developed an allergy to over the course of 11 years as a vegetarian.

Other recommendations I've heard for ectomorphs/hard gainers:
* go really intense during your workouts, but no more than 45 minutes total, then rest that muscle group until next week
* take a nap or two (no more than 20 minutes or so) if you can during the day to rest more
* measure your muscles with a measuring tape for that purpose so you know for sure whether you are making size gains
* use a bodyfat caliper too so that you know you aren't just gaining fat
* cut out most or all of your aerobic activity for maximum size gains--you can add this back later to get ripped, but it will burn too many calories if you do both
* make sure you're doing enough workout volume--feel free to add on many more sets than you might think, and keep reps in the 5-10 rep range, but again stop before 45 minutes or nervous system exhaustion
* do some mental work here too--visualization, affirmations, etc. can be helpful.
* eating 6 meals a day is often recommended, just so you absorb all the calories and protein requirements. I'm against counting calories personally as it makes me too neurotic about food, but it's useful to do some calculations at first just so you know how many calories, grams of protein/carbs/fat etc. is in things.
* Cottage cheese and fruit is an excellent pre-bed meal because of the specific protein in cottage cheese. Half a container is like 22g of protein which ain't bad if you can do dairy.

Best of luck!

[duff]

A few more things came to mind too:
* rest 2-3 minutes between sets so you have maximum strength to really push
* get 9-10 hours quality sleep a night if you can
* if you need more intensity, use burnout supersets or giant sets. For example, do a DSR chest exercise immediately followed by as many pushups as you can then as many knee pushups as you can, rest 3 minutes and repeat 3-5 times. This will crank up the intensity to 11! :)

Basically, the idea is go much more intense than you have before, then rest and nourish your muscles much more than you have before. Easier said than done though!