[EDM92]

I have been working out religiously for the past 2 months or so. Although I started at least 4 months ago, I didn't really get serious until 2 months after I started. I have been going up in weight slowly but surely. However my bench never seems to go up, sitting at a solid 30 on both sides for 5 reps.

I have been going every other day, alternating between upper body and lower body on those days. On upper body day I do 3 sets 5 reps of bench, few 5 rep sets of flys, few 10 rep sets of skull crushers, few 5 set reps of isolation biceps, some shoulders, and all that good stuff. I know my technique is correct, yet I seem to not be gaining much muscle mass. I take protein after every work out. What gives?

I tried some NO Shotgun today, (similar to NO explode) and it did nothing for me except give me a bit of a head ache and made my hands tense up. I took one scoop on an empty stomach.

Are there any supplements I should be trying?

TL;DR: I am going to the gym religiously with good technique and I am not gaining muscle mass like I think I should be. Are there any supplements I should be trying? Any other ideas?

[EarthShaker1]

Whey protein, 1 scoop before your work out and 1 after. If you want more mass then drink 1 scoop before you go to bed. That would help a lot if you want to gain mass.

[EDM92]

I take whey. One after each workout, and i try to eat a lot of protein before the work out. As every other guy, I want my muscles to be big and defined, not just big.

[nightkhan]

try going for 8-10 reps per set where by 8-10 you're pushing till failure, around 3 sets per move, and do more exercises per muscle.

for instance, on my chest and back days, i alternate between a chest set and a back set, and total i'll have done about 4-5 exercises for chest and same for back.

you should also be taking about 1 to 1.5 gram of protein for each lb of your body weight, and definitely have protein first thing int he morning, as well as before and after your workouts.

[EDM92]

I'm not sure whether to change up my routine or not. I am going to incorporate more protein shakes into my diet although I do feel that I have enough. All I know is I am so eager to go back to the gym and work my muscles until they fall off

[emac08]

more variety in your work out and spreading out muscle groups more... pushing chest everyother day for 2 months straight = plateu (sp??). example: instead of upper body/lowerbody... do back and biceps... chest/triceps.. legs/ shoulders.. then repeat. basically u will be doing each muscle group twice a week and you will get much more rest per group allowing you to gain strength/size better. also work out patterns should be changed MONTHLY.

[Garduna]

Here's some suggestions:

In terms of supplements, try some weight gainers if you want mass/bulk up. Creatine perhaps? As a general question, are you eating 6 solid meals a day? Do you consume high volumes of salt or sweetened foods?

As for what to do in the gym, try isolating what you do while ur in there. Say you are on a 4 day per week workout regiment, try doing this:

Chest Shoulders Tri, Back Bi, Legs, Abs. Mixup your workout so that you aren't just doing the same excercises for months on end. Per set, do no more than 6-8 reps.

Hope this helps

[BMW86]

If you are trying to get your bench up I would focus on triceps and some shoulder exercises to give you an extra edge. Also, try doing 3 sets of 10 reps on 3 different exercises. I think 5 reps at this stage is a waste, you need to pump out more weight first. Also, eat, eat and eat!!

[Thisisdudewhoru]

More weight,less reps=more mass...I've been hitting it hard for about 4 months now. I haven't gained much weight but I definitely have alot more muscle mass. Started off maxing 135 bench, I'm up to 215 now but still do my sets with 185(Just 2 sets of 5. I try to move up 5-10lbs a week if possible). I started off weighing 143 and now I'm currently 148. Single serving creatine on off days, which I do abs on off days. Double creatine on workout days. Drink a 62g protein shake everyday. Sometimes twice. I'm taking jack3d as a preworkout supplement.

[Green///Hell]

I think you just have your nutrition not straightened out yet.

The Dieting and eating is more serious than the actual training is. You need a ton of protein. I eat a lot and all throughout the day.

Pre-workout and post workout meals (protein shakes) Multi vitamins (animal Pak) and I also take Casine Protein (sp?) at night before bed as it is a slow release protein while your muscles go into catabolic state so you slowly feed them in your sleep until another protein blast at breakfast. Along with fish oil these are the only supplements I take.

I do a full body every other day 1-2 set max weight possible to exhaustion of at least 5-8 reps. If I go higher that week I add weight to the lift once it's controllable
After 4 days of work I take two days rest and keep good nutrition.

Try something like this but you have to be really strict and you'll grow

[saeedg48]

-I wana get lean and cut, anyone?

[Green///Hell]

Originally Posted by saeedg48

-I wana get lean and cut, anyone?

Well the opposite of above unless you want to try and keep muscle mass gains and than cut
Drink a protein like Isopure, which IMHO is some of the best stuff I've tried. It has absolutely nothing in it but L-Arginine and 50 grams protein isolate so it will helo you lean out while maintaining and growin muscle.

Just do a ton of cardio at least and hour running and do really high intensity lifting with lighter weight and more reps and keep your heart rate up the whole time.

Last thing is you have to eat 100xs better than everyone else, no salt no pop no fast food stuff just all good stuff all the time

[JayKay335i]

You need to vary your routine. You also need to do more reps. You're no where big enough to be power lifting. You need to first build your muscles up. You should be doing 8-10 reps and slowly increasing your weight.

[Turbo>NA]

I did this routine for only a month, and my Arms didnt fit in my shirt.

Pyramid workout

Example: Bi-cep curl

Set 1x10 -30 lbs-
Set 2x8 -35 lbs-
Set 3x6 -40 lbs-

So basically the more sets you do, the lower the reps get. But you add more weight as the set gets higher. Got it?

Make sure your last set and last 2 reps are hard and heavy. Ask someone to spot you, yes it suppose to be that difficult.

[EDM92]

I've been researching routines and such since I posted this thread, and I can definitely see that everyone has their own opinion of what to do in the gym. After all the reading I've been doing, I think my main problem is not enough food. I used to weigh 205 so I started eating really healthy and a lot less. Now my body needs the food so hopefully I'll be seeing more gains. I'm going to take before and after pics and start this routine suggested to me by someone:


Day 1: Back, biceps Day 2: Chest, triceps Day 3:Shoulders, traps Day 4: Legs Note, those are workout days, so rest days are every other day. Abs you can do either on rest days or at the end of every second workout, just not daily.
If you're working upper body/lower body, even though you may work every muscle group more often, you won't be working them as hard.

With that schedule I would do 4 exercises per muscle for major muscle groups (chest, back, legs, shoulders), 3 for minor (biceps, triceps, calves). 4 sets per exercise, 10 reps per set. The last set, it's ok to only do 6-8 reps, as long as the last one is done to failure (with a spotter if it's free weights for things like bench or squats).

Since you're looking for chest strength and mass, I'll provide an example workout for that. Keep in mind, when you do a power movement like a bench or a squat, you're not working just your pectoral muscles. The front deltoids and triceps are heavily involved, as well as core strength which is why I strongly suggest putting as much effort into all the muscle groups as you do chest. We all have our weak muscles and exercises we don't particularly enjoy, but they're all linked.

Chest:
Flat bench press, incline dumbbell press, incline dumbbell flies, cable crossovers.
Triceps: triceps extensions (cable push downs), dumbbell kickbacks, overhead triceps extension.
To finish off this workout, toss in maximum rep dips for two sets and you should be spent. Every couple of weeks, make sure to add a little weight...2.5-5lbs per side, 5 lbs for dumbells.

[leocdmg]

Hey it seems like your getting pretty sound advice so I will just mention something I dont think anyone has. Do NOT take NO (NO shotgun in your case) on an empty stomach. That will fuck you up. Basicly its a chemical compound containing arginine. If taken on an empty stomach side effects are headache and stomach problems. I made the mistake of taking dark rage on an empty stomach and was puking my brains out at the gym. I took it the next day after eating and felt great. I had an amazing pump with every rep I did.

[Bobby_Light]

Originally Posted by BMWorNOTHING

I have been working out religiously for the past 2 months or so. Although I started at least 4 months ago, I didn't really get serious until 2 months after I started. I have been going up in weight slowly but surely. However my bench never seems to go up, sitting at a solid 30 on both sides for 5 reps.

I have been going every other day, alternating between upper body and lower body on those days. On upper body day I do 3 sets 5 reps of bench, few 5 rep sets of flys, few 10 rep sets of skull crushers, few 5 set reps of isolation biceps, some shoulders, and all that good stuff. I know my technique is correct, yet I seem to not be gaining much muscle mass. I take protein after every work out. What gives?

I tried some NO Shotgun today, (similar to NO explode) and it did nothing for me except give me a bit of a head ache and made my hands tense up. I took one scoop on an empty stomach.

Are there any supplements I should be trying?

TL;DR: I am going to the gym religiously with good technique and I am not gaining muscle mass like I think I should be. Are there any supplements I should be trying? Any other ideas?

Your rep range is wrong for what you're trying to do. You can supplement until you're blue in the face, but if you don't know how to eat, train, repair, and you don't have good digestion you're in an uphill battle.

[shuarma]

you're not gonna gain too much mass in 2 months or even 4 months. you just have to train hard and eat a lot. your diet is probably very bad and not clean at all. i bet you're also not sleeping 8+ hours a night, and not working out effectively. don't rely on protein shakes too much, just have 2 scoops after a work out and thats it. after your workout you should have a big serving of meat, carbs, and drink some juice to get your insulin going.

lay off that NO xplode bullshit. everything you need is in food, so just have a good serving of complex and simple carbs before every workout and it'll work better than any PWO supp.

[Htown09]

dude listen, if you want big muscles you have to eat like a horse. If you weigh 205 lbs. you need to consume at least 200 grams of protein everyday. You have to eat even when you are not hungry. Eat every 2 hours like tuna and brown rice; drink casein before bed. Wake up in the middle of the night and drink a casein protein shake. Eat a protein shake and banana right after you workout, like when you still have sweat on your body.

You are never going to get big muscles if you don't give your body the nutrition to build them!

[Thisisdudewhoru]

Originally Posted by leocdmg

Hey it seems like your getting pretty sound advice so I will just mention something I dont think anyone has. Do NOT take NO (NO shotgun in your case) on an empty stomach. That will fuck you up. Basicly its a chemical compound containing arginine. If taken on an empty stomach side effects are headache and stomach problems. I made the mistake of taking dark rage on an empty stomach and was puking my brains out at the gym. I took it the next day after eating and felt great. I had an amazing pump with every rep I did.

I've taken both of these and Jack3d on empty stomachs and been fine. It may just be you. I have lots of friends who also take them and no problems.

[TiAg335i]

Training to failure on EVERY exercise is a good one that most people don't do. You really have to feel sore after every single workout or else you didn't do your job. Get someone to help you push out more reps after failure.

[Delta0311]

eat at least 1g of protein per lbs of bodyweight
eat at least 5-6 times a day (3 hour intervals) do try to keep your diet clean
change up your routine a bit. throw in some new exercises and switch up your days, keep your body guessing.