Help hypertrophsize me!!!

[punchinmonke]

Hello,
This is my first time using this forum but the info looks pretty good so maybe some big guys can help me out here! I have been trying to put on muscle for quite sometime now and am progressing but soooo slowly!

I do chest/shoulders on day 1+6, legs day 2, back/arms day 3, and I box on days 4 and 5. Sometimes day 5 turns into another leg day or I take it completely off. I do 4-5 exercises per group at 4 sets (or 5) of 8-10 reps per exercise.
When I do more than a 1-2 mile run/day + my boxing 2 days a week, I burn calories too fast ( I think) and don't get bigger at all. BUT when I cut back on my cardio I seem to gain weight quickly and the in between stage is not enough to keep me fit enough to box and not get my ass kicked!

I'm eating lots and lots of protein but I know there must be something that I'm missing as I seem to be getting a lot stronger but the size is not coming as fast as it should be. P.S I'm a gal so go easy on me here!!! Any help would be apprecaited!

[Darkhorse]

I'm eating lots and lots of protein but I know there must be something that I'm missing as I seem to be getting a lot stronger but the size is not coming as fast as it should be. P.S I'm a gal so go easy on me here!!! Any help would be apprecaited!

Have you read some of our stickies?

Why aren't you growing?
How to bulk
Extreme eating for mass

Here's a few others from Kelley Baggett that I've found extremely helpful:

Part I
Part II
Part III

These are all excellent! Hope this gets you started!

[verbatimreturned]

lots and lots of protein is good, but thats not always the key for some people. Try raising your carbohydrate intake and see what happens, and of course look at what 0311 suggested

[punchinmonke]

Hey thanks for the replies.
I've been doing a lot of the things recommended in the 1st post. But, one thing I don't get is that one of the articles talks about how many people go too hard in the gym (past the point of fatigue) and train just too plain hard. Though it also says you should be training each major body part more than once a week. How can you get in this much volume every week without having to lower the intensity of your reps/sets to the point where you aren't even building for size anymore. Some of the split routines I saw were all so different from one another.
Oh, and I find that if I up my carbs I bloat like crazy.

[Eric3237]

Originally Posted by punchinmonke

Though it also says you should be training each major body part more than once a week. How can you get in this much volume every week without having to lower the intensity of your reps/sets to the point where you aren't even building for size anymore.

Volume is the total amount of work you do, right? Basically weight X reps X sets in a nutshell. If you increase the frequency per bodypart that doesn't mean you're necessarily doing more volume per week.

The short answer is that as you increase the frequency you lower the volume per workout....the volume will be spread out over the more than one workout per body part per week. As far as reducing the intensity that is far from the case. You're doing high volume now so that relates to a fairly LOW intensity. Keeping the volume per workout low and increasing the frequency will allow you to work at a higher relative intensity.

As far as working for size there is more than one way to accomplish that and keep in mind that progressive load is one of the biggest criteria.

Also, I wonder if boxing is just a hobby or something you're serious about? The reason I ask is because right now you're training more or less like a bodybuilder. There also may be better ways to maintain/inrease your aerobic endurance without sacrificing muscle. Somehing to keep in mind is that if you run 1 or 2 miles then all you are doing is maintaining a certain level of fitness but not increasing it past that set point. Since adding on the mileage until your running a marathon is only sound for marathoners then it would stand to reason that a more efficient method should be found to integrate all your training so that one part does not suffer for the other.

The reason I'm saying this is because you're probably putting way too much stock into how well running keeps you fit for boxing. This may come as a shock but boxing is mostly and anaerobic endeavor..unless you're boxing style consists of running slow continuous circles around the perimeter of the ring. The things you do for conditioning should be as similar as possible to the demands of your sport.

[Darkhorse]

Originally Posted by Eric3237

The short answer is that as you increase the frequency you lower the volume per workout....the volume will be spread out over the more than one workout per body part per week.

To oversimplify using chest as an example:

Once per week frequency: (Monday's)
- Monday- flat bench: 3x10, incline bench: 3x10, dips: 3x10
- Total amount of sets: 9 sets

Twice per week frequency: (Monday's and Thursday's)
- Monday- flat bench: 3x10, inclines: 2x10
- Thursday- incline bench: 3x10, dips: 2x10
- Total amount of sets: 10 sets

Three times per week frequency: (Monday, Wednesday, Friday)
- Monday- flat bench: 3x10
- Wednesday- Incline bench: 3x10
- Friday- Dips- 3x10
- Total amount of sets: 9 sets

[BG5150]

Try this:

What a body Builder Eats

[punchinmonke]

Thanks for info guys.
As for the cardio question I do intervals with skipping and metabolic training using med. balls etc on my boxing days and usually skip after my weights for a couple rounds too. Right now I am trying to train like a body builder, even though the goal is for boxing, because I need to put on mass. If I do more cardio than what Im doing that wont happen.

I was looking at the different chest workouts for frequency and do most builders train a couple body parts per session more than once a week. I thought it was better to train one per session ie chest mon back tues etc. What do you think?

punchinmonke

[Kane]

Originally Posted by punchinmonke

I thought it was better to train one per session ie chest mon back tues etc. What do you think?

It all depends on the routine. I did a session of OVT and a modified 5x5 and they were both using the notion of 2 muscle groups per workout, working each muscle once per week , but now I've switched to HST and it is full body 3 times a week. I personally like the 1-2 muscle/workout splits but thats me, everyone is different. IMO I don't think there is a definite advantage or disadvantage between the two methods.

[Eric3237]

There is a definite advantage.

From Why Aren't You Growing:

4) Training a bodypart once per week (and one bodypart per day) is one of the worst ways to train. It will create a rut in your training that you can’t dig out of.

Training a bodypart twice per week has always been shown to be superior to once per week training of a muscle. The problem is with the influx of "Weider Principles" and other bodybuilding trash that's posted in the magazines, the masses have been stuck in the one-bodypart-per-day-per-week rut for years.

No strength athletes train a bodypart once per week. Most olympic lifters, powerlifters, and strongman train their backs at least four times per week, and last time I checked, they weren't lacking in back width.

The simple fact is that training using an upper/lower split or a push/pull split or 3 full body days will provide double or triple the training stimulus than training a muscle once per week and thus, if done correctly will lead to much, much greater growth and strength gains.

Originally Posted by Kane

It all depends on the routine.

I think it depends more on the individual then the routine and the fact is that those who respond better to once a week "volume" routines are the exception rather than the rule.