Woody's Beginner Bulking Program

NB: This is just a training program - for diet advice and other things related to lifting and exercise, please refer to the Fitness FAQ here https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3014757
I advise consulting your physician before undertaking this, or any, training program, to ensure that you're in good health to do so. If you feel as though any exercise is uncomfortable in a way that it shouldn't be, stop performing it and feel free to post here for advice.

This is a simple routine for both girls and guys wanting to gain muscular weight, who don't like the sound of Starting Strength or similar beginner strength routines. A common complaint on such routines is that after 6 months, lifters are much stronger, yet they haven't really gained any notable amount of muscle - the first 6 months can be extremely productive in terms of muscle gain, but some people find that they need to train a bit differently to the standard strength routines. Some people like to say "you need to eat more!" - as a general rule, if you're eating enough to gain strength, you're eating enough to gain muscle also. So if you're gaining strength and not muscle, a change in training method is in order.

With that said, this isn't going to be a 20 rep bro-split routine. It will focus on the basics; high frequency per muscle training the upper body in one session and the lower body in the next, alternating between groups with each workout; and getting stronger over time, which is the key to continued gains.

THE ROUTINE

Upper body

Bench press - 4 sets of 6-8 reps
Incline bench press or Overhead press - 3 sets of 8-10
Barbell or dumbbell rows - 3 sets of 6-8
Pulldowns/chins - 3 sets of 8-10
Face pulls - 2 sets of 10-12
Triceps - 2 sets of 10-12
Biceps - 2 sets of 10-12

Lower body

Squat or Deadlift/SLDL - 4 sets of 6-8
Leg press or Leg extension - 3 sets of 12-15
Leg curls - 3 sets of 10-12
Standing calf raise - 3 sets of 8-10
Seated calf raise - 2 sets of 10-12
Abs

Weights used

It's impossible to determine your individual strength level if you have no experience. However, standard advice is to start lighter than you think you'd need. You might find it best to start with just the bar on most of these exercises, perfect your form (YouTube video tutorials will help you learn the exercises) and increase the weights week on week if your form is good until you start hitting failure within the prescribed rep range.

Schedule

There is no set schedule to this routine. There are some rules, however, that you must adhere to in order to get maximum benefit from this routine:

1) Train 3-4 days a week.
2) Alternate between workouts. Train your upper body one workout, then the next workout train your lower body. Then upper the next workout and so on.
3) You can train upper and then lower on two consecutive days, but always have a rest day after lower day.

A couple of example routines:

Mon: Upper
Tues: Lower
Weds: Rest
Thurs: Upper
Fri: Lower
Sat & Sun: Rest

or

Mon: Upper
Tues: Rest
Weds: Lower
Thurs: Rest
Fri: Upper:
Sat: Rest
Sun: Lower
Mon: Rest
Tues: Upper
Weds: Rest
Thurs: Lower
Fri: Rest
Sat: Upper
Sun: Rest
and so on

Arrange it how you like, as long as you follow the rules set out above!

TRAINING RULES

1) The LAST two sets of each exercise are your worksets - on these sets, perform as many repetitions as you can with textbook form, using a weight that will keep you within the described rep range. Any prior sets are warmups.
On exercises with 4 sets, use 50% of your working weight (as used in the last two sets) on set 1 and 75% on set 2.
On exercises with 3 sets, use around 65-70% on set 1.
On exercises with 2 sets, jump straight in to your two worksets, no warmup required as these muscle groups will already be warmed up from previous exercises.

2) The rep ranges are there to guide your progress. Perform as many reps as you can on your two worksets - when you can perform more reps than prescribed on that exercise, increase the weight by 5-10% on that exercise the next workout you perform it (closer to 5% if you only outworked the rep range by 1-2 reps). You should aim to perform more reps with that weight on that exercise than you did in your last workout you performed it - make sure you log your weights and reps for reference and progress tracking! I absolutely cannot stress the importance of logging your workouts enough, and the effect it has on motivation to push yourself each workout to adapt, improve and subsequently grow. Use an app like FitNotes, make a spreadsheet, go old skool and write it all down in a book - doesn't matter how you log it, just make sure you log it and try to beat the logbook every workout in terms of reps until you're beyond the rep range on all sets of the exercise, then increase the weight as discussed.

3) Rest for 2-3 minutes between sets on all exercises - I'd advise 3 minutes between sets in bigger exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench press and rows, whereas 2 minutes on smaller exercises is fine.
Once you've picked a rest period for an exercise, stick with it on all sets every time you perform that exercise. Keeping rest periods consistent from set to set and workout to workout ensures accurately trackable progress.

4) Where you see "or" and two exercises listed (e.g. Incline bench or Overhead press), alternate between these exercises between workouts.

5) When you notice your lift progress stalling, take a deload.
A deload is basically backing off the training intensity for 1-3 weeks to allow recovery, which will facilitate continued progress. The idea of backing off seems counterproductive, but is a widely used strategy for long term progress. Think of it as taking a step backward to take two steps forward.
Refer to this article for effective methods of deloading https://breakingmuscle.com/fitness/deloading-101-what-is-a-deload-and-how-do-you-do-it

General tips

1) I've always trained in this "increase reps, then increase weight" style as it's great motivation to improve from workout to workout and also allows you to progress at a realistic pace for your body. If you make a genuine effort to better your previous workout, you will progress quicker.

2) The Fitness FAQ, as linked at the start of this post, is an essential read - check it out, and gather tips on diet and recovery to ensure superb progress on this program.

3) Don't cheat or get sloppy with your form because you have this overbearing need to progress over your last workout and it doesn't feel like you'll beat it using good form. Progress is not always linear, meaning that you will not always be able to best your previous workout. Try again next time, and if it feels like you're no longer making progress on several lifts, see the deload section above.

4) Don't try and tweak the routine to make it easier or somehow better in any form - this is the biggest mistake you can make as a beginner, as inexperience leads to bad choices. If any exercise here is not suitable for you for whatever reason, please post a comment below and I or maybe other lifting enthusiasts here will answer your question where possible.

I think that covers everything! If you have any questions or anything I should add to this post, drop a comment!

Enjoy, and may the lifting Gods gift you with gains :biggrin:

(edited 5 years ago)

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

12-thousand

d What diet would you recommend

Reply 2

999tigger

Have you taken over from Cucumber?
Are you still on beautifulpeople,com and did you meet any/many?

All KINDS of GAINS

I've been looking for something like this for months. Bruhhhhhh thank you!

Spoiler

Reply 5

It's****ingWOODY

Original post by 12-thousand

d What diet would you recommend

Original post by games211

I've been looking for something like this for months. Bruhhhhhh thank you!

Spoiler

See the Fitness FAQ linked in the post fellas https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3014757
It's a collaborative effort by a bunch of TSRs lifting fanatics, and includes solid diet advice.

In short, calculate your macros (https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/macronutrients_calculator.htm), and use that as a base to see what you need to eat. If you have fat to lose, eat a few hundred calories under your TDEE. If you want to gain muscle, eat at maintenance or slightly over (after roughly a year of training you'll have to start eating a few over maintenance to keep gaining, but as a beginner IME maintenance calories will ensure maximum gains without any fat gain).
You don't need to count carbs or fats, just eat a sensible amount of each and stick to your calories, and make sure you get your protein in. You can use MyFitnessPal to track your food intake.
Try and eat healthily generally and get plenty of fruit and veg in for nutrients, but a bit of crap here and there is fine.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 6

It's****ingWOODY

Original post by 999tigger

Have you taken over from Cucumber?
Are you still on beautifulpeople,com and did you meet any/many?

Nah, this is just an alternative routine and as I said in the post also, I'd highly recommend reading the Fitness FAQ for diet advice and all other things related to lifting :biggrin:

Tbh I'd already deleted my account on there by the time I posted the thread :toofunny:

I knew people would try and stalk me on there but I didn't say anything, thought it'd be funny to let them see if they could guess who was me on there. Was rather amusing tbf :h:

Reply 7

username3456292

Original post by WoodyMKC

That calculators telling me 218g protein? I usually have like 175 lol

Reply 8

It's****ingWOODY

Original post by JordLndr

That calculators telling me 218g protein? I usually have like 175 lol

These calculators generally work on a "better to get a bit too much protein than too little" basis - less is fine :wink:

Reply 9

999tigger

Original post by WoodyMKC

Nah, this is just an alternative routine and as I said in the post also, I'd highly recommend reading the Fitness FAQ for diet advice and all other things related to lifting :biggrin:

Tbh I'd already deleted my account on there by the time I posted the thread :toofunny:

I knew people would try and stalk me on there but I didn't say anything, thought it'd be funny to let them see if they could guess who was me on there. Was rather amusing tbf :h:

I was just wondering if cucumber was doing his exams and had decided to move on .

I just thought it was an amusing experiment. Dont worry I wasnt remotely interested in stalking you.

Reply 10

eden3

a great thread Woody, thanks. :biggrin:

"ay mayne. You lookin to build some muscle mayne? That's geewd mayne... DAS REEAAAL GEEWD"

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 11

It's****ingWOODY

Original post by 999tigger

I was just wondering if cucumber was doing his exams and had decided to move on .

I just thought it was an amusing experiment. Dont worry I wasnt remotely interested in stalking you.

He still pops in from time to time :top:

It was great fun :biggrin:

I mean, seeing some of the members on there, I didn't get overly big-headed by the great result, but some other members here got poor ratings so at least I know it's not totally worthless :lol:

Reply 12

3Q5JbVp*#Tf$

So basically GBR? I've tried this in the past and it's been pretty decent. A good routine and better imo than the 3 times a week squat full body routine.

Reply 13

username3456292

Original post by WoodyMKC

These calculators generally work on a "better to get a bit too much protein than too little" basis - less is fine :wink:

Yeah, I usually stick to the 0.8-1g of protein per lb of body weight ratio.

Reply 14

username1201943

Apart from the generic ones that most already know of, would you happen to know of any advanced routines worth giving a shout?

Reply 15

It's****ingWOODY

Original post by Gatewaymerge

So basically GBR? I've tried this in the past and it's been pretty decent. A good routine and better imo than the 3 times a week squat full body routine.

Generic Bulking Routine? Yeah, very similar principles to GBR and other upper/lower splits, though this is more suited to the rank beginner.

Reply 16

TheFarmerLad

Original post by bhjknl

Such a sad sad sad man.

You have no life

Reply 17

It's****ingWOODY

Original post by UnknownRoyalist

Apart from the generic ones that most already know of, would you happen to know of any advanced routines worth giving a shout?

I'm quite a fan of German Volume Training, though the "advanced" version with heavier weights and lower reps is my preference.

Jim Wendler's 531 with hypertrophy work thrown in as accessory is also a great routine.