Any suggestions for my workout routine to gain muscle? fitness people?

[adamcdavis]

right now I find myself usually alternating between days of lats/biceps, pecs/triceps, shoulders/legs, and then I'll randomly throw in like a day off and a day of just abs and also include abs randomly into one of those other workout days too. I've only been working out for about a little over 3 weeks I think right now but I usually push for 3-4 sets and 8-12 reps per set per exercise and try and push to do around 3 different exercises for each muscle (pecs, triceps, shoulders, legs, lats, biceps) excluding abs which I will usually just do a whole bunch of different ab stuff until my abs stop working well lol. I know I've always ate wrong in the past so now I try eating around 3700-4200 calories a day and keep ratios at 40/40/20 for proteins, carbs, and fats and don't eat any like sweets or garbage foods. Then I realize eventually I'm gonna be gaining some fat along with muscle so at some point will need to for a little but decrease my caloric intake to remove some of the fat Iv'e gained with hopefully minimal muscle loss. I weighed around 178 and now weigh around 186 in a little over 3 weeks I think. At what point should I stop bulking and start to cut some of my weight before I start bulking againAny Workout people wanna give me any more suggestions or advice I could potentially be doing wrong or need to work on?

[NotJustAnotherGuy]

Less calories. You don't have to dirty bulk FYI (1000-2000 calories over). Any lack of progression in muscle you'd make doing a clean bulk (200-300 calories over, and add 200-300 more every time your weight gain starts to stall) is made up for in time and muscle you won't be losing cutting.

Smolovs. No one takes legs seriously-- this routine forces you to.

My favorite supplements-- Monster milk (protein supplement for 2-3 times a day), muscle milk (same), AMP amplified wheybolic protein (same), N.O. Xplode (preworkout) and MP Assault (preworkout).

Favorite snacks-- PBJs, tuna fish sandwiches, almonds, greek yogurt, beef jerky, milk and ice cream (high calorie dairy, not bad when you're working out regularly).

[Xx_DRE_xX]

3700-4200 calories seems way to big. Honestly you could cut that down to half. Have you tried taking whey protein instead of trying to get it all through food? To bulk all you really need is as many grams of protein as you do your body weight. May I suggest cardio? If your not all ready doing so then try an eliptcal or stair climber for about 30-40min.

[adamcdavis]

any suggestions more towards my resistance training because that's what I tend to have the least knowledge on and yeah I don't get all my protein through food.

[adamcdavis]

how long should I be waiting for muscles to heal before working them out again?

[adamcdavis]

any suggestions for good whey proteins?

[Xx_DRE_xX]

Depends on what you like, I tend to use Gold Standard, Muscle Pharm, or Myofusion. Its up to you, if you want to wait. I basically workout 5x a week. As far as resistance goes, heavier steps makes a tougher paste to upkeep which leads to more burn on calories and build on legs.

[adamcdavis]

haha I was literally about to buy gold standard whey lol.

[MrInquisitive]

are you trying to get stronger, or look stronger? if your trying to build stronger muscles, cut down on your reps and add more weight. also do breakdowns once a week or once every 2 weeks. breakdowns are where you start out with say 150lbs on bench, do 10 reps, then decrease weight in either 5 or 10lb increments and continue doing same amount of reps.

if your trying to build muscle for show, do a lot of reps with little weight

[Paullus]

Dude check out "Yo Elliot" in YouTube, he is a beast! gives really good advice.

[Paullus]

Btw I take Pro5 MRP, its great!

You can go to amazon and find whey proteins with good reviews for cheap.

[adamcdavis]

yah but I'm starting to read stuff that some protein powders contain dangerous levels of metals in them. Example and consumer reports is a respected source not biased link

[Paullus]

No brainer "especially at a consumption level of three or more servings a day, due to the potential to consume harmful heavy metals and excessive protein" if you take you recommended daily value, then it should not be a problem. What you need to watch out for is taking more than 100% of Iron and other like metals. If you are taking an additional vitamin pill, make sure its free of these metals.

[Paullus]

Many of the examples given in that article are extreme, given that its 12 -18 year olds taking not 2 or 3 but 4 times the daily amount. If anything they should die for being stupid.

[adamcdavis]

says published in 2010 am I missing something?

[Paullus]

The date it was published really is irrelevant at this point. If you follow the recommended daily value intakes, watch your vitamins and have a disciplined gym routine, then you should have no problems.

[adamcdavis]

they said quote "the levels discussed here are based on three servings per day, an amount that many experts say is common." This is not in regards to any specific age group all they are doing is measuring levels of arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury. Did you honestly just read that first paragraph then ignore the rest? Look I used to take muscle milk too and I loved the protein and the flavor but I'm not just gonna look past something that severe.

[Paullus]

if you take 3 serving of muscle milk a day then you deserve to die for stupidity.

[Paullus]

and yes I read the whole thing " American Academy of Pediatrics found that protein powders and shakes were the supplements most commonly used by those aged 12 to 18." look it up

[adamcdavis]

yes I know you read that lol I'm talking about the rest of the article. Fine you can be stubborn I don't care just trying to warn about the health risks but whatever.

[Paullus]

I understand what you've said. Are you trolling?