some muscles without weights ! help

[Bonneau]

im too skinny (186cm 70KG)

and i want to gain few KGs

on then next 6 months i will not have access weights (barbells, dumbells etc.) but might to some improvised weights (backpack filed with sand and things like that)

the equipment i can use:

ground

pullup bar

rings

lonley 10KG plate..

can you guys help me to think of a workout that will help me to gain some muslces?

i know pavel consept of high set low reps and no failure...

i thought maybe to use ladders to increase volume insted of weight

by the way i already can do few pistols and prity strong on pull ups and hspus

one more thing.

i thoght to do the GHR but isnt it have all the disadvantages of isolation exercise?

[Guest Valentin]

Hi

First thing is that there has to be a realistic expectations of realistic gains. Unfortunately is you are skinny after puberty (so 20+ years of age), you have weight training experience, than there is a good chance you have a ectomorphic body type. This means your body (genetically) is not suited for building up mass. However its not the end of the work, it just means that if Bodybuilding is what you are after and having 20cm guns (arms) than it might not happen naturally. That being said here is what i recommend you do.

First things first is a diet. You will need to make sure that you are consuming 160-170g of pure protein per day, especially on training days. Need to split up your meals so that you have 6 meals a day, separated by 4hr at least in between. Pre-workout you should consume a protein shake, and then post workout a protein shake. Try and get one that is a mixture of casein and whey protein. Before bed if you can afford it take another protein shake (1hr before), or scoff down 185g can of tuna in spring water (that = to about 26g of protein)

Each meal should have 25-30g of good quality protein (fish, chicken, eggs, Whey, Soy, etc, don't even bother counting protein from bread, and wheats and so on). approximately 200g of complex carbohydrates, and a very small % of fat (preferably from milk/dairy products).

This will mean you should be getting about

600-720cal from protein

1200cal from carbohydrates

and approximately about 11-20g of fat (unsaturated is best, or polyunstaturated etc..)

in total your total daily calorie count will be approximately 2020cal.

that is about 35% protein, (30g/mealx 6meals) 60%carbs (200g/meax6), 5%fat ( 11g between all meals all up) (rought maths).. THis is a typical body building diet. Nothing special about it. Over the course of 8 weeks you may want to bump up you your carbohydrate intake to about 250-300g. Don't go over the 170g of protein per day. With every meals you need to make sure you are getting at least 300mL of water..preferably more.

On days that you are resting..your protein and carbohydrate intake can drop down a bit. In short to gain 1kg of mass per week, which is the recommended safe levels, you need to be getting about 500 surplus calories a week.

Now to the training protocols

here are the guidelines you should design a program around.

1- Stick to sets of 3-4 (start with 3 for first 2 weeks then go up to 4 after, given that you have previous training experience).

2- Medium reps rep range 8-12 per set

3- Hit failure on the last rep. You MUST to hit failure. Hypertrophy requires failure

4- You should be training with 70-80% of your 1RM (this is hard to quantify because you don't have weights, so do your best). If you can do 12 and still have more in you...crank up the resistance anyway you can. It is vital that you do exercises through a full range of motion. Generally a 1st set 12, 2nd set 10, 3set 8, 4th set 6-8 (all till failure) is a good start.

5- 3-4 exercises per body part, 1-2 body parts per training. Big muscle groups first, and big compound exercises (squat, deadlifts etc..)

Here is a typical body building 4 day split

Mon -Back and triceps,

Tues - Legs (quads and hammys)

Wed- Rest

Thur- Chest and biceps

Fri- Shoulders and traps

Sat- Rest

Sun- Restart cycles or rest.

6- Progressively try to keep the resistance and intensity going up by 10% no more per week.

7- Stick to this program for 3 months, than you need to change things... the training variables need to be adjusted (intensity, frequency, duration, mode)

That is all there really is to it.. The dieting is the hardest part...gaining mass (lean muscle tissue) is about as hard as it is to loss weight once you have it on.. It requires work work work.

This is more than enough to get you going. All you have to do is plan out your exercises and how you will provide the resistance. For example if you can do 10 pistols, than maybe get that backpack with sand or rocks (easier to quantify the resistance). etc..

Also as a precautionary step, its a good idea to get a clean bill of health from doctor. High protein intake over long term can be very taxing on the body, especially the Kidneys. If you are training hard it should not be a worry, but its not recommended otherwise)

Good Luck..

[Bonneau]

thanks but you didnt realy helped me at all....

my question was about bw exercises and methods to gain weight from them...

not about bodybuilding in general...

more thoghts pls

[LJoll]

That's what this whole site is for. Read all of Coach Sommer's articles.

[Bonneau]

no, the site if for gymnastic training, not for building muscles throught bw execises...

[Guest Valentin]

Hi

Ohh i am sorry. I should have read your question/post better.

However the principles stay the same. Weather you are using body weight exercises of weights. 3-4 sets, 3-4 exercises per body part, 8-12rep range, hit failure by last rep.

So pretty much what i said above. weather you are using weights or bodyweight exercises bodybuilding training principles, and dieting applies in order to gain mass.

The biggest pain about body weight exercises is that its hard to progressively continue overloading (which is essential). So you best shot is to use the backpack that you can use as a weight vest to increase the load on exercises like the push up, and chin-ups.

Pretty much find 2-3 exercises that you can only handle about 8-12 reps on per se, that target the target muscle group for that training day/workout. Push yourself till failure (failure in both form, and ROM at the same time).

That is really it. There are plenty of exercises on this site (body weight ones) to help you put something together.

Hope that helps a little more. And if it doesn't than ignore me haha. I tried.

[Coach Sommer]

no, the site if for gymnastic training, not for building muscles throught bw execises...

Actually using bodyweight exercises to achieve dramatic increases in strength and sports performance while simultaneously building an excellent physique is EXACTLY what this site is for.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

[Bonneau]

OK coach, i got it....

can you give me some guidelines to emphesis muscle gain ?

by the way i rather not to use bodybuilding style routines like the guy above suggest

[Coach Sommer]

The Gymnastic Bodies WODs are exactly what you are looking for. The following link will provide information on the forthcoming GB WODs:

http://gymnasticbodies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=837

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

[Scott Malin]

You don't have to worry about gaining weight to look ripped. Follow what Coach has on here and be consistent about doing it and challenging yourself. The rest will follow.

[Bonneau]

but i want to gain some weight, even just for the weight gain itself.

because im very light and i want to get some bodymass for sports (like basketball), this way ill be more stable and it will be harder to push me...

understood?

[Blairbob]

Bonneau, your light weight in relation to your height will help you in BW exercises somewhat despite the long levers apparent in your body due to this height.

If you still want to increase your mass it will be more difficult since you don't have any weightlifting tools. Well, more difficult than barbell training.

Your best bet is to significantly increase how much food you intake. No, idea how your diet is, but look at it from a standpoint of how many calories your body burns by doing nothing, add to that calories done by exercise and activity ( job, watching tv, reading, etc ) and then add a certain amount of positive calories you want to be dialed in for per day ( say an extra 500 calories per day will equal a pound a week [3500calories/pound]).

Calculating how many calories can be burnt by hormonal releases of your body due to weight training/intense exercise is something I have no idea how to calculate. So you might have to add more to the positive calories in that regard.

If you are serious about putting some muscle on your skinny frame. Eat a positive amount of calories per day ( hopefully good food calories and not processed crap ) and work a lot of high rep sets of what you can.

Preferably those sets need to be in your legs and back, but as might as well do LOTS of pushups and pulling.

Matt Furey does a lot of hypertrophy in his system. High numbers of yoga pushups and squats and wall HSPU and a lot of head bridging for posterior chain work.

Just remember working for high number sets won't really get you closer to many gymnastics skills that are high power. This depends on where you at currently as to strength production. This is where you will have to decide to allow a slower buildup of mass by keeping at working at lower reps per set or focus on a quicker buildup of mass by doing high rep sets of lower intensity.

By the way, make sure you still get some good fats in there when bulking up. Don't just stuff yourself with all the pasta you can eat. Even if that does sound appealing. ( I'm thinking Garfield meets Lasagna here, mmm lasagna ).