Aesthetic Bulking Plan

Don't bulk like this guy

Now that the warm summer days are slowly getting shorter and shorter, it's time to change my focus from looking "shredded" to gaining muscle in order to improve my "aesthetics" :)


The common term for this period of focus on muscle gain is known as "bulking". Many will use this period as an excuse to make everyday a cheat day which I believe is the wrong way to go. The argument for this is that a ton of calories is needed to support the body's process of building muscle. From my experience, this is false.


This is a mistake that I regret making in the past. I have learned that muscle can only grow so fast and that eating more and more calories will not force the body to build more muscle. Eating past the bodies caloric needs will only lead to increased fat storage which equates to being bigger but this is not the kind of "bigger" I am going after!


So during this bulk I want to do whatever I can to minimize fat gain!

Hopefully, I can stay close to this level of leanness

Aesthetic Bulking Diet


If you've been following my blog, then you know I used intermittent fasting to lose a ton a fat. In an attempt to stay fairly lean while bulking, I am going to continue intermittent fasting and basically using the same diet I followed to cut fat. 


The difference will be that I need to consume a higher caloric intake to build muscle so in order to do this, I will add about 75 grams of carbohydrates to my last meal of the day to start off. This carbohydrate amount will increase if I find I'm not gaining enough weight.


While I was cutting, I was taking in anywhere between 1,200 - 1,700 calories a day. I know this seems low but the average caloric intake was higher if you include my cheat days. So adding the 75 grams of carbohydrates will increase my caloric intake by 300 calories. My range will now be anywhere from 1,500 - 2,000 calories.


I want to emphasize that this is just to start off. If I find I'm not making progress, I will increase my carbohydrate intake to 100 grams (additional 100 calories) and assess progress from there. This is all about taking it slow so that I don't gain unneeded fat.


I will also no longer have scheduled cheat days and refeeds, but will allow for a more relaxed, flexible approach to eating "bad" foods. For example, my carbohydrate source won't always necessarily come from a "clean" carbohydrate source such as sweet potatoes or oatmeal. If I feel like eating a bowl of cereal or instant noodles, I won't hesitate to have some.

No more extreme refeeds!

Also, if there is a special occasion where I happen to go overboard, I will fast for the entire day the next day and do a light cardio session. This will help me quickly lose the bloat from the water weight and allow me to feel and look good again. 


I am aiming for an average weight gain of about 1 lb per week. Gaining weight at this rate will allow for my body to slowly adapt and build muscle without excessive fat gain.


Aesthetic Workout Routine


When it comes to how I will be training, my intentions are not just to get bigger everywhere, but to get bigger and develop the right places. I take a look at my body and evaluate what I need to improve on in order to obtain the most aesthetic physique I possibly can.


Right now I feel like my chest is my biggest weak point that I need to bring up in order to be more proportioned. So for this next bulking period, I plan on training my chest two times in my 8 day training split.

This is what it's about

I like to schedule my splits like this instead of a Monday through Sunday split, so that if I ever need to miss a workout for any reason I can just train what I was supposed to the train the next day. Here is how my split will go:


Day 1: Chest
Day 2: Legs
Day 3: Back Width
Day 4: Rest or cardio
Day 5: Chest
Day 6: Back Thickness
Day 7: Biceps, Shoulders (Rear delt emphasis)
Day 8: Rest or cardio


As you can see from my split, I will be working my chest twice and other body parts once during the split. I won't be working my triceps at all as I feel they get a decent stimulus from my chest workouts and already overpower my upper arm.


You'll also notice below that for my last chest exercise, I'll be doing 7 sets of 8-12 reps. These seven sets for the last exercise are from based on the FST-7 training protocol. FST stands for Fascia Stretch Training, and the seven refers to the seven sets performed for the final exercise of a target bodypart. It's an interesting concept which I've never tried before but am hopeful it will help bring up my chest. You can learn more about the training concept by clicking on my link above.


Here are the exercises, sets and reps that I'll be doing:


Chest
Chest 1 workout
Decline Dumbbell Press - 4 x 6-8 reps
Incline Dumbbell Press - 3 x 8-10 reps
Machine Flye - 3 x 8-10 reps
Low to High Cable Flye - 3 x 12 - 15 reps
Cable Crossover - 7 x 8-12 reps


Chest 2 workout
Weighted Dips - 5 sets of 3-5 reps
Incline Dumbbell Press 3 x 6-8 reps
Standing Cable Chest Press 3 x 8-12 reps 
Low to High Cable Flye 3 x 12-15 reps
Pec Deck - 7 x 8-12 reps


Legs
Smith Machine Lunge - 4 x 8-12 reps
Stiff Leg Deadlift - 3 x 8-12 reps
Pistol Squat - 3 x 8-12 reps
Single Leg Stiff Leg Deadlift 3 x 8-12 reps
Single Legged Leg Extensions 2 x 12-15 reps


Back Width

Weighted Pullups - 4 x 6-8 reps

V-Bar Lat Pulldowns - 3 x 8-12 reps

Wide grip Lat Pulldowns - 3 x 8-12 reps

Single Arm Cable Row - 2 x 12-15 reps

Kneeling J-Pulldowns - 2 x 12-15 reps

Back Thickness

Pendlay Rows - 5 x 3-5 reps

Seated Cable Row - 3 x 8-12 reps

Machine Row - 3 x 8-12 reps

One Arm Dumbbell Row - 2 x 12-15 reps

Incline Dumbbell Row - 2 x 12-15 reps

Biceps & Shoulders (Rear Delt Emphasis)
Machine Reverse Flye - 4 x 6-8 reps
DB Reverse Flye - 3 x 10-12 reps
Lateral raises - 4 x 8-12 reps (followed by machine lateral raise to failure)
Concentration curl - 3 x 8-12 reps
Dumbbell Preacher Curl 2 x 10-12 reps (followed by cable curl to failure)




Aesthetic Bulking Supplements


During this bulk I will be using two supplements I've never used before. 


The first one is T2 Xtreme. T2 (3,3'-Diiodo-L-Thyronine & 3,5-Diiodo-L-Thyronine) is normally used to burn fat but it has been shown to possibly work better to prevent fat gain during periods of caloric excess and build and restructure lean muscle. This will be my first time using T2 during a bulk so I'm interested to see if the studies translate to real world results.


I also will be using Anabeta. This a new supplement recently released by PES which has received a lot of hype. I normally wouldn't fall for the hype of new supplements but the amount of positive reviews from user logs was hard to ignore. PES is also a good company that has released other effective supplements as well.


They were able to convince me to order two bottles when they had their presale so I will be using it for 8 weeks. I'm excited to see how good this Anabeta really is :)

Here is how I will be using the T2 Xtreme and Anabeta:



Weeks 1-4: T2 Xtreme
Weeks 5-12: Anabeta
Weeks 13-16: T2 Xtreme


Here is what my daily supplement schedule will be like when using T2 Extreme:
7:30 AM - 1 gram Vitamin C and 1 T2 Xtreme 
3:00 PM - 1 T2 Xtreme
4:00 PM - 1 scoop Myofusion protein shake (plus preworkout on chest days and  if needed) 
5:30 PM - 2 scoops Myofusion protein shake, 2 softgels of Now Ultra Omega 3
6:00 PM - Multivitamin & 5,000 IU of Vitamin D with dinner
8:00 PM - 1 scoop Myofusion protein shake, 2 softgels of Now Ultra Omega 3
10:00 PM - 1 T2 Xtreme



For the weeks when I'll be using Anabeta, I'll dose it 4 times spread out evenly throughout the day taking it at 7:30 AM, 12:30 PM, 5:30 PM, and 10 PM.


By the end of this bulk, I'm hoping to add at least two or more inches to my chest. If my back, rear delts, and biceps get bigger than that would be great as well :)


I'll be bulking for 16-20 weeks so I expect to gain about 16-20 lbs. I know all of that won't be muscle but if at least half of that is, that would be awesome!


Let me know what you think of my "aesthetic" bulking plan and how you plan on bulking this fall/winter?

Low Fat Diets Suck

Just thought I'd like to share this cartoon on how bad low fat diets are for you.

LOL!

Don't end up like this lady so make sure you keep a good balance of fats in your diet!

How to a Build a Thicker, Wider Back

Anatomy of the human back

I remember when I first started lifting weights after my parents bought me a Weider home gym and weight set, I didn't put much emphasis on training my back. At that time, I didn't think back muscles looked very awesome and actually thought that a super developed back like the ones I saw on the professional bodybuilders in the magazines looked gross.


Because of the lack of attention to my back, it has been one of my weakest and least developed body parts for a long time...until recently. In order to bring up my back I decided to put more focus on it by increasing the volume, having separate workouts for width and thickness, and really trying to feel the back muscles and letting them do the work. 


In looking back, I believe my weak and underdeveloped back was due to the following three mistakes.


1. Not enough intensity and volume

When I first started lifting weights, exercises for my back were an afterthought. It was a situation where I would throw in a few sets at the end of a chest workout, thinking that was enough for my back. 


So I was doing something like 12-16 sets for my chest and only 4-6 sets for my back. Obviously, this was a pretty uneven disbursement of sets between the two opposing muscle groups.


Through my years of lifting, I've found that the back muscles can handle a relatively voluminous and heavy workload. But early on, because of the amount of weight available for me at home, I couldn't really load my back muscles with enough weight for a truly intense workout. So back exercises were probably done for between 15-20 reps.

If i were to be able to go back and do it over again, I would make sure to mix it up with rep ranges between 3-6 and also 8-12 reps. I would also make sure the number of sets for my back at least equaled the number of sets for chest, if not more.

2. Ineffective choice of exercises


I remember only doing 2 back exercises when I first started in my basement:

1. Lat Pull downs 
2. DB Bent Over Rows

I guess I was doing lat pull downs for width and dumbbell rows for thickness? :P


For those that know a little bit about back training, you know these two exercises leave a lot to be desired when it comes to training the musculature of the entire back.


The lat pull down is a good second or third exercise for your back but it shouldn't be your primary and only one. Single arm DB rows are also a good exercise but not as your primary one either.

Example of how to do Pendlay rows

My back could have had much better development had I done pull-ups/chin-ups instead of lat pull downs and Pendlay barbell rows instead of the single arm dumb bell rows (if I was only able to choose two). Even better if I would have done ALL of them!


The Pendlay barbell rows and pull-ups are my two favorite back exercises for developing an awesome back. If you're not sure how to do the Pendlay row, check out the link at Stronglifts.com


You can also check out this article on Suppversity.blogspot.com if you'd like to see more on the EMG activity of different back exercises.

3. Inability to "feel" the back muscles


Unless a person is a natural at "feeling" the back muscles during back exercises, it is very difficult to learn how use your back muscles instead of your arms and shoulders to do the exercises.


I never had anyone show me how to do this. It wasn't until I became more interested in back training that I read and learned about some tips on "feeling" my back.


When it comes to rowing/thickness exercises, something that helps me is to keep in mind the movement of the shoulder blades. I try touching my shoulder blades together on the concentric portion (they won't actually touch) and then let them spread apart on the eccentric portion of the exercise.


During back width exercises, I initiate the movement using the lower lats and really focus on feeling the lower lats throughout.


Another tip is to picture your hands as "hooks" and "pulling with your elbows". Doing this automatically helps my arms be less active and thus my back does more work.

You can either imagine your hands like hooks or you can actually buy hooks!

Using wrist straps also helps with allowing the back muscles to do the work and involve less of the biceps and forearms. 


I used to not want to use straps but I just started using them recently and they really help you focus on your back and allow you to exhaust your back beyond what your forearms allow you to handle. 


I'm currently using the Harbinger Big Grip "No-Slip" Pro straps which are really great.


So why did I do so little for my back? Well, because I couldn't SEE my back muscles when looking in the mirror of course! :P

I know I'm not the only person guilty of this. Many people disregard their backs when they first start training. Everyone wants to blast their pecs and biceps because those are what we see most in the mirror! But knowing these three mistakes and some tips on how to get a more effective back workout should lead you to seeing better results in the future!

Recent back picture taken 07/26/11. I wish I had a before picture of my weak back to show!

Here's an example back workout I used to bring up my back. It consisted of a back width day and a back thickness day usually with 2 or days rest in between the back workouts.

Format below is Exercise: number of sets x rep range

Back Width Workout

-Weighted Pullups - 4 x 6-8

-V-Bar Lat Pulldowns - 3 x 8-10

-Wide grip Lat Pulldowns - 3 x 8-10

-Kneeling J-Pulldowns - 2 x 12-15

Back Thickness Workout

-Pendlay Rows - 4 x 6-8

-Seated Cable Row - 3 x 8-10

-Machine Row - 3 x 8-10

-One Arm DB Row - 2 x 12-15

Good luck with your back training!