Originally Posted by 2worlds

bonus: took me 8-9 months of working out to achieve this



also thanks bro @lume. I set the same goal for myself this year, to get bigger some more. It gets easier after you've been doing it for a while, just gotta get in the habit.

Originally Posted by Solax

What kind of equipment do you use and how long would you say you work out each day?

Originally Posted by 2worlds

I try to stick towards body weight exercises when I can because the kind of weights I use by now are scary to be around without a spotter, and dumbbells are pretty expensive, however I did buy a pair of adjustable dumbbells, that I use for some exercises, and they were really worth the investment. Like 8 bucks at wal-mart. (200 lb/90kg is my 1 rep max bench press for a 145lb/65kg kid)

Also the body weight exercises help with balance and gymnastics is one of my hobbies so they help each other quite nicely, and if I stick to my new years goal of learning to breakdance it'll help there too. The equipment you use doesn't matter, as long as you use it correctly you will see results (however they all have different pros/cons, and bodyweight have their own cons too, i'd suggest googling them to get an idea)

As for the amount I work out, it depends. I like to change things up to keep myself from getting bored, so one day I might have a 30 minute workout because I go through all my exercises with little to no break, while the next day it might be an hour because I'm doing an insanity asylum workout video. However my most typical exercise session is probably around 40 minutes.

My workout + more info about gaining muscle etc. for anyone that wants to know

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You got to be sure to give any muscle groups you work one day a full days rest before working it again, which is commonly done by having one day be upper body day and the next lower body day. My typical upper body day is something like

3x10 dips. This exercise is for the chest, pushups have gotten to easy for me and I want to continue building a bit more muscle before going for tone. Im starting to put weights in a backpack because I can do these fairly easy.

3x10 wide grip pull ups - in other words, a pull up with your palms facing away from you, with your arms as far wide on the bar as you can. This is for the back. These have gotten fairly easy for me too so I stick a 15 pound plate into a backpack to do 3 sets of 10.

3x10 bicep curls. Pretty straightforward. Not many body weight exercises you can do for biceps anyway, and I don't run the risk of crushing myself.

3x10 tricep extensions. Same as above except there are body weight exercises in place to do these but I already have the dumbbell in my head so might as well.

3x10 handstand pushups with my feet to a wall. This is for the shoulders.For reference, I can only do one of these without a wall and it took me 6 months to do it. When these become too easy I'm going to begin putting my hands on a stack of books so I can go down deeper.

then abs. I do regular crunches with a 20 pound plate, then I do leg raises with a 10 pound plate on my legs, then ab twists with a 15 pound plate. This is because the crunch is more of an upper ab exercise, the leg raises are lower ab, and the ab twist is for the obliques. 3 sets of 10 for each of these.

Lower body is the same, just make sure you hit every muscle group. Some people do abs on lower body but I mean, the stomach is above the waist so it only makes sense to me to do it on upper body day.

This is the website I use for all my exercises:
http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/

Of course this is just my exercises routine that I prefer. If you want to build straight muscles I definitely recommend going to a gym and using barbells/dumbbells. I'm just not looking to get bodybuilder status, just pretty buff and in shape.

Why I do 3x10 on everything with plates and shit rather than just doing 3x30 of each one regularly, aka info on gaining muscle

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So you've probably noticed that I do 3x10 with EVERYTHING and the ones I say are too easy for me to do without weights, I add weights to so I can only do 3x10, rather than saying screw weights and do 3x30 on a regular basis. This is because to build muscle you have to challenge your body, and the heavier the weights the more your body is challenged. If you do high reps, low intensity, then you're building endurance and getting tone. If you do low reps, high intensity, you're building muscle. Some scientists discovered doing 3x10 with a weight heavy enough to make your muscle work, HARD will build the most muscle. And just understand that people say "3x10" but it's a bit misleading. My PE teacher explained that teh first set of 10 you should be tired but get all 10, the next set of 10 you should be really tired and you might only even get 8-9, and the last set you should be dead and if you get all 10 it should be just barely.

Also if you do begin working out, don't skip leg day. Not every day is upper body day

Originally Posted by DeakManiac

Explain to me one thing, and one thing only. I do curls with iron weights and a metal curl bar and I do 3 sets of 15 with 40 lbs, no progress just more ripped... Benching, I do 3 sets of 10 with a spotter at 140 lbs, no progress. I have a bar in my hall, I wrap my legs around it, put a chair and put my hands on it, then lift myself up as the abs by doing 2 sets of 50, and taking a 30 minute break. Then after that, I do 2 sets of 25 regular abs. (feet on ground, arms behind head, and then lifting up like that) still no progress just a plain 6 pack abs set.
So, I tried to take GNC Protien Shakes, and it worked for a few but now it isn't getting no where, been working out for 4 months like this, just more ripped and barley any bigger. Any idea what I am doing wrong?

Originally Posted by 2worlds

Zayex: Do you even lift?



By "progress" do you mean increasing in weights? Because I noticed you said you were more ripped so I assume you're not taking about muscle?

I'll do both in case. Well in case you're talking about muscle, make sure the weights you're using are hard enough to the point where you can barely finish the third set, and in some cases you might not even be able to. I noticed you said 3x15 and 2x25, change it to weights that make them 3x10, and remember that. To make abs harder just put your feet on the ground, and hold a weight straight up and just crunch like that. Alternatively you can find some advanced ab exercises to do too, like I'm working on a dragon flag

first set of 10 -> you should be able to do all 10 but struggle near the end
Second set of 10 -> you might only be able to do 8 or 9, sometimes 10 and you should strunggle near the end
Third set of 10 -> you may only get 6 or 7 reps in, if you get all 10 your muscle should be incredibly dead.

If you're still not building muscle it might be because of genetics.

If by progress you mean heavier weights, then try the same thing with muscle building. It's not a fast process. Took me a year and a half to be able to bench 200 once.

Originally Posted by DeakManiac

I have a "boxer" type body, to where half the time I don't need to flex and my muscles show

Originally Posted by DeakManiac

Explain to me one thing, and one thing only. I do curls with iron weights and a metal curl bar and I do 3 sets of 15 with 40 lbs, no progress just more ripped... Benching, I do 3 sets of 10 with a spotter at 140 lbs, no progress. I have a bar in my hall, I wrap my legs around it, put a chair and put my hands on it, then lift myself up as the abs by doing 2 sets of 50, and taking a 30 minute break. Then after that, I do 2 sets of 25 regular abs. (feet on ground, arms behind head, and then lifting up like that) still no progress just a plain 6 pack abs set.
So, I tried to take GNC Protien Shakes, and it worked for a few but now it isn't getting no where, been working out for 4 months like this, just more ripped and barley any bigger. Any idea what I am doing wrong?

Originally Posted by DeakManiac

Explain to me one thing, and one thing only. I do curls with iron weights and a metal curl bar and I do 3 sets of 15 with 40 lbs, no progress just more ripped... Benching, I do 3 sets of 10 with a spotter at 140 lbs, no progress. I have a bar in my hall, I wrap my legs around it, put a chair and put my hands on it, then lift myself up as the abs by doing 2 sets of 50, and taking a 30 minute break. Then after that, I do 2 sets of 25 regular abs. (feet on ground, arms behind head, and then lifting up like that) still no progress just a plain 6 pack abs set.
So, I tried to take GNC Protien Shakes, and it worked for a few but now it isn't getting no where, been working out for 4 months like this, just more ripped and barley any bigger. Any idea what I am doing wrong?