Training for size

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  • May 15, 2017 at 2:58 PM #3747
    Grant88
    Participant

    Greetings!

    I was wondering if you guys could enlighten me with your knowledge on how to train efficiently. I would love to hear your thoughts on how to train for size.

    First things first, a little bit about me:

    1. I’ve been lifting for approximately 2.5 yrs now. Trained with a strength coach for a total of 4 months, mostly trained for strength and programmed workouts by myself with mpfpt as influence.

    2. I think I am fast twitch muscle dominant. Can handle heavier loads and low volume compared to slightly heavier loads and high volume. I can do better with 80-90% 1RM @ 1-4 reps rather than 65-80% @ 8-12 reps.

    3. Im 24 yrs old and weigh 53kgs.

    4. finished off a not so good programmed 9-week triphasic cycle on december with goose and you as influence. RFE’s everyday 85%,90%,80% and no deadlifts. Sucks right?

    5. Im currently on my 3rd week on hypertrophy training. Mostly 3×10’s @ 3-4:0:0 and 1 min rest in between.

    6. Decided to take a little break from ultimate.

    My question is: should I continue training like this if I wanted to gain size? If not, how should I train?

    May 15, 2017 at 3:03 PM #3748
    Gary
    Participant

    Zi/Goose/Tim are better equipped to answer this but at 53 kgs, unless you’re 5ft(150cm) you are not eating enough calories to gain wait.

    I’d suggest sticking to one of the programs and to start tracking your calorie intake, you’ll see in short order you’re just not eating enough to put on weight. When I was younger I was tall and skinny and was sure I ate a bunch, but until I started tracking calories did i realize I wasn’t pulling in nearly enough calories to gain weight. If you are in season try to aim for 3500kcal for a few weeks and see how you respond and adjust based on that.

    May 15, 2017 at 3:06 PM #3749
    Grant88
    Participant

    im asian, 5’4″ btw. Regardless of calorie intake, how should I shape my workouts (intensity, volume, tempo)? Thanks for responding on such a short notice Gary!

    May 15, 2017 at 3:24 PM #3754
    Gary
    Participant

    Good to know, I’d probably see an ideal weight closer to 125-135 depending on how you felt holding that weight, but you’re not far off at all.

    Reread your post, if you are not playing ulti and you are not concerned with strength gains your current training methods should be fine. 9-12 reps 65-75% of 1rm with shorter rest periods is generally considered ideal and you are right in line with that. If you start plateauing you may need increase your strength before concentrating on size again, but if you’ve been strength training for a couple of years you’ll have some time before you hit that wall. Just get your calorie intake up so you can bulk a bit.

    May 16, 2017 at 12:03 AM #3758
    Zi
    Moderator

    Grant,

    Tim’s written body-building programs before hehe.
    If you don’t mind, why the concern about size?

    Gary’s got a few basic pointers out of the way:
    – caloric/nutrition surplus (think biology – abundance = grow)
    – strength exercises 8-12 rep range. Think max lifts in rep max, rather than load max.

    Other things from me:
    – genetics do play a small role.
    – time under tension, meaning how much time under true tension. A 1:0:1 tempo isn’t a lot of time. That’s why body builders do something like 2:1:2 or longer.
    – MP programs are built for performance in Ultimate but majority of exercises are functional and are still recommended regardless of goals i.e. single leg squats, compound lifts, core stuff.

    I am 5’4″ asian as well 🙂 i “lucked” the slow twitch dominance so i am bulkier than most asians my height: 75kg (165lbs).

    May 17, 2017 at 10:45 AM #3763
    Tim
    Keymaster

    Grant,

    We can definitely guide your hypertrophy. Years of working with UNI Football and bodybuilding we have tons of programs to put on mass. First, as Zi mentioned…. why do you want to put on mass? Sure, increasing muscle mass can lead to increased strength gains which can increase power production and performance, but in general we don’t want to put on too much mass to play the best possible ultimate…

    Let us know the thought process / timeline so we can better guide you!

    May 17, 2017 at 12:33 PM #3764
    Grant88
    Participant

    Hello Zi and Tim! Thanks for responding to my post.

    As for your question on why I decided to train for size:

    1. I decided to take a little break from ultimate (6 months maybe?)

    2. Having this said break, I might at as well go to the other side of the spectrum (hypertrophy) to switch things up

    3. Training for size will somehow benefit me in some way when I get back to training for strength and play ultimate again (as what Tim said)

    4. Having tried my own program w/ the intent of gaining size, I noticed that my body has not adopted well to sets that last 40-50 seconds sinced I was used to training with sets with shorter durations for strength.

    How should I train for size? How can I do it efficiently? How should I program it in such a way that it could support the fact that my body has been used to training for shorter sets?

    PS: Im not good in programming workouts and I lack knowledge on training since my training age is not that high. I have been training and programming by myself (stealing ideas from all around the web).

    May 17, 2017 at 12:54 PM #3766
    Grant88
    Participant

    As for the timeline, I recently finished off week 3 and looking forward to deload for a week.

    Any recommendations on how I should program phase 2? Or maybe start over? I dont mind at all.

    Ive got day 1 – chest, day 2 – lower body (squats, DL’s, skaters), day 3 – back and shoulders

    Started week 1 @55% 1RM (DLs @ 75% 1RM) and started adding weight from there. I’ve noticed that I had a little bit of trouble keeping up with 40-45s sets with 1 min rests. Thus affecting my progression (60-65% @ week 3). Found myself taking a few seconds of rest when I hit the 25-30s mark (6-7th rep out of 10) when I get to sets 2-3.

    May 19, 2017 at 9:51 AM #3767
    Tim
    Keymaster

    Out of curiosity. Have you ever read this book or implemented anything of this high volume?

    https://www.amazon.com/Super-Squats-Pounds-Muscle-Weeks/dp/0926888005

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