The bulking season is coming to an end, and soon it will be time to be lean for summer! It’s our last chance to put on some muscle before it will be time to shred. This can only mean one thing: Time to lift heavy and go hard!
Here is a program you can follow for six weeks to put on some weight and size in all the right places. Yes, you’re going to spend a little more time lifting. However, you’ll be spending less time doing cardio!! So lets get right down to it!!
Day 1: Chest
4 sets of 8 reps:
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Bench Press
Incline Bench Press
Decline Hammer Strength Chest Press
3 sets of 12 reps:
Fly Machine
Dips (body weight with a dumbbell between thighs)
Hammer Dumbbell Chest Press on Flat Bench
Try to increase weight by 10 lbs. each set. You can stay at the same weight for sets 3 and 4.
Day 2: Back
4 sets of 8 reps:
Wide Grip Pull-ups
Bent Over Barbell row
4 sets of 12:
Cable Pulldown
Bent Over 1-arm Row with dumbbell
Dumbbell Shrugs
Close Grip Cable Row
To save time, superset two of the above exercises together, resting only after completing a set of two exercises back to back. Give yourself 2-3 minutes rest time to recover.
Day 3: Shoulders
4 sets of 10:
Barbell Strict Press (Make sure you start with your elbows in front of your body before pushing up above your head to avoid injury)
Dumbbell Shoulder Abductions/Lateral Raises
Hammer Strength Shoulder Press
4 sets of 12:
Cable Shoulder External Rotation
Cable Rope High Pull
Plate Front Raise
Day 4: Arms
4 sets of 8:
Standing Wide Grip E-Z Bar Bicep Curl
Standing Cable Tricep Pushdown
Flat Bench Tricep Narrow Grip Press
Dumbbell Hammer Alternating Bicep Curls
Standing Narrow Grip E-Z Bar Bicep Curl
Tricep Rope Cable Pulldown
Bicep Rope Cable Curl
Tricep dumbbell Bent Over Kickback
Superset these bicep/tricep exercises to work opposing muscles for serious gun gains!
Day 5: Legs
4 sets of 12:
Squats
Deadlifts
Bulgarian Split Squats (1 leg at a time)
Quad Leg Extension Machine
Hamstring Curl Machine
Glute Cable Kickback
4 sets of 15:
Calf Raise Standing Machine
Seated Calf Raise Machine
This intense split routine will work each muscle group and tear the muscle fibers in order to produce growth in the muscle. Allowing enough time to recover fully while you work other muscle groups will let you be ready to lift hard again the next time you hit each muscle! Give yourself 1-2 days rest after your leg day to give your whole body a break. Be sure to eat plenty of good protein and don’t be afraid of carbs at this time! They will help your muscles grow and the bigger muscles will help you burn away fat when the time comes to shred any extra fat so that your new huge muscles pop!
The Phoenix Effect, a metabolic bootcamp that gets you in shape fast, is offered exclusively at Mansion Fitness, 7914 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood.
Captain Obvious
Girl, please. I might do some push ups and eat some chicken wings.
AJAnders
I’m not worried about bulking up. I’ve been dieting and power walking for almost 6 months now and I’ve lost 83 pounds. I’m happy about the progress but I still need to lose 40 more. I should reach my goal weight by late spring/early summer and that will be good enough for me.
Billy Budd
I don’t like muscled up men. I think Schwarzenegger was a freak. I like the swimmers build. It is more natural.
jwtraveler
@AJAnders: Congratulations! Keep up the good work.
Glücklich
@AJAnders Wow! That is quite an accomplishment! Good for you!
@Billy Budd Agreed. More power to those for whom hulking is attractive but huge is not where it’s at for me.
Re exercise in general, instead of making about beach season or anything like that, it helps me to think two things: being fit and trim is like having money in the bank AND when you least want to exercise is when you most need to exercise. Actually, three things: I spend a ton on clothes every year, most of which gets tailored to within an inch of its life so I work my butt off making sure I can continue to wear all that stuff.
Saint Law
@Billy Budd: Some peops are just big tho. For them the option is chub out or work out.
AJAnders
@ jwtraveler and Glucklich : Thank you! Once I’ve reached my goal weight, I plan to take pictures holding my huge jeans from when I started several months ago. I know it’s cheesy and cliche but I’m going to enjoy it.
Michael Barton
I don’t know what about 85% of those words mean so… yeah… probably not gonna happen. I’ll be one of the boys that enjoys the big boys of summer
Captain Obvious
@Saint Law: Yeah, it’s pretty much suck city. The plus side is we really don’t have to work out that hard to look good, but if you hate working out… free round trip to fatty land.
martinbakman
@AJAnders: Good job AJAnders. Sounds like your approach is very effective!
Bob LaBlah
@Captain Obvious: “Girl, please. I might do some push ups and eat some chicken wings.”
Baked or fried? lol
@Billy Budd: “I think Schwarzenegger was a freak.”
To this day I still find it unbelievable that this admitted steroid abuser was placed as the top man for fitness by President George Bush back in the early 1990’s at the same time that bastard was more or less handing out death sentences to blacks (more or less) for possession of one gram of crack. He was nicely proportioned but that smirk being passed off as a smile and those constant references to his “boyish” good looks still make me sick. How many of you out there are aware that he tricked the late Sergio Oliva into walking off the stage (which gave the audience the impression Oliva didn’t care as much as he did) and he ran his ass back up there and started posing again, which gave the “judges” the impression Arnold was the man to give the Mr. Olympia title to? If many only knew what that useless ass, self promoting at every chance Nazi really was all about deep down inside I bet they would kick themselves for voting for him.
@AJAnders: Good luck with your weight loss dear but just keep in mind the stroke that the late Luther Vandross suffered a few years before his death was attributed to his weight constantly going up and down trying to look like something (a svelte body to kill for) that I personally don’t think was in the cards for him. I look at Star Jones and often wonder does she realize that the size of her head does not match her now puny body. I honestly laugh at her trying to be what she ain’t…..a twig, or should I say a runway model.
Don Bradshaw
is this all there is to gay life?
Ridpathos
I’ll just keep rock climbing and hiking and hope for the best. It’s hard for me to exercise for the sake of exercise or looking good. I need the incentive of having fun / enjoying nature.
MiltonandRobert Appleby
For some people, yes. They want to be buff and stared at. I am tired of this being a focal point in gay media. No wonder the we are perceived a certain way.
Jamie McKnight
No offense fellas, but I enjoy looking at the fellas’ buffness ð??ªð???
Sweet Boy
The guy in the pic has a nice body…but looks kind of douchy
tdh1980
I wish I understood the current gay male obsession with looking like action figures, but who am I to judge? Whatever floats your boat, I suppose.
Much love and many congratulations to all of those who embark on the path to healthier living. I lost nearly fifty pounds by eating more smartly and walking a few miles a day, and it did wonders for both my health and my confidence.
Saint Law
@Captain Obvious: Here in Blighty we call it the ‘blokey body’: big, but not chiseled.
We’re big in blokes thank Crikey.
Paul Tidd
How about we stop forcing idealized bodies on to gay men and women? People should be made to feel beautiful, no matter what they look like. Abs don’t replace a decent personality, or a kind heart. Looks fade.
Bob LaBlah
@tdh1980: “I wish I understood the current gay male obsession with looking like action figures, but who am I to judge? ”
Trust me, honey. She was the one who more or less started the CRAZINESS as far as the gym and gay men go back in the 1980’s. I am really surprised how many gays have never seen this vid nor know about this is when it more or less kicked off. Even porn stars started getting in on it. Enjoy. Damn, am I am getting up there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWz9VN40nCA&spfreload=10
Glücklich
@ Bob LaBlah Haven’t seen that for years but I am positive the last place I DID see it had to have been Midnight Sun in the Castro. I’ve got “Magic” in my rotation as a guilty pleasure.
Bob LaBlah
@Glücklich: Good lord, is Midnight Sun still open?
tdh1980
@Bob LaBlah: Ha. That video was released approximately a year after I was born, yet I am well aware of its place in gay and pop culture history. Oddly enough, however, I never before connected it to the gay male gym obsession.
Glücklich
@ Bob LaBlah It is. Midnight Sun has served me VERY well over the years though now I find the neighboring restaurant, Eureka, more enjoyable.
@tdh Two years after, here. I tend to connect gym body and gay in the same hyper-masculine way Tom of Finland did.