Weight lifting: how to build muscle mass/size?
 

Hello, and thanks in advanced for any advice given. I tried to make this as lean of a thread as possible.
Background:
I've been lifting weights for a few years now (with some down time from a motorcycle crash (2yearsish)) I've been at it steady now for a year give or take since then.
I am mostly educated in power lifting, and would now like to focus on something I don't know much about, adding over all muscle mass.
Goals:
I want to cut down my fat mass as my top priory, which is probably mostly a diet thing, and I realize its hard to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. I would like to get back to 180lbs by summer, or more realistically before the end of the year.
Which makes muscle building my secondary goal, and the one I can be most proactive to effect. Note, I am not at this time interested in body/muscle sculpting, but more general over all muscle size.
Stats:
I am 5'10" and 215lbs, and could stand to lose about 40lbs of fat give or take.
On my best day I can dead lift around 405 for 2, leg press 1100lbs for 1, squat around 300lbs give or take(yes i brake 90°) and bench around 185lbs for 2.
Before my crash I was around 180lbs and roughly as strong as I am now(tho it was a lot quicker to get there).
Most of my lifts I am for 4-5 "heavy" sets for 5-8 reps(depending on the lift) example: dead lifts: 315x5reps barbell curl: 60x8reps.
I try and get to the gym 4 times a week 2-3hrs each, often 2 on 1 off or every other day depending, and will throw in a couple days off here and there for recovery when needed. I do NO cardio at this time.
Note, I take long brakes between sets.

The Questions:
There are so many opinions and topics out there, I need one I can really trust.(tho I realize every body is different, there has to be some facts I can base things on)
►What is the fastest/best way to build my muscle size?
◘What should I change doing?
►What rep/set numbers should I am to work with?
◘Should I continue with what I am doing and worth thru it?
◘Or should I Increase my reps and lower the weight?
◘Or keep the weight and increase the reps?
◘Or drop the reps and increase the weight?
►Is the speed at which move the weight important? (I hear fast up and very slow down is what I should aim for?)
►Should I make a point of making the wait time between sets lower? (right now it can be like 5mins or more between sets, tho shorter for smaller lifts like curls)
►Is there something I am missing/over-looking?

I realize there is a lot here to read, and I do really appreciate those who take the time to help me out.

Thanks for your time.

Try to shorten your rest time and to include heart rate blasting exercise techniques, such as super sets and burnouts. Don't expect to get a lot stronger during this phase. Try to include cardio.


Will answer the rest when I am on a computer.
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Get your diet in check. It'll make all the difference in the world.

first question to you is how do you spend 2 to 3 hours at the gym without cardio?
I am in the process of putting on mass right now as well.
Generally I barely last an hour without cardio..
You should be taking in TONS of calories to gain mass.. I have no idea how this will work if you are trying to lose weight at the same time..
You should be going to the gym around 4 days a week with 3 day rest..
I go mon, tues and rest wed, then thurs and friday and rest weekends..
Try working 2 muscle groups at a time..
tri and chest on 1 day.. back and shoulders on another, legs on 1, bis and core on a day etc...
I have noticed large gains with 3 sets of max weight of around 5 reps..
every other week you should then go up in weight by around 5 pounds..
By the end of an hour, you should be dead.. like not being able to move your arms or legs etc.. take a minute or so between sets and drink lots of water..

Other than that I dont really know what else to tell you lol.. I am not a bodybuilder or anything so I am just telling you what is currently working for me..
I am 6'1 and went from 160 to 170 in 2 weeks with this diet and workout... and am still going..

let me know what other questions you have...

So how should I be eating to accommodate my goals?

1. As I said, I take my time between sets, example: I can spend 10mins on a warm up and will drag out bench for 40mins then mill press for 20-30mins and super set curls and tri-extentions for an other 30.
My gym is a modern pigsty, NO ONE keeps things organized, weights and cable attachments are strewn about every where on the floor to be triped over, it's pathetic. The place is understaffed and does nothing about it, I am OCD about this so I spend my time between sets sorting out the gym for all the little man-children. it drags out the time.

2. I hear talk of eating lots of food for mass, maybe once I drop the fat I have first I will do that, but for now I will stick to cutting the fat off and work on the muscle building in what ever other ways I can.

3. That is pretty much exactly the amount I go to the gym, the days may get shifted around but that's how i end up working out.

4. My current work outs are like a day for chest/arms, a day for squats/legs, and a day for dead lifts/back.

RHMadness, you gained 10 lbs in 2 weeks? Is this real life..

Go check out the workout thread, lots of very knowledgeable guys there.

Anyways, I think that you should calculate how many calories you need for maintenance, and eat less than that to be in a caloric deficit. There's a really good app out there called MyFitnessPal and it can help out a ton. You simply enter all the food you ate in a day and you can see if you're eating over/under how many calories you need, and also you can see how much of each macronutrient (carbs, proteins, fats) you eat on that fat. It'll tell you how many calories you need based on how your height, gender, etc.

As far as weightlifting goes, I think you should try to increase your reps to 8-12, but still keep lifting heavy. And stick with the compound lifts which I'm sure you already are. (squat, lunges, deadlifts, bench+variations, military press, rows, pull-ups)

And if you're like me and hate doing cardio, maybe join an mma class? I was at my leanest when I was doing both muay thai and jiujitsu and I didn't seem to lose any muscle at all. If you don't have time for that, then try some HIIT (high intensity interval training). This article should tell you the basics of what you need to know for HIIT. Bodybuilding.com - The Ultimate 8-Week HIIT-For-Fat-Burning Program

Good luck, and like with everything you see on the internet, take it with a grain of salt. Don't believe everything you see on here, research things for yourself and do what you respond to the best.

I did 7lbs in the first 2 weeks of lifting

Yup sure is true.. I may be a little different though.. I used to be a bigger guy and then fell ill.. just recently got back into getting my weight and muscle back.. I am thinking muscle memory?:badpokerface:

10 lbs of water weight and fat...that's believable
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Lol whatever you say
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Is someone really trying to claim 10lbs of muscle in 1 week? LMROFLMLFMAORMLMFALMO not sure if serious, even on 500mg of test and 700mg of tren, you CANNOT put on 10 LBS OF MUSCLE in 1 week, get outta here... 10lbs was 90% water

Hi, OP here, Thanks for the info so far, keep it coming.

lets keep on topic and stop debating how much some one claimed to gain.

best way - get stronger.

do your compounds/primaries around the 15-25 rep range with high intesnity (i.e. 80-90% of your 1rm). rest as long as it takes you to give every set 100% effort. always keep working sets of deadlift less than 3 though. the rep scheme doesnt matter

secondaries are anywhere from 3-6 sets of 7-15 reps with low rest (1-3 mins). use secondaries to address weakness in your lifts or to target muscles for hypertrophy

your compounds should be as fast as possible (keeping good form ofc)

I really dislike the term "muscle memory." I know it's a phrase most people in the gym use, but muscle doesn't fucking have memory. I'm pretty sure the proper term is "nervous system adaptation."

Should he be cutting out carbs too?
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actually your muscles do have memory...hence why baseball pitchers have the exact same windup etc every pitch i could go on and on

doesn't matter. all that matters is that deficit = weight loss, surplus = gain. just make sure to get alot of protein, fat and vits+mins

If your main goal is fat loss, it'll be all diet without a doubt. Since there is no diet that fits all, you'll have to experiment.

Currently I'm on a higher fat diet and its been working wonders for me. Started at 210 end of December. I'm now 3.8lbs away from 180lbs dry. And that's with no cardio minus the medium rep/low rest times in my workout routine.

If your looking for size, follow what Sid Vicious said, though it'll be hard to do 25 reps of 90% of your 1RM.

Personally I spend no more than 30 minutes in the gym so if your able to do all your compound workouts within that time frame you should be burn fat while gaining muscle at the same time.

try strength training and hypertrophy based training.

i did hypertrophy for years and it brought me from 110 to 175 within the span of 3-4 years

but when i started strength training I went from 175 to 205 within 9 months.

u should find which way builds u up more effectively. if u want to go the strength route, try the 5x5 program.

edit, read ur post wrong and saw that u want to cut down.

try interval cardio. the only change i would make to any diet is to eat healthier food rather than fast food or restaurant shit

true true
after performing a motion over & over again you develop a neuromuscular engram

Is it the actual muscle performing the motion, or your nervous system?

Please go on, I'm actually interested (no sarcasm)

^ i remember elliot hulse talking about it in one of his videos, but i forgot which one

im not quite sure what you are asking

your nervous system innverates your muscles so its a bit of both

after a while, instead of having to "think" about doing something, its autonomous. if you have been driving a while you dont really have to think about what your doing

Losing weight and gaining muscle at the same time is not impossible but it's pretty tough. If you want some more info on this I can give you some.

A lot of people do it in cycles. Right now I'm trying to lose some weight for summer season then try to do a clean bulk after.

Just keep going to the gym, lift heavy, and try not to eat any bad shit. If you want to accelerate your fat loss, keep track of what you're eating during the day and see how many calories you're taking in daily. I started doing this and the results are coming in faster. If you have an idea of how much you're eating it's a lot easier to adjust.

Also, try to eat at least 1g protein for every 1lb. My intake varies from 160-200 depending on if it's a weight training day or a rest day and I weight 155lbs.