>>87> Autistically track caloriesYes. There may be a lot of niceties to diet and exercise, but at the end of the day conservation of energy remains absolute.
What about gaining muscle mass?
Muscle mass is a slightly different beast. So I'll drop some rules. Bulk is putting on muscle while gaining some fat, cut is losing fat while maintaining muscle.
The max muscle you can gain from lifting is 25lbs first year, 15lbs second year, 10lbs third year. Free of steroids of course. That means anything more than 2lbs of mass gained a month in the first year will mostly be fat, so you only need about 7500 bonus calories over the course of a month + whatever extra energy you use in the workouts. This is where gallon of milk a day on /fit/ is a meme, it just makes you fat. Musculature is almost entirely dependant on your bodyfat, If you're higher than 20% body fat it will make it insanely difficult to A) See results and B) your body will be more likely to turn excess calories to fat rather than muscle.
If you want a 6pack you have to get to 10% bodyfat, my personal suggestion is initially cut to 15% bodyfat, then bulk for a few (12?) weeks, then cut to 10%, and bulk and cut between 10-15%. You'll look good year round.
Second rep ranges adjust how your body reacts to weightlifting. Changing your reps and sets changes if you build mass, strength or endurance.
1-5 Reps: Strength
6-12 Reps: Hypertrophy
12+: Endurance
Meaning if you do 20 push ups or 100 sit ups you're not building muscle, likewise if you're doing starting strength you're barely building muscle. (Right on the edge) SS is also a meme if you want to build an asthetic muscular body.
Finally 0.7g-1g of protein per lbs of bodyweight every day. If you're 200lbs, that's 140g-200g of protein. Don't work out on consecutive days, don't work out the same muscle group more than once every 4. (This allows CNS to recover letting you lift more) Eat +400 calories to start each day, if you're gaining less than 0.6 lbs a week up it. More than 1 lbs drop calories a bit.
My personal workout cycle, focuses on looking damn sexy, while building useful strength (example Incline bench boosts punch strength more than reg bench). Also quick af in gym, 50 mins or so with some warm up. Gives you Brad Pitt Troy/Fight Club physique.
Find weights where these are at the edge of your ability you should be using a weight in each of these lifts that you can't do another rep hitting failure. For example novice incline Bench might look like: 110lbs x 5, 100lbs x 6, 95lbs x 8.
Alternate A and B
Week 1:
Monday A
Wed B
Friday A
Week 2:
Monday B
Wed A
Friday B
*Any non consecutive days with 2 days rest after 3rd workout I actually do Sat/Mon/Wed
Workout A
Incline Bench
1x5, 1x6, 1x8
OHP
1x5, 1x6, 1x8
Increase weight by 2.5lbs every exercise (Total 2.5 to 5lbs a week, you're in hypertrophy not strength gaining)
Lateral Raises
3sets x 8-12 reps.
Skull Crusher
3 sets x 6-10 reps
Every exercise alternate between adding a rep to the first set or the middle/last set (3x8 then 1x9 2x8, then 3x9 then 1x10 2x9) At max reps bump weight up and restart reps at lowest.
Workout B
Deadlift
1x5, 1x6, 1x8
Assisted then Weighted Chinup
1x5, 1x6, 1x8
Increase weight by 2.5lbs every exercise (Total 2.5 to 5lbs a week, you're in hypertrophy not strength gaining)
Bent over fly
3sets x 8-12 reps
Barbell Bicep Curl
3 sets x 6-10 reps
Every exercise alternate between adding a rep to the first set or the middle/last set (3x8 then 1x9 2x8, then 3x9 then 1x10 2x9) At max reps bump weight up and restart reps at lowest.
>>99I dont really want to shit all over your post because you clearly put a lot of effort into it but more than half of what you said is complete broscience.
The amount of muscle you can put on in a year is limited only by your effort and genetics not some scientific study.
Rep ranges are complete meme and only thing that actually matters is the total workload you put your body throu.
SS is good for people who actually read the book and know that you arent supposed to run it for longer than 16 weeks and not a year like some retards do.
Fullbody routines have you work muscles every other day and they are more effective for natural lifters than brosplits (see pre-steroid bodybuilders from 50´s who only trained fullbody pic related), dont know where you got the information that you can work a muscle group only once every 4 days.
Going to the true 10% bodyfat range and below requires alot of effort and is unhealthy for natural lifters because their test production quickly starts to tank at that point.
Your routine is completly shit, there is no direct quad.hamstring or hipflexor work, you OHP on the same day as you Incline Bench, no rows to counteract internal rotation from benching. 3x12 two times a week on lateral raises is not gonna get you anywhere growth wise, no calf work, no facepulls and worst of all on some weeks you will work muscle groups like chest and shoulders only once a week which is very much sub-optimal.
And on a sidenote, if 2 compound and 2 isolation exercises take you 50 minutes then I feel sorry for you because I do triple this in hour and a half.
>>104I assumed the chin/pull up would balance the bench. The lack of calves is to balance out the physique, deadlifts seem sufficient and a touch up period of squats once in a while will fix. Mainly ignoring for wardrobe considerations because calfs get freakish fast comparably. Im willing to adjust though. What's your hypertrophy routine?
>>106I took a basic fullbody routine and heavily modified it to fit my needs and strenght goals, couldnt workout and eat properly for a month because of work, so right now I am just trying to get used to the volume I did before summer.
I change up the exercises every few weeks so I cant give you the exact routine but pic related is what I did today which is on the higher side of reps.
I started drinking protein shakes. First, I made it with milk. That burned through milk quickly, so I switched to water. It's almost as good. Powdery taste bothers me, but the knowledge that I'm almost unhealthily full of calories after a glass keeps me from snacking for the rest of the day.