Shedule and Intensity of Weight Training

I would like to start weight training in order to bulk up. I am not sure about how often, how long for and how hard I should be pushing myself to get the desired effects. At the moment I tend to train twice a week for 30 minutes, which usually allows me to fit in 3 exercises of 3 sets each. As for effort, I'm doing around 8 reps in each set, with a comfortable weight at first but by the third set I struggle to get past 4 reps; however I feel as though I'm only giving 70%. Also, is it detrimental to mix in cardiovascular exercises such as running or cycling?
 
as your bulking, cardio is absolute unnecessary but if u must, 1x a week is sufficient :] as excessive cardio causes muscle loss, which is a fact.

in addition to your weight training, you need to eat a surplus amount of calories to "build muscle mass" thus gain weight. in case you didn't know, cardio destroys while weight resistance training builds :]

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figure out how much calories u need to consume to maintain your current weight & add about 500-700 calories more, that will be your bulking diet. You will have to eat more, *good stuff* of course. alongside what your doing right now.

Training twice a week sounds alrite to me, btw are you doing full body routines? list your exercises if you would us to critique it :]
 
What's difficult for me is the whole counting calories process and deciding what is good and what isn't. When I make food, I don't want to spend the first 15 minutes with a calculator trying to add up what I'm eating (1 slice of cucumber = xxx, etc).

Do you have any tips on how to quickly do this? What I'd need to avoid, if possible, is the vague area of "one spaghetti bolognese = xxx calories." Mostly because it tells me nothing about the amount.

I don't mean to sound complacent, it's just that I'd prefer a practical way of doing this. Also, my caloric intake to maintain my weight came out at 2,800 ( I selected moderate but I feel as though I'm between light and moderate. Light came out at 2,500).

As for my workout. It isn't really a schedule but more of a "what I'm in the mood for" plan. I make an effort to always do bench presses (With ~40kg) because I want to improve my chest. I also do dumbell curls, my chest with the dumbells (I think they are called fly's) and I sometimes do my shoulders. I know what you are thinking, this is a bit sporadic and lazy, and I agree. What would you recommend?
 
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wow it says i need about 2850 calories to maintain .. i was told u just multiply ur body weight x 13 .. that way i get around 2250-2300
 
i know how you feel, i got it the same way.
But latley ive learned what food contain what, so i just know if i take a banana and 2 glasses of milk, i got a meal high in carbs and protein and low on fat. after a while you will just learn it, youll know just about how many cals you get just by looking at the food :p
 
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