Need Help, check from post # 7 down.

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Ok, I am a pretty big guy, big as in weight. I am about 5'6" and weight around 230lbs. So being this short and this big my arms are fairly large, but when I flex my arm you don't see anything. It looks the same as it does when I'm not flexing. I don't like this at all. I wanted to know if there was some way to get muscle defintion fast. I have gym class 2-3 times a week and thats when I get to work out the most. Whenever I'm in there I usually curl 25-30lb. weights, something like 3 sets of ten. Then I'll benchpress around 135-145 3 sets of ten also. But it still looks as though I have no muscle.

Do any of y'all have any advice or tips?
 
Apart from getting absolutely huge (And I mean Pako-esque) I can't think of any other way except for lowering your body fat %.

It's kinda like having a 6 pack, but it's not visible because your body fat % is too high.
 
Yep, what he said. Keep lifting, as well as lowering your body fat percentage, and eventually you'll start to see some results. Try running a few days a week, it's an excellent way to lose fat quickly. If you're really determined, just start using the gym more often and give yourself a good workout routine.

I had the opposite problem, I started off being way too skinny and having arms like sticks, so getting the definition was easy for me, but it took a lot more time to add bulk to my arms.
 
I see two things that are wrong in your thinking LOON. The first is wanting muscle definition with a high body fat %. Body fat will hide all your muscle definition as already posted. The other error in your thinking is you want muscle definition fast. There's no short cuts or easy way around it. I will add that if your looking to define your muscle, along with reducing your body fat (burning more calories than what you are inputing into your body) that I would suggest lower weight and more reps. Be sure to isolate your bicep and don't cheat by swinging. There's a exercise called 21's that are pretty good for exploding the top of the bicep. Start by doing a regular curl but only come up half way. Repeat this for 7 reps, then come all the way up but only go down half, then go fully down and fully for 7 reps. This completes one set......do 3 to 4 sets of this on your arm workout day. Remember, light weight, lots of reps, and don't cheat. Also remember that muscle development occurs when your muscles are resting, not when you're working them out so be sure to allow plenty of heal time in between workout days when your hitting these muscle groups.

I'm currently in a 'bulking' phase to get my size, but plan to start working on definition once I get the size I'm looking for.

Good luck and don't get discouraged if you don't see results right away. Give yourself at least 6 weeks of hard training and eating right before you pass judgment on your efforts.

:cheers:
 
Wow, thanks for the very fast replys.👍

So the main thing I need to do is to try and lose some weight so my body fat% will go down, and use lighter weights so I can do more reps.

How much lighter should the weights be? Should I start curling 15-20lb weights and start benching 115-120?

Also, to help, should I start eating more of a certain kind of food, and less of another? I mean should I eat more proteins and less fats?
 
The weight you use can only be determined by you. You want to be pretty tired at the end of your reps, if you have a spotter, repping to complete failure then a couple more reps with your spotters help is best. Instead of 3 sets of 10, try to get 3 or 4 sets of 15-20 reps.

I've always been told low reps+heavy weight = mass, high reps+light weight = definition.

On the topic of diet, a good balanced diet will get you awesome results. Your body needs fats, cabs and proteins....but good fats, good carbs, and good proteins. There's a lot of info on nutrition, hit google for some great results. Basically just try and eat right and cut out the deserts. There's the whole no carb all protein diets but you need carbs for energy, but you don't want carbs that turn into sugar. Good carbs are products like brown rice and sweet potatos are some that come to mind. Tuna fish is a great source of natural protein as well as chicken breast.
 
Sorry to jump on your thread Loony, but I wonder if I could get some help too. I'm a pretty skinny guy with arms like twigs and I'd like to know how to bulk them up. All I have in terms of equipment are 3kg dumbells and no real gym access. Recently I've been using the dumbells and doing press-ups every few days, will this be sufficient?
 
Cool, thanks for the help Pako.👍

EDIT: No problem MarkJ, I got some pretty good answers so I don't think I'll need this anymore. I'll change the thread title for you too.👍
 
Again, apologies for jumping in with a question of my own, but I'm a pretty big guy and I'm generally well defined. But I have a bit of a gut which spoilts the whole picture if you know what I mean. I have the shoulders, arms, legs and neck muscles just how I want them really. Not bulging, but they're there, and they're enough to show people that I can hit hard if I want to. How do I reduce the gut and tone it more witout losing weight elsewhere if possible?
 
@markj_87: Again, eating right......is huge. When your bulking, try to eat at least one gram of protein per lb. of body weight. Not sure what that converts to for your measurements. Eat, eat, eat.....healthy. Don't starve your body. You should also try to eat 6 moderate meals a day. This keeps the waste down, promotes a faster body metabolism, and the proteins are better absorbed into the body. Again, heavy weights and lower reps. There are tons of different exercises. Changing them up and doing different ones...is best. I get better results from free weights when I'm trying to put on mass. Something that I've been doing lately that seems to be working is I flex what ever muscle I'm working on at the peak of a rep for three seconds. So I would curl up and hold/flex at the top of the curl for 3 seconds then back down again and repeat for every rep. So far I have been gaining about a 1/8" of size on my arms every two weeks, so 1/4 inch a month. That's three full inches of additional mass in my arms in a year if I keep it up. Those are some pretty good gains for doing it naturally.

@Dave A:
I've recently got some help myself in this area. I've been doing a 5 day a week abdominal workout that seems to be working pretty good. Basically on Mon/Wed/Fri I concentrate on the front/middle abs with Tues/Thurs concentrating on the side abs. Body fat% is huge when it comes to Abs. If you can reduce your caloric intake while increasing the number of calories you're burning, you should seem some great results added with a consistent ab workout.

Abs are friggin' tough, especially for bigger guys. I need to give it more time, but I'll let you know how it's working out.

I do a weighted machine sit-up 3x20, incline bench setups straight and once to each side for 3x21, and leg raises once to the middle and once to each side for a 3x30 set. That's on the Mon/Wed/Fri workout, for the sides I do standing dumb bell bends. With a dumb bell in one hand and off to your side, keeping your lower body stiff take your dumb bell hand and run it down the length of your leg to about your knee then bend the other way with your non-dumb bell hand running down the length of your other leg compressing the sides of your abs. I do this with 55-65lb dumbbells for sets of 3x20 usually on Tues/Thurs.

Hope this helps.
 
Pako knows more about the hardcore lifting than myself, but here's my tupence.
markj_87
Sorry to jump on your thread Loony, but I wonder if I could get some help too. I'm a pretty skinny guy with arms like twigs and I'd like to know how to bulk them up. All I have in terms of equipment are 3kg dumbells and no real gym access. Recently I've been using the dumbells and doing press-ups every few days, will this be sufficient?
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I think Pako's diet sugestion is abit extreme for someone just looking for abit of definiton. Aslong as you are getting protein in every meal like abit of meat, an egg, or just drinking a fair bit of milk, you should be fine.

I think you need to invest in a heavier weight set aswell. My set which features 4 x 1.1 Kg, 8 x 2.3Kg and 2 x 4.5 Kg weights and dumbells and a barbell costs about £25 ($50?). It's plenty for home training and has certainly given noticeable results.

You'll want to be doing bicept curls and tricept extensions. Everything should be in 3 sets of 10 with you working to near-exhaustion in atleast the last 2 sets. You won't notice results immediatley, but keeping at it for 2-3 times a week for 6-8 weeks and there will be noticeable effects.
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/exercises.htm


Dave A
Again, apologies for jumping in with a question of my own, but I'm a pretty big guy and I'm generally well defined. But I have a bit of a gut which spoilts the whole picture if you know what I mean. I have the shoulders, arms, legs and neck muscles just how I want them really. Not bulging, but they're there, and they're enough to show people that I can hit hard if I want to. How do I reduce the gut and tone it more witout losing weight elsewhere if possible?
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You're just simply unlucky in that the most of you weight goes to your front. Basically you need to loose body fat by jogging/rowing etc. Doing sit ups will not help you loose weight around the stomach. They will help tone up what is there, but untill you lower your body fat there is unlikely to be much change.

But remember, doing lots of excersie won't neccesarily lower your body fat %, especially if you go home and eat lots and drink lots of beer! My dad's been going to the gym for a year or so now, and whil ehe is fitter and has better tone, he still has a monumental gut because eats and drinks.
 
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