From Joey, Miscellaneous, Muscle Building Training, Nutrition

The Ultimate College Workout

For anybody who doesn’t know, college is probably one of the best times in your life. Hands down!

Everyone’s experience is different, but there are usually some common ground;

Drinking, Partying, All Nighters, Sports, Friends…

And then there is a bit of studying somehwere in there

Yes, those years were a blast and i’ll never forget them.

You see, if you know me, you know that I used to play hockey for most of my life.

When my friends and I moved into college, we put a team together and joined the lunch hour hockey league.

At first it was just for fun, but as we played more games, rivalries built up and soon that little fun league became very competitive!

Awesome.

We soon drew bigger crowds and the games became more intense (and rough at times).

It was a great bonding experience. One of the hilites I miss most about college.

We went the entire season undefeated…and somewhat unliked by other teams.

The team was called the Pontiac Elite..we retired the name after all team members graduated.

And in the picture above, at the banquet, you can see us celebrating as a team with a home made tin foiled ‘Stanley Cup’.

We were just as proud as if it were the real deal.

We even took it as far as not letting any body who was not on the team touch it and we even drank our beer out of it. What a night

You have to make the most out of every situation in life right?

Man that was fun

I also remember thinking I knew it all back then as well when it came to supposedly ‘building muscle’.

I had basically just started lifting weights back then and was desperately trying to gain ‘muscle’.

Although I was farely new at the whole working out thing and the diet thing.

My Nutrition Plan consisted of the following;

Meal 1:
Bacon, Eggs, Sausage, 4 slices of toast, coffee and orange juce.

Meal 2:
2 Slices of pizza. a carton of milk and a bag of chips

Meal 3:
3-4 cafe lates (preparing for the long night of studying, after a weeks worth of partying)

Meal 4:
When I got home I would usually be starving, and being in college, the budget was limited…
Macaroni and Cheese
Chicken Wings or Chicken Tenders Baked
Whatever else there was leftover

I would also include some protein shakes around those times that I worked out.

Looking back on that, I see the MAJOR flaws in eating all that, but I was misinformed.

I didnt realize how those types of food could adversely affect my body composition.

But back then, I didnt care how I looked ‘without a shirt’.

I just wanted to be big (muscular). So I ate when I was hungry and I made sure to eat lots.

I also took in lots of sugar based creatine products (when I could afford them).

My workouts were basically Shoulder and Triceps one day, Chest and Biceps the next day, rest until I was not sore anymore, then do it over again.

The results?!

I got big and bloated (mostly from the creatine loading)

But I never took my body composition readings (body fat vs muscle etc) so I dont know how much was muscle and how much was fat.

But no doubt, my shoulders were very big and my chest was probably the biggest and fullest its ever been.

But how were my legs? How were my abs? No clue!

Didnt care either. I looked big in a shirt and that was enough for me.

Here are some suggestions, if you are in college or school (dont worry it works for others as well), for gaining some upper body mass in record time.

Word of Caution:

this is really just for ’skinnier’ guys who’s body can afford to ‘gain’ a bit. If you already have a high body fat, you might want to avoid this one.

So to continue with the college them here is what I’d recommend.

Nutrition:
Try and eat 4-5 meals a day. More if you have the time and budget. Spread out those meals evenly.The only meals that should be bigger in comparison is your breakfast and your post workout meal.

Definetly consume a protein shake immediately following your workout. Try and get protein, carbs and fats in each meal.

A good rule of thumb should be:

Carbs make up 3/5 of meal
Protein make up 2/5 of meal
Fat make up 1/5 of meal

Use this to calculate calories if your into that: Bodyweight X (18-22).

Workout:
For a workout to gain muscle I would recommend 4 days a week. If you are just interested in building that upper body here is the split I would follow:

Chest
Shoulders and Triceps
Off
Back and Biceps
Chest

Every second week I would recommend switching back with leg day.

This is not long term program, really only about 4 weeks will deliver the best results. You would want to cycle this with a proportional program.

One other note. Make sure you are recovered and what I mean by that is basically make sure that you are not overly sore at each workout.

If you are, take another rest day and make sure to go back to the gym when you are fresh! You wont make great gains unless you recover and continue to progress.

Do you have any old or current college stories? Keep it tame as this is an all ages blog, but I would love to hear about them.

Share your experiences.

Joey