How to Bulk Up Like an Offensive Lineman

For the serious-minded and goal-oriented trainers, working out typically involves three primary stages: mass building, cutting and maintenance. In order to look like an offensive lineman, your primary goal will be mass building. Mass building is not just gaining weight, but involves a complex ratio of weight and lean muscle gain. In order to successfully mass build, there are two critical elements that must come into play---nutrition and exercise. When these two elements are adequately established, you will begin a successful transformation from your former yourself into that which will resemble an offensive lineman.

Things You'll Need

• Free weights
• Barbells
• Barbell plates
• Food

Show More

Instructions

Mass Building and Nutrition

• 1

  Assess your current diet and determine how it will need to be restructured in order to promote mass building. Add meals where needed so that you are eating a total of at least six meals per day.

• 2

  Eat often. Mass building requires that you eat a lot of food, so in order to fit it all in, time your meals so that you are eating every two to three hours.

• 3

  Eat the right foods. Pizza and donuts will lead to weight gain but will not promote lean muscle gain. Food sources must come primarily from clean foods such as lean proteins, healthy fats, fruits and vegetables and healthy carbohydrates.

• 4

  Carb up. Eating plenty of carbohydrates is essential to mass building, particularly the starchy kinds. Bananas, white potatoes, sweet potatoes and rice have plenty of complex carbohydrates.

• 5

  Double your calories. Muscle requires extra calories, so simply double your portions at each of your meals. Another way to double calories is by eating calorie-dense foods such as dried fruits and healthy fats such as nuts and oils.

Mass Building and Exercise

• 6

  Work out. You should be training at least four days per week during your mass-building phase.

• 7

  Lift big and heavy. In order for your body to use all the extra calories you are consuming and apply them to muscle, you need to apply what personal trainer Shannon Clark deems as the "overloading stimulus."

• 8

  Perform multi-joint exercises. Moves such as chest presses, deadlifts, shoulder presses, lunges and squats all recruit more muscles and promote the development and growth of muscle mass.

• 9

  Reduce cardio. There is a fine line between too much and too little cardio when it comes to mass building. Too much cardio will cause you to lose a lot of the muscle you've been working so hard to gain. Limit cardio to once or twice a week.

• 10

  Rest. Muscles break down when at work, and repair and rebuild at rest. Make sure that you are giving your body adequate rest between workouts.