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Skinny guy trying to build muscle
Hi everyone. I am 21 yrs, 6' 1" and about 145 lbs. I don't mean it in a bragging sense - but I can eat crazy amounts of food and won't gain an ounce. I've been this way since I started getting taller around middle school, where I basically stretched vertically but remained the same horizontally. My doc has told me numerous times that my metabolism is extremely fast and this is why I don't gain like everyone else.
Currently, I eat more than usual, but not as frequently as I used to. Where in school I used to eat breakfast almost every morning, and lunch every day - I now find myself too busy with work. Usually I find a little time to eat at lunch, be it a sandwich or leftovers or whatever. For dinner, I try to eat a well-rounded and largely-portioned meal. For example, yesterday I had two grilled chicken breasts, rice, half grapefruit, peas and a yogurt. I follow those same lines for other meals, but with different meats, carbs and fruits/vegetables. I will then work out for a good hour -- mostly upper-body dumbbell exercises, lifting 15-25 lb. weights, squats, pushups, situps/crunches, and hand grips (triceps/wrists). I do reps until I can't anymore, and then move onto a different exercise. I do this every other day; on the off days I'm usually a little sore but not too bad. On weekends, I will sometimes go for a 2-4 mile run or play basketball; however being winter I have curbed that back a little. After I work out, I drink 16oz of cyto gainer to fill in more calories. And after that, I normally go to bed. A) What is more important to gain weight, eating less more frequently or eating higher volumes in general? B) What should I incorporate into my diet to improve lean weight gain? C) What should I incorporate (or get rid of) in my workout routine to improve muscle gain? D) Any other pointers...? Thanks for your help... |
Originally Posted by fullcoupe
(Post 66273)
Hi everyone. I am 21 yrs, 6' 1" and about 145 lbs. I don't mean it in a bragging sense - but I can eat crazy amounts of food and won't gain an ounce. I've been this way since I started getting taller around middle school, where I basically stretched vertically but remained the same horizontally. My doc has told me numerous times that my metabolism is extremely fast and this is why I don't gain like everyone else.
Currently, I eat more than usual, but not as frequently as I used to. Where in school I used to eat breakfast almost every morning, and lunch every day - I now find myself too busy with work. Usually I find a little time to eat at lunch, be it a sandwich or leftovers or whatever. For dinner, I try to eat a well-rounded and largely-portioned meal. For example, yesterday I had two grilled chicken breasts, rice, half grapefruit, peas and a yogurt. I follow those same lines for other meals, but with different meats, carbs and fruits/vegetables. I will then work out for a good hour -- mostly upper-body dumbbell exercises, lifting 15-25 lb. weights, squats, pushups, situps/crunches, and hand grips (triceps/wrists). I do reps until I can't anymore, and then move onto a different exercise. I do this every other day; on the off days I'm usually a little sore but not too bad. On weekends, I will sometimes go for a 2-4 mile run or play basketball; however being winter I have curbed that back a little. After I work out, I drink 16oz of cyto gainer to fill in more calories. And after that, I normally go to bed. A) What is more important to gain weight, eating less more frequently or eating higher volumes in general? B) What should I incorporate into my diet to improve lean weight gain? C) What should I incorporate (or get rid of) in my workout routine to improve muscle gain? D) Any other pointers...? Thanks for your help... A) When trying to gain weight, I don't think eating less ever fits into the equation. I'd say try eating more AND more frequently. For the above sample meal, I'd swap the grapefruit and yogurt for something heavier like a sweet potato, etc. If you enjoy grapefruit, you can use the grapefruit for right after your workout. B) Good clean food and lots of it. Grilled chicken breast, steak, fish, eggs, brown rice, sweet potatoes, broccoli, fruit, etc. C) CUT OUT THE CARDIO! Lift HEAVY! Give your body time to rest before working the same muscle groups. D) Compound moves like Squats (front, back, overhead), Deadlifts, Pullups, Dips, Good Mornings, etc. are always good. |
As gt said, lift heavy-3-5 sets, 6-10 reps.
You can continue cardio but you need to get enough calories. I trained for and completed a 100 miler on my handcycle while benching 315 lb at a bodyweight of 185. My weight remained stable throughout. DO NOT fall prey to the lure of "miracle potion" supplements. The only thing they make bigger are the sellers' bank accounts. You only need three supplements. Protein, if you have trouble getting enough. A simple whey or whey/egg will do fine. Multivitamin/mineral supplement-RDA doses are fine. Hypersupplementation is worthless. Creatine-will not make you bigger on it;s own but does allow more work to be done. |
Originally Posted by handcycle2005
(Post 66284)
As gt said, lift heavy-3-5 sets, 6-10 reps.
You can continue cardio but you need to get enough calories. I trained for and completed a 100 miler on my handcycle while benching 315 lb at a bodyweight of 185. My weight remained stable throughout. DO NOT fall prey to the lure of "miracle potion" supplements. The only thing they make bigger are the sellers' bank accounts. You only need three supplements. Protein, if you have trouble getting enough. A simple whey or whey/egg will do fine. Multivitamin/mineral supplement-RDA doses are fine. Hypersupplementation is worthless. Creatine-will not make you bigger on it;s own but does allow more work to be done. |
Originally Posted by fullcoupe
(Post 66273)
Hi everyone. I am 21 yrs, 6' 1" and about 145 lbs. I don't mean it in a bragging sense - but I can eat crazy amounts of food and won't gain an ounce. I've been this way since I started getting taller around middle school, where I basically stretched vertically but remained the same horizontally. My doc has told me numerous times that my metabolism is extremely fast and this is why I don't gain like everyone else.
Currently, I eat more than usual, but not as frequently as I used to. Where in school I used to eat breakfast almost every morning, and lunch every day - I now find myself too busy with work. Usually I find a little time to eat at lunch, be it a sandwich or leftovers or whatever. For dinner, I try to eat a well-rounded and largely-portioned meal. For example, yesterday I had two grilled chicken breasts, rice, half grapefruit, peas and a yogurt. I follow those same lines for other meals, but with different meats, carbs and fruits/vegetables. I will then work out for a good hour -- mostly upper-body dumbbell exercises, lifting 15-25 lb. weights, squats, pushups, situps/crunches, and hand grips (triceps/wrists). I do reps until I can't anymore, and then move onto a different exercise. I do this every other day; on the off days I'm usually a little sore but not too bad. On weekends, I will sometimes go for a 2-4 mile run or play basketball; however being winter I have curbed that back a little. After I work out, I drink 16oz of cyto gainer to fill in more calories. And after that, I normally go to bed. A) What is more important to gain weight, eating less more frequently or eating higher volumes in general? B) What should I incorporate into my diet to improve lean weight gain? C) What should I incorporate (or get rid of) in my workout routine to improve muscle gain? D) Any other pointers...? Thanks for your help... Lifting routine: Starting Strength Diet: GoMaD (gallon of milk a day) If you're interested in SS you should buy the book and DVDs for more in depth information than that website can give. And from my understanding if you are lifting weights you can gain about 0.5lb muscle a week but you would need to gain weight at a rate of 1lb/week which is equal to a 500calorie surplus. If you don't already know everyone has a number of calories they burn everyday, so you find that number and eat 500 more calories than it and you would gain 1/lb a week (500x7=3500=1lb). However I may be wrong. Do some research on these things and in time you'll come to an understanding and be able to implement it in reality with success. If you don't like GoMaD just eat 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight and make sure to get your all calories. If you're bulking(eating a surplus of calories) you don't need to really eat healthily but just don't eat all junk food make sure to get your protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals. You may want to take a multi vitamin and fish oil. You may also want to get a Fitocracy.com account to log your workouts, I have one its great. If you don't want to buy barbells can get a power rack you should join a gym that has those things. |
Hey there,
Been lifting for a couple of years and my programs always tell me that to build muscle involved 3 very simple factors: 1. Food - Eat lotsa clean food and get as much protein as you can. Keep the sugars low and stuff your face as much as possible 2. Weights - Go heavy or go home. You should be aiming for 8 rep max range. Switch it up between 6 rep max to 10 rep max intermittently. 3. Rest - With the huge eating and huge training you need more rest than normal people. Aim for 8-9 hours sleep a day. Heck, nap during the day if you can. These are very rough guidelines but seem to work well for me Cheers. |
Lots of good advice above. Just wanted to emphasis that to build muscle you have to eat protein. Your body cannot turn Carbohydrates or Fat into muscle. Only Protein has the Amino Acid building blocks neccessary to build muscle. Your body cannot manufacture these. I also read an interesting article in Muscle & Fitness magazine about having healthy fats (especially Saturated Fats like found in red meat) in your diet when building muscle. It seem they help keep Testosterone levels adequate and aid in Amino Acid assimilation. Good luck on your journey.
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I would like to also recommend Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training 3 ed by Mark Rippetoe. It is a basic barbell training program with instruction on how to perform the exercises and it will help you get stronger.
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Originally Posted by fullcoupe
(Post 66273)
lifting 15-25 lb.
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Originally Posted by RyanEParker
(Post 67807)
Hey there,
Been lifting for a couple of years and my programs always tell me that to build muscle involved 3 very simple factors: 1. Food - Eat lotsa clean food and get as much protein as you can. Keep the sugars low and stuff your face as much as possible 2. Weights - Go heavy or go home. You should be aiming for 8 rep max range. Switch it up between 6 rep max to 10 rep max intermittently. 3. Rest - With the huge eating and huge training you need more rest than normal people. Aim for 8-9 hours sleep a day. Heck, nap during the day if you can. These are very rough guidelines but seem to work well for me Cheers. Can't get simpler than that. :cool::) |
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