Exercise me: Make me gain muscle

[Toiletduck]

Originally Posted by ZackyBoy

Revamp your diet.

how?

 

[ZackyBoy]

Originally Posted by Toiletduck

how?
Never workout on an empty stomach, eat casein protein (ex: cottage cheese) closer to bed and not oats, add more lean meats to your diet... but I haven't seen your dinner. And honestly I would look for a good gym. With what you described you will tread water with your progress... squats and deadlifts are the mass builders and you didn't even post that you have a rack or a barbell.

 

[why]

 

[Macallan9]

Originally Posted by why

Put your car in neutral and push it around the parking lot for half an hour.

*****. I put my car in park, with the emergency brake on and then push.

Then I bench.

Originally Posted by ZackyBoy

Never workout on an empty stomach, eat casein protein (ex: cottage cheese) closer to bed and not oats, add more lean meats to your diet... but I haven't seen your dinner. And honestly I would look for a good gym. With what you described you will tread water with your progress... squats and deadlifts are the mass builders and you didn't even post that you have a rack or a barbell.

 

[APK]

Originally Posted by kleuzinger

If you are serious, I would by "The Body Sculpting Bible for Men" I would also overload on protein - 50gr a day if you can. Over there you should have access to alot of soy and fish right?

I hope you didn't mean 50 grams of protein a day. A gram per pound is the ideal amount to build muscle. You're going to tread water going significantly below that.

 

[nakky]

Originally Posted by Toiletduck

how?

As said previously, diet is key to gaining muscle. If you are serious, you will need to eat more during the day. Essentially you will need to do a bulking phase, eating lots of food (2gs of protein for every kg of body weight), and preferably lifting some big weights.

With regards to eating lots, try to eat lots (~6) smallish meals during the day, the mantra I used was always feeling full, and never ever feeling hungry. You can eat carbs, which will happen in HK, but this will make your bulk dirty - you will gain muscle and fat at the same time.

With regards to lifting weights.. well if you had an barbell, you would be set. Deadlift, squats, blah blah. Shoot me a PM and I can recommend you what you can do with what you have.

Supplements work well, when everything else is working well - diet, exercise and sleep. You cant use supplements as meal replacements. The only time I recommend supplements is for the post-exercise meal. After doing your 40mins-1hr of weight training, your muscles will be screaming for protein. This is were a whey shake is important. Whey is digested fast, and gets your recovery process going. Eating a can of tuna will take too long, missing out on the optimal time taken to get the stuff to your muscles.

Hope that gets you started.. but feel free to ask me more. I used to be very skinny, so I sort of know what it was like.

 

[Fang66]

Lots of good advice on this thread but some of it is a bit overly complicated for a raw beginner.

My advice is keep it simple and safe, as a beginner just eat and lift consistently and you'll grow.

Don't waste money on supplements, protein powders etc. Not that there's not some good stuff out there, there is, but you just don't need them as a beginner. They're expensive and only the icing on the cake so to speak of a good diet. Spend your money on quality real food.

There are many lifting strategies that might get you to your goal a little faster than others but again you don't need optimal strategies and it can be a pain ********** to keep track of them keep it simple.

Do a full body routine 3 times a week, concentrate on compound movements (Squat, Deadlift, Bench Press, Rows) lift heavy keep the reps in the 8 ~ 12 range 1 ~ 3 sets. Lift with good form, injuries will slow you down more than any sub optimal routine.

I have a friend who had a similar goal to you, he's 6'1" was 130 pounds skinny fat. I worked out with him for 14 months 3 times a week (not every week). Now he's cut at 165 pounds.

His diet was a traditional Japanese diet plus junk food on the weekend, he cut out the junk, added one more protein rich meal (fish, tofu, beef) or one whey shake a day (sometimes both). This was not strict he still had the odd Big Mac or giant plate plate of pasta from our fav italian place. He didn't change his booze consumption at all which is basically getting hammered once a week.

We lifted 2 or 3 times a week 1 set 8~12 reps each of Deads, Squats, Dumbbell Bench Press, Military Press, Seated Rows, Hang Cleans plus ab work. Each workout we tried to either increase reps or weight. (step up the weight very gradually). We sometimes changed to front squats barbell BP, stiff leg deads. But usually only for 2 3 weeks.

Following this strategy my friend lost maybe 5 10 pounds of fat and put on 25 or 30 pounds of muscle, Maybe if he had used a more optimal strategy he'd be 170 or 175 but I strongly doubt it and I also doubt that he would have been able to follow a stricter diet or more complex lifting routine for more than a year.

 

[Mimetic]

Originally Posted by kleuzinger

If you are serious, I would by "The Body Sculpting Bible for Men" I would also overload on protein - 50gr a day if you can. Over there you should have access to alot of soy and fish right?

Make them a part of your diet, and not just do shakes.

But-do shakes like Myoplex or some other protein right after you are done working out.

THE KEYS

I have a friend like you wanting to get bigger (we share a trainer) and the key is:

1. Do not work the same muscle group 2 days in a row. Example: Do arms, then do legs the next day. The resting is key.
2. Get a ton of sleep
You will start to get sleepy earlier because your muscles will want to heal (lifting causes strain and micro-tears, and the body responds by making the fibers bigger)
3. Water Water Water


Hope this helps,
kenn

50 grams a day?

Try 200, or 150 at least.



Lift heavy, 4 or 5 day split, compound exercises, eat heaps, get sleep, and you'll get big.

Go and sign up at bodybuilding.com, read through the forums, check out some of the routines on the supersite.

If you have any quick questions feel free to PM me, I just signed up but I plan on sticking around here and I know a bit of stuff about bodybuilding/weightlifting.

 

[aoluffy]

^^ agreed. go to bb.com and research for yourself. you will be much more educated on your lifestyle.

you are not different to any other people who go there for help. 99% of people in your position (and there are a lot of them) follow the standardised strength building routines for a few months then move onto 3 day splits.

edit: and learn from people who are actually physically fit + muscular. i see so many ppl who blab on about how to get nice and muscular but they aren't and its annoying because they miss out some other points which u would only get through experience. from going to bb.com, you will realise you have to join a new gym if thats all your gyms got (squat rack, mats, barbell required) for first few months.

gl.

 

[why]

Ignore the second page of this thread.

 

[Mimetic]

Originally Posted by aoluffy

^^ agreed. go to bb.com and research for yourself. you will be much more educated on your lifestyle.

you are not different to any other people who go there for help. 99% of people in your position (and there are a lot of them) follow the standardised strength building routines for a few months then move onto 3 day splits.

edit: and learn from people who are actually physically fit + muscular. i see so many ppl who blab on about how to get nice and muscular but they aren't and its annoying because they miss out some other points which u would only get through experience. from going to bb.com, you will realise you have to join a new gym if thats all your gyms got (squat rack, mats, barbell required) for first few months.

gl.

Well said!

Definitely agree on the point of people who blab on about the "science" behind getting a good physique but lack the practical experience. The best way to go about it is just to get in the gym and start learning! Make sure you practice the right form with your exercises though, don't want to get injured! Remember, it's all about quality, not quantity (as in the quality of the reps you do)

 

[Fang66]

Originally Posted by Mimetic

50 grams a day?

Try 200, or 150 at least.



Lift heavy, 4 or 5 day split, compound exercises, eat heaps, get sleep, and you'll get big.

Go and sign up at bodybuilding.com, read through the forums, check out some of the routines on the supersite.

If you have any quick questions feel free to PM me, I just signed up but I plan on sticking around here and I know a bit of stuff about bodybuilding/weightlifting.

Good advice except the split routine, beginners don't need it, full body's the go and lifting 4 or 5 times a week is too often without the split.

If you know a bit about body building then you are almost certainly at a stage where the split makes sense, but I think it usually takes at least a year to get to there.

 

[Mimetic]

Originally Posted by Fang66

Good advice except the split routine, beginners don't need it, full body's the go and lifting 4 or 5 times a week is too often without the split.

If you know a bit about body building then you are almost certainly at a stage where the split makes sense, but I think it usually takes at least a year to get to there.

Good point, alot of people just starting out tend to make good progress with some variation of upper/lower body routine, maybe 3 days a week.

 

[javyn]

I'm taking a break from my stronglifts 5x5 routine and doing the 20 pullup challenge. Almost there, then it's on to the 100 pushup challenge. I'm dreading that, my chest is by far my weakest link. I can do more pullups than pushups how sad is that.

 

[turbozed]

Originally Posted by javyn

I'm taking a break from my stronglifts 5x5 routine and doing the 20 pullup challenge. Almost there, then it's on to the 100 pushup challenge. I'm dreading that, my chest is by far my weakest link. I can do more pullups than pushups how sad is that.

Are you doing strict pullups or are you kicking up? Even doing the latter, that's awfully strange (and might be an indication of muscle imbalance). What push exercises do you do?