Skinny guy

[Fernando]

I´m a 24 year old guy who has always been skinny. No matter how much excercice and weight training I do I don´t gain muscle. I have tried all kinds of diets, but nothing works. Do you have some advice to solve my problem?

 

[vero_group]

Fernando, I was skinny for years and years and still am skinny to a good degree. But, I went from 129 lbs to 154 lbs in about 12 weeks by participating in a weight-training competition sponsored by Muscle Media (MM) magazine and EAS, the supplement company associated with it. Mind you, I worked my butt off and hired a personal trainer to ensure I did so, but it worked. This was five years ago now. I have since lost most of the muscle definition, but I have kept the weight, for the most part. I oscillate between 145 and 155 these days. I am 6' 0" tall. I look and feel a lot better, but I am still relatively skinny compared to my 30-something colleagues and friends. My waist was a 29 to 30, now it's a 34. I recommend checking into the competition at the company's website(s), www.eas.com and www.musclemedia.com. But keep in mind that it's not really the EAS products that make it happen -- you have to WANT it REALLY bad. I did at the time, and I found the competition at the right time to drive me to my goal. You gotta eat, eat, eat, and lift, lift, lift in a focused and concentrated effort -- like the 12 week competition. If you don't REALLY want to gain weight BAD, you're not going to have the discipline to make it happen. Decide how bad you want it, and you're mind will drive you accordingly.

 

[gqelements]

CT guy- yes, excessive cardio makes it much harder to gain size. This is not to say that it is bad, quite the opposite it's really good for an all-round healthy physique, but don't expect to gain much size running 6+ miles a day.

Fernando- eat, eat and eat. No matter how much you eat, if you are not gaining weight it's not enough. Try eating big meals instead of small ones to slow down your metabolism, and don't shy away from dairy products and meat fats. Bottom line you must eat to match your metabolism if you want to bulk up.

 

[Dr. Zaius]

SUGGESTION:
1) Eat a lot. Eat about 40% more than you're accustomed to. This will suck for a few days. Do it anyway.
2) Lift weights in the gym VERY SLOWLY - reps should last five seconds EACH. This means you'll have to adjust the machine so the resistance is less. So you'll look like a wimp to others. Suck it up. This is how you build muscle.
3) Use a spotter when on the bench. Instruct him to provide HELP when you can't lift anymore - this really helps you build muscle. If you want details about lactic acid buildup and reabsorption and why having a spotter is so great, let me know.

MORE DETAILS:
1) You burn energy throughout the day.
2) If you burn more energy than you take in, your body uses the energy stored in fat, and you lose the fat. Conversely, if you eat more than you burn, your body stores the excess as fat. Everyone works this way, even you.

So, if you want to gain weight, you need to eat. In case you didn't hear the first time,

YOU NEED TO EAT IF YOU WANT TO GAIN WEIGHT.

You need to eat more than you want. When you're full, keep going. Your stomach will expand, and after two weeks, you'll be comfortable eating more than before. That's when you need to start building muscle.

The extra energy you get by eating will be stored as fat unless your body can find another use for it. One good way your body uses energy is to repair the small tears that your muscles incur during your daily goings-on.

If you create LOTS of little tears by, say, lifting a weight, your body will repair the tears by adding additional muscle tissue.

THIS PART IS IMPORTANT:

If you do not eat enough, your body will not have the energy to repair the tears in your muscle after you've worked out. So what will happen is, you'll just get *really* tired, and *really* sore for a few days, and your muscle will heal back to its original size.

This is why people can work out like crazy and not build muscle. They just don't eat enough.

If you eat lots of sugar and lots of protein (fruit and vegetables, and meat) immediately after working out, you'll notice the muscle definition very soon.

Good luck.

 

[Fernando]

Thanks Guys for all your advice. It will certainly be of great help to me. I´ll let you know about my progress.