Need help with work-out schedule
 

Hi guys. I come to you with a question.

I am a 20 year old guy who doesn't go to the gym. My current weight is 140 pounds at 5'11". Needless to say, I'm pretty skinny. I'd like to gain some muscle weight, but I don't have time to go to the gym (full time job/school even in the summer). At home I have two 20 pound dumb bells, a spring bar (for chest) and an ab work-out bench (that can be tilted backwards about 30 degrees).

Is there anything I can do with that set-up to help me achieve my goal? Any recommendations on a weekly schedule?

Thanks.

You've had 14 views and no responses, which should tell you something?

Your best bet would be to search through all the posts around here. There is already a bunch of advice. Some specific to the question you pose.

Oh, and I don't think there's much you can do with what little equipment you currently have.

I disagree.

You can START with what you have, then build on that. I've been reading Fitness for Dummies and Weight Training for Dummies, and I like what they say a lot. Those books, which are written by experts and aren't backed by some fitness comany, have sound advice and would be a great way to get you started. You could totally do a fitness routine at home with what you have- you'd need to buy other poundages of weights (perhaps a 10 and a 15lb set) but all stregnth training can be done with freeweights at home in front of Conan. Or Letterman. Take your pick.

Start with body weight exercises. How many push ups can you do? Can you beat Kewpie_Dan?

If not, then start pushing :D

Seriously though, you can do a lot with what you have.

Push ups work your tris and chest, hand stand push ups work your tris and shoulders (try them, they're killer), 1 legged squats build your lower body, sit ups/crunches and planks work the core.

Those are just some examples, and all of them involve a body and a floor. Hopefully you have both :)

Start working and post results!

Wow 140 at 5' 11"? What's your bodyfat percentage?

Change # 1 - EAT MORE! (the most important one!)

Eating more food builds more muscle. Simple as that. What ISN'T simple is the food you eat. GOTTA eat healthy if you don't wanna be about 50 pounds overweight.

First, figure out your lean body mass - take your total bodyweight and multiply by your bodyfat percentage.

Example: you're 140 pounds and 10% bodyfat. 140(.10)=14 pounds of fat. 140-14=126. Your lean body mass is 126.

Second: multiply by 15. Using the above example of 126 LBM, that'd be 126(15) = 1890. This is your maintenance calories - that being, the amount of calories you would need to consume to STAY at your current weight.

Third: Add 500 calories to that. Then 100 calories every week after the first 2 weeks.

Forth: (and this is debatable depending on who you ask) Consume 60% carbs, 30% protein, and 10% fats. No matter what, you MUST consume at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. So if your LBM was 126, you'd consume at least 126 g of protein.

Some bodybuilders recommend going as high as 3 grams of protein per pound of weight... but this can be hard to do. The amount of chicken breasts you'd consume would be horrendous.

Some helpful nutritional information...

Fats are 9 calories per gram.
Carbs are 4 calories per gram.
Proteins are 4 calories per gram.

Good food to eat:

For protein -

Eggs (I believe in eating the WHOLE egg, but some insist on egg whites...)
Chicken breasts
Beef (especially steaks which have high levels of creatine)
Fish (which have EFA's)

For carbs -
Oatmeal (bodybuilders SWEAR by this, and for good reason)
Brown rice
Whole wheat bread
Pasta

Basically, try to stay away from processed junk. Eat healthy wholesome food. You hear this everywhere everyday, but it's good advice.

CHANGE # 2

Join a gym and do heavy compound lifts!

Base your workouts around these compound lifts:

Bench presses
Squats
Deadlifts (careful of these! Done improperly this can fuck up your back REALLY badly - same for squats)

Change # 3

SLEEP! Get at least 8 hours of QUALITY sleep. Your body produces growth hormones in your sleep, so why cut into your production time? It also is "idle" time when your body can focus on healing itself... making it bigger, better, stronger.

Be careful NOT to over train. 3 days of weight lifting is PLENTY! Don't do more, you'll burn yourself out. Trust me, it happened to me. Took me a year to get back into it (ahhh my idiot days. Wish I knew better then :().

________________________________________________________________________

I reccomend getting Brawn by Stuart McRobert, especially since you sound like a potential hardgainer.

And don't be mislead by muscle magazines and articles. DO read around (check out this site http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/index.html), but cast a wary eye as you read. Some of these programs are designed for AAS users and following these "programs" will overtrain you and you'll never see results (at least not like they're promising).

Oh! And DO NOT rely heavily on supplements. Whey protein/Whey isolate protein and dextrose should be all you take. Oh, that and a good multivitamin. And if you wanna get into the steroid game that’s a WHOLE nother world… I personally don’t use steroids, but I understand (and accept) their…. mmmm…. “usefulness”.

Hope this helped. Be happy to help you out more. I love doing stuff like this. :-D

Get a pullup bar too. I've got a doorgym, which installs in about 2 seconds with no hardware or damage to doors. Pullups are so under-rated. Do palms out, palms in, and palms facing each other. Great for the back, biceps, and forearms.

Dont make excuses, they are the number one reason for failure. Back when I was 20, was in college and working yet still managed to compete in bodybuilding.

I'm reading a bio on Arnold right now. In the early days, he and Franco Columbo would work in the hot sun all day as brick layers then hit the gym, every day.

You can do it, just make it a priority and focus. No excuses!

Good luck!

Thanks for the advice, people. I do have a pull-up bar and do a couple of sets every day. Jason, my bodyfat percentage is 11%. I'll check out that book and look into some protein shakes. Which one is the best to use (and cheapest)?

I said there wasn't much he could do with the equipmentment he had based on the stated goal: to build muscle mass. Fitness is different from building muscle weight. You can do a great deal with nearly nothing to achieve fitness goals, all of which will develop long muscles with minimal weight gain.

So really my initial comment wasn't vry helpful because I didn't place it in the proper context - I just left it out there like a smartass! Sorry.

Optimum 100% Whey Protein is very popular. The high quality and the low(er) cost makes it a very good option.

I've tried the Rocky Road, Chocolate, Strawberry and cookies n cream. I like the Rocky Road flavor followed by strawberry.

Some people swear by the whey protein isolates, which is a tad more expensive, but very high quality protein. Dymatize ISO-100

Personally I haven't tried it, but as soon as I run out of "regular" whey, I will.

By the way, protein shakes shouldn't make up the bulk of your diet. Should be taken PWO (post work out) only with some dextrose.

EDIT:

Just because today’s my day off and I’m bored, I did this.

Bodyweight: 140
Body fat: 11%
Lean body mass: 124.6

Maintenance calories: 1,869 calories
Bulking calories: 2,369 (+ 100 calories every week after the first two weeks)

So, working off of 2,369 calories

30% protein = 710.7 calories of protein/ 178 grams of protein
60% carbs = 1421 calories of carbs/ 355 grams of carbs
10% fats = 236.7 calories of fats/ 26 grams of fats

Feel free to mess around with the percentages though. This isn’t set in stone. Just make sure that however you change it, you’re always getting at least 125 grams of proteins.

Oh, and make sure you eat 6 meals a day.

Hey Logan Snake!

How is it going? Have you started at all?

Let me know how you're doing!