Stare At The Sun

Alright, so i have access to a decent universal machine anytime i want now, at my apartment complex.

Problem: Im a skinny white guy, 5'10'' and 125 pounds.

I've tried lifting before, but i never saw any gain after a few months of lifting every other day. So, my question is what should i do to gain bulk muscle?

Also, should i lift every other day?

I eat decently well, and such, im fairly clueless about all this, so uh, any input is nice.

Plan9Senior

Nutrition is 70% and exercise is 30%. Eat more calories then your body needs per day (find out your BMR), but make sure it is clean foods. You dont want to pack on fat . The better you are with the foods you put into your body, the faster you will start seeing your progress. Also, it is extremely important that you eat more then 1 gram of protein per pound of your bodyweight per day. Next, make sure that when you train your muscles that you are using enough weight. If you can do 10 reps, then you need more weight. Also, your muscles need about 48+ hours to fully repair themselves. This is why people who workout split their routine into muscle groups. For example:

Monday- Chest & Triceps & cardio
Tuesday- Biceps & back & forearms
Wed- Cardio only day
Thurs- Shoulders & cardio
Friday- Legs (dont neglect legs, training them releases a ton of growth hormone)
Saturday- Cardio only
Sunday- REST DAY

Everybody has their own routine, and you should keep it switched up every 3 weeks along with switching around your exercises so that you will keep your muscles "shocked" and growing. Notice that I put in cardio. Dont neglect your cardio... ever. Doing cardio while bulking not only is better for your cardiovascular system but it will keep your metabolism burning off that fat that is easily gained when eating a higher calorie diet. Just make sure to not do it for over 25 minutes because you will be burning precious muscle when you go over 30 mins.

Chuckles

What I did to really gain some weight was, i would drink a protein shake about 40minutes before going to lifting. Then drink another one right before I went to bed, becuase during the sleep phase is when your muscles build up most. Eat healthy too :P

bobw

Eat so much that you are never ever hungry at any point. Force yourself to eat. If you havent eaten anything in 2 hours, EAT.

Lunchbox7

Being a lithe man myself I always stressed about not being bigger. I trained like a triathlete throughout most of my teenage years. No difference in looks. I went to uni and did health science with a major in PDHPE and did a personal trainer course so I learnt all the right things to do. I did all the right things and heavy weights training for 3 years straight. No difference in looks. I became heaps depressed that I was this ugly scrawny thing. I started doing kickboxing which builds strength through the use of body weight at all the various angles instead of just major muscle groups. I found myself feeling so much stronger and more confident. Ever since then I stopped stressing about putting on bulk. Im now a big vindicator of total strength. The type of stregnth that is usefull in real life. You could bench press your body weight and feel great about how strong you are but if that angle changes only a few degrees you lose most of that aquired strength. I now train for stregnth in which I can benefit whether Im picking up a sandbag or a person or merely just moving around easier. Anyway thats what I found. Bruce Lee wasnt a big guy but he was totally OK with his body image. You dont have to be big to be strong. I cant say for women but I have noticed that they are still turned on by a toned body. Maybe the female posters could post in with their opinions on whether a lithe toned body is more or less attractive than a large less toned body.

Lunchbox7

Ive just done a search and that hasnt been done. Im going to post up a poll in the sexuallity board.

Neato

I'm 5'7" and I weight 128 pounds...
I'd have it no other way... unless I could be taller and thinner. I know for a fact that some girls like skinny guys.
I was the same as you guys until recently... always trying to gain weight any way I could, just so I wouldn't be so damn skinny. I'd wear baggy shirts and they would always look silly on me. I was trying to hide my size, subconsiously. Then a girl I know started telling me how good I looked when I wore tighter shirts, and I realized that instead of caring about how big I was I should just excentuate what I've got... an attractive body.
Maybe you are going for a certain type of women who only cares about how big you are though...
I gained 8 pounds over the summer eating at resterants a lot.

Plan9Senior

Although you might be happy with having a skinny non muscular body, it seems that UnlikedOne wants to improve his physique. You think putting extra muscle mass and keeping lean (the Brad Pitt Fight Club look) is easy? Takes a lot more work then eating at restraunts more often. Skinny guy getting in shape, fat guy getting in shape... its all fucking hard work and this person is trying to make a change and should be encourged instead of settling (which seems to be the thing to do amongst people today).


On that note, how are things going UnlikedOne?

Neato

Ah, sorry, I lost touch with the initial goal of this topic while thinking about my own situation. I'd also like to apologize for assuming it had to with getting the ladies to look at him, he never stated that so I made an ass out of me.
Settling is when you stay with a lesser of options, in your own opinion, right? I wasn't encouraging him to settle, I was offering support for a different option. If what I said makes this option more appealing to him than his intial chosen option, he can change what he feels he needs to do acordingly, if not then he can merely ignore me. I think it is more important that he is happy with himself than being stronger and leaner. But again, my whole concept was written with the thought that he wanted to gain muscle for looks, which was wrong of me.
I feel that you have tried to make my choice look like one of lazieness, which it wasn't. I am happy with how I look and feel strength and muscle-wise.

G5_Todd

im thin also.....if you keep with it the protein suppliments do help you gain some weight...im currently 6'3" 185 pounds when i was consuming the whey protein suppliment shakes i got up to 197....but then i stopped taking it and i began running and lost alot of weight....


since then i have stopped running and began lifting again....

althou im not as heavy as i was i am stronger now.....i have just starting to go onto a protein kick trying to gain weight be eating a bunch of meals a day and so far it seems to be working as im gaining about a pound or so a week.....

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yellowgowild

I used to be a skinny guy but a well defined skinny guy. I didn't gain weight until I started drinking milk religiously and working like an animal.

Kaos

I was 5'9", 120 pounds at one point (Hell, I was 5'9 and barely hitting 110 pounds for the longest time). Took me forever to put on any weight. You have to eat and eat. Instead of 3 meals a day, you have to go with at least 5, and make sure you are full after each meal.

Along with that, working out is necessary. If you want to put on pounds, you want to add muscle mass, not fat. (Muscle is more dense than fat and weighs more) Plus you don't want to start putting on fat, cuz it's a bitch to get rid of.

Mostly do weight training and very little cardio. You don't want to burn off the weight you are trying to add by doing a bunch of cardio workouts. Some light cardio 2-3 times a week tops.

kenshee

Hi! Can you guys give good leg exercises? Or any other exercises that helps release those growth hormones.Oh and cardio exercises too.Thanks!

Plan9Senior

DON'T NEGLECT CARDIO! Anybody who tells you to not do cardio even when trying to bulk is just misinformed. keep the cardio at high intensity intervals for about 20 minutes to not only keep fat from collecting while you gain mass, but also to keep your metabolism and your heart at top notch.

Plan9Senior

Squats are going to be the best exercise for your legs. Sometimes guys will puke after doing them because they work your legs so good. I'm glad you are not the type of person to neglect your legs and work only your upper body. Nice to see that you understand that working out your legs triggers a huge growth hormone release that aids in full body gains.

As far as cardio goes, I suggest high intensity interval training (HIIT). DO a search on the web to find out more about it. Here are some pages that will explain it:

http://www.musclemedia.com/training/hiit.asp

http://www.wsu.edu/~strength/hiit.htm

k1ng

I am in a similar situation as you. Two years ago I worked out 5 days a week for 45min-1hour every day. I saw some improvment in my strength but then I hit a plateau (not literally, of course).

It wasn't until after I realized how important nutrition really is. I'm wanting to start working out again, but I've decided I would start working on my nutrition before I start on my work out.

I'm not saying that is the best thing to do, but it's what I've decided to do. Best of luck to you!

__________________
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Rubyee

I know! You can take some of my body fat! Lets kill two birds with one stone!

Sorry for the sarcasm. I was going to leave it at that, but it seemed a little insensitive. Eat lots of protein. That's about all I know.

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You don't know from fun.

numist

I'm 6'1", and 140 lbs dry.

I can not gain weight for the life of me.

Which is fine, Im a racer, so it works for me, as long as my body carries across the finish line fast.

Being big isnt that big a deal, being comfortable and happy with your body is though.

If you really want to get bigger, pile on the weights until your arms (or legs, or whatever your working) shiver when you exert them on the weights. Not too much, just that much, then do reps till you get tired. Take a short break, do it again.
Progbably the best way to gain bulk is through that method. Good Luck.

petergriffin24

I started off really thin I'm talking 6'4" 150 pounds outta high school. I have been hitting the weights for about 3 years now and I tell you what it took me about 6-8 months before I started gaining weight and personally seeing my own gains from the weight room. As long as you concentrate on your form in the gym and get plenty of rest days (don't over lift you can't get big in one day or week) you will see results eventually it depends on your genetics and body style. Just be patient and stick with it and pick up some protein shakes and drink 2-3 of them a day and you'll start seeing gains!!

theinfamous

the #1 answer to this is nutrition! all that work in the weight room will be for nothing if you're not eating correctly. general guidelines to follow:

1. 1-1.5 grams of protein per lb. bodyweight (someone mentioned this)

2. since it's extremely hard to get that much protein through real foods, maybe you should pick up some whey

3. figure out your maintenance calories and make sure you are eating well over it

4. balance out your protein/carb/fat ratio (40/30/30 sounds good)

5. do cardio about 2x a week using HIIT (as referenced above)

6. eat six small meals a day at 3 hour intervals

7. lift heavy at around 8-10 reps and learn the correct forms for each exercise!

8. training every other day is okay...a better idea is to use a split such as mon: chest/tris, tues: legs, wed: cardio, thu: shoulders/abs, fri: back/bis, sat: cardio, sun: penis

9. good protein sources: canned tuna, salmon, chicken breast, lean steak, cottage cheese, eggs

10. carb sources: leafy greens, oatmeal, peas, broccoli, asparagus

11. fat sources: flaxseed oil, olive oil, natural peanut butter

12. you might want to take a multivitamin to make sure you don't leave anything out

13. train hard, rest hard. resting is when your muscles heal and grow...during workouts you are breaking them down

14. you should use a post-workout shake that could consist of 2 scoops of whey and some simple carbs (dextrose - found in grape juice)

15. eat cottage cheese and maybe some peanut butter before you go to bed since it contains casein protein that is slow-digesting to keep you from catabolizing in your sleep.

16. eat a big breakfast

17. read articles about different methods since everybody has a different body and so while one method of bulking up might work for me, it may not work as well for you

18. find ways to keep yourself motivated...watch rocky 4 or something

19. don't expect to gain a six-pack while you're bulking...it's very hard to gain weight fast while remaining lean. once you reach your ideal weight you can cut down your bodyfat % to get that lean, muscular look by eating less than your maintenance calories and doing a lot of cardio

20. you shouldn't be concerned with the way you look...people should like your the way you are instead of some shallow-ass reason as how you look. since you like boondock saints, i'm assuming you're already a great guy

21. in fact, screw my advice

asudevil83

the best thing i can suggest is EAT, and drink A LOT of beer....i would say i was about your size about two or so months ago, around the time school started back up. i was actually 122. but since school started i've gained a good amount of weight....i'm up to 137. i attribute this to eating lots of protein (tuna, steak, hamburgers), and just eating a lot of food, some good and some bad. beer also helps A LOT. just get drunk every few nights....you have fun, meet girls, and gain weight....what could be better than that? JK...

just keep on track, and you should do fine.

Plan9Senior

please dont listen to any of this advice lol.