gaining weight

spooiirt!!

Hey, im 18 and i wanna put on some weight, i.e. get broader.
im 6 ft 4 and i weigh14 stone. 14 stone is a fair bit but most of it is only cos of my height. i work out but the progress is quite slow. i stuff myself with fast food and lotsa chocolate but it still doesnt help much. any advíce? the reason why i wanna gain weight is cos of rugby, and because i feel skinny.

logic1

There's a couple of threads on this if you do a search you'll find them.

What's your current training schedule like? What's your weights regime like?

Fast food and chocolate aren't the best weight gainers foods. Do you use supplementation? Protein, creatine, weight gainers?

How many calories do you consume daily? What's your carb, protein, fat ratios?

.logic.

spooiirt!!

i was eatin protein shakes and some weight gain shakes for a few months. i work out about three times a week, i use all the machines at the gym, dunno what theyre called, you know the ones for the legs , arms chest and shoulders. i do two sets of twenty reps with each machine, @ 30 kg. i also do bench press with the same amount. i do a fair bit of running at training, three times a week, cos ive got to be fit aswell. so you think the junk food is bad?

logic1

Yes junk food is bad In your case some burgers and chips won't go astray but not too much chocolate or fizzy drinks even if for dental reasons alone.

Also I'd recommend you drop the amount of reps you're doing. If you're going for muscle mass bring down your reps to 8-10 on each exercise.

If you can do more than 10 reps then increase the weight. You should be physically failing to get a full 10 reps all the time.

Also you seem to need more structure in your training program. Maybe get someone at the gym to do a circuit with you, point out what you need to focus on and what exercises are pointless for you.

Do one warm up set and 3 work sets on every exercise. Obviously as you go along and become more comfortable with your body and muscle growth you'll work out what exercises you need more or less sets on but one warmup and 3 work sets is a pretty good starting point.

If you're doing a 3 day split something like the following may be good:

Monday: Chest, back
Wednesday: Legs
Friday: Shoulders, biceps, triceps

Also keep a training diary and write down your progress either on a session by session basis or a weekly basis. Very important to show you where you're progressing or hitting plateaus.

In your case I wouldn't bother too much with protein shakes, eat plenty of meat, chicken and fish but I would recommend a weight gainers supplement.

Check out www.tmof.com for good weight gainers.

http://www.theministryoffitness.com/mof/products/shop/weightgain.htm

.logic.

spooiirt!!

the workout timetable sounds good. so you mean less reps and more weight? also my back is bad , which limits how long i can actually work out. i do swim movements when lying on my stomach to help my back, do you know anything else i could do for my back.
cheers by the way!

logic1

Originally posted by spooiirt!!
the workout timetable sounds good. so you mean less reps and more weight? also my back is bad , which limits how long i can actually work out. i do swim movements when lying on my stomach to help my back, do you know anything else i could do for my back.
cheers by the way!

Yeah for size you need less reps and more weight. 20 reps would be a warmup weight, work sets you want to keep between 8 and 10 reps.

I go as low as 4 reps on some exercises after that it becomes more a powerlifting movement.

Have you a bad back due to injury or is it just muscle weakness?

For muscle weakness things like deadlifts, stiff legged deadlifts, hyperextensions will really help build up your lower back and core stability.

.logic.

spooiirt!!

ive had a bad back cos of lack of muscle in my back. ( i think so anyway). ive started using larger weights and on the second set i ahave trouble making 10 reps. ive increased the weight to 40 kgs.
( thats for bench press etc) for my biceps i lift 15 kilos with each arm. i think im starting to feel a bit of an improvement with the heavier weights.