New Year is for gaining weight

Mikros

Hoping people in here can give me some advice. I’m a 21/m planning on starting the gym with the goal of - yes - gaining weight. I’m one of those skinny guys that never put on a pick (130 pounds, 5’11”, v. light build). I’ve read the “can’t gain weight” sticky and took a lot from that. But my question is how to begin:

I’ve lived a pretty sedentary life for the last few years and was wondering should I ease myself into the gym. Probably not the fittest. I was going to work on the cardio with light work with weights for the first month or two to get used to it and then concentrate on building muscle. Or could I start straight away at working at my goal of gaining some muscle mass? I know this isn’t a quick road and I’m prepared to put in the effort required but obviously I don’t want to waste my time running on a treadmill for a month if its not necessary. At the same time I don’t want to ruin myself in the first week. Any suggestions on an initial programme?

Also in terms of diet, I probably will get some protein supplement, but as above, should I wait for a while before I start on it, or go from day 1? And what would be a realistic goal for say 3months/6months in term of gain?

A lot of questions I know. But any bit of advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.:rolleyes:

Cindy Love

Hi

How often are you planning on training and secondly how often are you realistically be training in 6 weeks time when the novelty has worn off?

What are you specific goals? I know you mentioned you want to increase your weight as you feel a little thin but how much weight are you planning to put on?

i have no 'technical or scientific' knowledge of diets but others here will. So i'd suggest writing out what you eat on a typical day-and be honest!

Most important thing is to keep the head up. Get a routine that works for YOU. I made the mistake of doing a routine in the past which with hindsight (knowing what i know now) was ridicolous.

I used to train everyday and do lots and lots of isolation excercises but yet never seem to get anywhere near my goals(ie gaining some mass)

It wasnt until I came on here that some very helpful people helped me out ( respect to easygainer and dregan amongst others) and helped focus a routine.

Id suggest doing a lot of reading on fitness etc (www.bodybuilding.com). Starting off your new routine slowlly and steadily. In terms of excercies for me doing Core strenght excercises only for 3 months has proved really really good. Im only starting to do isolation (curls etc) now.

Im knackered and Im rambling...sorry but its been a long day.

Best of luck!:D

Mikros

How often are you planning on training and secondly how often are you realistically be training in 6 weeks time when the novelty has worn off?

What are you specific goals?

I was planning on getting to the gym Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday. I have every intention of sticking it out. This is something I've been planning for some time but only can afford it now, just unfortunate that its January. I don't blame anyone if they're sceptical. I feel if I have a solid plan with attainable goals it will help me immensely.

In terms of goals? Well I’m not sure what is realistic. As a rough guess…how about 1 stone in 3 months. And after that I could look at it again when I have more experience. Hope that gives some more idea what I’m after.

base2

1 stone in 3 months might be a bit optimistic. One stone in a year maybe. All depends on your diet though and metabolism.

babypink

ditto...1 stone in 3 months is optimistic alright.... Personally I'd start by easing yourself into a routine maybe 3 days for the first couple of weeks, and definitely take protein from the start. Again ease into it - you'll find that as you put on weight you'll take more protein (vicious circle)

Main thing is to find something that you feel comfortable with and don't over push at first...you'll hurt yourself that way.

It took me months to put on anything but once my body decided that it was going to grow...it grew and still is. I found myself getting much stronger before any weight went on.

base2 is quite right...diet and metabolism are massively important. Eat, train smart and have patience

kudos to all in here...they do know their stuff so ask ask ask

SBob

base2 wrote:

1 stone in 3 months might be a bit optimistic. One stone in a year maybe. All depends on your diet though and metabolism.

I dont know, i find it very hard to put on weight and also to keep it on but with a serious increase in diet (rem some guys on this board will tell you they gain easily, which is no surprise if you're taking in 5000 calories a day!!) and a consistant work out you could totally make it to a stone in 3 months, definitely definitely.

Especially if you're just starting out and start using creatine and other supplements. at 5 11 and 130 pounds theres loads of room for improvement, i'd maybe broaded that goal to 1 stone in 6 months and then aim to keep it on and improve as much as possible after that.

Dragan

Okay, i'm use a word i hate, but many people will call you a "hardgainer". Means it hard to gain weight. ( scientific eh? ) The same people will tell you many many things, most likely they will have just pulled them out of there ass before hand, so take all advice with a pinch of salt.

What you need are a lot of calories a day, from good proper sources. Don;t listen to the jackass who tells you that you can each pizza all day for your calories. You need to stick to a 40% protein, 40% carbohydrate and 20% healthy fats.

Eat plenty and often. Eat good foods. I really can't stress this enough. Workout what you need for maintanence, then add about 500 calories a day. If you still can't add weight at a nice rate, bump it up to 750 a day and work from there. I would suggest you don't go near cardio after you start hitting the weights proper, it will only burn more calories which is not really what you are after.

I applaud you on taking the first 4 to 6 weeks easy ( or fairly easy anyway ) you will need to condition your body to new stresses, and it can be very easy to hurt tendons and ligaments. These will need to be sturdy in order to handle the weights that will tax your muscles.

Do squats. Not only are they great for legs, good heavy squats release more Growth Hormone than any other lift. Growth Hormone makes you grow and is your friend.

All in all this post is pretty disjointed, but the jist is there. Sorry about that but i was eating my chicken and brown rice. If you have any more questions just ask and we will be happy to help.

TouchingVirus

Dragan wrote:

Okay, i'm use a word i hate, but many people will call you a "hardgainer". Means it hard to gain weight. ( scientific eh? ) The same people will tell you many many things, most likely they will have just pulled them out of there ass before hand, so take all advice with a pinch of salt.

What you need are a lot of calories a day, from good proper sources. Don;t listen to the jackass who tells you that you can each pizza all day for your calories. You need to stick to a 40% protein, 40% carbohydrate and 20% healthy fats.

Eat plenty and often. Eat good foods. I really can't stress this enough. Workout what you need for maintanence, then add about 500 calories a day. If you still can't add weight at a nice rate, bump it up to 750 a day and work from there. I would suggest you don't go near cardio after you start hitting the weights proper, it will only burn more calories which is not really what you are after.

I applaud you on taking the first 4 to 6 weeks easy ( or fairly easy anyway ) you will need to condition your body to new stresses, and it can be very easy to hurt tendons and ligaments. These will need to be sturdy in order to handle the weights that will tax your muscles.

Do squats. Not only are they great for legs, good heavy squats release more Growth Hormone than any other lift. Growth Hormone makes you grow and is your friend.

All in all this post is pretty disjointed, but the jist is there. Sorry about that but i was eating my chicken and brown rice. If you have any more questions just ask and we will be happy to help.

Dragan's got this one nailed.

Keep your macro-nutrient ratio's good (40-40-20) or better (50-30-20). Eat in slight excess of your daily needs to gain weight. Shy away from intense cardio or else you'll lose body fat and weight

Pump the iron and you'll gain some muscle mass and thats all you really want, who wants to weigh 20 stone and look big when they can look big at 12 stone?...nobody

Dragan

TouchingVirus wrote:

Pump the iron and you'll gain some muscle mass and thats all you really want, who wants to weigh 20 stone and look big when they can look big at 12 stone?...nobody

Exactly, at the moment I'm just over 19stone. Sure i look big, but there is no detail. In about 6 months time i will be about 15 to 16 stone. The detail will be there and i will look a hell of a lot bigger than i do now.

Sometimes i envy "hardgainers".

TouchingVirus

Dragan wrote:

Exactly, at the moment I'm just over 19stone. Sure i look big, but there is no detail. In about 6 months time i will be about 15 to 16 stone. The detail will be there and i will look a hell of a lot bigger than i do now.

Sometimes i envy "hardgainers".

Heh, i'd be the polar opposite to a hardgainer myself

And like you, i'll be more defined in a while with relatively little weight loss...but its how you look and feel about yourself which counts the most (oh, and the body-fat percentage )