How?

not14talk

Hi, I am trying to build a bit of muscle to become toned.

Im 5'9, 19 years old, about 135 pounds and a body fat of 9%.

Now I play football(soccer) with my club and I am training twice a week and a match once a week.

Some people have told me that I must gain weight to get any type of muscle on me is this true?

When I am at college I would go to the gym twice a week. I started out on the using the machines but I find them useless iv only started on the free hand weights!

I would normally do 3 sets of 12 reps. Is that right what I am doing?

What im asking is what do I need to do build up muscle?

amazingemmet

aim to gain about 50-60 lbs before you consider toning as you'll just look anerexic otherwise

t-ha

Try something like this training programme. The most important things are to constantly progress in your training, which is why it's good to start with a pre-written programme, and to eat enough to grow. Information on diet is written in the stickies at the top of the forum.

What amazingemmet was warning you against was trying to get ripped straight-away. Your diet when you are gaining is pretty much the opposite of that when you're dieting, i.e. you should eat a couple of hundred calories more than you need each day, so obsessing on bodyfat will hold you back (not saying you do, but if you do - don't ).

davyjose

And remember your bodyfat is fairly low as it is, so don't worry about putting on weight: If you work hard much of that weight will be muscle, so any extra fat won't really be apparent.

rubadub

amazingemmet wrote:

aim to gain about 50-60 lbs before you consider toning as you'll just look anerexic otherwise

I dont know if you were exagerrating but that would mean he would be 185lb, at 5'9'' thats a bmi of 27.3, none of which is really additional lean mass.

I wouldnt say he needs that much, and is there really a need to gain it before he starts "toning"? surely just eat lots now and start weight training right away.

justsomebloke

rubadub wrote:

I dont know if you were exagerrating but that would mean he would be 185lb, at 5'9'' thats a bmi of 27.3, none of which is really additional lean mass.

I wouldnt say he needs that much, and is there really a need to gain it before he starts "toning"? surely just eat lots now and start weight training right away.

BMI isn't a great indicator of anything unless you don't have much muscle mass, once you have a decent amount of muscle mass the BMI results are pretty scewed so it's results should be taken with a grain of salt. Also what he is suggesting is that the OP try and gain as much muscle as possible so he probably be hoping that at least 75% of the weight gain would be lean muscle mass. Now 60lbs maybe a bit overkill but 40lbs should be a more realistic figure giving him at post bulk finish of 175lb which when cut would be down to probably 160-165lbs. (this is going for a light figure I am only 5'10 and currently 196lbs and want to gain another 8-9lbs before cutting and i wouldn't say i am big)

Dragan

Bulking.

I now officially hate that word. Why? Becauses it's total rubbish. You don't need to add huge ammounts of adipose to add muscle. Think about it. If your eating calories and adding lean mass, but also adding some fat….then what does that mean? It's means your eating too freaking much.

I would hope that 2007 will be the year that the myth of the bulk gets destroyed. Eat for the day that’s in it. If your adding fat then your eating too much. Have some self control and enjoy the days you lift. Eat clean as much as you can. Lift hard and be happy.

justsomebloke

I agree with this^^, although you should be eating big it should be as clean as possibe and if you notice that you are putting on fat re-evaluate your diet and cut down a bit

rubadub

jsb wrote:

BMI isn't a great indicator of anything unless you don't have much muscle mass, once you have a decent amount of muscle mass the BMI results are pretty scewed so it's results should be taken with a grain of salt.

I totally agree, thats why I added in the bit at the end saying "none of which is really additional lean mass". The guy currently has a low BMI and low BF and doesnt appear to have much weight training done in the past.

Then it was said "aim to gain about 50-60 lbs before you consider toning "

I read that as meaning gain it before doing proper weight training, maybe I picked it up totally wrong. If it did mean before any weight training then the added weight would be just fat and the BMI would be a good indicator.

Maybe "toning" was meant to mean "ripped" or "cutting" in which case it does not infer that no training is done in between. "toning" is a term which is thrown around a lot with no real accepted meaning, and lots of misunderstanding.

Anyways, I read the post Dragan usually links to about eating on the on days and have been doing it for the last month or so. I enjoy it, I have gotten stronger and dropped about 4-5lb too, have to check my BF again soon, beer belly is almost gone. I find it easier having low calorie days knowing that the next day I will be gorging again. I have 1/2 a cow in the fridge waiting to be eaten for dinner!

Dragan

rubadub wrote:

Anyways, I read the post Dragan usually links to about eating on the on days and have been doing it for the last month or so. I enjoy it, I have gotten stronger and dropped about 4-5lb too, have to check my BF again soon, beer belly is almost gone. I find it easier having low calorie days knowing that the next day I will be gorging again. I have 1/2 a cow in the fridge waiting to be eaten for dinner!

Thats the joy of it you see, when you lift you get rewarded, on non lifting days you keep the calories down because you don't really need them. You only need to be strict for that one day, because the next day you can eat spag bol for your post workout meal!!!

justsomebloke

ye that is why we all hate the word "toned", in the context emmet meant it was that he would put on 50-60lbs of mass most most of which would be muscle and then lean out or cut to get the "toned" or ripped look as oppose to putting on around 5 stone of fat and then start weight training, then again some people will still think that once he has gain that 5 stone of fat that he will easily be able to convert that fat into muscle:rolleyes: