A few questions on a few topics

frobisher

At the moment I'm working on a long recording project and I'm spending alot of time just sitting in front of a mixing desk. Thankfully I have a naturally very fast metabolism and even though I've become very inactive I'm still thin. But that bulge on the belly that's coming is doing my head in! The natural six pack I always had has gone the way of the dodo.:eek:

I'm 6', lean and 13 1/2 stone. My plan is to jog three times a week and do some upper body work out (shoulders, chest and arms) on my bench at home. The goal is to get my fitness back, lose the nascent pot belly (thin man and a pot belly is a no-no. I can't let it happen!) and try get my upper body to bulk and tone a little. I'd like to do a 10k run or two and maybe a marathon in the future.
Is it hard for naturally thin people to build muscle? Any pointers on structuring my diet? A little research has made me realise I'm generally eating good quality meals but far, far too many empty carbs in the form of sweets/soft drinks and up to 4 junk meals a week (which I have pretty much cut out along with potatoes/rice with dinner replaced by extra veg). A sound engineer I know says he sits on one of those ball things will mixing and has a dumb bell that he pumps a bit while working. I could do that too, does it sound like a good idea?

Final part (thanks for making it this far!). My son is nearly 14 and 5' 10", medium build (not skinny like me). He really wants to work out and be conciouss of his health and fitnees and wants to hit the weights bench at home. How can I encorage this without him doing any harm? Light weights many reps? He also talks non stop about creatine and supplements. What's the reality behind these?
Cheers,
Frobisher

rubadub

frobisher wrote:

I'm 6', lean and 13 1/2 stone.

That is a BMI of 25.6 which is technically classed as overweight. Of course BMI goes out the window if you lift weights, many body builders would be classed as obese. Do you know your bodyfat level?

Do you do weights? or could your weighing scales be off?
I would do other work other than just upper body. Most will come on telling you to do squats and deadlifts which will trigger growth hormones. They also work the abs well and other muscle groups.

Post your diet and calorie intake if you know it.

t-ha

frobisher wrote:

I'm 6', lean and 13 1/2 stone. My plan is to jog three times a week and do some upper body work out (shoulders, chest and arms) on my bench at home. The goal is to get my fitness back, lose the nascent pot belly (thin man and a pot belly is a no-no. I can't let it happen!) and try get my upper body to bulk and tone a little. I'd like to do a 10k run or two and maybe a marathon in the future.

Firstly, you can't be that skinny at 13.5 stone at 6' so I'm sure some of it is in your head. In general, even from the point of view of fighting the bulge, it's good to work your legs. Exercises like squats and lunges may seem awkward at first, but they really burn calories and high rep squats can reportedly improve marathon performance (though maybe a long distance runner can refute/elaborate on that).

frobisher wrote:

Is it hard for naturally thin people to build muscle? Any pointers on structuring my diet? A little research has made me realise I'm generally eating good quality meals but far, far too many empty carbs in the form of sweets/soft drinks and up to 4 junk meals a week (which I have pretty much cut out along with potatoes/rice with dinner replaced by extra veg). A sound engineer I know says he sits on one of those ball things will mixing and has a dumb bell that he pumps a bit while working. I could do that too, does it sound like a good idea?

The stability ball thing is a little whacky, but if you don't care about that it is supposed to help your posture and keep your lower back from getting weak.

Anyone can build muscle, so long as they eat & train right. There's plenty of info in the stickies, but generally, eat every few hours and plenty of protein. Cutting out the junk is good & soft drinks etc. can definitely go. As for the rice/potatoes, play it by ear but if you find yourself 'dumb' or light-headed in the evenings then maybe add back in a small amount of these.

frobisher wrote:

Final part (thanks for making it this far!). My son is nearly 14 and 5' 10", medium build (not skinny like me). He really wants to work out and be conciouss of his health and fitnees and wants to hit the weights bench at home. How can I encorage this without him doing any harm? Light weights many reps? He also talks non stop about creatine and supplements. What's the reality behind these?
Cheers,
Frobisher

The weights thing would take me too long to answer I'm afraid - basically I think it would be OK as long as he made sure not to make certain mistakes (not eating enough/not balancing out the work among all his muscle groups/trying to go too heavy too often/training too much (3 or 4 x 1hour sessions per week is plenty to start with)/not using proper form). If he (or you) is planning on just benching and curling then I would definitely advise looking up a professionally written programme before starting. Most people who just go-it-alone without looking up how to construct a workout programme properly wind up with at least 1 permanently screwed up joint.

As for the supplements, he's probably been influenced by the current media/popular war against creatine & protein supplements. I've even heard of 14 year olds hiding the stuff under their beds and taking it! All this points to one thing, that the big media panic around these things has made kids believe that these supplements are capable of giving results that, quite frankly, they can't. The labelling on the products probably doesn't help either. :rolleyes:

Creatine is a combination of three amino acids. It has absolutely nothing to do with steroids. It is used by the muscles to create fast energy in sprinting or weight training where fuel is needed fast. Your body produces it naturally, and it is contained naturally in the diet, most notably in tuna, pork and steak - however it is largely destroyed in cooking. The levels of creatine stored in the muscles can be raised alot if you supplement it (or eat raw meat :eek: ). 10 - 15% of people are creatine non-responders, i.e. they will get no benefit from using it for a variety of reasons. The best a good creatine responder can hope to get from it is a little less muscle pain in the days after lifting & maybe a few seconds extra sprinting/lifting ability. It doesn't make you stronger or faster. It definitely doesn't win rugby matches all by itself.

Protein supplements are mostly whey based. Whey is a by-product of cheese manufacture that is high in protein, and the powders are essentially whey with some flavouring. Again, there's no magic here - it's just protein. There's nothing in a whey shake that you can't get from a chicken breast. Bodybuilders use them because, per serving, they're usually cheaper than meat, you don't need to cook them, you can carry them around without them going off etc. It also gets through your system faster than whole foods, which can help if you take it straight after a workout.

Basically what I'm trying to get at is that these supplements give only a slight push in the right direction if you use them right & you've already got everything else (diet/sleep/training) under good control. If your son gets a good diet for building up, that will provide the best results. Again the stickies have alot of info on doing that. If he gets serious about this and genuinely has put in effort & wants to use protein shakes and creatine, then I would have no problem with it myself.

Recommendations for protein intake for a weight-trainer would be about 1g of protein for every pound of lean mass you've got. As for creatine, about 3g a day, after training where possible is fine.