I need help in the gym...........

simono

I am 21, I weigh about 160 pounds and I am about 6ft 1 . Im basically tall and skinny. I need information on how to build up, what to do in the gym, when to do it and if I should take supplements or not.

chadmustang

Squat heavy, eat lots, run hills, repeat

TheSegal

Hi,

First of all, post up your typical days diet, absolutly everything from the smallest glass of milk to the biggest steak. Also post up your daily activities such as do you play soccer a few times a week or do you sit down in an office job all day followed by more sitting down at home?

To answer your question of what to do in the gym, google either starting strength or stronglifts 5x5. These are both great programs so its up to you to determine which one you want to use. I'm using stronglifts and I find it great, was very tiring at the start due to the sheer volume of work but you get used to that fairly quickly.

As for supplements, the only one I advise is a good multi vitamin. The instructors in your gym might tell you to buy protein and loads of other stuff but to be honest with you a healthy well balanced diet with plenty of protein sources such as oily fish, chicken and good quality red meat.

More people such as B-Builder will probably reply to this later and be more indepth then mine but hopefully this will help you a bit.

simono

TheSegal wrote: »

Hi,

First of all, post up your typical days diet, absolutly everything from the smallest glass of milk to the biggest steak. Also post up your daily activities such as do you play soccer a few times a week or do you sit down in an office job all day followed by more sitting down at home?

To answer your question of what to do in the gym, google either starting strength or stronglifts 5x5. These are both great programs so its up to you to determine which one you want to use. I'm using stronglifts and I find it great, was very tiring at the start due to the sheer volume of work but you get used to that fairly quickly.

As for supplements, the only one I advise is a good multi vitamin. The instructors in your gym might tell you to buy protein and loads of other stuff but to be honest with you a healthy well balanced diet with plenty of protein sources such as oily fish, chicken and good quality red meat.

More people such as B-Builder will probably reply to this later and be more indepth then mine but hopefully this will help you a bit.

To be honest......I dont eat great......usually have something like beans on toast for breakfast, pasta or chicken for dinner and then just sandwhiches as snacks during the day....so a lot of bread. I dont exercise at all at the moment but I would still consider myself fit. No matter what i eat I put on no weight. Im not overlly skinny at all, i'd just like to build up a bit. Cheers for the feedback

_JOE_

simono wrote: »

To be honest......I dont eat great......usually have something like beans on toast for breakfast, pasta or chicken for dinner and then just sandwhiches as snacks during the day....so a lot of bread. I dont exercise at all at the moment but I would still consider myself fit. No matter what i eat I put on no weight. Im not overlly skinny at all, i'd just like to build up a bit. Cheers for the feedback

So let me get this straight...

1. You are 160lbs @ 6'1 but not overly skinny.

2. You don't eat great but "no matter what I eat i put on no weight."

3. You do no exercise but would consider yourself fit.

A LOT of inconsistencies there...

Sigi

Read Body by Science...and then read it again.

simono

_JOE_ wrote: »

A LOT of inconsistencies there...

Well........160 lbs is an ideal weight for a 6ft 1 man

Yes no matter what I eat I i do not put on weight......i.e I have a fast metabolism

I said I dont exercise at the moment (which suggest I used to exercise) but still am fit.

justshane

First thing you need to do matey is a calorie count for a week. Keep a food diary for a week, take note off everything you consume. You will need to find out each items carbohydrates, fats, and protein. 55% Carb 30% Fat and 15% Protein is what i would recommend to be taken. This the first thing you need to do, then you must calculate how much calories you need in a day. You must calculate your TDEE total daily energy expenditure, to gain weight eat above the amount of calories you burn, do muscle building exercises at the same time do turn it into muscle rather than flab!

cc87

simono wrote: »

Well........160 lbs is an ideal weight for a 6ft 1 man

Yes no matter what I eat I i do not put on weight......i.e I have a fast metabolism

I said I dont exercise at the moment (which suggest I used to exercise) but still am fit.

Im about 5ft 11 and weigh the same as you and i think im still light. 160lbs is far from ideal i would think.

Forget about a fast metabolism.....you are not eating enough simple as.

Get doing weights. The compounds lifts, squats, deads, bench and overhead pressing as well as chins and dips.
Find a good instructor, ask him to show you those lifts and ignore him if he tells you that you should start of on the machine weights.

_JOE_

simono wrote: »

Well........160 lbs is an ideal weight for a 6ft 1 man

Yes no matter what I eat I i do not put on weight......i.e I have a fast metabolism

I said I dont exercise at the moment (which suggest I used to exercise) but still am fit.

No need to be defensive, there were inconsistencies in your posts. If you want any sort of input from the forum, these would need to be teased out.

Well........160 lbs is an ideal weight for a 6ft 1 man

News to me.

Yes no matter what I eat I i do not put on weight......i.e I have a fast metabolism

You just mentioned in your previous post that you don't eat great?

I said I dont exercise at the moment (which suggest I used to exercise) but still am fit.

May I ask how you maintain your fitness levels without training? Was it a long hiatus?

brianthebard

chadmustang wrote: »

Squat heavy, eat lots, run hills, repeat

Why would someone who's underweight run hills? Agree with _Joe_'s posts.

simono

Well Joe......have a look at a BMI calculator......for my weight and my height, I am normal !!

I said i dont eat great in the sense that I dont eat healthy, e.g pizza's and crap like that

Cheers Shane, all useful info

brianthebard

simono wrote: »

Well Joe......have a look at a BMI calculator......for my weight and my height, I am normal !!

You're at the low end of the normal range, bordering on underweight. If you believe you are an ideal weight as stated earlier why do you want to bulk up? If you can't even decide if you are happy with your weight or not then you won't have much success in the gym.

simono

I ment ideal as in normal(if it was ideal I wouldnt be on here).......everybody on here seems more concentrated in catching people out then helping. I think its obvious what I am asking here.....Some people just seem to be making it difficult

ray jay

drink a couple of litres of milk per day. If you don't start gaining weight, drink more. Focus on compound movements like deadlifts and squats and follow a good beginners program like starting strength. There's both a book and a dvd of it which go into the details of how to perform the lifts correctly


that should be enough to get you started

G86

simono wrote: »

I ment ideal as in normal(if it was ideal I wouldnt be on here).......everybody on here seems more concentrated in catching people out then helping. I think its obvious what I am asking here.....Some people just seem to be making it difficult

You've pretty much got your answer in fairness, there's no magic pill that's going to turn you into Arnie overnight To summarise the above - do the compound lifts, look into a program like Starting Strength or Stronglifts, and eat more. If you've never lifted before then you're bound to see newbie gains pretty quickly. I only know this from posts/logs I've seen of people who've followed either of these programs and seen results - and you could easily find that info yourself if you do a search. The problem with most people is they spend to long wondering what to do, instead of just doing something, I've been guilty of it myself. Just sort out your diet, start a decent program, and you'll figure out what works for you as you go along.

Swarlez

G86 wrote: »

You've pretty much got your answer in fairness, there's no magic pill that's going to turn you into Arnie overnight To summarise the above - do the compound lifts, look into a program like Starting Strength or Stronglifts, and eat more. If you've never lifted before then you're bound to see newbie gains pretty quickly. I only know this from posts/logs I've seen of people who've followed either of these programs and seen results - and you could easily find that info yourself if you do a search. The problem with most people is they spend to long wondering what to do, instead of just doing something, I've been guilty of it myself. Just sort out your diet, start a decent program, and you'll figure out what works for you as you go along.

Your not going to get much better advice than that

gavtron

+1 to what Grá said, if you want to put on muscle you need to be eating loads and lifting heavy sh!t...just concentrate on the basic stuff first like getting your diet in order etc. but most importantly just go do SOMETHING!

Oh, and read the stickies and do a search, this has been covered tons of times. If you don't find what you want come back and ask specific questions and the guys here will be more than happy to help you out!

joconnell

I'd be similar in the sense that I'm 6'4, was 11 3/4 stone from about 18-23, about 13.5 stone from 23 - 26 and now I hover between 14.25 - 15 stone. If I don't exercise a fair bit I drop weight or if I do a lot of cardio stuff it burns off the muscle pretty quickly. I've been doing gym stuff since about 23 in an attempt to get a bit bigger and the only thing that really worked is a decent free weights program. I was in total fitness and the iveagh doing largely machine based stuff which was fine but never anything massive in terms of size gains. I switched to a really small gym (pat henrys) and they do pretty simple programs based around free weight exercises and it definitely worked. 8-10 exercises doing 3 sets of heavy weights and very little cardio aside from warm up bits and I put on a fair bit of muscle. Diet wise I still don't eat enough if you're going by the rule of 1 gram of protein for every pound you weigh but I have the following:

Breakfast at home - Cereal or porridge, banana and a yop
Breakfast in work about 11 - two eggs beaten with 2 slices of ham done in microwave on a bagel
Lunch - Sandwich / burrito / Something else with meat in it / can of tuna with pasta
Dinner- two chicken breasts with spuds / big chilli con carne / spaghetti bolognaise / Two steaks with pasta or veg + potatoes

Nothing amazing in terms of advice but it let me put on some decent weight over the course of a few months. A solid weights plan will have you getting used to the strain in about 2 weeks and seeing proper changes after about 6 weeks. Best of luck to you!

chadmustang

I'm 5"8', 185lbs and I consider myself tiny... which I am! 160 is quite small and you said no matter what you eat, have you tried eating more than a couple of sambos and some pasta?

metamorphosis

liverpoolrob wrote: »

Your not going to get much better advice than that

WHAT?!

The advice been given has been pretty solid.

Transform

simono wrote: »

I ment ideal as in normal(if it was ideal I wouldnt be on here).......everybody on here seems more concentrated in catching people out then helping. I think its obvious what I am asking here.....Some people just seem to be making it difficult

It can seem that people are trying to catch you out when you are clinging on to misconceptions and when there is good advice being given.

At the very least read all of this, then read and watch the videos again and then apply with all your might.

Maximum muscle 101 - http://thetransformationcatalyst.wordpress.com/2010/07/28/maximum-muscle-nutrition-101/

Dellboy2007

Transform wrote: »

It can seem that people are trying to catch you out when you are clinging on to misconceptions and when there is good advice being given.

At the very least read all of this, then read and watch the videos again and then apply with all your might.

Maximum muscle 101 - http://thetransformationcatalyst.wordpress.com/2010/07/28/maximum-muscle-nutrition-101/

I was just about to post a link to that then I got to the end and seen I was bet to it by the man himself!!

Definitely read it.

Mellor

justshane wrote: »

First thing you need to do matey is a calorie count for a week. Keep a food diary for a week, take note off everything you consume. You will need to find out each items carbohydrates, fats, and protein. 55% Carb 30% Fat and 15% Protein is what i would recommend to be taken. !

You'd recomend 55% carbs and 15% protein
sorry, but what are you basing this on, as it's way off,
to build muscle the body needs protein, lots of it. 15% isn't close to enough, it should really be 40-50% of you daily calories

TechnoPool

Mellor wrote: »

You'd recomend 55% carbs and 15% protein
sorry, but what are you basing this on, as it's way off,
to build muscle the body needs protein, lots of it. 15% isn't close to enough, it should really be 40-50% of you daily calories

i think he was looking to gain weight no?

Mellor

TechnoPool wrote: »

i think he was looking to gain weight no?

I know, I did say "to build muscle" in my previous post. Did you think he wanted to whack on a load of fat :rolleyes:
Gain weight/bulk up = build muscle = body needs protein

I'm not really sure what your point is

billyhead

Folks,

Just a quick question if trying to gain weight how much protein should you take. I am 6ft and 10.5 stone and obviously would like to put on more weight. Also how how many grams of carbs on average would you need per day to gain weight and roughly how many calories at my stats?

Dellboy2007

You weigh 147 pounds therefore you should try to consume 147 grams of protein. I wouldn't worry about the calorie count too much just try to eat every 2 or 3 hours and get good proteins, good carbs and good fats. You're thin so just aim to get as much good food in to you as possible.

Mellor

Dellboy2007 wrote: »

You weigh 147 pounds therefore you should try to consume 147 grams of protein. I wouldn't worry about the calorie count too much just try to eat every 2 or 3 hours and get good proteins, good carbs and good fats. You're thin so just aim to get as much good food in to you as possible.

That's not true.
147 is just a guide, be would be fine going to 200g or above.
And saying that calories don't matter is wrong. Even if he ate 300g of protein but didn't go over maintenance calories he wouldn't put on any muscle, bar prehaps newbie gains if he has fat to lose.

Brian?

simono wrote: »

Well........160 lbs is an ideal weight for a 6ft 1 man

Really? Find me a picture of a man weighing 160 pounds that looks good.

Squats and milk young man. Squats and milk.

Brian?

billyhead wrote: »

Folks,

Just a quick question if trying to gain weight how much protein should you take. I am 6ft and 10.5 stone and obviously would like to put on more weight. Also how how many grams of carbs on average would you need per day to gain weight and roughly how many calories at my stats?

I wouldn't worry about macros too much if I was you. At your weight you need to horse as many good clean calories as you can into you. Cottage cheese, chicken, tuna, eggs and steak with every meal will take care of protein part.

Dellboy2007

Mellor wrote: »

That's not true.
147 is just a guide, be would be fine going to 200g or above.
And saying that calories don't matter is wrong. Even if he ate 300g of protein but didn't go over maintenance calories he wouldn't put on any muscle, bar prehaps newbie gains if he has fat to lose.

Yes 147 is just a guide. that's why I said you should *try* to consume 147g of protein. No offence to billyhead but at 6ft and 10.5 stone I doubt consuming 200g of protein is within the scope of realism. I didn't say calories don't matter, at his weight he's main concentration is building muscle.

billyhead

Dellboy2007 wrote: »

Yes 147 is just a guide. that's why I said you should *try* to consume 147g of protein. No offence to billyhead but at 6ft and 10.5 stone I doubt consuming 200g of protein is within the scope of realism. I didn't say calories don't matter, at his weight he's main concentration is building muscle.

Thanks for the advice. So the point is to eat as much as I can per day but make sure its clean food and not to worry about the number of carbs, protein grams etc I consume. Obviously trining with weights at the same time.

Dellboy2007

billyhead wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. So the point is to eat as much as I can per day but make sure its clean food and not to worry about the number of carbs, protein grams etc I consume. Obviously trining with weights at the same time.

Exactly! Perfect the compound lifts (squats, deadlift,etc) these will work all your muscles as opposed to doing isolation weights (bicep curls). Check out Transform link on the other page for info on foods to eat. Try one of the 5 x 5 programs (Starting Strength or Strong Man). Don't mess around with the program and don't listen to your buddy when he tells you isolation exercises are better. Try to train 3 times a week if not 2. If you do all this I can promise you will notice a difference every week. As Dominic from Transform says, you should always be aiming to get stronger. Good luck with it and keep the motivation up!

Mellor

Dellboy2007 wrote: »

Yes 147 is just a guide. that's why I said you should *try* to consume 147g of protein. No offence to billyhead but at 6ft and 10.5 stone I doubt consuming 200g of protein is within the scope of realism. I didn't say calories don't matter, at his weight he's main concentration is building muscle.

200g is only 800 calories, I don't see why that's not within the scope of realism. He'll be eating 2-3k calories a day