Putting on weight and building muscle HELP!

Cafcjgreen

Hello everyone.

I am looking for advice on how to healthily put on weight and build muscle especially on my upper body and arms. I find it hard to put on weight although this may be because I do not eat enough of the right foods but I feel it is time to improve my weight and muscles as I am quite low on confidence and am always worrying that people think I'm too skinny and that people are basically taking the piss out of how I look(Lanky and thin).... also i have a two week lads holiday in Greece, booked for July and i am seriously worrying about taking my top off the way I currently look.

Any help you can give in regards to improving my diet and to help me build up my muscles will be greatly appreciated because I have basically no idea.

I know going to the gym will probably have to happen but the thought of going there when I am feeling like this about my body scares me to be honest.

Personal Info:
Gender - Male
Age - 18
Height - 6 foot 2
Weight - 10 stone 2

Thanks in advance

WeeBushy

Eat more than your maintenance and lift heavy.

Read the stickies about nutrition, you'll find everything you need about what foods to eat, how much etc. in there. Come back with more questions on your diet after reading those if you have any. Your diet is very important, more so than weights.

If you want to get bigger then lifting weights is the best thing to compliment your diet. Focus on the main lifts like squat, deadlift, bench, barbell row, overhead press. Don't be nervous about going to the gym. Even Arnie had to start somewhere. People are there to work out, not look at other people and judge.

Owen_S

Lift heavy and take a multi

Cafcjgreen

I've had a look around and I now see what kind of foods I should be eating and how much, I have 1 more question though... should I start exercising as soon as I start my food plan or should I put on abit of weight before starting going to the gym?

Nervous Wreck

Cafcjgreen wrote: »

I've had a look around and I now see what kind of foods I should be eating and how much, I have 1 more question though... should I start exercising as soon as I start my food plan or should I put on abit of weight before starting going to the gym?

Start the whole shebang tomorrow and repeat.

LuckyLloyd

Anyone just saying it won't convince you of it, but please, please believe me when I say that you shouldn't be embarrassed going to the gym to lift weights (or any exercise for that matter). Most people in the gym are too busy worrying about their own workout to pay attention to what is going on around them. And if anyone was genuinely looking down on an 18 year old in there working hard then that's their problem to be perfectly honest.

There is a great beginner weight lifting program out there called "Starting Strength". Genuinely a brilliant place to start. But remember that you can always begin to build your confidence a little by doing bodyweight squats, pushups and stretching exercises at home. There are a million instructional videos on youtube for any exercise you know the name of.

Eat loads of good food and start weight training as soon as possible and you'll be amazed the difference you can make between now and July. Good luck!

paulig

Ignore all other advice. If you want FAST gains, find the "Starting Strenght" program and do that. When your gains start to plateau, good the GOMAD diet and do that. At your age you'll easily pack on 2 or 3 stone of muscle in the next 6 months if you stick to this.

rolexeagle1

LuckyLloyd is right, start piling those good foods into ya. Good multi vitamin.

EAT EAT EAT, even when ur not hungry, its key for skinny dudes to get the weight on TRUST ME I did it and still have to to keep the weight on. If you need to get the extra protein in grab a shake or 2 a day, dont go overboard on supps though stick to as much good quality food as you can.

WeeBushy

paulig wrote: »

Ignore all other advice. If you want FAST gains, find the "Starting Strenght" program and do that. When your gains start to plateau, good the GOMAD diet and do that. At your age you'll easily pack on 2 or 3 stone of muscle in the next 6 months if you stick to this.

He will not gain 1.5kg of muscle per week. That's ludicrous.

paulig

WeeBushy wrote: »

He will not gain 1.5kg of muscle per week. That's ludicrous.

When I first discovered Starting Strenght (at the age of 25, he's 18) I went from 8 1/2 stone to 11 stone in under 6 months. And to be honest I wasn't even THAT strict with my diet. Went from squatting 40 kgs to 110, benching 40 to 80. A skinny guy who hasn't trained (properly) before will make insane gains on that program. He does the program he'll make the gains, most of the advice here is the same crappy advice that had me looking like a cancer patient for most of my adult life "just eat enough and lift weights and you'll put on weight". No you won't. Do SS, then do GOMAD.

Owen_S

paulig wrote: »

When I first discovered Starting Strenght (at the age of 25, he's 18) I went from 8 1/2 stone to 11 stone in under 6 months. And to be honest I wasn't even THAT strict with my diet. Went from squatting 40 kgs to 110, benching 40 to 80. A skinny guy who hasn't trained (properly) before will make insane gains on that program. He does the program he'll make the gains, most of the advice here is the same crappy advice that had me looking like a cancer patient for most of my adult life "just eat enough and lift weights and you'll put on weight". No you won't. Do SS, then do GOMAD.

OP clearly states muscle, not muscle and fat, GOMAD is excessive. From what I've seen here there are plenty of reputable members giving out good advice, don't blame others for your own mistakes.

paulig

Owen_S wrote: »

OP clearly states muscle, not muscle and fat, GOMAD is excessive. From what I've seen here there are plenty of reputable members giving out good advice, don't blame others for your own mistakes.

6'2 and 10 stone he's clearly skinny as hell. GOMAD will not make him fat. At 70kgs I was squatting 110kgs for 3x5 reps. I'd obviously not been putting on fat. I'm by no means arguing that GOMAD is a long term solution or even remotely suitable for most people, it isn't, its a nightmare and in my experience is unsustainable for longer than a month. If you want to put on a stone of muscle in a month though and see all of your lifts go through the ****ing roof, there is no better solution bar possibly taking steroids.

Most of the advice given out here is just fine for the average individual. Eat a lot and lift a lot will work for most people. It will not work for somebody who is drasically underweight like I used to be, or like this guy is.

Its his choice what he wants to do, but basically I'm giving him the golden ticket here, up to him if he wants to listen.

ray jay

Starting Strength and GOMAD are specifically tailored for teenagers, the OP will do fine if he employs them.

Owen_S

paulig wrote: »

6'2 and 10 stone he's clearly skinny as hell. GOMAD will not make him fat. At 70kgs I was squatting 110kgs for 3x5 reps. I'd obviously not been putting on fat. I'm by no means arguing that GOMAD is a long term solution or even remotely suitable for most people, it isn't, its a nightmare and in my experience is unsustainable for longer than a month. If you want to put on a stone of muscle in a month though and see all of your lifts go through the ****ing roof, there is no better solution bar possibly taking steroids.

Most of the advice given out here is just fine for the average individual. Eat a lot and lift a lot will work for most people. It will not work for somebody who is drasically underweight like I used to be, or like this guy is.

Its his choice what he wants to do, but basically I'm giving him the golden ticket here, up to him if he wants to listen.

I've encountered GOMAD advocates such as yourself many times on other forums, I know that debating is useless. OP can do GOMAD if he wants, or just eat a consistently high calorie diet from now on(you did GOMAD, I just began to eat 4,500+ calories a day when I was skinny and ended up being 50% heavier more after 18 months).
If he does choose GOMAD, he should probably try 2L for a couple of days first, since going from eating like a rabbit to full GOMAD will probably cause some problems.

Anyway, from what I hear, the lads here much prefer YOCAD :pac:

Cafcjgreen

After googling GOMAD and drinking a gallon of milk isn't exactly appealing to me haha. I would rather go down the healthier route even if it does take longer, the aim of me doing this isn't to become some ultra muscly guy I just want a better body if that makes sense.

Can someone check this diet plan I found online for me and tell me if this is the right sort of thing I should be eating?

http://www.menshealth.com/nutrition/how-gain-weight

Thanks for the advice.

nellocono

That plan isn't too bad as it advocates for three main meals and three snacks which is a good thing. 6 times a day eatings is neccesarry to force your body to gain...

Only thing I would change is I would substitute the post workout snack to a supplement. Try looking for a weight gainer shake online (ON Serious Mass) and take this. It will give you additional easy calories and have the protein and carbs needed after the gym for your body to recover.

Also, drink plenty of milk, eat lots of cheese and loads of nuts, peanut butter; Take a multi vitamin and lift hard and heavy 3 times a week.

Good luck

ray jay

Take a look at the second and third videos here.

Mellor

paulig wrote: »

When I first discovered Starting Strenght (at the age of 25, he's 18) I went from 8 1/2 stone to 11 stone in under 6 months. .

2 1/2 stone (16kg or so) in 6 months is good going well done.
And I agree that SS is tailor made for guys like him. GOMAD would work too, but so would eating that many calories from whole food. I'd personally rather 2400 caloes from steak, peanut butter, good carbs etc.
But what ever suits is best imo

paulig wrote:

6'2 and 10 stone he's clearly skinny as hell. GOMAD will not make him fat. At 70kgs I was squatting 110kgs for 3x5 reps. I'd obviously not been putting on fat.

Why were you obviously not putting on fat? Did you get meaured?
I'd say that putting on 16kg you definitely put on some fat. You started at 54kg, so obviously very silly. Adding any muscle would of made you look better, even if you added fat along with it.

Cafcjgreen

I plan on starting this whole thing tomorrow as it is also pay day so its perfect timing, if I was to go into the gym and ask them to suggest a workout and extra diet tips to help me put on weight and muscle should they be able to do this? As I am still pretty clueless.

ray jay

Have you looked up Starting Strength yet? It's a simple program, there's not a whole lot of room to be clueless.

LuckyLloyd

Click me and then click some more!!

Barry.Oglesby

I know it's cool to slag off Rippitoe now but Starting Strength is easily the best beginner lifting book I've ever read. I've loaned that out so many times and I've always got it back because the guy has bought his own copy. Usually I lend books with an understanding they'll never be seen again.