Start lifting now or later?

jothee

okay so i'm a pretty skinny dude, and i'm finally tired or it and have decided to gain weight. I'm 6ft and 10 1/2 stone. now i'm fairly fit and do alot of walking, activity etc. As of a few days ago i've started eating more, not skipping meals. I'm trying to have about 5/6 meals a day.

i'm not looking to become a bodybuilder or anything but i'd certainly like to add a few inches to my chest and arms, which are both really skinny.

should i start lifting weights immediately or should i wait till i've gained a bit more weight first? my fear is that by lifting now i could end up burning off what little bit i'm gaining.

any advice?

g'em

you can start lifting now. with a physique like that you'll need to lift very heavy to put on weight. keep eating 5-6 meals a day, and you'll probably need to start taking a protein supplement to help you on your way. Protein is absoutley essential to increase musclke mass. sedentary or unactive people normally need 0.4-0.5g protein per lb of body mass, very active people need 0.6-0.7g protein/lb and strength trainers and those doing a lot of resistance training need 0.9-1.5g protein/lb, which in your case is about 155-170g protein a day, which is very hard to get through good diet alone.

if you can try and talk to a good gym trainer or very experienced lifter who can show you the ropes and advise you on diet there's a whole heap of sites out there, but a pretty good one is www.bodybuilding.com -it'd take a year or six to read all the articles but its a nice place to start. a good combo of diet and lifting will help you gain mass, but you'll haev to stick to it pretty well.

hope that's a help!

0utshined

Definitely start now. Milk, 20 rep squats and compound exercises and you'llbe right as rain.

Mickk

Yea I'd say start lifting now. It is a good point you make about lifting now could be burning off the little you are gaining, the way to counteract that it to have a good high carb energy drink in your system while you are lifting. That way when your body needs energy it wont take it from stored muscle or fat it will have it in your stomach.

Lucozade sport or gatorade are good and have about 30g of simple carbs per drink. I sell (the supplement store, camden st) a powder called ultra fuel which is designed for working out which works out at 100g of carbs per drink.

The other thing is to take adequate rest between sets, if you are in the gym to build muscle lift heavy and take proper rest, its not a cardio workout...
2-4 minutes between sets will do you no harm.
Good luck

dudara

How old are you? The reason I ask, is that the advice offered will matter if you're under 18ish.

jothee

thanks for the advice everyone. i'm 22.

also i've been looking through the argos catalogue. they have a supplement called York Weight Gain. i'm thinking of picking it up. does anyone have any experience with this? does it really work/worth getting??

Mickk

York are generally very cheap but not very good quality. Maximuscle are in argos aswell and are much better quality but are very expensive especially for the size you get. I use prolab nlarge, 6lb is 50euro.

scuba steve

how long would that 6lb last for roughly?

g'em

scuba steve wrote:

how long would that 6lb last for roughly?

totally depends how much you're taking. my 2lb of whey protein is medium quality, i take 50-80g a day depending on my workout routine, it lasts me 4-5 weeks. but a heavy lifter would take more, so 6lb (at a guesstimate) would last about 2mths. tbh, you're better off getting a better quality protein, they're cost more $$$ but better in the long run. have heard great things about maximuscle products, and prolab too.

Mickk

A good quality protein usually wont pack on the same amount of muscle on an ectomorph (hardgainer, fast metabolism). Good quality protein is roughly the same price, 5lb of Prolab Pure Whey costs 47euro.