Advice on gaining muscle?

[alaliop]

Hi, this is my first post and it's quite a personal one. I'm really not happy with the way my body is currently looking, I wouldn't say I'm fat or skinny but just normal looking and I want to work on improving myself. My main goal is to gain muscle to get more definition into my chest and maybe even aim towards getting abs one day.

I am currently not a very active person but don't tend to gain weight as I have a high metabolism. I'm going to start going to the gym and I need some advice, preferably from guys with a similar body shape to mine who have managed to gain muscle - how did you do it?! The last time I went to the gym was 2 years ago and after not seeing any progress after 2 months I quit, I concluded that I wasn't eating enough to build muscle As I don't have the funds for a personal trainer, I mainly looked on reddit for work out routines and the StrongLifts 5x5 seems to be a good starting point for beginners, any opinions on that?

I know that this forum isn't for personal training and stuff like that but so many of you guys have amazing, hot bodies and I'm just in awe and wish to work on myself to look like that one day.

For background info: I'm 21, Weight: 68kg (149lbs), Height: 6ft1 (185cm)

Any advice will be appreciated

 

[Dru_Bear]

Get into an exercise program doing all of the barbell and dumb bell lifts and use whey protein as a supplement twice a day. You’ll see results if you really put the work in.

 

[51arledge]

StrongLifts5x5 is a fine program.
But you won't gain unless:
* You are lifting to failure on each lift at least once per week.
* You are eating enough to build muscle. The recommendation that worked for me and many others is to eat at least one gram of protein every day for each pound of lean body weight you see as your goal.

I had a similar build to yours until I was almost 50! The high metabolic rate can be a challenge. In order to get the protein intake I needed, I was for over a year waking up in the middle of the night to down yet another whey protein shake. I worked! I also ate a large midmorning snack, another mid-afternoon and another at bedtime. I consistently ate between 3500-4000 calories per day.

Consistency is also key. I have done at least 3 workouts per week for over 20 years now in addition to yoga once or twice per week, AND I've had a very active dog in my life most of that time.
If you aren't using a personal trainer, try to find a workout buddy. I had one for 14 years; because I needed to show up for him (and vice versa) it had to be a very good excuse to miss a workout. If you don't know anyone o be your buddy, ditch the ear buds and start talking to people at the gym: you will make nw fiends and one of them will be your new gym buddy!

 

[WilliamG]

The last time I went to the gym was 2 years ago and after not seeing any progress after 2 months I quit, I concluded that I wasn't eating enough to build muscle

Your body type will serve you well in the later years. So many in your age group are morbidly obese. Google Ectomorph as you appear to have the characteristics.

 

[Korindie]

I used to be a personal trainer, from my experience, most people who say they have a fast metabolism actually don’t. Only about 5% of people have a faster than average metabolism, buuuuut, if you truly do, then you need to eat even more than the average person. I was skinny too and hired a personal trainer when I was younger. I was shocked when he told me how much I needed to eat, I actually started staying up late because I would find myself 500-1000 calories shy from what he told me I needed (not that that is a good thing, losing sleep really inhibits your gains) I told a friend that I didn’t think it was in my genetics to have big arms. Now my area are 18’s, 19’s when I was at my biggest. I literally thought it was impossible for me. What changed??? I’ll tell you the MOST important things for building muscle.
1. Protein, get about 1 gram per pound, or 2.2 gram per/kg.
2. sleep!!! Get a minimum of 6 hours, ideally 8 hours.
3. Total calories, if you don’t get enough total calories, you can kiss your gains goodbye.
4. Progressive overload, progressive overload, progressive overload. In my younger days of working out, I thought that high reps low weight = cutting and low reps, high weight equaled strength. Boy was I wrong, there are several peer reviewed studies that show virtually no difference between high reps and low reps. What they have noticed is how hard people pushed themselves. What is most important is pushing until you are at failure or near failure (maybe 1 rep left in the tank) progressive overload can be explained in 3 ways:
A. More weight
B. Same weight and more sets
Came weight and more reps
5. A lot of people don’t take enough treat. If I deadlift 500 lbs. I’m not going to attempt doing it again in 30-60 sec. I’m taking several min. In a study that compared 1,2,3 min rest periods, the people who took 3 min rest periods showed greater muscle gain. The reason is you can push harder when you’re fully recovered as opposed to not fully recovered. There isn’t a magic number of time, the most important thing is that you are fully recovered. If I’m early in th workout, I may take 2 min rest, but if I’m later in the workout I am taking 3-5 min.
6. Consistency. So many people I meet, say they are consistent but aren’t working out more than a few times a week. You really need to be consistent day in and day out with both your workouts and nutrition to see the improvements you want.
people would often ask me which type of clients were the worst to train, elderly, overweight, young kids, athletes, etc. and I’d always tell them skinny guys who wanted to gain muscle, because they all would tell me “I eat so much!” “ I workout so hard” etc etc, but then after I started tracking it, I get were averaging low calories with 1-2 days where they gorged and they remember that thinking they ate a lot, or when I started looking at their workouts, they were working out sporadically throughout the week, not pushing themselves, then eating 1200-2000 calories and telling me how much they eat smh

 

[MilfBanger78]

All good advice. Take advantage of your super fast metabolism, and eat your face off! Not saying to eat all junk food, get your quality protein in but dont fret about adding in a little junk food to top off your calories!

Whole milk with your whey shakes is great for packing on muscle, added calories. If you can tolerate lactose. When I was first bulking I would down a half-gallon of whole milk per day. Now a days i really cant handle that much lactose so i buy lactose free milk lol. Dont be afraid of putting on a lil bit of fat with the muscle u gain. Thats what screws a lot of skinny guys up...the minute they see a bit of fat gain on top of the muscle, they freak out and stop. You can always burn the fat off later.

Keep your workouts simple and dont overtrain. Overtraining is a big issue for skinny dudes. Go hard on a few basic lifts, 3-4 days a week, no need to be in the gym more than 45-60 mins tops. I personally always recommend a push-pull-legs split so... Monday- Chest, Shoulders, Triceps... Wed- Back n Bi's....Friday-Legs... Remember you grow when you're resting at home between workouts.

 

[Dam289]

I used to be a personal trainer, from my experience, most people who say they have a fast metabolism actually don’t. Only about 5% of people have a faster than average metabolism, buuuuut, if you truly do, then you need to eat even more than the average person. I was skinny too and hired a personal trainer when I was younger. I was shocked when he told me how much I needed to eat, I actually started staying up late because I would find myself 500-1000 calories shy from what he told me I needed (not that that is a good thing, losing sleep really inhibits your gains) I told a friend that I didn’t think it was in my genetics to have big arms. Now my area are 18’s, 19’s when I was at my biggest. I literally thought it was impossible for me. What changed??? I’ll tell you the MOST important things for building muscle.
1. Protein, get about 1 gram per pound, or 2.2 gram per/kg.
2. sleep!!! Get a minimum of 6 hours, ideally 8 hours.
3. Total calories, if you don’t get enough total calories, you can kiss your gains goodbye.
4. Progressive overload, progressive overload, progressive overload. In my younger days of working out, I thought that high reps low weight = cutting and low reps, high weight equaled strength. Boy was I wrong, there are several peer reviewed studies that show virtually no difference between high reps and low reps. What they have noticed is how hard people pushed themselves. What is most important is pushing until you are at failure or near failure (maybe 1 rep left in the tank) progressive overload can be explained in 3 ways:
A. More weight
B. Same weight and more sets
Came weight and more reps
5. A lot of people don’t take enough treat. If I deadlift 500 lbs. I’m not going to attempt doing it again in 30-60 sec. I’m taking several min. In a study that compared 1,2,3 min rest periods, the people who took 3 min rest periods showed greater muscle gain. The reason is you can push harder when you’re fully recovered as opposed to not fully recovered. There isn’t a magic number of time, the most important thing is that you are fully recovered. If I’m early in th workout, I may take 2 min rest, but if I’m later in the workout I am taking 3-5 min.
6. Consistency. So many people I meet, say they are consistent but aren’t working out more than a few times a week. You really need to be consistent day in and day out with both your workouts and nutrition to see the improvements you want.
people would often ask me which type of clients were the worst to train, elderly, overweight, young kids, athletes, etc. and I’d always tell them skinny guys who wanted to gain muscle, because they all would tell me “I eat so much!” “ I workout so hard” etc etc, but then after I started tracking it, I get were averaging low calories with 1-2 days where they gorged and they remember that thinking they ate a lot, or when I started looking at their workouts, they were working out sporadically throughout the week, not pushing themselves, then eating 1200-2000 calories and telling me how much they eat smh

Korindie has given you all the basics you need from a personal trainer! I’d just add that you need to track your macros. Protein is the key for muscle building And it’s going to feel like a chore to eat your goal numbers. Good luck. Stick with it.

 

[deleted16781121]

I found fitness trainers to be a great resource. You can also talk to your doctor about your goals and they might be able to make some suggestions regarding diet. They'll probably make good suggestions on how to gain muscle mass without stressing your body out too much. I find a lot of doctors have a general fitness routine themselves and are a great place for getting information regarding your health goals. Moving around a lot from city to city I tend to always ask my GP for suggestions when it comes to trainers or fitness programs.

 

[fordonfire]

for me the biggest limitation was eating...going to the gym was the easy part but eating 5 meals a day is exhausting.
i'm trying to gain 15 lbs of muscle in the next few months and i know its not going to be easy

 

[MilfBanger78]

for me the biggest limitation was eating...going to the gym was the easy part but eating 5 meals a day is exhausting.
i'm trying to gain 15 lbs of muscle in the next few months and i know its not going to be easy

It gets super expensive too.

In my personal experience, and through bodybuilder friends of mine..... once u have packed on the muscle though, you dont really need to eat that much to maintain it. But during the initial bulking phase u really gotta pound some calories and protein.

When I was first bulking, I kept a journal (before the internet lol) of everything i ate. I wouldnt go to bed without 300 grams protein. Now if I did that I'd just get fat. I can do 150 grams and be fine

 

[camiloramorim]

for me the biggest limitation was eating...going to the gym was the easy part but eating 5 meals a day is exhausting.
i'm trying to gain 15 lbs of muscle in the next few months and i know its not going to be easy

yes that soo difficult for me

 

[bd7]

there are all kinds of instructional vids on YouTube

 

[londonlad1990]

Fully agree about the whey protein. Add a scoop of creatine to the same shake, helps increase muscle mass

 

[HornyUnicorn]

Physiology studies show that muscle gain will be greatest if you lift weights which will get you to exhaustion after 8 to 12 repetitions (if you can't do 8, lower the weight, and if you can easily do over 12, increase the weight). Do 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps for each muscle group you want to build. Although it's big business and a large source of $$ for some online bodybuilders, lots of studies have been done on various supplements, and no well-designed study has shown efficacy for most supplements (with some exceptions):
Supplements with purported effects on muscle mass and strength - PubMed
"Results: Among the supplements tested, nitrate and caffeine returned sufficient evidence supporting their acute beneficial effects on muscle strength, whereas the long-term consumption of creatine, protein and polyunsaturated fatty acids seems to consistently increase or preserve muscle mass and strength (evidence level A). On the other hand, mixed or unclear evidence was found for several popular supplements including branched-chain amino acids, adenosine triphosphate, citrulline, β-Hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate, minerals, most vitamins, phosphatidic acid or arginine (evidence level B), weak or scarce evidence was found for conjugated linoleic acid, glutamine, resveratrol, tribulus terrestris or ursolic acid (evidence level C), and no evidence was found for other supplements such as ornithine or α-ketoglutarate (evidence D). Of note, although most supplements appear to be safe when consumed at typical doses, some adverse events have been reported for some of them (e.g., caffeine, vitamins, α-ketoglutarate, tribulus terrestris, arginine) after large intakes, and there is insufficient evidence to determine the safety of many frequently used supplements (e.g., ornithine, conjugated linoleic acid, ursolic acid).

Conclusion: In summary, despite their popularity, there is little evidence supporting the use of most supplements, and some of them have been even proven ineffective or potentially associated with adverse effects."
You said that money is tight for you, so I would concentrate more on working out more often, and spending/depending less on supplements. You have a body which could show off muscle very well, and you could become very popular if you put in the time with the weights.

Effect of dietary supplements on lean mass and strength gains with resistance exercise: a meta-analysis | Journal of Applied Physiology
"...In conclusion, two supplements, creatine and HMB, have data supporting their use to augment lean mass and strength gains with resistance training...".

Note that the first study is more recent, and it found HMB ineffective.

 

[ThickerThanASnicker]

Creatine

 

[deleted17707421]

Start slowing by eating more calories than your body needs. You can google and find a calorie calculator that will give you a rough estimate of what your body needs to maintain it’s weight. I would aim for at least a 500 calorie surplus at first and increase as you are able. At the same time hit the gym at least 3x a week. Heavy resistance training leads to muscle hypertrophy so I would aim to use free weights/machines in those days. Just over the summer I went from 106 to 116. (22 years old here) I ate about 2500 calories a day and was on my own exercise plan for 3 days and usually went to exercise classes on at least two other days. I’m definitely not the most knowledgeable but I did just graduate with a degree related to fitness and spent the past few months interning with personal trainers so I might know a few things that could help! good luck with your gains! (Once you start seeing them you won’t be able to stop lol)
Also for supplements.. creatine (helps with hypertrophy) and caffeine (can improve performance) are the only ones I know of that have good research backing them so don’t waste too much time looking for a miracle supplement that will help you gain fast.

 

[Mirrorcle_Boy]

Sorry to revive this thread but I have a question about mass gainers. Is that a good start if you’re looking to build muscle? Also, any recommendations?

 

[MilfBanger78]

Honestly just buy whey for the best price... even mix with choc milk to make ur own bulk shakes....2 of em a day and 2 good meals

 

[MilfBanger78]

Theres a reason creatine has stayed around

 

[SeksyGrug]

Fuck all of that advice.

Do a basic strength circle with 6-12 reps with several sets. Work on athleticism and being able to move your body right. after 3 months slowly test heavy compounds.
If you are to stupid buy a trainer.