Skinny and trying to get some muscle?
Alright so im 17 years old and ive been skinny/scrawny forever and really untill this year it didnt really bother me. so since summers coming up i would like to get a little bit of a beach bod going. nothing drastic im literally just looking for a change i can see. so does anyone have any advice for me , workouts or know how long it would take for a skinny fellow like me to gain some muscle. Any advice much appreciated
peace
First, be glad that you are at least skinny even if you don’t have the body you want yet. Any muscle you get is going to show and youll look significantly better within 2-4 months of lifting weights. To lift weights youll need to either invest in a gym membership or use your high school’s weight room if you guys have one.
I could make a really specific workout plan for you, but there is so many good ways to workout that I think ill just put out the basics and let you figure out what you like best and make your own routine.
Your body technically only does the actual muscle building while recovering so don’t overdo your workouts. 3 or 4 times a week will be enough to build muscle, keep the workouts simple and short and let yourself rest the other days. Lots of sleep too! You might think you need to workout all the time so you feel like you are doing something to your body, but if you lift too much your body won’t change a bit because you arn’t letting it recover.
You can basically break down the body into 3 major muscle groups. You can throw in some isolation exercises (calf raises, curls, abs) if you want but you can really cover the entire body with 3-4 exercises.
There is a push muscle group. pecs, triceps, front delt.
The pull muscle group. lats, rear delt, biceps.
Last there is the legs group. calves, hams, quads, gluts, and also often uses the core muscles for stabalization
Ok so when picking exercises keep these things in mind.
If an exercise uses more weight it is either a smaller range of motion, or uses more muscle. If you are using more muscles at once you are building muscle more effieciently, and probably hitting more muscles in general than if you just did a bunch of isolations.
THE EXERCISES
First off try not to use machines. They tend to do part of the work for you because you don’t need to stabalize or guide your motion. Stuff like calf raises are fine because the stabalization helps you lift a significant amount more weight.
Push: Benchpress and dips are amazing. You can add weight to dips with a dipbelt. Tricep extensions do good isolation on the triceps. Chestpress is ok too except for it usually uses a machine but some of the machines have a very natural motion to them, and you can use that some if you want. It is very similar to benching but easier for begginers.
Pull: Chinups are pretty much all you need to do. You can also add weight with the dipbelt for chins. Lat pull downs are pretty much the same at chins. Seated rows, Bent-over rows are also great pulling exercises. You can isolate the biceps with curls. curls helps increase forearm strength if you switch up between different types of curls (overhand, underhand, hammer curls). This also prevents wrist pain.
Legs: Deadlift. Deadlift also does a tremendous amount for the core, lower back, delts, and shoulders. If you can find a trapbar, or hex bar, you are set for life. Trapbar deadlift does amazing things for you. Squats are really great too. Try box squats, and full squats. Different ranges of motion on squats will work certain muscles more than others (true with most exercises really). Calf raises are pretty neat too, just keep your knees and hips still and do a full range of motion.
For abs do weighted decline situps or anything with weight really. There is about a million ab exercises out there, just pick something that challenges your strength.
Ok you can split pull push and legs up and do one per day of the week you workout or do them all every day, or do somethign like 2 mixed upper body days and 1 lower (that’s what i do anyways). Any way is pretty effective. For beggining i recommend doing all of them each day so you learn the motions faster. Do sets of 5-12 reps 1-4 times for each exercise or until you are tired and that will be a good workout. You can also do high rep once you start to improve your strength a bit. It really doesnt matter as long as you work your muscles hard and challenge yourself with higher weights and more reps.
Eat a lot of food, and drink a lot of milk. You need it to grow muscle, especially protein. Then get your sleep.
email is jogogoman@hotmail.com if you have questions. There is a lot of information on how to do these lifts if you just google.
February 19th, 2010 at 9:01 am
Well…you could go to a work out room in your school or a local one to work out!!! Lifting weights and stretching exercises would be my choice!!!
References :
February 19th, 2010 at 9:15 am
You just have to make sure that you are taking in more calories than you are burning (with a lot of protein) and do some weight training and within a couple months there should be a visible different.
(when you work out, having a protein shake an hour before you go to bed is quite good too)
References :
February 19th, 2010 at 9:49 am
Try doing muscle strengthening exercises.
All of these exercises work really well
http://www.youtube.com/user/sparkpeople
Try eating more protein and carbs to help you gain a little weight
References :
February 19th, 2010 at 10:38 am
I work out everyday and try to get as skinny as I possibly can… so first off, your lucky! and some advice to develope muscle is to go to a gym or wherever you can find wieghts and begin light…. then everyday…. increase the weight by 5-10 pounds depending on your current strength.. and also run!!! it is one of the greatest things you can do to keep healthy!! also, classic exercise works as well, sit ups, push ups, and lunges are the greatest. work hard and reap the benefits!!
References :
February 19th, 2010 at 11:05 am
First, be glad that you are at least skinny even if you don’t have the body you want yet. Any muscle you get is going to show and youll look significantly better within 2-4 months of lifting weights. To lift weights youll need to either invest in a gym membership or use your high school’s weight room if you guys have one.
I could make a really specific workout plan for you, but there is so many good ways to workout that I think ill just put out the basics and let you figure out what you like best and make your own routine.
Your body technically only does the actual muscle building while recovering so don’t overdo your workouts. 3 or 4 times a week will be enough to build muscle, keep the workouts simple and short and let yourself rest the other days. Lots of sleep too! You might think you need to workout all the time so you feel like you are doing something to your body, but if you lift too much your body won’t change a bit because you arn’t letting it recover.
You can basically break down the body into 3 major muscle groups. You can throw in some isolation exercises (calf raises, curls, abs) if you want but you can really cover the entire body with 3-4 exercises.
There is a push muscle group. pecs, triceps, front delt.
The pull muscle group. lats, rear delt, biceps.
Last there is the legs group. calves, hams, quads, gluts, and also often uses the core muscles for stabalization
Ok so when picking exercises keep these things in mind.
If an exercise uses more weight it is either a smaller range of motion, or uses more muscle. If you are using more muscles at once you are building muscle more effieciently, and probably hitting more muscles in general than if you just did a bunch of isolations.
THE EXERCISES
First off try not to use machines. They tend to do part of the work for you because you don’t need to stabalize or guide your motion. Stuff like calf raises are fine because the stabalization helps you lift a significant amount more weight.
Push: Benchpress and dips are amazing. You can add weight to dips with a dipbelt. Tricep extensions do good isolation on the triceps. Chestpress is ok too except for it usually uses a machine but some of the machines have a very natural motion to them, and you can use that some if you want. It is very similar to benching but easier for begginers.
Pull: Chinups are pretty much all you need to do. You can also add weight with the dipbelt for chins. Lat pull downs are pretty much the same at chins. Seated rows, Bent-over rows are also great pulling exercises. You can isolate the biceps with curls. curls helps increase forearm strength if you switch up between different types of curls (overhand, underhand, hammer curls). This also prevents wrist pain.
Legs: Deadlift. Deadlift also does a tremendous amount for the core, lower back, delts, and shoulders. If you can find a trapbar, or hex bar, you are set for life. Trapbar deadlift does amazing things for you. Squats are really great too. Try box squats, and full squats. Different ranges of motion on squats will work certain muscles more than others (true with most exercises really). Calf raises are pretty neat too, just keep your knees and hips still and do a full range of motion.
For abs do weighted decline situps or anything with weight really. There is about a million ab exercises out there, just pick something that challenges your strength.
Ok you can split pull push and legs up and do one per day of the week you workout or do them all every day, or do somethign like 2 mixed upper body days and 1 lower (that’s what i do anyways). Any way is pretty effective. For beggining i recommend doing all of them each day so you learn the motions faster. Do sets of 5-12 reps 1-4 times for each exercise or until you are tired and that will be a good workout. You can also do high rep once you start to improve your strength a bit. It really doesnt matter as long as you work your muscles hard and challenge yourself with higher weights and more reps.
Eat a lot of food, and drink a lot of milk. You need it to grow muscle, especially protein. Then get your sleep.
email is jogogoman@hotmail.com if you have questions. There is a lot of information on how to do these lifts if you just google.
References :