another noob...where to start? looking to gain muscle not lose lbs

[spaceberry]

Hey, I'm pretty much new to the whole bodybuilding thing. I've occaissionally been known to pick up weights at the gym before and from my experience, I don't find it majorly difficult to gain muscle to begin with...never actually stuck with it long enough to find out long term!

Anyway, I'm looking for a little advice re where to start with working on my goals re diet+exercise...i'm not doing this for weight loss, but I do want to change my body shape. I'm 5'5.5 and weight 132lbs. I think this is a pretty average weight and I'm a pretty average build so do I need to bulk up some to gain much muscle or do I go straight into a low fat high protein type diet?? Also what kind of lifts would you recommend I focus on? compound, isolation or a combination?

If these are stupid questions then my apologies, but I just want to start the best way I can!

Thanks for any feedback :)

[snoozer08]

Hi there :)

Not stupid questions at all! As a noob you can make great gains with a simple training routine based on compound movements. Something like Starting Strength or New Rules of Lifting (the original or For Women version). This thread has a lot of good info in it: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=126128053

As far as nutrition, New Rules of Lifting covers that pretty well. If you go with another training program use the info in this thread http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=121703921 to figure out your maintenance calories and how many grams of protein, fat and carbs you need. You should be able to get the results you want eating at your maintenance level...... assuming you're consistent with your training and keep challenging yourself to increase your reps and/or weights you're using.

Good luck!