17, skinny, weak - Looking to change, but have questions.

[ryzaar]

Hello all!

I've now hit 17, and I'm the only one in my group who isn't madly into sport. Due to this, they are also 5 times the size of me in STRONG body mass! I'm approx 60kg/132lb and im a tiiiiiiiny smidge under 6 foot, with puny little muscles (which look bigger due to my weight!). I was doing a 'Concentrated Bicep Curl' or some excercise similarly listed on this site, and my peak was 3 sets of 12 reps on both arms @ 7.5kg.

As far as equipment goes, I have something like this:
realhomegymreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Powerline_Deluxe_Smith_Machine_Home_Gym_PSM144X_2. jpg
as well as the basic bars and weights. I also have a pulley/rowing thing on my equipment setup.

I have recently ordered a 1kg package of whey protein isolate, and had my first serving today, as well as an order of multivitamins and creatine coming in from this site within the next week or so. I'm hoping to get serious with all this, and i'm crossing my fingers so tightly that I can keep my motivation up. I'm sick of looking puny!

My questions are as follows:

1. For now is it ok to focus mainly on my arms and abs for now? My arms and core strength are quite weak which makes other excercises on my chest, back and legs quite difficult (e.g. pushups kill me!).

2. Is it alright to incorporate a large variety into one session? E.g. one session for arms, shoulders and chest and another session for legs, back and abs - and then do two of each session per week? Or should I focus on ONE area for the duration of my workout and go as hard as I can, rather than spread it evenly?

3. Will the supplements I mentioned above make a significant difference considering my small lifts? Will they be more effective when I can lift heavier?

4. As I'm skinny, is diet still something I need to worry about? My goal isn't to lose weight, and by taking out the things I eat now, I will lose ALOT of weight. I find it extremely hard to put on weight, and even though I eat SO much, it all manages to burn away. I'm unsure whether working out may effect my metabolism here, e.g. make me burn less, make me want to eat more, etc.

5. I work in a nut shop here in Australia and am bringing home a good mixture of pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, dry roasted almonds and sultanas. Is it true that this will contain a decent amount of protein? What other snacks do you suggest I eat?

6. As my weight is 60kg, how many grams of protein should I need per day? If I only have one 32g protein serve in a shake per day, how would you suggest I make up the rest in protein snacks/meals?

7. Do I need large amounts of protein on days that I'm not working out? Should I have any apart from pre/post workout?

8. Assuming I train my arms twice a week and have a shake or two on these days, as well as protein snacks every other day, how long should it be before I notice a change in my lifting/strength/size?

9. Any products/excercises that you suggest?

And just to reiterate; I'd like to put on muscle and weight! I'm skinny, weak, and not willing to spend bajillions on products (I spent $150 on protein, creatine and multivites - surely that's enough?).

Thank you for any input!
Ryan

[randyyle]

1) Please don't become one of those arm warrior, do a full body workout it benefits you more. Read stickies in this section of the forum, try the Starting Strength.

2) Do the full body instead. Full body > splits ( what your trying to describe ) for beginners

3) Whey protein will definitely help but try to get other source of protein if you can. Mutlivatimins and creatine are also good products.

4) YES, diet plays a huge role to EVERYTHING even if your small or big. Diet is the fundamental for gains. Go look in the nutrition section on 'Bulking', it will make you gain some mass throughout the year.

When people say they eat alot, they are either:

not eating alot

not eating consistently

So i suggest you calculate your calories and make a surplus into your calories ( refer to bulking )

5) Nuts are a good source of healthy fat and protein, get some of them in your diet

6) You should take 1g of protein per LEAN BODY MASS. Don't get all your protein from your shakes, get it from your diet - meat, egg, diary etc.

7) Yes, you don't grow when your training, you grow when your resting. Just eat the same amount of protein as you would for workout days. Meal timing is not important, IMO only preworkout meal is the most important meal. This is because i cant train right after i eat, so just eat a nice decent meal filled with proteins fat and carbs 45min-1hr before gym

8) Don't look at everything is about your arms, there are other parts in your body. Also it depends on consistence and determined you are to train, the more you are the faster you see gains

9) Products that are important IMO are:

Whey
Multivitamin
Fish Oil
Creatine

Exercises:

SQUAT
SQUAT
SQUAT
DEADLIFT
DEADLIFT
DEADLIFT




















DEADLIFT

[ryzaar]

^^^ Thanks alot, answered the more important questions that I had no clue about... Hope to make progress soon!

[Nullery76]

1) Please don't become one of those arm warrior, do a full body workout it benefits you more. Read stickies in this section of the forum, try the Starting Strength.

2) Do the full body instead. Full body > splits ( what your trying to describe ) for beginners

3) Whey protein will definitely help but try to get other source of protein if you can. Mutlivatimins and creatine are also good products.

4) YES, diet plays a huge role to EVERYTHING even if your small or big. Diet is the fundamental for gains. Go look in the nutrition section on 'Bulking', it will make you gain some mass throughout the year.

When people say they eat alot, they are either:

not eating alot

not eating consistently

So i suggest you calculate your calories and make a surplus into your calories ( refer to bulking )

5) Nuts are a good source of healthy fat and protein, get some of them in your diet

6) You should take 1g of protein per LEAN BODY MASS. Don't get all your protein from your shakes, get it from your diet - meat, egg, diary etc.

7) Yes, you don't grow when your training, you grow when your resting. Just eat the same amount of protein as you would for workout days. Meal timing is not important, IMO only preworkout meal is the most important meal. This is because i cant train right after i eat, so just eat a nice decent meal filled with proteins fat and carbs 45min-1hr before gym

8) Don't look at everything is about your arms, there are other parts in your body. Also it depends on consistence and determined you are to train, the more you are the faster you see gains

9) Products that are important IMO are:

Whey
Multivitamin
Fish Oil
Creatine

Exercises:

SQUAT
SQUAT
SQUAT
DEADLIFT
DEADLIFT
DEADLIFT




















DEADLIFT

would rep on recharge.

[jake1224]

...

Some of this is good, some of this is *******ry



There's really only two rules you need to follow, or else you will fail in this sport;


You must eat significantly more than your body normally requires to maintain itself.


You must hit every major muscle group with adequate resistance training on a regular basis.



So, you have to
1) stuff your face. you don't eat as much as you think.
2) don't be an arm ******* and favor them just because dem bicepz look kewl. you'll look like sh*t if you only train arms.

Edit: would still suggest you run Rippetoe's Starting Strength for at least four months. Better for you in the long run.

[lajoo]

Some of this is good, some of this is *******ry



There's really only two rules you need to follow, or else you will fail in this sport;


You must eat significantly more than your body normally requires to maintain itself.


You must hit every major muscle group with adequate resistance training on a regular basis.



So, you have to
1) stuff your face. you don't eat as much as you think.
2) don't be an arm ******* and favor them just because dem bicepz look kewl. you'll look like sh*t if you only train arms.

Edit: would still suggest you run Rippetoe's Starting Strength for at least four months. Better for you in the long run.

^this,before i started weight training i thought i ate a lot but that was not true,you should aim for at least 3500-4000 calories per day if you want to put on muscle,also remember that by doing this you will put on some fat too,but don't worry about it,you still need to gain around 40-50 pounds in my opinion.

Also,as you are taking more protein per usual try to drink 3-4 liters of water per day,it helps keeping your kidneys clean and it also helps your metabolism faster thus building more muscle.

[randyyle]

Some of this is good, some of this is *******ry



There's really only two rules you need to follow, or else you will fail in this sport;


You must eat significantly more than your body normally requires to maintain itself.


You must hit every major muscle group with adequate resistance training on a regular basis.



So, you have to
1) stuff your face. you don't eat as much as you think.
2) don't be an arm ******* and favor them just because dem bicepz look kewl. you'll look like sh*t if you only train arms.

Edit: would still suggest you run Rippetoe's Starting Strength for at least four months. Better for you in the long run.

i think the *******ry part was the full body > split ?

Don't get me wrong, i chose split > full body when i first worked out. I love splits, it gives me more time to go to gym but then i just read around that research studies that full body will have better gains than a split on a beginner.

[yuiz]

Hello all!

I've now hit 17, and I'm the only one in my group who isn't madly into sport. Due to this, they are also 5 times the size of me in STRONG body mass! I'm approx 60kg/132lb and im a tiiiiiiiny smidge under 6 foot, with puny little muscles (which look bigger due to my weight!). I was doing a 'Concentrated Bicep Curl' or some excercise similarly listed on this site, and my peak was 3 sets of 12 reps on both arms @ 7.5kg.

As far as equipment goes, I have something like this:
realhomegymreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Powerline_Deluxe_Smith_Machine_Home_Gym_PSM144X_2. jpg
as well as the basic bars and weights. I also have a pulley/rowing thing on my equipment setup.

I have recently ordered a 1kg package of whey protein isolate, and had my first serving today, as well as an order of multivitamins and creatine coming in from this site within the next week or so. I'm hoping to get serious with all this, and i'm crossing my fingers so tightly that I can keep my motivation up. I'm sick of looking puny!

My questions are as follows:

1. For now is it ok to focus mainly on my arms and abs for now? My arms and core strength are quite weak which makes other excercises on my chest, back and legs quite difficult (e.g. pushups kill me!).

2. Is it alright to incorporate a large variety into one session? E.g. one session for arms, shoulders and chest and another session for legs, back and abs - and then do two of each session per week? Or should I focus on ONE area for the duration of my workout and go as hard as I can, rather than spread it evenly?

3. Will the supplements I mentioned above make a significant difference considering my small lifts? Will they be more effective when I can lift heavier?

4. As I'm skinny, is diet still something I need to worry about? My goal isn't to lose weight, and by taking out the things I eat now, I will lose ALOT of weight. I find it extremely hard to put on weight, and even though I eat SO much, it all manages to burn away. I'm unsure whether working out may effect my metabolism here, e.g. make me burn less, make me want to eat more, etc.

5. I work in a nut shop here in Australia and am bringing home a good mixture of pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, dry roasted almonds and sultanas. Is it true that this will contain a decent amount of protein? What other snacks do you suggest I eat?

6. As my weight is 60kg, how many grams of protein should I need per day? If I only have one 32g protein serve in a shake per day, how would you suggest I make up the rest in protein snacks/meals?

7. Do I need large amounts of protein on days that I'm not working out? Should I have any apart from pre/post workout?

8. Assuming I train my arms twice a week and have a shake or two on these days, as well as protein snacks every other day, how long should it be before I notice a change in my lifting/strength/size?

9. Any products/excercises that you suggest?

And just to reiterate; I'd like to put on muscle and weight! I'm skinny, weak, and not willing to spend bajillions on products (I spent $150 on protein, creatine and multivites - surely that's enough?).

Thank you for any input!
Ryan

I was exactly your weight at 17, and now im over 190lb, so its definately possible to get big. Heres some things id bear in mind:

- Eat. Lots. You wont get big without it. And try to keep it clean. Whole Milk, eggs, chicken, rice, bananas and peanut butter <3 And eat like within 45 minutes of working out.
- Ditch alcohol if you drink.
- Dont just excercise your bicep, youll look out of proportion and you wont make good gains overall
-If you can sign up to a proper gym then do so, and then start doing compound lifts to get your strength up - check out Starting Strength
- If youre skinny dont work out more than 4 times a week, 3 would be ideal, and split up your week so for example monday do chest and triceps, wednesday do shoulders and friday do Back and biceps. You can add legs on the weekend if you want. Basically you want a day of rest in between going to the gym
- Dont spend more than 1.5 hrs at a time working out
- Get regular sleep, the more the better, it allows your body to recover
- Dont spend too much on supplements. All you really need is Whey protein, creatine and possibly a weight gainer. A vitamin and fish oil thingy is good also. Best thing to do is to find a website that sells their own protein and therefore isnt overpriced. Here in the UK i found that I can get 5kg instead of 1kg of whey for the same price, and the protein content is exactly the same. Same goes for creatine; for half the price i used to pay i get 3 times as much (powder is usually cheaper). A good mass gainer that im using at the moment is mutant mass; 1200 calories per day, i use it to just get 600 And youll probably want to have protein shakes everyday, not just on day when youre working out.
-Oh and count your calories. Use fitday.com to track how much youre eating. You want 3000+ / day. And 1.5 x your body weight in grams of protein.
-And dont lift huge weights if your form is poor; get your form right with weights you can lift and then get onto big weights.

Hope this helps

[XShreddedX]

________

Not all truth in that statement

[XShreddedX]

Some of this is good, some of this is *******ry



There's really only two rules you need to follow, or else you will fail in this sport;


You must eat significantly more than your body normally requires to maintain itself.


You must hit every major muscle group with adequate resistance training on a regular basis.



So, you have to
1) stuff your face. you don't eat as much as you think.
2) don't be an arm ******* and favor them just because dem bicepz look kewl. you'll look like sh*t if you only train arms.

Edit: would still suggest you run Rippetoe's Starting Strength for at least four months. Better for you in the long run.

This. Repped

[Merra]

In addition

1) Please don't become one of those arm warrior, do a full body workout it benefits you more. Read stickies in this section of the forum, try the Starting Strength.

2) Do the full body instead. Full body > splits ( what your trying to describe ) for beginners

Always do ful body, I've seen guys who have big arms and have a small chest and they look ridiculous, train everything either be Big all around or be small all around,

and doing ab exercises such as crunches, situps, etc. are very ineffective for getting a six-pack, I don't have a six pack but I'm starting to see some definition in my abs, someone who does can probably offer you the best advise but your abdominals are a stabilizer muscle, and please "politely" cosrrect me if I'm wrong, but doing planks have work for me because they require you really work your abdominals, more effectively than crunches/situps.

3) Whey protein will definitely help but try to get other source of protein if you can. Mutlivatimins and creatine are also good products.

4) YES, diet plays a huge role to EVERYTHING even if your small or big. Diet is the fundamental for gains. Go look in the nutrition section on 'Bulking', it will make you gain some mass throughout the year.

When people say they eat alot, they are either:

not eating alot

not eating consistently

So i suggest you calculate your calories and make a surplus into your calories ( refer to bulking )

5) Nuts are a good source of healthy fat and protein, get some of them in your diet

6) You should take 1g of protein per LEAN BODY MASS. Don't get all your protein from your shakes, get it from your diet - meat, egg, diary etc.

Try to eat on a consistant schedule and not as much as specific time intervals but something more along the lines of Breakfast, pre-workout, post-workout, Pre-cardio, Post-cardio, Dinner, for my protien sources I get about 75G Whey, 50G, chicken, and 25G eggs, and if you buy organic eggs you can eat the whole egg, the yolk is only bad for you when you are eatting non-organic, corn-fed chicken eggs.

eat good fats, olive and grapeseed Oils, Nuts, Whole organic Eggs, Omega Oils, are good sources of fats.

7) Yes, you don't grow when your training, you grow when your resting. Just eat the same amount of protein as you would for workout days. Meal timing is not important, IMO only preworkout meal is the most important meal. This is because i cant train right after i eat, so just eat a nice decent meal filled with proteins fat and carbs 45min-1hr before gym

8) Don't look at everything is about your arms, there are other parts in your body. Also it depends on consistence and determined you are to train, the more you are the faster you see gains

Proper rest is necissary, and just making sure your eatting breakfast, pre/post workout, pre/post cardio, and eatting once again at night.


if you only train your arms you're going to look like a gorilla I've seen it and it looks ridiculous, I can assure you if you're trying to have an aesthetically pleasing build you're going to want to train every bodypart.

Exercises:

SQUAT
SQUAT
SQUAT
DEADLIFT
DEADLIFT
DEADLIFT

I don't know if this is advise or what, but Train everything these are important exercises but not the only important exercises.

My suggestion is to look at different training regiments and find out what kind of exercises are being done for that muscle, and do those, and it takes alittle guess work to find out what the best routine for reps/sets are I have alittle bigger frame before I started working out I was 5'8" 140 and doing the same exercise routine that I do is not going to garuntee the same results. now I'm 5'8" 153

hope this helped, and thanks to "randyyle" for the base material to work off of.

[Bruno93]

Some of this is good, some of this is *******ry



There's really only two rules you need to follow, or else you will fail in this sport;


You must eat significantly more than your body normally requires to maintain itself.


You must hit every major muscle group with adequate resistance training on a regular basis.



So, you have to
1) stuff your face. you don't eat as much as you think.
2) don't be an arm ******* and favor them just because dem bicepz look kewl. you'll look like sh*t if you only train arms.

Edit: would still suggest you run Rippetoe's Starting Strength for at least four months. Better for you in the long run.

this, alot of people make it sound way harder in these forums than it actually is.

[ryzaar]

Just thought I'd include what I've eaten until now. It's currently 6pm and I'm yet to have dinner. No workout today.

Weetabix Whole Wheat Cereal - 5 biscuits
336 calories
2.5g fat
69.7g carbs
10.3g protein

Almonds, roasted - 1oz (22 kernels)
172 calories
15.6g fat
5g carbs
6g protein

Pumpkin and/or squash seeds, hulled, unroasted - 20g
108 calories
9.2g fat
3.6g carbs
4.9g protein

Sunflower seeds, hulled, unroasted - 20g
114 calories
9.9g fat
3.8g carbs
4.6g protein

Raisins, seeded - 20g
118 calories
0.2g fat
31.4 carbs
1g protein

Sushi, with vegetables, rolled in seaweed - 4 rolls (I had cucumber and avocado, satay chicken, teriyaki beef, and cooked tuna, but could not find these on the list!)
122 calories
0.3g fat
26.8g carbs
2.3g protein

Milk, 1% fat - 1 cup (cereal)
102 calories
2.4g fat
12.2g carbs
8.2g protein

Whey, sweet, dry - 40g
148 calories
0.2g fat
0.2g carbs
36g protein

Sports drink - 600ml/20fl oz
156 calories
0.6g fat
37.9g carbs
0g protein

Which totals...
1,377 calories
40.9g fat
190.5g carbs
73.4g protein

The almonds/seeds/raisins are an estimated amount, from a nut mixture from work.

So I've had approx 1.25g of protein per kg of bodyweight - is that right? After dinner this will more than likely go up, however I'm not sure what I'm getting yet (probably half a chicken and salad). I'll update the total after dinner, as I'm curious as to how many calories I'm missing out!

I'm not really an expert on fat, carbs, etc - so am I consuming enough/too much?

[hugohdz88]

Ok i have just one piece of advice that most begginers don't pay attention to. ( i kno some people will flame on me but w.e)

1- go BIG i don't mean get big i mean; Train BIG, eat BIG; sleep BIG! catch my drive?
dont give a shiet about getting fat or overtraining or w.e, you are young and optimizing your gains require hardcore measures.

2-You are a begginer, but be SMART. What i mean with this is that the begginer phase of BBing will be your base for all your future, so play your cards right, start with strength priority, LEARN TO LISTEN TO YOUR BODY because knowing the excercices/rep ranges that work better on you will come in SUPER useful later on when you are inter/advanced

3-Set goals, challenge yourself, KILL YOURSELF and most important be patient, results in body are not seen overnight, but overnite you can change your attitude, keep that inmind.

anyway that is all i have to share, i hope i didnt write this in vain, good luck

[zQt]

Saving this thread, nice answers

[ryzaar]

I'm having half a chicken and approximately 1 cup of egg and celery salad for dinner tonight. Added onto the information above, by the time I've finished dinner, I will have consumed approximately 3162 calories, 162.5g fat, 220g carbs, 180g protein. I forgot to add in the milk I had with my protein in the post above also.

(at poster above me - I must agree, you guys have been very helpful!)

Oh, and don't worry, I was never planning on being an arm-*******. I was simply considering that stronger arms may assist in other excercises, so I'm thinking of working them out a little more for the time being. I'm struggling with other excercises due to my arm-weakness and believe this may help a little. Don't worry, I won't let them massively overtake my body, I jsut want to work them up a little!

[shman]

Hello all!

I've now hit 17, and I'm the only one in my group who isn't madly into sport. Due to this, they are also 5 times the size of me in STRONG body mass! I'm approx 60kg/132lb and im a tiiiiiiiny smidge under 6 foot, with puny little muscles (which look bigger due to my weight!). I was doing a 'Concentrated Bicep Curl' or some excercise similarly listed on this site, and my peak was 3 sets of 12 reps on both arms @ 7.5kg.

As far as equipment goes, I have something like this:
realhomegymreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Powerline_Deluxe_Smith_Machine_Home_Gym_PSM144X_2. jpg
as well as the basic bars and weights. I also have a pulley/rowing thing on my equipment setup.

I have recently ordered a 1kg package of whey protein isolate, and had my first serving today, as well as an order of multivitamins and creatine coming in from this site within the next week or so. I'm hoping to get serious with all this, and i'm crossing my fingers so tightly that I can keep my motivation up. I'm sick of looking puny!

My questions are as follows:

1. For now is it ok to focus mainly on my arms and abs for now? My arms and core strength are quite weak which makes other excercises on my chest, back and legs quite difficult (e.g. pushups kill me!).

2. Is it alright to incorporate a large variety into one session? E.g. one session for arms, shoulders and chest and another session for legs, back and abs - and then do two of each session per week? Or should I focus on ONE area for the duration of my workout and go as hard as I can, rather than spread it evenly?

3. Will the supplements I mentioned above make a significant difference considering my small lifts? Will they be more effective when I can lift heavier?

4. As I'm skinny, is diet still something I need to worry about? My goal isn't to lose weight, and by taking out the things I eat now, I will lose ALOT of weight. I find it extremely hard to put on weight, and even though I eat SO much, it all manages to burn away. I'm unsure whether working out may effect my metabolism here, e.g. make me burn less, make me want to eat more, etc.

5. I work in a nut shop here in Australia and am bringing home a good mixture of pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, dry roasted almonds and sultanas. Is it true that this will contain a decent amount of protein? What other snacks do you suggest I eat?

6. As my weight is 60kg, how many grams of protein should I need per day? If I only have one 32g protein serve in a shake per day, how would you suggest I make up the rest in protein snacks/meals?

7. Do I need large amounts of protein on days that I'm not working out? Should I have any apart from pre/post workout?

8. Assuming I train my arms twice a week and have a shake or two on these days, as well as protein snacks every other day, how long should it be before I notice a change in my lifting/strength/size?

9. Any products/excercises that you suggest?

And just to reiterate; I'd like to put on muscle and weight! I'm skinny, weak, and not willing to spend bajillions on products (I spent $150 on protein, creatine and multivites - surely that's enough?).

Thank you for any input!
Ryan

Just thought I'd include what I've eaten until now. It's currently 6pm and I'm yet to have dinner. No workout today.

Weetabix Whole Wheat Cereal - 5 biscuits
336 calories
2.5g fat
69.7g carbs
10.3g protein

Almonds, roasted - 1oz (22 kernels)
172 calories
15.6g fat
5g carbs
6g protein

Pumpkin and/or squash seeds, hulled, unroasted - 20g
108 calories
9.2g fat
3.6g carbs
4.9g protein

Sunflower seeds, hulled, unroasted - 20g
114 calories
9.9g fat
3.8g carbs
4.6g protein

Raisins, seeded - 20g
118 calories
0.2g fat
31.4 carbs
1g protein

Sushi, with vegetables, rolled in seaweed - 4 rolls (I had cucumber and avocado, satay chicken, teriyaki beef, and cooked tuna, but could not find these on the list!)
122 calories
0.3g fat
26.8g carbs
2.3g protein

Milk, 1% fat - 1 cup (cereal)
102 calories
2.4g fat
12.2g carbs
8.2g protein

Whey, sweet, dry - 40g
148 calories
0.2g fat
0.2g carbs
36g protein

Sports drink - 600ml/20fl oz
156 calories
0.6g fat
37.9g carbs
0g protein

Which totals...
1,377 calories
40.9g fat
190.5g carbs
73.4g protein

The almonds/seeds/raisins are an estimated amount, from a nut mixture from work.

So I've had approx 1.25g of protein per kg of bodyweight - is that right? After dinner this will more than likely go up, however I'm not sure what I'm getting yet (probably half a chicken and salad). I'll update the total after dinner, as I'm curious as to how many calories I'm missing out!

I'm not really an expert on fat, carbs, etc - so am I consuming enough/too much?

Ur calories per day is way too low.try to take more of fats and ur amount of protien u take is good . try to increase ur calories to 2000 per day

[ryzaar]

Thanks heaps I'm currently having a big dinner now, which should boost my calorie intake to approx 3,000 for today.

[shman]

Go and do workouts accordingly

[vanbroeK]

would still suggest you run Rippetoe's Starting Strength for as long as you can

Fixed.