Cannot gain weight, how to gain muscle...?

[Deleted]

Go to the gym, once you start lifting some iron result will come.

I wouldn't advise you tho to take on Brosicle22's workout, provided you have no experience in the fitness gym the best way to start is with some kind of circles workout(not sure if the term is correct, not a native speaker, however you'll see what i mean a few lines below), and also in brosicle22's the muslcles groups are separated you don't need that yet and there are some frankly dangerous exercises such as dead lift and barbell squats, which are great but you need to have proper muscle strength and technique to avoid injuries.

Many times I've started from scratch at the gym and with this workout I've had best results. Here it is:
You train 3 days a week, need at least a day to rest.
-Bench press/pulldowns on the machine with wide grip(later you can switch to pull-ups when you are able to execute atleast 5-6 good pull-ups)x3
*you do the 2 exercises in a row with no rest in between, don't go all the way spare your energy( if you feel like you can do 12 repetitions do 10 insead), then you rest for a minute and do a total of 3 sets of these 2 exercises, and then rest for 2 or 3 minutes before the next set. This routines goes for all the sets below.
-inclined bench press/Seated Pulley Rows x3
-Seated Leg Curl/shoulder press x3
-Prone Leg Curl/Arnold press x3
-Barbell curls/Skullcrushers x3

After 2 months of this workout i guarantee you you'll have visible results and good overall muscles development so you'll be ready for the split workout.

[Athorha]

Noone can't gain weight. Most people who are skinny just don't eat enough.
For a month, try and maintain a 3500 calorie a day diet.
If you add up what you're eating in a day, I wouldn't be surprised if it's <2000

Gaining weight through fat isn't a bad thing, you're underweight as is, being in a healthy weight range for bmi etc. assumes you have fat and not muscle on your bones.
If you try and gain mass strictly through muscle, you're likely to not even gain 30 lbs in your entire lifetime if you're just starting to lift now (naturally atleast).

[worprz]

Bodybuilders and powerlifters regularly eat 4000+ caloric diets on bulks/gain phases.

That's funny, the people I know training for Olympic trials in track and field were doing about 6k a day just to maintain.

They eat that much because they are already big. If you are skinny and eat that much you will just get fat. Or even if you have a lot of muscle and don't train a lot you shouldn't eat that much. I have a friend who weighs over 200 pounds and has less than 10% fat but he only eats 3000 calories because he isn't training super hard. Olympic runners have to eat a lot of calories because they are training over 6 days a week and burning calories all the time.


My suggestion OP is to use the Katch Mcardle Method. Basically you need your bodyfat % to use this method.

Your maintenance level is the amount of calories you need to eat to maintain weight. So if you eat more than that you will gain weight. (not too much more or you will gain a lot of fat as well.) I suggest increase your maintenance level by 20% and see how that works. If it is too much lower it but if it is too little increase it. Don't eat this much on the days you don't workout but keep your protein the same each day.
TDEE (maintenance)
Activity factor
Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 (Little or no exercise, desk job)
Lightly Active = BMR X 1.375 (Light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk)
Moderately Active = BMR X 1.55 (Moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)
Very Active = BMR X 1.725 (Hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)
Extremely Active = BMR X 1.9 (Hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, marathon, football camp, contest, ect.)



Katch-McArdle formula (BMR based on lean body weight)

BMR (men and women) = 370 + (21.6 X lean mass in kg)
Example:
You are male You weigh 172 lbs (78 kilos)
Your body fat percentage is 14% (24.1 lbs fat, 147.9 lbs lean)
Your lean mass is 147.9 lbs (67.2 kilos)
Your BMR = 370 + (21.6 X 67.2) = 1821 calories
To determine TDEE from BMR, you simply multiply BMR by the activity factor:
Continuing with the previous example: Your BMR is 1821 Your activity level is moderately active (you work out 3-4 times per week) Your activity factor is 1.55 Your TDEE = 1.55 X 1821 = 2822 calories

If you don't have access to your bodyfat % you can use this formula

BMR = 66 + (13.7 X weight in kg) + (5 X height in cm) - (6.8 X age in years)

You put your BMR from one of these two formulas into the top formula to get your maintenance.

After you find out your maintenance level you need to split your calories into macro-nutrients which is Fat, Protein, and Carbs.

1g of protein = 4 calories
1g of carbs = 4 calories
1g of fat = 9 calories

I say you do 40% protein 30% carbs and 30% fat but on the bodybuilding forums they say

Protein
Moderate bodyfat = 1-1.33g per pound TOTAL weight [or ~ 1.25g/pound lean mass if bodyfat known]
- Very Low bodyfat or Very Low Calorie = 1.25 - 1.75g per TOTAL weight [or ~ 1.35 - 2g/pound of lean mass]
- Very HIGH bodyfat, Inactive, = 0.8 to 1g per TOTAL weight [or ~ 1 x LEAN mass]

Fat
Average or lean bodyfat: 1 - 2g fat/ kg body weight [between 0.40 - 1g total weight/ pounds]
High bodyfat: 1-2g fat/ LEAN weight [between 0.4 - 1g LEAN weight/ pounds]

Carbs
Would be the rest of your calories

You will need to play with the numbers a bit though. For example if you are lifting and not gaining weight you might need to just eat overall more or maybe you will just need to add carbs, fat, or protein. Don't add too much at a time though because you will gain fat.

[CalasEU]

Eat meat and workout.
For the past time I've been going with this kind of weight lifting.

Get something like those. Take on in each hand and lift each one ten times. Repeat this process four times and do it every morning and every evening.
Soon you'll hopefully see atleast your arm muscles growing !

[Duronos]

Play rugby... Not only will you learn how to take hits like a boss but you will become bigger and stronger and your running stamina will still be decent. :P

[vizzle]

Bodybuilders and powerlifters regularly eat 4000+ caloric diets on bulks/gain phases.

That's funny, the people I know training for Olympic trials in track and field were doing about 6k a day just to maintain.

The OP isn't a damn olympian. Don't recommend 4000+ calories per day to someone who's just trying to get toned.

[Projali]

The OP isn't a damn olympian. Don't recommend 4000+ calories per day to someone who's just trying to get toned.

I never recommended that amount to him. Don't read into things that aren't there. Just because I eat 3500 calories a day doesn't mean OP should. If he wants to add any muscle, though, he needs to eat a decent macro split and add calories to his maintenance.

On the other hand, if he has no mass then a toned (aka cut) look will look completely silly.

[sourmonkey]

So, this is my first time posting in the Sports & Fitness thread.

Let me just tell you a little about myself. I'm 5'9.5" and weigh 130-135 depending on the day. Never more, never less. When I was going to school in Florida, I ate fast food pretty much every single day for 21 months, and always had a 7-eleven double gulp of mtn dew at night. I feel like I can't gain any weight and I just look skinny. Now that I'm married we cook at home and usually make chicken/beef/italian things. fajitas... grilled chicken... tacos.. pasta... etc.

The problem is I don't work out. Most recently I've started to go swimming with my wife (we bought rec passes two weeks ago), I swim laps maybe 700 yards 4-5 times a week. How can I tone my body to look muscular? I'm worried if I keep swimming I will just get skinnier and look weak. What should I be working on to tone my body??

most trainers at a gym would prob. recommend any of these products http://www.gnc.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=2108309 i would also take whey protien mixed with whole milk eat alot of protien and you should counter that skinny-ness after a whie .

[stickyjam]

the easiest thing you can do to gain weight is 1.5x your portion sizes...
getting bigger is simply eating more, your just not committing and pushing yourself.

[WaitingforMoP]

Eat lots of meat, drink lots of milk, lift lots of weights

[Rdx]

Is this Symphonic from Icecrown. If so hello old friend, if not hello new friend.

High weight low reps is what ive always been told then for definition its lower weight high reps. I have the opposite problem I can gain weight just can't lose any =(

Few problems here. 1. You dont define what a high/low weight is and how many low/high reps are. 2. Gaining/loosing weight is different from gaining/loosing fat. It is rare to find someone who wants to put on fat -_-

The above post is semi accurate for a generic statement. Your muscles are made up of 2 types of fibers. Slow twitch and fast twitch. Slow twitch is more efficient at using Oxygen to create ATP (Adenosine triphosphate). The main time the body requires Oxygen is when doing Aerobic exercise (hence the name). For this reason people who want more slow twitch fibres are trying to aim for endurance. For example a marathon runner.

The flip side is fast twitch. Fast twitch are better at generating short bursts of strength. The downside is that they fatigue faster.

What does this mean for you? Well fast twitch fibres are larger than those of slow twitch and thus give the impression of larger muscles. If this is what you are aiming for then you want to focus on them more.
How is this achieved? Well I will cover that later.

Personal sugguestion is to talk to a trainer

This is a very good idea. If you have never done resistance training then a trainer can help identify your goals, design a work plan and make sure you understand how to do the exercises correctly.

Are there usually trainers that hang out at the gym or would I need to find one that would need to be paid?

I am not sure how it works over there but here in Australia there is generally always(other than 24/7 hour gyms) a qualified trainer on staff to help out if needed. While they can spot you if you need or show you the correct form they are not likely to help you that long or do anything of substance. For that reason a personal trainer that you pay separately can help you specifically.

Lift up things and put them down, after doing that consume a glass of milk+150g of whey protein(you can also use water or a low-fat juice instead of milk). Add more protein to your diet in the form of meat, fish, peanut butter. Since you're really lightweight you probably won't have any problems eating carbs, though if you want to put on lots of muscle definitely get as much protein in the diet as you can.

Ahh it was just a matter of time before we ran into this type of person. This is the typical protein fan boy. While it is true that protein supplies the building blocks to rebuild your muscle the fact of the matter is most people get enough protein in there diet already. As a rule of thumb you can only utilise AT MOST 2g of protein per kilo and this is for a serious body builder not someone who does it for a recreational activity. Dont trust me if you want but look here http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bbprotein.htm.

The other problem with the above post is it puts more emphasis on nutrition. While nutrition is important it wont do jack all if you are performing sub standard in the gym.

scoobysworkshop is a good place to read tho

I disagree with that. After saying you haven't ever been to a gym, you need some guidance on what exercises to start doing. I would recommend sitting down with a personal trainer to discuss your goals and have them map out some exercises to help you achieve them. You don't have to work out with a trainer every time you are at the gym, unless like Gringgotts said, you lack motivation. Most trainers will sit down with you for a fee, and then you don't have to employ them again.

BINGO!

Bodybuilders and powerlifters regularly eat 4000+ caloric diets on bulks/gain phases.

That's funny, the people I know training for Olympic trials in track and field were doing about 6k a day just to maintain.

Unless I miss read the OP doesnt want to do Olympic trails or be a power lifter so all in all your point is invalid.

Backing up to putting on muscle. So when the you are lifting weights of the correct load you are a causing your muscle to tear at a very low level. Your body will repair this tear in the following couple of days. While repairing it will make it stronger so that next time your muscle is put under the same load less tearing is likely to occur. Dont think of tearing as a bad thing. Your body is constantly breaking down and rebuilding muscle regardless if you are going to a gym or not. All you are doing is giving stimuli to the body.

As for building fast twitch in specific.... Well you could ask 10 different people and get 10 different answers. Some people recommend different rep ranges to others. Some people recommend timing your time under tension (TUT) rather than reps. All in all they are fairly similar. If you are going for fast twitch and can pump out 20 reps then your weight is to light. If you cant even make your 4th rep then its too high. My PERSONAL opinion is aiming for 8-14 reps in good form with the last rep failing. For me this is generally account a TUT of 45-55 seconds. Dont take my word for it though. If you google it you will come with a large range of answers.

So my advice specific for you:
Without specific knowledge of your diet it is hard to talk about it but none the less...
If you want to get fat and weight more then sure eat more. Fat is more calorie dense (by weight) so more fat means more calories gram for gram.

If you want to put on muscle then you must do 2 things. Provide stimulus to the muscle and give it time to repair.
As you are new I would HIGHLY recommend you get a personal trainer even if its just to draw up a work plan and show you how to do the exercises they specify correctly. If I was your PT I would start you out on a 1 or 2 day split. By this I mean you work out all major muscles in your body either on 1 or 2 days. As you become to progress you may feel like you want to spend more time on specific muscles and thats fine once you get there.

As for nutrition dont "eat more" or "eat less" instead "eat better". Try keep a high protein diet (as others have mentioned). There is plenty of good sources of protein without resorting shakes. Lean meats (Chicken, Fish etc), Eggs, Nuts, Low fat yogurt etc.

I hope this has helped you in some way or another.

[digitalize]

you need 7300 cals a day and workout your bicepticles and 4 times a week , also go get yourself one of those sleveless shirts it really pays of

[Deleted]

Doing excersises will not make you more skinny. Maybe it will. It may decrease your fat rate even more, but training your muscles will make them grow eventually. It doesn't really matter what do you do, just make sure the places where you wanna to get bigger are used. Swimming is great, it moves most of your body! If you don't get bigger by eating much, that probably means your genetics works like this: don't build unnecessary fat from the extra nutrient. Its the opposite of some other people's type whos body builds fat from every extra calory. The two of them can grow muscles though, but your type shouldn't worry about building fat too. Its a good thing

[Deleted]

Bodybuilders and powerlifters regularly eat 4000+ caloric diets on bulks/gain phases.

That's funny, the people I know training for Olympic trials in track and field were doing about 6k a day just to maintain.

I like the part where i gave you the numbers of how much my friends eat....o wait i only said 4000+! their food plans range from 5500-7500 depending what training they have done and what phase of training they are in.

Anyone who eats 4000 calories a day even to put on weight will either;

A) have a really high metabolism as they are in incredible shape, or in shape with big muscles already and work out alot.

B) Probably have some sort of medical issue which is screwing with their metabolism.

Even for body builders and atheletes there is no fixed value as it is different for everyone and also the kind of mentality that tells people to eat 4000 caloriess a day with having no idea what their rough neutral calorific intake is is the same reason why there are so many fat bodybuilders who keep putting on too much fat because they 'need to bulk up', the people who know what they are doing overcompensating to ensure no nutritional down time, but they do it in a way that they dont overeat stupid amounts as then it just means its harder for them to shed thee fat after a bulk to get ripped again....then again there are the lazy ones with the crazy yoyo body fat % who are ruining their health by being lazy but still

[Symphonic]

Is this Symphonic from Icecrown. If so hello old friend, if not hello new friend.

So my advice specific for you:
Without specific knowledge of your diet it is hard to talk about it but none the less...
If you want to get fat and weight more then sure eat more. Fat is more calorie dense (by weight) so more fat means more calories gram for gram.

If you want to put on muscle then you must do 2 things. Provide stimulus to the muscle and give it time to repair.
As you are new I would HIGHLY recommend you get a personal trainer even if its just to draw up a work plan and show you how to do the exercises they specify correctly. If I was your PT I would start you out on a 1 or 2 day split. By this I mean you work out all major muscles in your body either on 1 or 2 days. As you become to progress you may feel like you want to spend more time on specific muscles and thats fine once you get there.

As for nutrition dont "eat more" or "eat less" instead "eat better". Try keep a high protein diet (as others have mentioned). There is plenty of good sources of protein without resorting shakes. Lean meats (Chicken, Fish etc), Eggs, Nuts, Low fat yogurt etc.

I hope this has helped you in some way or another.

Hey friend! Yes, it is me from Icecrown Thanks for the advice!!

PS, you WOULD have boxxy as your profile pic haha

[Deleted]

Noone can't gain weight. Most people who are skinny just don't eat enough.

So not true... I have a disease which makes it so that my body doesn't produce/keep that fat/whatever inside me. So no matter what i eat, for how long I eat it, i won't ever get past my current weight by more then a couple of pounds. Sorry if i said things that sounds strange or don't make sense btw, as english isn't my native language

[iceberg265]

There is really no reason for a normal person to try to gain weight unless you are skinny to the point that you are unhealthy. Just try to add more protein to your diet if you are worried about it.

[freelapdance]

I am a bit confused at to what you want to do. Simply tone up or put on muscle? First off clean up your diet a LOT. If you are serious about getting in shape (in general) you simply MUST maximise your diet. As for what you should do well, that depends on a number of factors. Whilst you could do a sort of bodybuilding session as in a lot of split groups you should just focus on the MAIN things to start.

- Squats
- Deadlifts
- Bench press
- Shoulder press
- Pull ups
- Dips

If you really find it hard to put on weight I suggest you try http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...ls_o00_s00_i00

I have been using that for a couple of months and it does help. Before I was eating peanut butter with a spoon and still struggled to put on weight. I really cannot stress just how ESSENTIAL diet is. Trying doing a couple of things at a time, this is a pretty useful article:

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_...ipped_physique

I'm also impressed with the people that post on these forums, most people are pretty spot on to what you SHOULD do.

[Deleted]

I havent read that many posts here but.

There is no such thing as CANT gain weight or CANT lose weight.
You just have to be motivated and count carbs / calories..

[Fahrenheit]

If you want to gain you'll want to cut back on cardio and high calorie burnign exercises and stick with heavy lifting. You'll also want to down a lot more calories. I wouldn't eat McDonalds every meal, but don't go nuts trying to eat super healthy either. You basically want to down a solid couple 1,000 extra calories a day.