any advice on gaining muscle for skinny guys like me?

[bball_1523]

alright so I'm about 5'5" and weight around 110 lbs. I am very skinny and want to grow some muscle to make myself look a lot more average rather than very skinny.

I was wondering if there are any methods that you guys know that will help me to grow bigger and more muscle, while staying in good shape and health?

I go to the gym to lift weights twice a week on avg and I don't think I do a very good job of lifting haha. I can barely lift 20 lb dumbbells and do a set of 5 reps. And I can barely lift the bench bar.

I eat the regular 3 meals a day, but it usually doesn't consist of a lot of protein, only when I eat meats (about 2-3 times a week). I am lactose intolerant and am afraid to eat more meat and other foods because they cause me to have gas...hahaha

What do you guys think?

[Shauk25]

Re: any advice on gaining muscle for skinny guys like me?

take steroids or hgh, if you dont want to go that route, take creatine or any kind of supplement.

[23]

Re: any advice on gaining muscle for skinny guys like me?

Have to go to the gym more than twice a week

You have to eat more than 3 meals a day as you need alot more calories than that

You have to eat some kind of meat, turkey, fish, even some grilled chicken breasts

Lift heavy weights between 5-8 reps a set


It takes alot of discipline and hard work

[bball_1523]

Re: any advice on gaining muscle for skinny guys like me?

Have to go to the gym more than twice a week

You have to eat more than 3 meals a day as you need alot more calories than that

You have to eat some kind of meat, turkey, fish, even some grilled chicken breasts

Lift heavy weights between 5-8 reps a set


It takes alot of discipline and hard work

well you think 3 times a week in the gym works? It's because I have other priorities that I care about more than this such as practicing guitar, school, work, basketball (at least 2-3 times a week). But I'd like gradually get bigger. I don't mean I wanna be ripped and huge, I just wanna be look so bony. If I can get to an average looking status for my height, I'd be happy.

Now eating more than 3 meals a day, how can I do that with a low budget and with healthy food?

I'd really like to eat more meat, but is there any way I can do this without getting gas problems and eating processed/manufactured food?

I've been lifting 5-8 reps, I just can't seem to break 20 lbs LOL. Do you guys have any routine that I can follow everytime I workout?

[WTF]

Re: any advice on gaining muscle for skinny guys like me?

What types of weights do you have available to you? My suggestion, first and foremost, if you can't get to the gym that often, is pick up a set of 20lb dumbells for your house. That way you can at least workout even if you can't make it to the gym.

As for the 3 meals per day... you definately need to eat more. You can't stay active, and gain mass only eating 3 times per day. Chicken, boiled or grilled, is perfect. Shouldn't cause too bad of gas.

[Spear]

Re: any advice on gaining muscle for skinny guys like me?

As everybody has pretty much said, get in the gym as much as possible. The more you stay active the hungrier you will be, but start to eat right. You should have at LEAST 100 grams of protein a day, protein shakes can assist you in this. I'm not sure how much money you are willing to shill out here, but there are some good supplements that can be useful, but thats not really neccessary until you have been lifting for a year or two.

I took Creatine during a fitness class in school 2 years ago. I could be considered a success story as I was weighing in around 130 pounds back then now I'm around 165-170. But during that course I turned the corner of being a really scrony guy to being more buff. I would suggest you not take creatine, unless you do some reasearch on it and notify your doctor about your plans to go on it.

[bball_1523]

Re: any advice on gaining muscle for skinny guys like me?

What types of weights do you have available to you? My suggestion, first and foremost, if you can't get to the gym that often, is pick up a set of 20lb dumbells for your house. That way you can at least workout even if you can't make it to the gym.

As for the 3 meals per day... you definately need to eat more. You can't stay active, and gain mass only eating 3 times per day. Chicken, boiled or grilled, is perfect. Shouldn't cause too bad of gas.

I go to my school gym about twice a week. I might start going 3 times.

The problem is they are only open during certain times and I have other priorities I have to attend to such as school, work, guitar, basketball.

I have been wanting to buy some dumbbells but they get so expensive by weight. I'll have to invest in that someday.

Now about my meals, do you think it's unhealthy to all the sudden eat more than 3 meals per day? I'm afraid of feeling like crap if I eat too much. When my stomach is full I don't feel that great, and I get really lazy, plus I start to get gas problems with almost any food lol.

now I just want to get a little bigger, not drastically buff or anything. I just have really skinny arms, wrists, and ankles and I want to get them to be a little bigger so I won't look like a twig.

[HungryBologna]

Re: any advice on gaining muscle for skinny guys like me?

Well you gotta make sacrifices my man. If you're really not serious about eating better/more often and working out and then think you'll gain 20 pounds over night, it ain't going to happen.

I say don't even worry about the gas man, get some Beano or something and just deal with it. Same with the free weights, just go ahead and make the purchase for the long run, sacrifice something you normally buy for the weights.

[MachoMyers]

Re: any advice on gaining muscle for skinny guys like me?

Firstly, your best bet is probably to get a friend or hire a personal trainer for a few days to help guide you in the right direction when starting out. Nothing like having someone actually there to show you.

Secondly, you should be starting out by doing at least 10 reps of everything, you need to build a solid base and you will need more reps, you will want to go down in reps and up in weight when you enter into a strength cycle (six weeks or so after you build up).

My brother is about your size and he started out by doing 200 pushups and 200 situps every morning when he woke up, he almost immediatley started seeing results and he even inspired me to do it in addition to my workouts.

Best advice is to stick with it and work smart (not just hard), and eat eat eat eat eat.

[Jon22]

Re: any advice on gaining muscle for skinny guys like me?

I used to way 120 pounds when I was a freshman in highschool. Get a lifting program going (ex 70% of your max bench 6 reps 3 times). If your that small their is nothing you can do legal to gain weight. I was a boxer and in Football offseason and that didn't help with the weight gain. I might not have been eating right. I heard De La Hoya ate 5 meals a day to gain weight to fight Trindad. So check that out and get a trainer if you can afford one.

[BigDofBA]

Re: any advice on gaining muscle for skinny guys like me?

alright so I'm about 5'5" and weight around 110 lbs. I am very skinny and want to grow some muscle to make myself look a lot more average rather than very skinny.

I was wondering if there are any methods that you guys know that will help me to grow bigger and more muscle, while staying in good shape and health?

I go to the gym to lift weights twice a week on avg and I don't think I do a very good job of lifting haha. I can barely lift 20 lb dumbbells and do a set of 5 reps. And I can barely lift the bench bar.

I eat the regular 3 meals a day, but it usually doesn't consist of a lot of protein, only when I eat meats (about 2-3 times a week). I am lactose intolerant and am afraid to eat more meat and other foods because they cause me to have gas...hahaha

What do you guys think?

I'm almost positive that your problem is your diet. If you want to gain muscle you need to eat. Eat as much as possible. I would aim for 6 meals a day. That can be hard to do so if you want I would invest in whey protein and a weight gainer. Those can be used as replacement meals in between meals. For example, you eat breakfast and in between breakfast and lunch you take a protein shake. You do this same between lunch and dinner.

As for working out, don't worry as much about doing curls and isolation excercises. Make an effort to increase your bench press, squat, and dead lift. Those will add mass. After that you can add additional excercises where neccessary.

I know you might not want to do squats or dead lifts but if your goal is to get bigger then those excercises are a must.

EAT, EAT, EAT!

[BunnyHardaway]

Re: any advice on gaining muscle for skinny guys like me?

I have the same exact problem, and I'm about the same height/weight (5'7", 110), and I have a question:

Is there any possible way to overcome high metabolism? I eat a lot, but most of it is just junk. Usually my diet consists of 3-5 sodas a day, chips, one or two of those frozen steak-umm sandwiches, maybe a sandwich, a bowl of Frosted Flakes, and other junk. I also have been taking whey protein for the last 2 weeks. You'd think I'd be fat, but I'm not even close. I've pretty much concluded it's because of high metabolism. I'm also ridiculously out of shape and haven't lifted since May. It can't be anything else, can it?

[Spear]

Re: any advice on gaining muscle for skinny guys like me?

Plenty of Protein Shakes while hitting the weights will help you put on some weight. I too have a high metabolism, its often everybodys excuse for not being able to bulk up...but my trainer told me to just keep eating and having my shakes. Needless to say it has worked, I'm very content with my weight but I used to be very skinny, so there is hope out there! (I'll see if I can come up with a before and after picture). I was very discouraged at first, but with enough work hard iyou can stay at a nice steady weight.

My favourite shake consists of:
Protein Powder (Whey)
Lots of Oats
Banana
Strawberries
Fish Oil
Yogurt
Water

[BunnyHardaway]

Re: any advice on gaining muscle for skinny guys like me?

Well, never again will I drink that s**t with water, that was ridiculous. They were right, It's much better with milk.

[Spear]

Re: any advice on gaining muscle for skinny guys like me?

Well, never again will I drink that s**t with water, that was ridiculous. They were right, It's much better with milk.

Milk is just all gas or something. Back in the summer my trainer really drilled hard into my head not to have milk in them, but water instead.