I’m 5’9", 120 lbs. Super skinny. Have been skinny my whole life. I’m really weak in terms of strength but I can run fast. I understand that I am most probably fu**ed in terms of genetics. But I pride myself on not being a quitter. Once I make up my mind I can really stick with stuff, and I have 6-7 years to dedicate to strength training. Give me advice.
Firstly I want them huge & defined thighs. Maybe some arms too. But mostly I want to get really strong. Give me some tips on where to start. And while you’re at it please give me a rough estimate of my bf% too
I’m 23, 5’9", 120 lbs. I wanna follow Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 for hardgainers. I’m looking to put on weight. Of course I’d prefer it be mostly muscle, but I give zero f**ks about gaining fat. I just wanna get huge and strong.
Give me some advice about what nutrition plan I can follow. I haven’t trained or eaten right before. I know “wanna get big” sounds funny coming from a guy like me, but that’s exactly what I wanna do. Guide me, people.
“Eating, sleeping, and hydration: All are also essential whether you’re a hardgainer, a genetically average human, or a natural-born lifter. At the least, eat a pound or two of meat every day.”
You have a prowler, right? It is a key part of the program.
I been in the same position myself. Can’t go wrong with 5/3/1 for Hard Gainers or 5/3/1 Boring But Big. Pick one and do it for 3-6 months, and see which one of the two you like.
Lots of people start where you are starting. Even farther back.
Biggest thing is consistency. Get on a schedule or program and follow it religiously. Stopping and starting all the time you end up spinning your wheels.
Large compound movements. Squat, deadlift, overhead press, pull ups should become your best friends.
Eat a couple pounds of beef per day. Throw in some carbs to get your cals up (rice, potatoes, whatever). Check out Stan Efferdings “Vertical Diet”. He has a very nice neat template that people seem to be getting very good results off. Instagram vertical diet to check it out. This is one approach of millions that work. But you gotta do something you believe in to stick with it.
Good luck.
I’m so jelly. To start over would be awesome. I was like that and had no clue how to work out and get strong. Wasted a lot of time. You’re like a blank canvas. Read everything can by Wendler, read it again and then do it. You will not be disappointed.
Also to clarify as a South Asian lifter myself, I’m not sure if you have any dietary restrictions, but I also don’t want to assume.
People are suggesting beef, which is great, and was a central part of my diet when I started bulking, but if you can’t do beef, I would do fish, chicken, goat, etc as alternatives. It’s also good to get carbs with your proteins in the form of lentils, chickpeas, and other legumes. Dairy is your friend - milk, cheese, yogurt, etc.
Here’s a pretty good video on counting macros:
^^^While I don’t think meticulously counting macros is necessary, it should help calculate your caloric needs, and counting for a few weeks will give you an idea of how much food you should be eating and what that amount looks/feels like.
Been watching Efferding’s Rhino Rhants on youtube recently. He (And everybody else related to barbells) champions whole milk and beef a lot. Gonna check Vertical Dieting out now.
And that’s exactly what I’m gonna do. I went and signed up for a membership at the local gym that has barbells and power racks and prowler (similar, but not quite what a prowler is. Seemed like it would get the job done). I’ll lift and eat myself into a monster.
this was me at 18 years old. I was 5’11, 125 lbs. So pretty much EXACTLY where you are.
Now I’m 34 years old, 200 lbs and I’m a world-class lightweight strongman competitor. I can bench press nearly 400, squat mid 500s, and deadlift over 600.
Hopefully this is the sort of example/motivator you were looking for.
I can tell you that I don’t particularly agree with some of the diet suggestions advised above. The main thing I would suggest is that, while clean food is great, you’ll need a lot of calories, period. So don’t avoid foods just because they aren’t optimal. Eat a TON of carbs. Early on, my diet was centered around a lot of rice, pasta, eggs, chicken, and whole milk. Beef is also excellent, and I eat plenty of it now too. Just wasn’t a big part of my diet when I got started. Bread and peanut butter were also staples in my diet. Basically, anything you can stomach a lot of. I spent a lot of days eating until I was uncomfortable, but that was a necessary part of the process to get my body used to that kind of food consumption. It does get better after awhile. But for a small guy like you, eating ends up being hard than the workouts themselves. Or at least that was my experience, and often still is.
