A Beginner Trying to Get Bigger

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

Ok so here’s my story:

I’m 15, 177cm, 56kg. I want to build muscle but I can’t go to the gym/don’t have the money to buy equipment/programs. I am mainly interested in getting bigger (size) than stronger. I’d say maybe 65% size and 35% strength if that makes sense?

I do have a pullup bar that I can use. You guys on here seem very nice and helpful so I was wondering if you could give me a training routine that I could follow to achieve my goals. I don’t want to be massive but I feel I need to put on a few pounds. Can anyone on here help me?

Thanks in advance

2

What equipment do you have on hand? Just a pull-up bar?

If so, you’re gonna have a hard time getting big. It’s certainly possible to get stronger/fitter with just a pull-up bar, but getting bigger is a different story.

And, no, your 65% size and 35% strength doesn’t make sense.

Are you really 155kg? at 15 years old? If so, all you really need to do is walk a lot. In fact, that’s about the only thing you should be doing. BW training will be difficult if you’re not used to training, and running/jogging can place undue stress onto your knees/tendons and connective tissues.

3

[quote]magick wrote:
What equipment do you have on hand? Just a pull-up bar?

If so, you’re gonna have a hard time getting big. It’s certainly possible to get stronger/fitter with just a pull-up bar, but getting bigger is a different story.

And, no, your 65% size and 35% strength doesn’t make sense.

Are you really 155kg? at 15 years old? If so, all you really need to do is walk a lot. In fact, that’s about the only thing you should be doing. BW training will be difficult if you’re not used to training, and running/jogging can place undue stress onto your knees/tendons and connective tissues.[/quote]

Sorry that meant to say 55kg, I’m underweight.

4

Ok.

Well, are you sure you won’t be able to use your school gym?

If gyms and other equipment are absolutely unavailable, then there are still a couple of things you can do at home. All you need is a backpack, duffel bag(or anything that can accommodate a good amount of stuff while you can still carry it), and a pull-up bar.

The exercises you want to do are-
Pull/chin-up
Push up
Overhead press
Squat (or if you can do it pistol squats)
Lunges
A whole bunch of other bw/BBless exercises.

Use the backpack and duffel bag for additional weight as doing pure bw exercises get easier. For example, put a bunch of books into your backpack and wear it while you do push-ups and pull/chin-ups. General rule of the thumb is that you can start using additional weight if you can do any particular exercise for more than 10-12 reps without issue.

If you can do handstands, then handstand pushups are a superb way to strengthen your shoulders.

A really simple template would be to just split the exercises you want to do into two separate piles and alternate them daily.

Say you want to do push-up/pull/chin-up/some form of shoulder exercise/squat/direct core exercise. You would just split them into an A/B pile and do A on Mon, B on Tues, and so on and so forth. Start on a number of reps that feels easy for you, and then just add another rep every week.

There’s tons of ways to program bw exercises. Because they’re nowhere near as intensive on your body as barbell lifts, you can do them much more frequently as long as you listen to your body.

Just keep in mind that all lifts are basically you doing some certain movement while placing some form of load to make it harder. So it’s not necessary to have a barbell or dumbbell to do lifts. Figure out a way to make things work.

All of these will make you stronger and more muscular if you do them consistently. They won’t make you particularly bigger though. I would discourage you from trying out any heavy calorie surplus diet. However, since you’re 15 you should be eating a lot of food. Just eat till you’re full, and try not to eat absolute junk food like ice cream often. They’ll fill you up and won’t be all that useful in terms of nutrition.

Look to run as well. Run a lot. There’s a reason why sprinters look like absolute monsters.

5

Well, you could make a start with the pull up bar and some bodyweight exerises. But you’re going to need weights if you’re going to make any real progress.

If you just want to workout and build your strength prior to using weights, there’s a great book called ‘building the gymnastic body’ which describes alot of bodyweight exercises which beginner gymnasts do to build strength and conditioning (Google it). There’s also a book recently called ‘convict conditioning’ which is kind of a dumb idea but the progressions for bodyweight exercises are good - building from pressups to one arm press ups, one legged squats, handstand push ups, etc.

But you are going to need weights to get big, sorry.

6

Thanks a lot for your help guys, I understand I won’t be able to get that big, I just want to get quite big. So you are saying that by doing bodyweight exercises ( I did Convict Conditioning for about 3 months, very recently) I will get stronger but not larger? I did experience this with Convict Conditioning

7

That’s what they’re saying

At your age, bw stuff is fine for at least a few more months if you’re dedicated. If you get a chance to do some stuff in the gym once in a while, try squats, overhead press, bench, and deadlift.

8

You’re very skinny for your height, so just the act of doing BW exercises with a good deal of intensity and with weights via backpack/etc and eating a lot and well will give you size. It’s absolutely possible that you’re gain a good deal of mass.

But you won’t get big.

What do you mean by bigger anyhow? Bigger is a subjective word. For some people big is just being lean and muscular. For some it could mean looking like Bane from TDKR. For others it could be the picture-folks here-Idea? - Competitive Bodybuilding - Forums - T Nation

If you’re talking about looking like those picture-folks, then it won’t happen. If you’re talking about being lean and muscular and quite strong, then calisthenics can more than help you achieve that goal. Just eat well and hearty and do your exercise and constantly look to improve.

9

So what type of calisthenics would be good?

You guys are the experts, I can go the gym once I am 16 so my training for now would be something short term. So in an ideal situation with a good bodyweight program, how many pounds would I expect to gain from now until September?

10

[quote]Flight1 wrote:
So what type of calisthenics would be good?

You guys are the experts, I can go the gym once I am 16 so my training for now would be something short term. So in an ideal situation with a good bodyweight program, how many pounds would I expect to gain from now until September?[/quote]

do pull ups, push ups and split squats (look up Joe Defranco on youtube, do the same thing without weights) EVERY morning. One set (two sets for split squats, one for each leg) per day. once you can do 50 push ups, 20 pull ups and 30 splits squats, all of these with great form and a controlled tempo (not super slow, just don’t look bouncy while doing it), get back to us. Eat a lot of good food (=no sugar or very little).

When I did that for the first time, i put on a few kgs within months without even trying. reaching 60kg should be fairly easy but don’t weigh yourself every day - just make those recommendations a part of your daily routine and step on the scale once or twice a month.

11

[quote]Flight1 wrote:
I don’t want to be massive but I feel I need to put on a few pounds.[/quote]
You’re 120 pounds and close to 6 feet tall. Dude, saying you need to put on a few pounds is like saying Kristen Stewart needs acting lessons. Severe understatement.

[quote]So what type of calisthenics would be good?

You guys are the experts, I can go the gym once I am 16 so my training for now would be something short term.[/quote]
Mon, Wed., and Fri
Squat 2x15 (No weight, keep both feet flat on the floor.)
Push-up 2x15 (On your toes, go until the chest almost touches the floor.)
Lunge 2x15 (Alternate legs, 1 rep left/1 rep right.)
Neutral-grip pull-up 2x15 (assisted if necessary. Could be substituted with inverted rows.)
Plank 2x15-count (Hold the top part of a push-up, on the toes, arms straight, keep the whole body straight. Count to 15.)
Burpee/squat thrust 2x15

I’d usually say to stick with that until it becomes easy from start to finish, but if you can’t get to some free weights by then, “move up” to more challenging exercise variations. If you’ve already done Convict Conditioning, odds are these will already be pretty easy but it’s still worth making sure you can knock everything out with good form for the higher reps without hitting muscular failure.

Five months is a long time. There’s no way to really say, but it is going to have much, much more to do with how you eat than it is how you train. Generally, the more you can cook for yourself (and clean up the kitchen afterwards), the better. Even boiling a dozen eggs and finishing them every few days and making tuna sandwiches to snack on will go a long way in helping you get built.

12

Thanks for all your help guys, recently I have started eating healthily, I can easily incorporate these routines in to my daily living. I should point out I got to about step 5 (out of 10) on convict conditioning so I am in shape and am fairly strong, although not in size. I do cook omelettes as they have protein (eggs) and also fat (milk). I am just wondering what your thoughts on time/volume training are?

13

Make some basic equipment man, not hard. Make sandbags of varying weights, get a couple old tires from a junkyard, use your imagination. For heaven’s sake, with some sandbags alone you have a LOT of options…get burlap sacks, fill with sand, tie/sew off, there’s some weights you can use.

14

[quote] Mon, Wed., and Fri
Squat 2x15 (No weight, keep both feet flat on the floor.)
Push-up 2x15 (On your toes, go until the chest almost touches the floor.)
Lunge 2x15 (Alternate legs, 1 rep left/1 rep right.)
Neutral-grip pull-up 2x15 (assisted if necessary. Could be substituted with inverted rows.)
Plank 2x15-count (Hold the top part of a push-up, on the toes, arms straight, keep the whole body straight. Count to 15.)
Burpee/squat thrust 2x15

I’d usually say to stick with that until it becomes easy from start to finish, but if you can’t get to some free weights by then, “move up” to more challenging exercise variations. If you’ve already done Convict Conditioning, odds are these will already be pretty easy but it’s still worth making sure you can knock everything out with good form for the higher reps without hitting muscular failure. [/quote]

Yeah, as you pointed a can do almost all of those very easily, would extending reps be the best method or should I extend sets?

15

Honestly, it doesn’t matter. Either option works, though I’d encourage you to extend reps/ be able to do more in one set. And also keep in mind that it will only take you so far in terms of weight gain.

16

If you’re looking to put on muscle, then just add weights via backpack or something.

17

So what would be the recommended diet? Normal balanced 3 meals a day nothing in between?

18

You’re over thinking things.

Just eat a bunch of food (less crap and more food that you actually cooked from fresh sources, the better) and don’t ever starve yourself. Look at the mirror every other week. If you think you’re getting fat, then eat less. If you don’t think you are, then you’re fine.

If you have an image problem, then put pictures onto this website and have other folks judge you.

19

[quote]Flight1 wrote:
So what would be the recommended diet? Normal balanced 3 meals a day nothing in between?[/quote]
A big breakfast (not just a glass of milk and a slice of toast. Think lots of whole eggs, with some other stuff on the side), a big lunch (pack your own giant sandwich or whatever’s served in the cafeteria), a big dinner (whatever’s served). That’d be a start.

A shake with protein and carbs right before training would be the next step to improve things. A snack right after school and one between dinnertime and going to sleep would be the next way to get calories in.

Again, at your current size, eating well will do more to help you fill out than training. Try to weigh yourself once a week. If the weight isn’t going up, you need to throw more food down.

If you can get 15 good reps without hitting failure, move onto a more challenging bodyweight exercise. Martin Rooney has written a bunch about push-up variations. Pull-up variations are all about changing your grip. Squat/lunge variations would be different one-legged work (pistols, “airborne squat”, explosive work, etc.)

[quote]magick wrote:
If you have an image problem, then put pictures onto this website and have other folks judge you.[/quote]
No offense, but this 15-year old kid is 120 pounds and 6 feet tall. Absolutely no good will come out of having him post pictures online, even after he gains 30 or 40 pounds. I do agree with everything else in your post though.

20

flight1, My thoughts are that people make time and money for things that they want to make time for. If you really want to get bigger you’ll find a way to get $ for a gym or some home equipment. Before you even try too gain size your mind has to be in the right place.