A Beginner Trying to Get Bigger

Thanks for your help guys, and Kleymanni. I CAN go to the gym now but because of all this health and safety, people below 16 can’t do any weights. When I’m 16 I will go.

[quote]kleymanni wrote:
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.[/quote]

right on.

Little update: I have now put 1 kg.

So I’m now 57kg and nearly 5ft 10

I think eating more has had the biggest effect. I’ll keep updating as I progress!

[quote]Flight1 wrote:
Little update: I have now put 1 kg.

So I’m now 57kg and nearly 5ft 10

I think eating more has had the biggest effect. I’ll keep updating as I progress![/quote]
Gaining 1kg in two weeks isn’t much for someone your size, but it is a start. Food is definitely the key. The more stuff you can make for yourself, the better. That’s just going to make it easier to have good muscle-building food ready to chow down on.

What did you have to eat yesterday?

  1. Does your school have a rugby team? if so sign up.

  2. More 3rd World Workouts

  3. get mum to cook you tons of quality beef

[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:

Gaining 1kg in two weeks isn’t much for someone your size, but it is a start. Food is definitely the key. The more stuff you can make for yourself, the better. That’s just going to make it easier to have good muscle-building food ready to chow down on.

What did you have to eat yesterday?[/quote]

Sorry I should point out it’s 1kg in one week, I didn’t start immediately. My diet is similar to this:

Breakfast:

Shreddies cereal with full fat milk
Cup of tea
Toast
Banana or other piece of fruit

Lunch:

Omelette (Usually with bacon, sometimes cheese), cooked myself

OR

2 BLT Bagels (Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato) from the shop, made on site.
Maybe an Apple

Dinner:

Something healthy - Curry with Rice (cooked by parent), Pasta with Tomato Sauce, things like that.

I regularly buy fruit from the local shop and try eat a lot of that.

[quote]RampantBadger wrote:

  1. Does your school have a rugby team? if so sign up.

  2. More 3rd World Workouts

  3. get mum to cook you tons of quality beef[/quote]

Thanks for the tips,

My school doesn’t have a Rugby team which is annoying, I will read that article and try to eat more beef. Thanks again!

I have 2 small questions:

  1. At the moment I can do about 10 pullups with my feet rested at about a 80 degree angle when hanging, should I continue until I can do 15 reps comfortably or should I start on full pullups, doing less reps and building from there?

Also I can’t do neutral grip pullups as suggested, my pullup bar doesn’t allow for that.

  1. What is the ideal thing to eat after a workout? Like what kinds of food? I play a lot of football (soccer) and the best thing to eat (according to all the leading sports scientists at all the major clubs) after that is something like chocolate to prevent your body from breaking down muscle to find sugar. What should I eat?

Add eggs to your breakfast. At least 3-4. I know you eat an omelette at lunch, but more eggs is always a good thing when you’re young.
Eat more meat or protein source. Based on what you wrote there, there doesn’t seem to be enough.

I really cannot emphasize how much actual protein people talk about when you want to gain mass. It’s rather obscene actually. For the average people who grew up eating a carb-centric diet, the amount of protein people who look to build muscle eat is ridiculous. Since you’re young and growing and very underweight, you can stand to eat a helluva lot more.

If it’s difficult to add in protein sources, just go buy straight whey protein powder. The o.k. ones are rather cheap, and they’ll suit your purpose.

As for your questions

  1. Do actual pull-ups. Full range of motion.
  2. Ideally a good, hearty meal with proteins and carbs. If that’s not possible, then a PWO drink like most other people eat. Basically just protein powder + other stuff.

post workout get some whey isolate and a gatorade type drink, throwing some creatine in the mix wouldn’t hurt either.

[quote]magick wrote:

I really cannot emphasize how much actual protein people talk about when you want to gain mass. It’s rather obscene actually. For the average people who grew up eating a carb-centric diet, the amount of protein people who look to build muscle eat is ridiculous. Since you’re young and growing and very underweight, you can stand to eat a helluva lot more.
[/quote]

To help give my girl a visual, I told her she needs w/ eat 1/2 chicken a day and I need to eat an entire chicken a day.

[quote]Flight1 wrote:
My diet is similar to this … [/quote]
I was hoping more for “exactly” what you ate, not “similar” because most of the time people don’t really eat the way they say they do. Just something I’ve noticed through the years. Anyhow, what you wrote is very low in protein. There’s basically zero protein at breakfast, in your BLT bagel lunch, or at dinner (that probably changes regularly though).

Protein is what builds muscle, so even if you did get enough total calories everyday, without plenty of protein you’ll gain much more fat than muscle.

Try to have a nice big serving of meat (chicken, beef, eggs, turkey, something animal-based) every single time you eat. If you can get some beef jerky at the shop instead of, or with, the fruit, that’d be much better. Or instead of BLTs, try getting a giant roast beef and cheese sandwich, tuna fish, or like a chicken cutlet on a hero.

[quote]1) At the moment I can do about 10 pullups with my feet rested at about a 80 degree angle when hanging, should I continue until I can do 15 reps comfortably or should I start on full pullups, doing less reps and building from there?

Also I can’t do neutral grip pullups as suggested, my pullup bar doesn’t allow for that. [/quote]
Chin-ups (with your palms facing your head) would be the next best bet. If you can’t do one pull-up/chin-up without assistance, I’d say keep working up to 15 decent reps, then gradually start bringing your feet in and using them less and less over time.

Don’t overcomplicate it. Some protein and some simple carbs (sugars) is fine. A “trick” for bodybuilding is to have something like a chocolate bar right before lifting because of the sugars and some other stuff, but that’s not important for the time being, so forget it. A basic protein and carb shake, like the whey protein and Gatorade/Lucozade that was mentioned will be fine. You can have it immediately after training or during the workout.

Hold the phone one second. What do you mean by “a lot”? How many days and how long do you play?

I didn’t see any mention of football before. That’s basically “cardio” and is absolutely a factor in how much you should be eating. Meaning… of course it’s going to be hard to gain weight if you’re running around for 90 minutes at a time or however long/often you play, so it’s even more important that you eat plenty and often.

[quote]RampantBadger wrote:
post workout get some whey isolate and a gatorade type drink, throwing some creatine in the mix wouldn’t hurt either.[/quote]
He’s not lifting weights and his basic diet isn’t sorted out. i’d say creatine is unnecessary for now.

[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:

Hold the phone one second. What do you mean by “a lot”? How many days and how long do you play?

I didn’t see any mention of football before. That’s basically “cardio” and is absolutely a factor in how much you should be eating. Meaning… of course it’s going to be hard to gain weight if you’re running around for 90 minutes at a time or however long/often you play, so it’s even more important that you eat plenty and often.
[/quote]

I play about 2-3 times a week I’d say a weekly total of about 2 hours. I have added 2 eggs (Poached) every morning and I drink a protein shake before a workout.

I can’t say exactly what I eat everyday but what I typed up is as close to my diet as possible.

[quote]Flight1 wrote:
I play about 2-3 times a week I’d say a weekly total of about 2 hours.[/quote]
Gotcha. Like I said though, consider each session a cardio workout as it relates to your gaining weight, which means you should plan on eating well before and right after.

Good start.

I’m not calling you out or anything, just saying, it’s not that hard to jot down what you ate one day ago. In my experience, the majority of people who are trying to gain weight and not seeing decent results simply do not eat the way they say they “usually” do. If you do though, good on 'ya. Keep at it and keep making the scale number go up.

Cheers for all the help Chris (and others), I’ll give updates to my weight gains as necessary, I appreciate your help.

Quick question (sorry if I’m overthinking), is it healthy for me to be eating 3+ eggs a day?

[quote]Flight1 wrote:
Quick question (sorry if I’m overthinking), is it healthy for me to be eating 3+ eggs a day? [/quote]
It is absolutely healthy for you. (Unless you have a family history of genetic cholesterol problems. But even then, whole eggs in moderation should be fine.)

Whole eggs are, without exaggeration, one of the most healthful foods known to man.

(That’s a lot of reading, don’t be overwhelmed. The basic idea is: whole eggs are freaking awesome, egg whites aren’t.)

For you though, I’d say shoot for at least 3 eggs at a time, once or twice a day, if not more.

And while we’re here… it’s been two weeks, so what’cha weighing now?

[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:

[quote]Flight1 wrote:
Quick question (sorry if I’m overthinking), is it healthy for me to be eating 3+ eggs a day? [/quote]
It is absolutely healthy for you, in every sense of the word.

Whole eggs are, without exaggeration, one of the most healthful foods known to man.

(That’s a lot of reading, don’t be overwhelmed. The basic idea is: whole eggs are freaking awesome, egg whites aren’t.)

For you though, I’d say shoot for at least 3 eggs at a time, once or twice a day, if not more.

And while we’re here… it’s been two weeks, so what’cha weighing now?[/quote]

Thanks for the links, I’m weighing 58.8 kg, up almost 4kg from when I started. I still haven’t been able to eat as much beef (which apparently helps loads) as I’d liked but I’d say I am steadily increasing.

[quote]Flight1 wrote:
Thanks for the links, I’m weighing 58.8 kg, up almost 4kg from when I started. I still haven’t been able to eat as much beef (which apparently helps loads) as I’d liked but I’d say I am steadily increasing.[/quote]
Cool beans, man. Sounds like you’re getting on track. Keep it up.

Good news guys, my uncle is giving me his dumbbells that he no longer wants! (I’ll find out the weights of them)

How should I incorporate them into the routine?

The routine at the moment is slightly tweaked from what someone suggested here:

Push-up 2x15
Full chin up 10x4
One-arm Plank 2x25-count
Burpee/squat thrust 2x15
Lying full leg raises 2x15

I should be doing Squats and Lunges but I’ve found them VERY easy as have strong legs. I have extremely weak/small hands/fingers/forearms but most of the exercises for forearms require weights (it seems). If you have any tips for increasing hand, finger & forearms size/strength that would be helpful.

Last time I said I weighed around 58.8kg, in truth it was about 58kg dead on. Now I’m 59.4kg and am not far off a six-pack (when tensing), I only have a visible one (without tensing) after exercise.

So back to the question, how should I incorporate them?