I guess I should first give a little background info.
I have been a long distance runner for about a year and in that time I dropped about ten pounds. I am 17 years old and I want to get up to 140-150. Right now I’m about 130 and 5’8. Yeah… I’m kind of small. Anyhow, during my long distance running era, I kept up the weight training so most of what I lost was body fat. But now I want to gain weight.
Is it alright to hit the gym every day, or is that as counterproductive as everyone says it is? Also, do you have to feel sore the next day in order to get gains? Any advice/ help would be great!
What do you mean by every day, 7 days a week or M-F?
Also, no, you don’t need to feel sore but, sometimes, you will. When you do an exercise you haven’t done before, increase the volume or sometimes even increasing the load. It really depends on the person and the amount of recovery and eating you are doing.
I would reccommend that you have a set schedule consisting of 4-5 training days. Here is an example schedule.
Monday: Chest/Tri’s
Tuesday: Bi’s/Back
Wednesday: Shoulder’s
Thursday: Ab’s/Forarms/Cardio
Friday: Leg’s (Legs are intense so you prob wont be able to do cardio for the next couple days)
You want to eat like a mad man too. A very high calorie/protein diet. If you want to gain weight you should be eating about 1 1/2 grams of protein per pound. Eat six meals a day that consist of atleast 2 protein shakes, ckn or steak, veg, and fruit. Take a whey shake during the day and a casein shake at night. Also I would reccommend a multi-vitamin and fish oil.
I weighed 135 less then 2 years ago and im 205 now. Stick to this and you will be gaining muscle in no time.
That is actually decent advice from GetBig227, except that obviously it is more important to make sure you are getting in enough CALORIES to gain weight rather than focusing all your efforts just on protein.
Being sore does not equal growing more muscle in any direct sense, but being sore isn’t a bad thing unless it’s inhibiting the rest of your training or a sport/activity you’re doing – in which case just change your schedule.
I personally like feeling sore and I know that when I’m sore the next day in all the right areas that I had a good workout, and as long as i eat enough to gain bodyweight my muscles are going to grow.
It can be a great tool for beginners but as you adapt and become an intermediate level lifter I think it becomes less important because you know how to hit your muscles already and what works best to achieve your personal ideal balance between failure and fatigue of the target muscle groups in the weight room.
In other words, muscle soreness should be embraced, but not looked upon as the cause of muscle gains.
Yea I agree with popular. If im not sore the next day I feel as though I have wasted a workout. You want to focus on recruiting the most muscle fibers focus on T.U.T (Time Under Tension) This will help you recruit the most muscle fibers and you muscles will grow larger. Slow concentrated movements when you lift. Pay strict attention to form. Its not about how much weight you can lift…its about how much weight you can lift correctly. Sacrifice form and your putting yourself at risk for an injury and not getting to your full potential of gaining mass.