Hey Chris. We all know that there are great training programs on T-Mag, but most seem to be aimed towards adults, and intermediate/advanced lifters. Now I know enough, and understand the programs well enough to do them, but I’m not sure if they are well suited for me. What kind of training would you suggest for a underweight 17 year old (about 5’11’', 130 lbs, you know the drill) who hasn’t had any success in weight gain?
PS- I know what I eat will probably be more important, I know what to eat (A LOT), I just am not quite sure what would be best training wise.
Thanks,
Julian
chris,
I know there is a lot of diet and training articles that provide info on how to get shredded fast! I recently just used one to get ready for a week long stay at the beach, with great results. Which diet and training routines do you think are the most effective at getting shredded fast?
phil
Chris,
You left one of your Snapples in the fridge.
Can I have it?
TC
[quote]Karen wrote:
Hi Chris. Any favorite gym gadgets or training tools you use a lot? [/quote]
I’m a gadget freak, mostly because I get bored easily and a new tool makes going to the gym interesting instead of humdrum. Of course, most gym and home fitness gadgets are shit. Also, most don’t need to be staples but rather occasional tools.
All that said, my favorite tool of the last few weeks is Power Rings. See the T-Jack Reports for reviews on these. I trained my upper body twice this week, once with the usual dumbbells and barbells, the other with nothing but the rings: pull-ups, skin-the-cats, push-ups, push-up flyes, dips, ab work, reverse rows, etc. Fun stuff.
Bands can be cool too, even for non-Westside trainers. I have a whole article on this topic coming out. I prefer Iron Woody bands.
[quote]Lexie wrote:
Chris,
Did I leave my panties at your house last night?[/quote]
They’re still stuck to the ceiling, cutiepie.
[quote]Julian L. wrote:
What kind of training would you suggest for a underweight 17 year old (about 5’11’', 130 lbs, you know the drill) who hasn’t had any success in weight gain?
PS- I know what I eat will probably be more important, I know what to eat (A LOT), I just am not quite sure what would be best training wise.
Thanks,
Julian[/quote]
Okay, I have to bug you about diet a little. Just be sure to keep a food log to get an idea of where you’re at ý mainly with total calories and protein. Too many people think they eat “a lot” but simply don’t. If you haven’t yet, see the “Project Evolution: The Missing Ingredient” web log entry of mine.
As for training, any newbie, regardless of age, would benefit from a simple compound program that hits every major muscle group. The main problem young guys have is overtraining some muscle groups (chest and biceps) while under-training or totally leaving others (back and legs).
Build a program around the basic lifts and don’t do more for chest than you do for back. Same goes for all opposing muscle groups. Some basic exercises:
Back: pull-up variations, row variations
Chest: bench press and dips
Shoulders: press variations (I like see-saw presses)
Legs: squat variations, deadlift variations, leg press, hamstring curls, calf raise variations
Arms:
biceps: focus mostly on the close-grip chin up, curl variations
triceps: skull crushers, close grip bench, dips
Abs: use a very wide variety, add resistance as needed.
Start with reps in the 10-12 range. Stop a rep or two short of failure on most sets. Control and use good form but don’t sweat tempo prescriptions right now.
Very basic, yes, but you don’t need much else right now. Try to hit each muscle group trice per week. A sample would be:
Monday: Chest/Back
Tuesday: Legs/Abs
Wednesday: off
Thursday: Back/Chest (yes, reverse the order)
Friday: Legs/Abs (reverse order of leg exercises, train hams first this time)
Weekend: off
After a few weeks, try another rep range. Go heavier and shoot for 6-8 for example.
Soon you’ll be ready to tackle any T-Nation program.
phil s.,
Hard to beat Alessi’s Meltdown Training combined with a modified, lower calorie version of the T-Dawg 2.0 diet. To speed it up even more, don’t eat in the 2-3 hours before bed and do morning, empty stomach cardio. Take an LBM preserver like Red Bands.
Not exactly what I’d recommend for steady, plainless fat loss, but for quick fat loss it’ll do the trick.
Why don’t you come out with a book on motivation? CT’s got a book on training. JB’s got a DVD on nutrition. I know there’s already a million books on motivation, but you could put it in the context of living a T-Nation lifestyle. You’re articles get me pumped, but a whole book would be sweet!
[quote]Atomic Dog wrote:
Chris,
You left one of your Snapples in the fridge.
Can I have it?
TC
[/quote]
Sure boss, just don’t drink the “lemonade” flavor. That’s for my drug test. If I pass one more test for anabolics Tim says I’m fired.
On a side note, if TC was Tony Soprano, does that make me Christopher or Silvio? And no wiseacres say Carmela or I’ll whack you like an informant girlfriend.
I think I would be worried about taking one of TC’s used tissues. That just takes my mind to a place it doesn’t want to go…shivers
Oh yeah an actual question
Being as how we as men don’t have to stave off dinosaurs on a daily basis, nor do most of us face life threatening situations, outside of saying the wrong thing to a T-vixen when she is mid-squat of course.
Realising this makes most of our muscles fall into the category of “just for show” I know that statement might offend some people, but I think it is true. So besides the possibility of picking up some tail easier, why do T-men put themselves through the grueling process that they do, just to look better?
It doesn’t make sense to me even though I do it.
-Dave
[quote]FCFighter wrote:
Why don’t you come out with a book on motivation? You’re articles get me pumped, but a whole book would be sweet![/quote]
I’ve thought about it. Not sure a “hardcore” kick-in-the-ass motivation book would fly, at least in the general market. It could be just what that market needed or it could flop. After all, this is a world where Chad Waterbury and Christian Thibaudeau are relatively unknown to the average fitness consumer, yet everyone knows Richard Simmons – who became a millionaire with hand holding and bad fitness advice.
How good you are and how much you know doesn’t have much to do with success in the fitness marketplace.
What I’d really like to do is a book on gym and dieting psychology. Problem is that only I only have a BA in Shrinkology and I’d need letters after my name for a publisher to buy into it. Sad, but true.
i’m 17 years old, 5’7", weigh about 155 lbs, and i’m overweight (i’m a fat skinny bastard)
do you think its better for me to lose the body fat and then gain muscle or focus on gaining muscle and then cut?
do you have any good programs i could follow to achieve the goal above?
here’s a newbie question: i’ve never really squatted or dead lifted. where can i get a guide or video on how to do both exercises using good form?
another one: for bicep curls using the EZ bar (i think…the one with curves), do you use a close grip, wide grip, or somewhere in between? for some reason, close grip is easier for me than wide grip. is that normal?
Hey Chris, in your opinion, are MCTs (fats) over rated? They were such a big craze at one point!
I stick with fish oil, flax oil, olive oil and some saturated fats.
thanks
[quote]ShortDave wrote:
why do T-men put themselves through the grueling process that they do, just to look better?
It doesn’t make sense to me even though I do it.
-Dave
[/quote]
Two things:
-
The important thing is to be motivated enough to hit the gym and eat right. A person may only do it to look better nekid, but he’s also becoming healthier and will live longer. He’ll also be able to move furnature without dying like the typical North American. The guy doing it only for sports will also be healthier and look better, whether he cares or not. (Oh yeah, and he’s lying if he says he doesn’t care about aesthetics.)
-
Your source of motivation will change and fluctuate. I started lifting because I had just dropped over 60 pounds of fat and looked like a skinny-fat punk. I did it to look better. Now, around 14 or 15 years later, I still do it for that reason, but I’m also starting to think about getting cancer and disease. This often happens to a guy after he turns 30 and realizes he’s no longer 7 feet tall and bulletproof. Now when I don’t feel like training I don’t just think about looking better, I think about the disease I’m hopefully preventing and being healthy and active at 80 instead of an invalid.
So, in short, if you’re planning on doing this for life, you’ll need several sources of motivation. The important thing is to just do it.
Oh, and as for the dinosaur comment, true. Remember that our bodies are evolved for activity, not sitting at a desk all day, which is what most of us do these days. In a sense, training is replacing all the dino chasing and farm labor. It is a necessity.
[quote]do you think its better for me to lose the body fat and then gain muscle or focus on gaining muscle and then cut?
do you have any good programs i could follow to achieve the goal above?
here’s a newbie question: i’ve never really squatted or dead lifted. where can i get a guide or video on how to do both exercises using good form?
another one: for bicep curls using the EZ bar (i think…the one with curves), do you use a close grip, wide grip, or somewhere in between? for some reason, close grip is easier for me than wide grip. is that normal?[/quote]
- As a 17 year old newbie, any good program with a good diet plan will help you lose and gain muscle at the same time. I would neither diet nor bulk, just eat clean, lift hard and be patient. Use lots of steroids too…
No, I’m kidding!
-
Deadlift and squat form: I’ll send you a free copy of Ian King’s “Killer Legs” video. Contact me via PM.
-
The “middle” is the standard position but you can use narrow and wide too. For big bi’s though, focus much of your energy on close-grip, palms facing you chin-ups. If you can’t do many, start with them at least and do what you can before moving to curls. If you can do over 12, hold a dumbbell between your feet.
[quote]chints wrote:
Hey Chris, in your opinion, are MCTs (fats) over rated? They were such a big craze at one point!
I stick with fish oil, flax oil, olive oil and some saturated fats.
thanks[/quote]
Yep, MCT’s were overrated. Yep, stick with flax, olive, fish and steak. Use ground flax as well. Great fiber source.
I gotta peel Lexie’s panties off the ceiling and hit the sack.
Cool Q and A. Thanks!
I’ll answer a few more during the weekend as I get the chance.
CS
Thanks Chris. I don’t mean to be greedy but I’m going to ask another question or 2…
As I mentioned, I’m very thin. As for gaining weight I’ve heard 2 drastically different opnions on how easy/hard it is for me to gain, and how fast I can/should do it. Some say “your so thin, and you 17 years old, eat everything and put on 20 lbs in a couple months”. While others say “your bone structure is might, and you don’t seem to have great genetics for gaining muscle, gaining a lot of weight might be impossible or very slow”. What do you think about this situation?
Last question, how many calories should I aim for? Of course I’d rather be lean, but given how skinny I am, I’d except putting on some fat with the muscle if it meant rapid weight gain. I’ve read articles but am never sure if the numbers apply differently to someone my age.
Thank you very much for your time and help,
Julian.
Hi Chris,
here’s a question i have been wondering for quite a while. i have been training on and off for about 9 years. right now i am 146lbs at around 6’ tall. yeah i know, not much to show for 9 years of training. the thing is i have gotten myself up to about 176lbs before when i was doing ABBH and eating like mad (i was nowhere near lean though). then i lost 38lbs in a few months for various reasons.
anyways, throughout the years my weight has gone up and down due to plenty of injuries, etc.
i am very much a hardgainer and have done the super overtraining, the HIT, ABBH, and many more.
so if you are still awake, here’s the question. i always read about how newbies shouldn’t do advanced programs and that they can do pretty much anything and gain. now, i have the BUILD of a newbie (hell i am half the size of most newbies) but i have exposed my tiny muscles to a plethora of training stimuli over the years and have been much bigger before.
since i have a serious lack of muscle, would i gain just like a newbie would on a beginners program? OR have i used up my beginner gains by having already exposed my muscles to years of various training?
sorry for being so wordy!!! any help would be greatly appreciated! THANK YOU!
[quote]Chris Shugart wrote:
What I’d really like to do is a book on gym and dieting psychology. Problem is that only I only have a BA in Shrinkology and I’d need letters after my name for a publisher to buy into it. Sad, but true.
[/quote]
Why don’t you self-publish it? It’s not that hard to do in the age of the computer. You could sell it online; here in T-land, dragondoor.com, elitefts, etc.
If you’d “really like to do” it, then do it. I’m sure there are a lot of us out here that would be interested in reading it.