A friend recommended this site so hopefully you guys can help me out. I’m 18 and too skinny. I’m 5’11” and weigh about 130 lbs. I started lifting weights about 2 months ago to try and get bigger, but it just doesn’t seem to be working. I’ve been doing lots of bench presses, curls and sit ups but I hardly look any different and I still weigh the same as when I started. I eat tons of food so I know that’s not a problem. I’m starting to think that maybe weightlifting just doesn’t work for some people like me. Oh, and please don’t recommend that I take steriods to get bigger.
Okay, T-people, play nice. A free Testosterone T-shirt to anyone who can set this young man straight and give him the best advice. Let’s hear it.
dude!! if you give up after 2 months your not into it. first of all you need protein and calories but read “massive eating” and try that.
also how do you workout? benchpress, curls, and situps isnt a great regamin friend. try bench squats deadlifts good mornings sleep food and more food. also dont overtrain dont go past about 1 hour for your workout. read TESTOSTERONE RELIGOUSLY! every friday you better have this puppy on the monitor. also check out the search engine on here for a good beginner workout. dont give up bro start doin things right and youll gain like crazy.
-G
A free t-shirt? You’re on Chris.
Ok stick boy, listen up. If you’ve just been working out for two months chances are you won’t have seen and muscle gains. You should have seen an increase in strength however, because the earliest changes are neurological, not muscular. Secondly, you have more body parts than just your chest, bi’s and abs. Seriously consider (by saying that I mean DO WHAT I SAY) working your legs, shoulders, back and tri’s…you’re seriously screwing yourself out of gains if you’re working less than half your body. I’d say keep your rep ranges between 8-12 and don’t be afraid to go heavy. You say you eat a lot of food? What kind of food? You need to eat a clean, well balanced diet. Search this site for diet and you’ll see what I mean. Look into Massive Eating. “Maybe weightlifting doesn’t work for some people like me”??? True, if you consider yourself a grade-a moron.
Try this: Educate your damn self! Everyday, log on to this site and read a different training or diet article, try some Ian King routines…read to get big, so you can stop calling yourself stickboy. Best of luck.
Stick-boy…it’s not how much you eat, but what you eat that counts. Are you getting enough protein? Are you getting the right fats? There are TONS of different eating plans on this site, do a search and look them over. One is bound to be aimed at exactly what you want to acheive. Suppliments can help too, and I mean the legal ones!
Also, you say you do ‘lots of’ lifts, what does that mean? doing a million sets won’t make you bigger! What is your program?
No, you should NOT take steroids to get bigger, they are for after you have met your natural potential! And it takes time too…I just got ‘yelled at’ by my t-man for complaining about lack of results after only two months. It took him two years to go from stick-boy (5’11", 145) to big hunky t-man (he put on 50 pounds of muscle mmmmmmmmmmm) give it time!!! you’ll get there!!! good luck and keep us posted!
Hey Stick-Boy, welcome to T-mag. Where all your prayers have been answered. Rather than having me list a bunch of things you should do, I’m going to point you to the articles you need to read. First, I suggest you go to issue #135 (Strength Training, Bodybuilding & Online Supplement Store - T NATION) and read Chris Shugart’s article called “The Diet Manifesto.” This will at least get your diet on track. You say you are eating tons of food, well, I bet you aren’t eating quite as much as you think. And I’m sure one of these diet plans will help you out. Also, a second article related to eating is John Berardi’s famous “Massive Eating” plan found in issues #146 and 147 (Strength Training, Bodybuilding & Online Supplement Store - T NATION) (Strength Training, Bodybuilding & Online Supplement Store - T NATION). And always remember that you should take in at least 1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight.
Now let's start talking about training. Lots of bench presses, curls and situps aren't doing it for you? Really? Well, it sounds like we need to get back to basics. And this doesn't mean bench pressing two, three or more times a week. So let's go to school, dawg school to be exact, and check out this basic article on training. It can be found in issue #130 (http://t-mag.com/html/130dawg.html). I guarantee you will find some basic information to set up a sound training program that will take your gains to new levels. When you're done reading that article, you'll almost be ready to begin. But class isn't over yet, so it's time for another session of dawg school. Be sure to read the top newbie mistakes in issue #114 (http://t-mag.com/html/114dawg.html).
Stick-boy, if you read these few articles, and take some notes, I guarantee that you'll be on the path to gaining some good solid weight. And after a few weeks, you'll notice differences. And after a few months, you'll see the differences. But it is going to take one thing that may not be mentioned in these articles. It's going to take DISCIPLINE and DEDICATION. So kick your ass in gear and do this! Hit me back when you are a new man! And remember that sticking with the basics THROUGHOUT your training career is the key. Don't let any fancy diets or training programs throw you off track.
Stick, I started out just like you, except I found weights at a much younger age (13) Anyways, I weighed 110lbs. at that point and was the smallest person I knew. Here’s what you do. Eat more, you said that you eat tons of food, I’d like to recommend mega-tons as an alternative and like Grant said, definitely read Massive Eating so you know what to eat and when, to put your body in a more ideal mass gaining state. Also, like Grant said start doing a little more than bench, curls and sit ups, if you want some ass kicking mass, it’s gonna be found in your legs, so some squats, deadlifts, cleans, goodmornings and other such lifts will help with that tremendously and I would recommend that you consider getting Ian King’s “Killer Leg Exercises” so you don’t teach yourself bad form and sabotage yourself. Other than that, maybe mix in some pulling movements chins, rows etc. And don’t give up, on 5’11" you have no choice but to grow.
Weightlifting doesn’t work for you, dude you’re 18, giving up should not be in your vocabulary. Weightlifting always WORKS especially for skinny guys like you and me. What you mean you do “lots of” ot eat “tons of”? You have to know exactly how much, when, and what to eat, this is not a problem because T-mag has all the info on that subject - just type “diet” in the search engine and read anything you can. Buy a notebook and keep an eating plan and exercise plan!
Forget about steroids. I commend you for your stance on that issue. A few points: I recommend you check out “Beyond Brawn” and “The Insiders Guide to Weightlifting Technique”. Stuart McRobert is the author of these books. These books are taylored for the “hardgaining” trainee like yourself. The gist of these books is to train briefly but hard on the basic exercises using impeccable form. Concurrently, you will need to eat extremely well (5 to 6 nutritous protein-rich meals per day) and pay close attention to your rest requirements (get a lot of sleep!). Regarding training, the biggest mistake you are making now is that you are not training your back and legs. To gain bodyweight you need to forget about the curls for awhile and focus on squats and rows in addition to your bench presses. You will be training no more than 3 times per week and 2 may even be better. For example, on Monday you may want to do Squats, Rows and Bench Presses, and on Thursday you may want to do Deadlifts, Overhead Presses and Chins. That would be a sample program. Regarding sets and reps, 2 to 3 “working sets” (after warmups) of 12 to 6 reps, per exercise, should be plenty. Regarding supplements, all you’ll need is a good protein powder and multivitamin, nothing else. You’ll also need a lot of patience and perserverance. Don’t compare yourself to anyone else. It may take you awhile to learn the proper form for squatting and deadlifting, but take your time. Don’t kill yourself. Once you learn how to do these exercises reasonably well you will make gains! You’ll put on 20 pounds in no time which will be a good gain for you. Good luck!
Stick boy, welcome to the forum. First off, if you follow our instructions, you will not be using the name stick boy much longer. First off, growing involves three things, workout, rest, and diet. Now you are a youngin, so you have LOTS of testosterone running thru your system, so forget the steroids. Lets hit the aspects one at a time.
Workout. Just bench and curls don’t do it. You need heavy compound movements, and no goofy machines. I recommend squats, deadlifts, benching, pulldowns (preferably pullups) curls and close grip presses. KEEP A LOG and improve your numbers each and every workout. I like to do Day 1 Chest and back, TDay 2 Squats Day 3 arms Day 4 deadlifts and day 5 off…then repeat. I don’t do shoulders much because the heavy benching will hit them pretty well, but you can throw in military presses on arm day. Do no more than 10 to 12 sets per workout, and keep reps around 8 to 10.
Suggested reading: Beginners workout
Diet: Rather than getting into it heavy, read Massive eating parts one and two. Or keep it simple, multiply your bodyweight by 18 to 20 and that is the number of calories you should eat…keeping protein at LEAST 1 to 1.5 grams per pound of bodyweight. if your eating LOTS of junk bro, your not gonna grow.
REST: if your lifting, and participating in 3 different school athletic programs, your not gonna grow. Your body needs time to recover. While trying to gain mass, cut down on the 3 hour pickup basketball games or anything else you might be doing that burns tons of calories. Get 8 to 10 hours of sleep. An excellent resting activity is to sit at your computer with half a gallon of…well for you…WHOLE milk, with some protein powder mixed in, and drink it down while reading all the back issues of T-mag. There are a lot of other things to get into as you advance in the iron game, like post workout nutrition, recovery enhancers and supplements, but don’t get blown away by everything at once. Give it a go for a good 6 months…let us know how you do, and we are here to help with any questions you might have. K.G. Whopper
Hey stick-boy…you’ve come to the right place. First of all, there are some great articles for beginners such as yourself written by Chris Shugart. Do a search under his name and you will find them (I think they’re the Dawg School articles or something) I started lifting weights when I was 16…6’1" tall at 138 lbs. I am now 6’4" and 200 lbs. Not really huge but athletically built and pretty strong and athletic. I have mostly trained to be better at sports so I guess I would be bigger if that was my main goal. I wasted a lot of my early years doing the same stupid routine and gained some but nothing amazing ( I was 6’ 2" and 165 lbs at age 18). I finally got up to 180 by the time I was 20, but I was really only working my upper body and playing Basketball 4-5 days a week. I started working my legs shortly ofter and got up to about 192. I was at my present weight by 1998 and didn’t work out for a couple of years…I hope to be up to 210 by the end of the year. My point is: I learned a lot over time and have made considerable progress. The 2 months you have spent is nothing…hopefully you have started a life long endeavor to being stronger and more healthy. If I knew the things I knew now when I as in high school I probably would have been about 20 lbs. heavier by the time I graduated. Fortunately you have the benefit of the knowledge I wish I had when I was beginning. The best advice I can give is to learn proper squat and deadlift form and incorporate them into your workout. NEVER SKIP LEGS. On upper body…get a lot of variety…emphasize compound movements (ex. Bench Press, Rows, Chins, Dips…). I would definitely try to get better at Chins/Pull-ups and Dips. Don’t worry about working your arms…they will grow from all the other stuff. EAT A LOT! Keep Posting to the forum so that people can follow your progress and offer advice when needed.
BTW Ian King has written a few workout articles for Mens Health that are for beginners you can order them off their websight if you need a specific workout already written up. Good luck and stay in touch.
I was in the same boat a few years ago. If you eat as much as you claim and weigh 130lbs you will have a hard time growing you need a small amount of exercise. Right now forget what people tell you about eating clean. This is what you WILL do from here on out. For diet I want you to eat food such as cheeseburgers tacobell and pizza. When your at home and have time to cook feel free to eat clean if you want. Wash every meal down with whole milk or soda. Two hours after you eat drink a Grow! or 40 gram Advanced Protein drink with flax oil. One hour after that eat again.
Training is going to be very important as well.
Because of the fact that you don’t put size on well and your metabolism is so fast you need to be careful not to overtrain.
Monday perform bench press then chins then decline dumbell bench, close grip palms up pull downs, pec deck, cable rows. On All exercise do only one set to failure. If you truly train to failure this is all you will need.
Wednesday Breathing squats (do a search on t-mag) calves and abs
Friday Dumbell shoulder press then hammer curls then tricep press downs supersetted with dips. One set to failure. On every exercise take 4 seconds to lower the weight and 2 seconds to raise the weight. At every workout use more weight or perform more reps.
I’ll do my best to help you out. 1)First of all, eating a whole lot doesn’t help much if you don’t eat often. You need to eat around six meals a day. 2)Eat a lot of quality protein. Chicken, lean beef, cottage cheese, tuna, mrp’s (meal replacement shakes like Biotest’s Grow!) There are a whole lot of theories about how much protein to eat, but if you eat around 40 - 50 % of you calories from protein and eat six meals and around 3000 calories total daily, you should get enough. 3) Eat quality carbohydrates. Leave the fruit loops in the cabinet and eat some brown rice, potatoes, fruit, yogurt, and oatmeal. 4) Don’t worry about putting on a little fat while you are gaining muscle. Fat can come off later, in order to give yourself the best chance at gaining muscle, a little fat may come along for the ride. 5)How often are you working out? Try to work out 3-4 times a week and TRAIN HARD. You ought to be very sore the next couple of days. There are many workout plans on this site, just use their search feature and find one you like. 6)Get lots of sleep. Your muscles need to heal after you tear them up at the gym.
How’d I do Chris?
Welcome to the iron game. First, thank your friend for steering you to T-mag. I only wish such a wealth of information existed when I was 18!
Here’s the best head start I can give you with the least words. Get a large, 3-ring binder, lots of printer paper, and a hole punch. Go go to the main T-mag page and put the phrase ‘dawg school’ in the search window. Bring up and print out all of Chris Shugart’s DAWG SCHOOL articles. Put them in the notebook.
Next, go to the forum page and put the word ‘forum’ in the subject search window. Scroll down the results to the entries titled “Dog Pound-Forum Edition”, all dated from Dec. 4 to Dec 8. These were all collections of advice for beginners. Cut and paste these into a word processor, print them all out, and place them into your notebook.
Next, carry that notebook with you wherever you go and read it all over and over in your spare time and start applying what you have learned. Get ready to grow! Once you get started, go to the FAQ page for more advanced training and diet information. Good luck - Nylo
Thanks everyone for the information. This weightlifting sure seems like it requires a lot of time and effort. Counting calories, eating all day, planning and writing down your workouts, etc. It gives me a headache just thinking about it. Do I really need to do all this stuff just to get bigger? I don’t want to be a professional weightlifter or anything.
Also, I don’t have much money, so I can’t afford to join a gym or buy vitamins or protein powder or anything. I just work out in my basement and basically eat what my Mom cooks (but I eat a lot of it). All I have is a bench, a barbell and some weights. I guess it would be a good idea to do more exercises, like maybe for my back and shoulders too. I don’t know about leg exercises though, I really don’t want to have big legs. Some of you guys said to only do 6, 8 or 10 reps. It seems like this would be too easy. I probably do about 20-25 reps right now and that’s not even working.
Hi Stickboy welcome to T-Mag. You’ve come to the right place for help.
My first suggestion is to educate yourself about the ins and outs of bodybuilding. In order to accomplish that I recommend several information sources. First and foremost, this website particularly the archives of past issues. Second, I recommend a book called the Poliquin Principles by Charles Poliquin. Although the book is targeted towards intermediate and advanced lifters it is loaded with good information. I believe it was either Chris Shugart, or TC who wrote an article with simplified explanations of these principles. Do a search on the website using the term Poliquin, and either TC or Chris’ names and then print out the article for future reference.
My second recommendation is to examine your motivations for lifting and make a commitment to yourself to persevere in this endeavor realizing that you will be tempted to quit, particularly in the early stages.
Bodybuilding will not reward you with steady consistent visible results. You will struggle through periods where growth stagnates punctuated with periods where results come fast and furious. No one gains muscle on a consistent basis, there will be peaks and valleys.
Lastly, remember that becoming a T-Man requires more than just throwing some plates on a bar and slinging it around. It requires, knowledge, dedication and planning. This lifestyle requires more than lifting, it requires a well planned lifting program, good nutrition, and plenty of rest. Weightlifting will work for anyone who approaches it with intelligence and dedication. Good Luck.
I only have one more thing to add to what I said earlier. “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Neither will your body. So keep chipping away at it.
Well, yes. It does take a whole lot of effort to get the physique you want. I doubt many of us here want to be professional bodybuilders (though some do) we all just want to have the best physique we can. We all want the opposite sex to turn their heads when we walk by. It doesn’t happen by accident though - if you will look around, not many peolple have great physiques. It takes hard work and effort and that is why when you see a truly great physique you will look. It’s an accomplishment, something you can be proud of. Don’t settle for less, you can have an extraordinary physique, but you have to do what people without those physiques are not willing to do. If you want to look ordinary, do what ordinary people do. Otherwise - keep posting.
Next, 8-10 reps shouldn’t be easy, not if you use enough weight. 20 - 25 reps isn’t probably the route you want to go. Use higher weights and less reps. If the weight is high enough your muscles will be toast, and you’ll know they’ve been toasted.
You eat what you mom cooks - do you like your mom and dad’s physiques? Or do you want better? You are 18 and you are old enough to make your own food choices. Plus, if you look at the list of foods I gave in the last post, I bet you can find many of those already in your house. Oatmeal, chicken, tuna, cottage cheese, potatoes… You don’t have to be rich to workout hard or eat right. Tell your parents what you want to do and ask them to buy some of these healthy foods for you. If they won’t do it, it will be up to you. But hey, you’re 18, a legal adult. You can make some life changing decisions for yourself now right?
Stick-boy, stop making excuses! “It’s too hard! It takes too much time! It’s too complicated. Do I really have to eat that much? I don’t want to be a competitive lifter, I just want to get bigger! I don’t want my legs to get big!” Blah, blah, blah!!!
Look, I gave you four articles that are the most informative on the site. Stop procrastinating and read them! And you can always find substitutes for exercises that can be done at home with what you have. And if you still don't like what T-mag has to offer, then get yourself on a good bodyweight routine that me and some of the other T-maggers have been talking about: Combat Conditioning. Check out matt furey's site for more info on that. Or go to combatconditioning.com. Even MILO has great routines for begginers. And you know what? They always use the basics: Squats, deadlifts, rows, bench presses, chin ups, curls, overhead presses, etc.
At this point in the game, you need to know the basics about eating and training. And you don't have to be anal about calculating every single thing you eat. Just freakin' eat every two to three hours! Is it really that hard? No! You open your mouth and insert food. Chew. Swallow. Repeat.
I don’t want to hear another excuse from you! You’re making too much out of it all. Instead of thinking too much, do it! Now go read those articles, and we won’t call you stick-boy anymore!
Stick, I now see a couple of problems with your current situation, and as Ironbabe has pointed out you may very well have the types of food you need to eat right in your house right now, and if you want to make gains, you may need to try cooking for yourself when your mom isn’t. Also, I don’t know if you have a job, but earning enough money to pay for supplements is not very hard when living at home. Being 18 I would assume that you may be still be in High School, try using the weight room at school, I lived in my High School’s weight room until I was 18 and they are likely to have the proper equipment and enough weight to offer you a challenge. Because if you are doing 20-25 reps right now and think that 6-8 would be easy, you are obviously thinking that the 6-8 reps would be done with the same weight, and that is absolutely false, you have to challenge your body if you want to see improvements, and yes it can be a lot of work sometimes but it sounds like you have already made your decision, now you just have to take action. I certainly didn’t grow very quickly when I was young, but I did fall in love with my new found strength and at your same height I went from 110lbs. to my present 205, I’m 21 now, follow in the footsteps of numerous people just like me in the forum and improve yourself. Last thing, squatting won’t give you as big of legs as you seem to think, not right away at least, but without steroids, you’ll be hardpressed to create pro bodybuilder type musclebound legs, do some more reading and forget the old myths you’ve picked up. Happy Lifting.