bulking up?

Physics is Phun

i'm a pretty thin guy. 6'1 and 155 pounds. i went to the gym a fair bit during the summer, got stronger, i'm as strong as guys who look much more muscular. what can I do to gain a bit more muscle mass? people at my work told me that i have to put on a lot a fat and then turn that into muscle, that's doesn't really sound like a great idea to me...but i don't know much when it comes to fitness or anything.
so any particlar exercising/diets that people could reccomend? or anything else...
I'm 19 years old btw.
thanks!

GeoMike

You can't turn fat into muscle, but you should ensure that your caloric intake exceeds/matches your level of activity/metabolism so that aren't burning muscle protien for energy.

Unfortunately, genetics also plays a large part in how "big" any of us can get.
-GeoMike-

moose

What's your daily protein intake like?

gravenewworld

You "went to the gym for a fair bit during the summer" ?? Did you stop? Usually you won't notice that much difference until about 16-20 weeks after you start lifting. just keep lifting, you will get bigger. do heavier weights and less reps. while people tell me all the time that you should gorge yourself on protein while lifting, I never do and I notice that I have built a decent amount of muscle up. I say to hell with all those protein drinks/mixes that cost $90 a canister and just eat a well balanced diet. You are only 155 so you probably don't have that much fat on you, but to get really cut you will absolutely have to do cardio (probably even have to spend more time doing this) and watch how many calories you take in. Just keep hitting the gym up. Try to lift 5/7 days a week and make sure you work your legs. If your that thin now and keep lifting only your upper body, it will look very unsymmetical and quite funny ( I laugh so hard when I see dudes at the gym with huge upper bodies and scrawny chicken legs). If you keep lifting you will definitely get bigger, just be consistent, go every week, and make sure when you lift you lift until your muscles are completely exhausted.


some excercises I recommend:

for bi's-- 21's. Take 40 or 50 lbs. ez bar and lift it up like you are doing bicep curls. Start from your chest and go down until your elbows are 90 degrees, then curl back up. Do that 7 times. Immediately after that, start with the bar at your legs (so your arms are fully extended) then curl up so that your elbows are 90 degrees. Go back down. Repeat 7 times. Next do the whole range of motion (curl from your arms fully extended until they are brought up all the way) 7 times. 3 or 4 sets of these will kill your biceps.

back--honestly, nothing is better than doing pull ups.

tri's--skull crushers http://www.myfit.ca/exercisedatabase...xercises&ID=57

chest--- bench press (do incline, decline, and flat).

zoobyshoe

The secret is eating a huge amount of protein. 15-20 chickens a day should do it.

Beeza

Heavy compound movements and the diet of a pregnant elephant. Don't bother with 10 sets of bicep curls and whatever other garbage you see people doing. If you squat, deadlift, power cleans, heavy rows, etc, you'll be fine and everything will develop on its' own.

Cyrus

You can eat 12 cows a day, but once you stop it will melt off my friend. Trust me from experience, school took away all my hard work at the gym, and fast.

Most chicks dont care one way or another if your buff, so dont worry about it.

Moonbear

You could always ignore the people who tell you that you need to get bigger and just wait until you reach your 30s for that thin physique to go away naturally.

Pythagorean

agreed. If you're getting stronger from exercise, then it's working.

Embrace your body type. Love it. You're a superstar.

Astronuc

I didn't bulk up - my weight got up to about 180 lbs, while lifting 240 lbs (with reps) in military and about 275 lbs (with reps on bench press).

In addition to weight lifting, I road a bicycle and ran at least 3-4 miles a day with a quarter mile sprint at the end. Plus I was doing iron work (structural iron construction), so I was doing low to medium weight lifting continuously 8-10 hrs/day. On weekends I played soccer usually for 1-2 hrs.

My food intake was normal meals, sometimes large, but I did a protein supplement in the morning and evening. That was about 24 oz of milkshake (with vanilla or chocolated ice cream) with protein powder and baby formula (e.g. Similac). The protein powder was something equivalent to Myoplex Deluxe, which I still use occasionally.

Danger

That explains the hair colour.

big man

ummm all I can say is don't work out 5/7 times a week...
Especially if you're beginning at the gym. It not only takes too much time, but you need to give your body rest. There is no way someone new who is training properly is going to be able to withstand training 5/7 times a week. The body needs rest to strengthen. You at least have to allow a day's rest in between sessions. Hell you may even have to take creatine to be able to recover properly in a day as well.

You don't particularly have to 'waste' your time with the protein supplements, but they are very good if you have the money. Musashi bulk is a decent really cheap high carb and high protein supplement. It's [a protein supplement] just really convenient for providing the nutrients needed to build mass and helps with your recovery time as well. If you don't have the money then you just need to have fill the gap with different meals. Canned tuna, baked beans, eggs (the best possible protein you can get) are really easy meals to have in between your breakfast and dinner. The taste is something else, but you get what you need out of those foods.

Beeza and Grave gave some really good exercises though.

Also like they said it is impossible to turn fat into muscle. Putting on fat is inevitable when you are trying put on weight, but it can easily be lost later when you want to tone up. If you have a high metabolism, which is most likely the case, then you really don't have to worry about doing cardio for now. You will put on fat, but you're definitely not going to look like a blob and you will still be reasonably toned.

I don't want to sound like a twat or anything, but are you sure you're doing the exercises properly as well. I only say this because I, like most people beginning, did some exercises incorrectly and so I was lifting more than I should have. It was mainly the dumbbell flys and 45 degree leg press that this happened on. Anyway just observe how other people do the exercises to be sure that you're doing them correctly. If you are doing the exercises correctly then good work. You can't be sure why they are lifting less, but it could be that they're happy with their weight and are just working on maintaining it, or that they have an injury...or they could just be doing half-arsed workouts.

Anyway I'm no expert. I just know what worked for me and what was recommended to me by local bodybuilders. I think Beeza is actually a bodybuilder (if I remember correctly) so he'd probably know more about what is a good routine than anyone else here.

Anyway good luck with it all!!

J77

You'll be worrying about getting fat in a several years time.

Take up a sport - that'll get your muscles working.

zoobyshoe

Anyway, this is wrong. You build muscle mass directly onto the muscle that's already there. You don't have to create fat first, then convert it to muscle.

If you are starting out already lean, and increasing your exercise to build muscle you have to increase your caloric intake to 1.) fuel the energy it takes to perform the increase in exercise, and 2.) give your muscles something to use to add to their mass. It is conventional wisdom among body builders, from what I've read and seen, that the best kind of food for the latter is protein, vegetable or animal.

At any rate, increasing your excercise without increasing your caloric intake will result in the opposite of what you want: you'll get skinnier and lose muscle mass. Your body will be fueling the exercise by tapping your existing muscles as the fuel source.

I just found that out the hard way after a diet and exercise regimen for fat loss went a bit too far and I noticed to my unpleasant surprise that I had not only lost the excess fat but had started down the road to looking skeletal.

devious_

Amen to that. Just make sure you do them in proper form. It doesn't matter if you're doing a crapload of weight if all your reps are done in horrible form. So keep your ego in check, otherwise you won't gain mass efficiently and you'll probably end up injuring your back or knees.

fourier jr

that's exactly right. reading dinosaur training & eating lots of kraft dinner wouldn't hurt either.