Sick being insulted! (Too Skinny) Need help! :(

Right so basically i'm very uncomfortable with my body and its really bringing down my mood these days. Everyone is constantly calling me a twig and my friends have started on me recently and its quite upsetting. I even punched one of my best friends yesterday because he was calling me skinny. I just really really want to put on some weight and be comfortable with my body and start being happier with myself. Here what I look like just now.
 
 
  
Front normal                            Front tense
 
 
 
  
Side normal              Side tense
 
 
I really have no idea where to start. Eating seems to do absolutely NOTHING to me weight wise. I did some googling and discovered that im an ectomorph, which as far as I know means that I wont gain weight unless I start going to the gym. I think I have very low body fat? Im not sure if thats good or not though? :P
 
I've been lifting dumbells in my house but its doing nothing for me. The only thing stopping me from going to the gym is my skinnyness and my total lack of knowing what excercises to do? If someone could write me a small routine of what to lift, what excercises and how many reps etc i'd be more than gratful. Keep in mind im not wanting to go all out arnold shwarzenegger. I just want to look normal and fit my clothes! Abs and pecs wouldn't hurt either :P
 
Thanks! :D

Mate dont worry about the gym, just go....i looked exactly like you at the begining and no one laughed at me...(to my face anyway :P)

You need to train and eat alot, but you will gain weight, i got stuck in that i eat but dont put on weight rut for ages and convinved myself id be skinny forever....you wont! Just eat everything you can get your hands on imo dont even worry about being that strict to begin with diet wise just eat regularly. 

Get in the gym lift weights cardio x 2 a week and go for it!

Have a look at the articles for a routine to follow for now!

Hello mate, just eat big and often. If you join a half decent gym an instructor should get you started and settled in. You might stuggle eating quite abit like I am at the min :(

Within the first couple of months you should start to notice some changes if you get the diet and training right.

Cashmans guide for beginners I found really helpful so have a browse through that.

Good luck

Just find out how many calories you need to gain weight (google) and then just eat eat eat.

Do a program like the stronligts 5x5.

Cant see the point of you doing cardio either.  Maybe fast walks to warm up / down but nothing major.

course he needs cardio, you dont want to end up with muscles and then the inabiity to provide oxygen to them!
 
I made this mistake, since i started running i feel much better, plus running and swimming etc allows the body to work in unison, you will use certain muscles you cant target through lifting etc

Surely keep cardio to a minimum though. If you just want to get bigger then there's no point in doing such a catabolic activity as cardio. Do 1 or 2 sessions a week if you want, but keep it low intensity.

Main thing though is to eat LOADS and work your bollocks off in the weights room. You're not in that bad a position, sure you're skinny, but a lot of guys start off have no muscle but they're also fat. You have very little fat, so all you have to do is add muscle.

How much do you weigh? And how tall are you etc? Just out of interest

Emm i'm like 6ft 2, and about 120pounds. The fact im so tall makes me look skinnier aswell. So your saying I should just eat whatever I can get my hands on and not really worry about if its healthy or not?

CitizenKane


Surely keep cardio to a minimum though. If you just want to get bigger then there's no point in doing such a catabolic activity as cardio. Do 1 or 2 sessions a week if you want, but keep it low intensity.

Main thing though is to eat LOADS and work your bollocks off in the weights room. You're not in that bad a position, sure you're skinny, but a lot of guys start off have no muscle but they're also fat. You have very little fat, so all you have to do is add muscle.

How much do you weigh? And how tall are you etc? Just out of interest

Yeah mate def low intensity, i would do a 15 - 20 min run x 2 and at nothing more than barley jogging pace and no spriting at all the same speed for 15 - 20 mins.
 
 

KnuckleB


So your saying I should just eat whatever I can get my hands on and not really worry about if its healthy or not?

Absolutely not. If you do that, you run the risk of doing this: http://forum.bodybuildi...owthread.php?t=111611911

What you want to do be doing is eating lots of protein from lean sources like Fish, Chicken, Eggs, etc. Eat loads of carbs as well but try to keep them Complex and low-GI, like wholegrain pasta, wholegrain bread, sweet potato, oats, etc. And you want to be eating a good amount of dietary fats as well, but again make sure they're the right kind, not loads of saturated fats like you find in Big Macs, etc. Sources of good fats include olive oil, fish, nuts, avocados, etc.

You should be eating in a calorie surplus (eating more calories than you burn) in order for your muscles to grow, but they have to be the right kind of calories otherwise you will add unacceptable fat.

Of course eating a few junk meals a week will do you no harm, I maintain that if you are bulking and your sole objective is to get bigger, it's better to eat a junk meal than miss a meal. But obviously you should keep junk meals to a minimum.

As for your training, I recommend you join a gym. The best routines are simple, tried and tested and based around compound movements like Benching, deadlifting, squatting, overhead pressing, chin ups, rows, dips, etc. and incorporate adequate rest periods, because your muscles grow when they are resting. Disregard most of what you read in Mens Health type magazines. And doing loads of arm curls 3 or 4 times a week will get you nowhere. Check out the beginner articles on this site and/or post in the Bodybuilding routines section to sort yourself out with a routine.

Good luck

CitizenKane


Surely keep cardio to a minimum though. If you just want to get bigger then there's no point in doing such a catabolic activity as cardio. Do 1 or 2 sessions a week if you want, but keep it low intensity.

Main thing though is to eat LOADS and work your bollocks off in the weights room. You're not in that bad a position, sure you're skinny, but a lot of guys start off have no muscle but they're also fat. You have very little fat, so all you have to do is add muscle.

How much do you weigh? And how tall are you etc? Just out of interest

I disagree. No cardio fitness is a bit of a no no for gaining weight, more muscle, more blood and more stress on the heart. Gaining muscle and fitness go hand in hand. Plus a high level of CV means quicker recovery between sets and out of the gym.

OP, easiest thing to do for now is whatever you eat, increase it by 30%. Add in a few protien shakes and crack on for 6+ months. You will grow without fail.

Welcome to the forum and well done for posting. I took up training when I was 15 since I had really skinny arms and wouldn't wear a t-shirt.  Eat, rest and train and you will get you there.

For routine stick to the basics and don't over do it. 3 times a week is ample and concentrate on bench press, deadlifts, squats and shoulder presses. Initially do a full body with 3 sets of 10 reps for each body part. Once you got used to that split the routine in half and alternate e.g. push, pull & legs.

For example

Full body:- (3 sets of 10 reps)

Squats/leg press
Bench Press
Deadlifts
Rows
Shoulder Press
Curls
Tricep pushdowns

Once comfortable with this (say 3-4 weeks) go to a split.


Push
Bench Press 4 sets 10,8,6,8
Dips 3 set max
Shoulder Press 10,8,8
Lateral raises 8,8,8
Skull crushers 8,8,8

Pull & Legs
Squats 12,10,8,8
Calf raises 12,12,12
Deadlifts 8,6,4
Rows/pullups 8,8,8
Dumbell curls 10,10,10


REST, EAT, REST, EAT.

You don't grow in the gym. It is the eating and rest that helps you grow. The gym merely starts the process.

theiopener

CitizenKane


Surely keep cardio to a minimum though. If you just want to get bigger then there's no point in doing such a catabolic activity as cardio. Do 1 or 2 sessions a week if you want, but keep it low intensity.

Main thing though is to eat LOADS and work your bollocks off in the weights room. You're not in that bad a position, sure you're skinny, but a lot of guys start off have no muscle but they're also fat. You have very little fat, so all you have to do is add muscle.

How much do you weigh? And how tall are you etc? Just out of interest

I disagree. No cardio fitness is a bit of a no no for gaining weight, more muscle, more blood and more stress on the heart. Gaining muscle and fitness go hand in hand. Plus a high level of CV means quicker recovery between sets and out of the gym.

OP, easiest thing to do for now is whatever you eat, increase it by 30%. Add in a few protien shakes and crack on for 6+ months. You will grow without fail.

And a few pints of milk a day thrown in on top of that

TIO - fair comment. You're in much better condition than me so I can't argue with that! In my experience though I have seen people go overboard on the cardio during bulking and it has hindered their gains. A good balance is what's needed.

Best advice I can give from experience is add protein shakes in there. Even if you eat what you've been eating but with a couple of 500 cal shakes a day, you will put on weight.

CitizenKane

TIO - fair comment. You're in much better condition than me so I can't argue with that! In my experience though I have seen people go overboard on the cardio during bulking and it has hindered their gains. A good balance is what's needed.

CK - My condition has nothing to do with the discussion at hand. What i look like doesnt mean anything. What im discussing is simply what i have learned throughout my time training with myself and a few others. Just because i may have been cut 9 months back doesnt discount any opinion you may have.

I agree a balance is whats needed, im not advocating killing himself.

hi,  great advice so far i had the same problem didnt start filling out till i was thirty, my experience is most people in the gym will be there to help it may be daunting at first but trust me you'll get the best tips off the guys in there and the hardest part of training for me is the eating, but keep going eat every two hours and throw in shakes and it doesnt happen over night it takes months ,enjoy it ....

theiopener

OP, easiest thing to do for now is whatever you eat, increase it by 30%. Add in a few protien shakes and crack on for 6+ months. You will grow without fail.

 
Thats the kind of reply I was looking for! :D You've inspired me!
 
Eating healthy isn't a problem for me. I regularly eat chicken, fish, meat and vegetables... It's just the fact I didn't stick to the exercises. Basically all I need to do is buy some protein shakes, try and eat more, and stick at the gym?

KnuckleB

theiopener

OP, easiest thing to do for now is whatever you eat, increase it by 30%. Add in a few protien shakes and crack on for 6+ months. You will grow without fail.

 
Thats the kind of reply I was looking for! :D You've inspired me!
 
Eating healthy isn't a problem for me. I regularly eat chicken, fish, meat and vegetables... It's just the fact I didn't stick to the exercises. Basically all I need to do is buy some protein shakes, try and eat more, and stick at the gym?

It is good advice, TIO is the man, BUT I would say that it took me about 4000 calories a day to start adding much muscle. This was about twice as much as I had been eating before I started training - so for me it was more like a 100% increase in food, rather than 30%. This in itself isn't very relevant because I was a LOT heavier than you even when I started so you won't need anywhere near as much food to grow as I did, but it's just a thought! For example if you only eat 1000 calories a day then increasing that by 30% won't do much!

But you will know soon enough what works for you. Eat a lot, but eat healthy. Add in a whey shake or two throughout the day and mix in oats and olive oil to help you get your kcals/carbs/fats in. If you start to notice you're gaining a bit of fat, then cut back on the kcals a bit.

Also if your mates are insulting you so much that you have to resort to punching them, then I would consider getting some new mates...

Seriously don't worry about going to the gym, i can tell you for a fact every single person in that gym was in a similar condition as yourself when they started. The main thing is do your research and do it properly from the start, within a few months and whilst getting good gains you will gain respect from everyone in the gym. It comes down to Train, Eat and Sleep and it really isn't complicated. Start Rippetoe's routine (http://forum.bodybuildi...showthread.php?t=750551) and post up your diet on here so we can have a look at it.

Cutting Mad


Seriously don't worry about going to the gym, i can tell you for a fact every single person in that gym was in a similar condition as yourself when they started. The main thing is do your research and do it properly from the start, within a few months and whilst getting good gains you will gain respect from everyone in the gym. It comes down to Train, Eat and Sleep and it really isn't complicated. Start Rippetoe's routine (http://forum.bodybuildi...showthread.php?t=750551) and post up your diet on here so we can have a look at it.

Good call on Rippetoe. If I could go back and start over with my training, the one thing I'd do differently is start on Rippetoe's Starting Strength from day 1 and do it for at least 6 months. It's probably the most universally acclaimed beginner's routine out there.

You may be skinny but as previously said no one was born muscular.
Your thinking about it from the skinny side of the scale, alot of people have the same issue with being fat. They don't want to go to the gym or even out because they are that fat but once they get down the gym and start training and people notice their gains/loss however you want to put it then they get complimented. You've got pictures of you now, take some every month for a year and compare them its great for motivation!

After i did the marathon i was weighing in at about 11 stone (April 2008). I was a skinny boy but now March 2010 i'm weighing in at 13.4 stone of lean muscle. I look at the pictures i posted up of my self a few years ago, look at myself now and feel good. Because i'm at uni when i go home people are always like "Wow you've got bigger." You may not notice it as you will look in the mirror every day but other people will!

As said by Rippetoe, take in what people tell you, don't neglect your legs and just because you may start deadlifting a pathetic weight to get good form, so did we all.  I started at 3 x 8 @ 50kg (including the bar) that was in Sep. Now in March I've got the form i warm up and get my technique with 1 x 10 @ 100 easily and am doing 3 x 6 @ 130. Not a massive amount for some but i'm happy!