Its time I start taking this seriously

[Saint Nick]

All right, I'm 21 years old. I weigh 165 lbs. and am 6' 5". Definitely a thin guy. I feel like its time that I start working out. I've been in college for nearly three years and I'm not near as active as I "used to be". So, I'm looking to start some kind of workout. I definitely would like to get bigger and have broader shoulders and bigger arms and legs. My stomach is well-toned, but thats probably because I have almost no body fat. And on top of "getting big", I would like to keep my heart healthy with some cardio. I also understand that diet is very important as well. The gym is right next to where I eat and its just a buffet with lots of healthy (and unhealthy) options.

Mostly looking where to start. I live within walking distance to the gym so it shouldn't be hard. My only problem is that I want a strict schedule I can follow week by week. Something that I can print off and check off as I go along or something. Also maybe dietary suggestions. I am also not interested in taking any steroids or supplements because they seem like they are unhealthy and would like to do this "naturally".

Could anyone help me out with that?

 

[crt1530]

Buy this book. In the mean time (while you're waiting for your book arrive), read this thread. It gives an outline of the program and the reasoning behind it. You will not find a better strength training program for beginners. Once you've ordered the book and read the thread, post any follow up questions.

 

[BigPoppa]

Eat. You've gotta eat above maintenance to gain. Train hard. Crt already pointed you to a great program (i'm following it myself).

 

[paulxcook]

Follow the Ripptoe method as CRT suggested. The results people report while on it are amazing. I've just started it myself, as I've been out of lifting for several years. 3 things:

1. 6'5" and 165 lbs! Wow! Your metabolism must be insane. I don't think I've been 165 lbs since I was 12 or 13 years old, and I'm only 6'2". Therefore...
2. You'll want to follow ALL of the Ripptoe training method, especially the nutrition. You will be eating a lot.
3. Your source of food and your workout venue are both very close to home, which is enviable. You probably won't have it this easy again, so take advantage of this opportunity now.

 

[Saint Nick]

As far as I diet goes. I am going to assume I keep a high protien diet.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: jndietz
As far as I diet goes. I am going to assume I keep a high protien diet.

keep it high everything for a while so you can just put on some weight. high protein, high carb, high fat, high calories.

i have a fast metabolism and it was always tough for me to put on weight and i used to watch what i ate while eating a ton of protein, but i still wouldn't really gain weight. then i just stopped caring and now i just anything and everything, and i've gained about 20lbs in about 4 months.

no it's not 20lbs of pure muscle, but a good amount of it is muscle.

 

[Cstefan]

My suggestions:
Lean sirloin is your best friend. Eat eat eat! Egg beaters, chicken breast, salmon, center cut pork loin. Various vegetables, keep the variety. Same with fruits. Steel cut oatmeal with some fruit for breakfast. I get good results with a 40/30/30 (pro/carb/fat) ratio. 4000 calories is a good start at your height. People who are really serious and go 5-6 days a week I see putting down 6000+. I am by no means an expert, I did a load of intarwebs and book research for the diet info.

 

[Saint Nick]

And for cardio, should I just maybe do a 15 or 20 minute walk on non-lifting days maybe?

 

[Kntx]

Originally posted by: crt1530
Buy this book. In the mean time (while you're waiting for your book arrive), read this thread. It gives an outline of the program and the reasoning behind it. You will not find a better strength training program for beginners. Once you've ordered the book and read the thread, post any follow up questions.

No! Buy... THIS BOOK!!!

 

[paulxcook]

Originally posted by: jndietz
And for cardio, should I just maybe do a 15 or 20 minute walk on non-lifting days maybe?

Do you really need cardio? Your heart will get a workout from lifting hard. You definitely don't need to lose weight.

 

[GenHoth]

You're 165 lbs, a 15-20 minute walk isn't going to do anything. I'd suggest interval training if you want to get in better cardio shape. It will make you faster and stronger, but lifting is the best thing you can do to gain weight. Besides eating of course

 

[Saint Nick]

Well, if lifting will be enough cardio for me then I'll stick with that. I figured I needed to do something else to keep my heart healthy.

crt1530:
i'm going to pick that book up at barnes and noble (i'm assuming they sell it there). I think I might start today with at least something.

I'm pretty excited about doing this. I haven't exactly felt good about myself for a while and this will help

 

[purbeast0]

i completely cut out cardio when i started to bulk. i haven't done cardio since july and don't plan on doing it until march or april. my workouts are pretty intense and my heart rate gets high from doing that for time being.

 

[crt1530]

Originally posted by: jndietz
Well, if lifting will be enough cardio for me then I'll stick with that. I figured I needed to do something else to keep my heart healthy.

crt1530:
i'm going to pick that book up at barnes and noble (i'm assuming they sell it there). I think I might start today with at least something.

I'm pretty excited about doing this. I haven't exactly felt good about myself for a while and this will help

There is nothing wrong with cardio, but it makes putting on weight more difficult. Your focus right now should be on learning the primary barbell lifts, getting stronger and eating to gain weight. Lifting weights won't make you able to run a 10k or half marathon, but you will develop better cardiovascular conditioning than you have now.

 

[skace]

I say the thread title to myself every single time I go to workout.

 

[GoatMonkey]

When I was in college, I was 6'4" 155lbs. I'm up to 185 now. I have been working out for a long time but I was doing some key things wrong for a long time.

For cardio I'd suggest walking fast or running up stairs or bleachers. Skip steps so it's more of a strength training exercise with a little cardio in there. No more than 30 minutes. Once a week when your legs are not sore from all the weight training you're doing.

If you drink a lot of softdrinks, even diet drinks, cut way back. Maybe 1 or 2 a week max. That crap was killing my workouts for a long time and I didn't even know it until I stopped.

Rest is key. Work a muscle group per day. Low reps with as much weight as you can do WITH CORRECT FORM. I do sets of 10,8, and 6 reps. Sometimes 8,6,4 reps with more weight. Rest 30 seconds between sets. You will feel ready before that, take a stopwatch if you have to, but don't go before 30 seconds.

If you've done your workout right, the next day that muscle group should be sore/burning, but not in pain. As long as those muscles are sore, DO NOT WORK THEM AGAIN. This should be 3 or 4 days. Work other muscles while those are sore, but leave the sore muscles alone as much as possible. During healing is when you are actually building muscle.

Get protein after your workout. If you can't afford protein shakes, get several boxes of skim milk from that buffet. Then stash some more in your room for later. Have a big glass of skim milk before going to bed also. Drink lots of milk throughout the day. Have an egg or two the next morning after a workout with some whole wheat toast.

 

[Saint Nick]

Should muscles be sore throughout the time I am gaining weight? Or do you eventually hit a point when you aren't sore anymore?

If I don't feel sore anymore does that mean I'm not building anymore?

EDIT:

Also, how do I know how much weight to start on? I remember "maxing" out in high school but I can't remember if there was a good process to doing that or not.

 

[crt1530]

Originally posted by: jndietz
Should muscles be sore throughout the time I am gaining weight? Or do you eventually hit a point when you aren't sore anymore?

If I don't feel sore anymore does that mean I'm not building anymore?

EDIT:

Also, how do I know how much weight to start on? I remember "maxing" out in high school but I can't remember if there was a good process to doing that or not.

A quote from the book I recommended:

Soreness, unless it is extreme, is no impediment to training. In fact, many records have been set by sore athletes. If your athletes are not training hard enough to produce occasional soreness, and therefore having to train through it, they are not training very hard. Waiting until soreness subsides before doing the next workout is a good way to guarantee that soreness will be produced every time, since the athlete never gets adapted to sufficient workload frequency to stop getting sore.

 

[crt1530]

Originally posted by: jndietz
Also, how do I know how much weight to start on? I remember "maxing" out in high school but I can't remember if there was a good process to doing that or not.

The first time you go into the gym, start with a bare barbell on all of the lifts. Do sets of 5 and keep adding weight until you notice that you aren't doing the lift as quickly. Stop there. That will be your baseline.

 

[Saint Nick]

Sounds like I have a good starting point. Thanks a lot for the help so far guys I appreciate it

I'll end up posting more questions I'm sure.. thanks again !!!

 

[TheNinja]

FYI, a good thing I like to use to gain weight is a homemade shake. It's hard to eat that much food (4000-5000 calories) in a day for a person on th go.

2 cups milk (what % milkfat is up to you I use skim)
1 heaping scoop whey
1 cup oats
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 Banana (optional)

This will give you anywhere between 600-800 calories depending on milkfat and if you add banana.

There are all variations too. Some use natural peanut butter.

 

[GoatMonkey]

Originally posted by: crt1530

Originally posted by: jndietz
Should muscles be sore throughout the time I am gaining weight? Or do you eventually hit a point when you aren't sore anymore?

If I don't feel sore anymore does that mean I'm not building anymore?

EDIT:

Also, how do I know how much weight to start on? I remember "maxing" out in high school but I can't remember if there was a good process to doing that or not.

A quote from the book I recommended:

Soreness, unless it is extreme, is no impediment to training. In fact, many records have been set by sore athletes. If your athletes are not training hard enough to produce occasional soreness, and therefore having to train through it, they are not training very hard. Waiting until soreness subsides before doing the next workout is a good way to guarantee that soreness will be produced every time, since the athlete never gets adapted to sufficient workload frequency to stop getting sore.

I do not agree with that. If your muscles are already sore, they are in the process of rebuilding. Working out those same muscles again is just overtraining. You can't do bench presses 7 days a week.

On the other hand. As you work out more it becomes more difficult to get sore muscles. Like they're saying, your muscles adapt.

There is a fine line where you have to read your own body's signals and decide if you're ready to work those muscles again from your own experience.

For me, the time is 3 or 4 days, depending.

 

[JohnOfSheffield]

Originally posted by: jndietz
All right, I'm 21 years old. I weigh 165 lbs. and am 6' 5". Definitely a thin guy. I feel like its time that I start working out. I've been in college for nearly three years and I'm not near as active as I "used to be". So, I'm looking to start some kind of workout. I definitely would like to get bigger and have broader shoulders and bigger arms and legs. My stomach is well-toned, but thats probably because I have almost no body fat. And on top of "getting big", I would like to keep my heart healthy with some cardio. I also understand that diet is very important as well. The gym is right next to where I eat and its just a buffet with lots of healthy (and unhealthy) options.

Mostly looking where to start. I live within walking distance to the gym so it shouldn't be hard. My only problem is that I want a strict schedule I can follow week by week. Something that I can print off and check off as I go along or something. Also maybe dietary suggestions. I am also not interested in taking any steroids or supplements because they seem like they are unhealthy and would like to do this "naturally".

Could anyone help me out with that?

Read my thread. it's not complicated, i used to be real scrawny too and it took me a long time to come up with the solution.

 

[SludgeFactory]

Originally posted by: crt1530
A quote from the book I recommended:

Soreness, unless it is extreme, is no impediment to training. In fact, many records have been set by sore athletes. If your athletes are not training hard enough to produce occasional soreness, and therefore having to train through it, they are not training very hard. Waiting until soreness subsides before doing the next workout is a good way to guarantee that soreness will be produced every time, since the athlete never gets adapted to sufficient workload frequency to stop getting sore.

That's been my experience with legs in particular. I figured out a while back that the whole "pummel your legs once a week so bad that you can barely walk down the stairs for 3 days" was just stupid, when I was repeating that cycle every week. I cut the volume per workout and upped the frequency of workouts, and that took care of it.

 

[skace]

Originally posted by: GoatMonkey
I do not agree with that. If your muscles are already sore, they are in the process of rebuilding. Working out those same muscles again is just overtraining. You can't do bench presses 7 days a week.

On the other hand. As you work out more it becomes more difficult to get sore muscles. Like they're saying, your muscles adapt.

There is a fine line where you have to read your own body's signals and decide if you're ready to work those muscles again from your own experience.

For me, the time is 3 or 4 days, depending.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOMS