Hey everyone, from the books that I've got I've come up with a conclusion on how train and eat for muscle and strength. Would you mind sharing your comments and if there's something that you see is false would you mind pointing it out and sharing your point of view? Thanks.
Eating:
In order to get big you must eat big. However, one must do it with patience and intelligence. If you go on a "see-food" diet you WILL gain muscle. However, you might gain more fat than muscle. So, in order to gain MOSTLY muscle, you have to eat big, but not too big.
If you're a skinny guy try to get most of your carbs around your workout period and breakfast. You're also allowed to have some carbs through-out the day. However, vegetables should be a staple at every meal, just try not to eat a large amount of them as they can fill you up and that would be counter-productive for size. Lean, complete protein with every meal. Also, eat a good amount of healthy fats but try to keep them away from your workout period.
As for calories, don't worry about it. Start eating healthily and plenty. If you see that after a couple of weeks that there's no gain, increase your carbs at your workout period. Still no progress after 2 weeks, increase breakfast carbs, etc. There's no "set in stone" rule for increasing calories or counting calories. I pretty much prefer increasing portions than measuring and counting every bit of food that goes in me.
As for what types of food to eat. I think you're pretty much smart enough to know that a broccoli is better than a large fries at McDonald's. But, here's what I prefer:
Carbs: brown (wild) rice, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, fruit juice (for workout carbs), whole wheat pasta.
Proteins: eggs, lean ground beef, turkey, salmon, boneless chicken breasts, water-packed tuna, protein powder.
Fats: Almonds, olive oil, fish oil, unsalted nuts.
As for the supplements that I take, I take fish oil (6 capsules a day) and protein powder to drink with my fruit juice before and after my workout. I sip on water during my workout.
Training:
Now, I'll talk about training. First of all, I'll talk about exercise choice. Try to choose mainly compound, multi-joint exercises over isolation exercises.
Compound exercises are the ones in which more than one joint is used in the exercise, hence more muscle is used.
Isolation exercises are the ones in which only one joint is used, hence not so muscle being used. Some isolation work isn't harmful, but try to keep it minimal compared to compound exercises. A biceps curl once a week for 2 sets won't be harmful to you. But a biceps curl 3 times a week with plenty variations and a dozen sets is another story. It's a huge list to write the compound and isolation exercises that I use and I guess most people on this board know them so I guess there's no need.
As for frequency, I try to train 2 days a week or 3 days every 2 weeks. With each multi-joint movement being trained once a week or once every 8-10 days. I also perform low-intensity cardio on my off days to try to keep fat gaining to a minimum.
Volume, is something that I keep referring to my book that I'm using (Stuart Mcrobert's Brawn). It's a bit confusing to me so I'll try to explain it in a very simple way. Most of the exercises are used for 2-3 sets, no more. As for reps they always fluctuate, I try low reps for the upper body then high reps later, same goes for the lower body. I keep trying most rep ranges until I find one that works great for me.
Intensity is something that I cycle in my training cycle. Early on, I keep intensity low so I can practice good form then I start increasing the weights and intensity little by little. By the end of the cycle it's usually all-out sets. Also, while increasing intensity I eliminate un-necessary exercises until it's at the bare minimum of 2-3 exercises per workout.
Those are the main highlights...Also, I include neck, calf and grip work in my schedule along with shrugs and pull-overs.
Progression can come in 2 forms, either SLOWLY increasing the weight or choose a rep range and start from the bottom and work your way to upper range then add a little bit of weight and go through it again.
So I guess that wraps up my conclusions after studying Stuart McRobert's "Brawn", "Beyond Brawn" and "Build Muscle, lose fat, look great". As for nutrition, it's mainly influenced by Precision Nutrition by John Berardi. I do have a question if you don't mind.
1) Although what I currently know is that a compound exercise done once a week would be the best option. Why does Rippetoe recommend squatting 3 times a week?
Now, a little about me (I know this should've come way up but hey...). I'm 18 years old and weigh 55 kg. and I'm 172 cm tall. Guess that's about 120 lbs. and...5'6 - 5'7 tall. For an 18 year old in my status it's pretty hard. When my pals keep wrestling or pushing around I try not to get into it. When girls always go to the big guys and consider you a "sweetie!!"
. Sorry, wasn't the time to rant. Just saying that if you guys have any comments that would benefit me to get bigger AND stronger, please don't hesitate.
Also, my intention isn't for this to be a guide for other skinny guys to come and learn. This is a question (sorta!) and an ask for help and an opinion. Although, if after a few modifications, why not come and learn from this thread?
