This is for all Ectomorphs. Yea you. The thin, skinny, tall, flat chested, rapid metabolism, nervous, can’t sit still Ectomorph. You want to gain weight?
If you’re not gaining weight, you’re not eating enough. You need to determine how many calories you’re taking in. Weigh yourself on day 1 first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. Keep track of all the calories you eat for 14 days. On day 15 weigh yourself again, if your weight has not changed by plus or minus 2 pounds this will work. Add up the calories for each day and divide by 14. The number you come out with is how many calories you need to eat each day to maintain your current bodyweight. Now to start gaining weight you need to add 300-500 calories to this number. Go 7 days then weigh yourself again. Slowly up the calories until you see an increase in weight.
Only try to gain 1-2 pounds a week. More than this on a consistent basis will lead to more increases in fat than muscle. Check your progress every 4 weeks with skinfold calipers and a cloth tape measure. If you’re desperately thin, a 10-pound increase consisting of 5 pounds of fat & 5 pounds of muscle is ok. A 2:1 ratio of muscle to fat would be ideal. Dont be afraid of increases in fat. As long as it’s not settling solely around your waist you’re ok.
There are 8 basic components of nutrition.
Calories – besides what was mentioned earlier, you should be eating at least 6 times a day every 2-3 hours. A rough example would be 7:00am, 10:00am, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm, and 10pm.
Protein – 1 gram per pound of bodyweight. popular choices are chicken, turkey, eggs, cottage cheese, yogurt, peanut butter, milk, whey, lean cuts of red meat, fish
Carbs – 2.5 to 3 grams per pound of bodyweight. popular choices are whole grain brown rice, sweet potatoes, veggies, beans, whole grain breads and cereals, yams.
Fats – 20-30% of total caloric intake. good fats can be found in meat, fish, canola and olive oil, nuts, seeds, legumes, and sesame and soybean oil.
Water – 1 gallon a day.
Fiber – 20-35 grams daily.
Vitamins & Minerals – this is easily covered with a daily multi-vitamin/mineral.
Specifics on these 8 items can be found on this forum by searching.
Supplements besides a multi-vitamin:
If you cant eat enough calories or meals you should consider using a weight gainer or high calorie MRP.
If you can’t eat enough protein you should consider using a protein powder.
After these 3 you can add creatine and glutamine if you desire and more vitamin C and E. Now don’t get your priorities out of whack. If you don’t eat enough protein, you’re not going to grow no matter how much creatine you take. If you don’t eat enough calories, you’re not going to grow no matter how much glutamine you take. Don’t believe the BS in the muscle magazines about supplements. Get the 8 basics of nutrition down pat.
After your workouts get in some simple carbs, whey and creatine. Why? Hit the search button.
These ideas will not turn you into a 220 pound ripped ultra low bodyfat % hulking monster of muscular might. If you weigh less than 150 pounds you should successfully reach 170-180 pounds, but give it plenty of time. When you get to this point, where you go from there will depend on genetics.
Nutrition was covered in part 1, this concerns training. This concerns the Ectomorph.
Most training programs you see are not meant for you:
No 3 on, 1 off, 2 on, 1 off or whatever training split
No training twice a day
No “I’m using Cutlers leg routine from flex cause I’m going to kick his ass in 6 months”
No drop sets, supersets, strip sets, descending sets, pre-exhaust sets
No chest shoulder workout consisting of flat bench for whole chest then incline bench for upper chest then decline bench for lower chest followed by flyes and crossovers then shoulder press for shoulders followed by
front raises for front shoulder, side laterals for side shoulder then rear
laterals for rear shoulder
No 2-hour training sessions
No training just arms and chest unless the woman you desire gets horny from looking at a light bulb which what you’re going to look like.
Pretty much all routines you see. Training programs for an Ectomorph have to be short and intense. Get in, workout, get out, and then get plenty of rest and nutrients before next training session. Take at least 1 day off between workouts, 2 would be better. This would have you training every 3rd day.
These are the exercises you should concern yourself with: Squats, deadlifts, bench press, shoulder press, chin-ups, bent over rows, upright rows, cleans, hack squats, dips, stiff-arm pullover, stiff leg deadlift, dips
These are called compound movements because they hit more than one bodypart. Don’t waste time on isolation movements. These hit one
bodypart and are useless for a beginning Ectomorph.
If your arms are less than 15 inches, don’t train them directly.
If your chest measures less than 40 inches, do presses and dips only.
If your calves are less than 14 inches, don’t train them directly.
Learn the mind-muscle connection (no, not the rock and sock connection). Don’t just lift the weight from point A to point B. Make the muscle work throughout the entire range of motion. Concentrate on the quality of each rep rather than on quantity of weight. If you can’t feel the muscle working and cramping as the set progresses, you’re probably using too much weight.
Your workouts should last between 45-90 minutes. Realize that no matter how perfect your diet may be, or what great super spectacular wonder most efficient so called miracle muscle enhancing supplement you’re
taking, you won’t grow unless you abide by these guidelines.
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They get a program that lasts 74 weeks, and this week calls for a protocol of four sets of seven partial quarter arm extensions with an L-bar twist doing a 12-0-9 tempo with 32.9% of their projected monthly three rep max. Daniel John
For an Ectomorph, getting bigger doesn't just happen. You have to put in the time and effort 24/7. Remember this is a lifestyle; it's not something you can just do whenever you feel like, especially if you want results. You have goals you have to meet each and every day.
You have to eat X amount of calories each day.
You have to eat X amount of protein each day.
You have to eat X amount of carbs each day.
You have to eat X amount of fat each day.
You have to drink X amount of water each day.
You have to eat X amount of fiber each day.
You have to take your supplements.
You have to do your workouts lifting X amount of weight for X amount of reps.
Each day make sure you hit all your goals. A way you can check this is to get yourself a calendar. If you did everything you were supposed to, put a checkmark for that day. If you didn't, mark an X and put what you didn’t do and the reason why. As time goes by, if you're not getting results you will start to see a pattern developing on your calendar. Like if you’re consistently skipping workouts, or neglecting your supplements or skimping on your protein intake.
At the end of your cycle, grade yourself. Take the number of checkmarks and divide by how many days in cycle and get a percentage. For example if you’re training for 10 weeks, that’s 70 days. Say you have 59 checkmarks; divide 59 by 70 and you get 84%. Anything below 80% on a consistent basis is not good (hey, I once got a 25).
This may seem anal, but if your a true Ectomorph, you need to do everything right each day to see results. Muscle growth for us doesn’t just happen; we have to work really hard for it. I use this for myself and those I help out and even though I’m not by their side each day, I can take a quick look at their calendar and if they’re getting results, it’s covered with checkmarks. And if they’re complaining that they’re not getting results, it’s covered with X’s.
An overlooked but very important part of a successful training program is rest. Your body needs time to rest after a workout so that your muscles can recuperate and grow. If you are not allowing enough time between
workouts to let your body fully recover, workouts will suffer and muscle growth will not occur. Exercise recovery, healing, tissue repair, anabolic hormone production and muscle growth are all maximized during sleep. Initial effects of sleep deprivation are sleepiness, but in the long term its
consequences can include an interference with the release of growth hormone.
A common mistake many Ectomorphs make is training too often. Just because some people train three or four times a week does not mean that you have to do the same. If you ignore the recovery process and workout
again before your muscles are fully recovered, you will be consistently tearing down muscle tissue and never allowing it to rebuild.
You have to look forward to your workouts. If you dread working out, you won’t get results. Also, if you just go through the motions, you won’t grow. Don’t believe that you have to workout everyday or if you don’t workout for a few days your muscles will lose size. That’s just not true. Your body grows during sleep, not when you workout. The more an Ectomorph works out each week, the less he’ll grow.
If you engage in too much extracurricular activity, kiss gains goodbye. Leave till later after acquired muscle mass. I knew of one guy would who get off work, go home, lift, then go to softball practice. He never made the kind of progress he should have.
More training does not equal more muscle growth. Understand that the purpose of weight training is to stimulate muscle growth. That takes very little time. Once that has been done, the muscle needs to be repaired and new muscle needs to be built. That only happens when you are resting. You do not build muscle in the gym, you build muscle when resting. If you never give your body any essential non-active time, when will it have a chance to build muscle.
Even more practical is to avoid constant striving to prolong indefinitely those wonderful times when you're on a roll of PRs. Most of us can peak for about four to eight weeks. At some point you need to recognize that it can't last. It makes sense to regroup and recover for a while before planning new goals. This is the way to avoid overtraining altogether.
Some of this is my own words and some is from other sources.
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They get a program that lasts 74 weeks, and this week calls for a protocol of four sets of seven partial quarter arm extensions with an L-bar twist doing a 12-0-9 tempo with 32.9% of their projected monthly three rep max. Daniel John
in a training log, you simply write down the exercises you did, sets, reps, weights and the time you started and finished. how does that saying go, "you'll never get where you're going if you dont know where youve been." no more guessing how much weight you squatted last week or how many reps you pressed. it will be right there for you to see. you can also add notes or comments about grip placement or something you did to really feel the muscle work that you want to remember for next workout.
also use it to plan upcoming workouts. when you set foot into a gym, you need to know exactly what you're going to do before you even get in there. if you walk in and say, "gee, now what am i gonna do", your workouts are going to suffer. as soon as you finish your sets of a particular exercise, right then and there mark on your log what you want to accomplish next workout. do you want to increase the weight by 5 lbs or maybe 10 lbs? do you want to do a few more reps with the same weight? make a judegment right then and there instead of later on. write it down. next time you do that workout, you can continue where you left off instead of wasting precious time squatting a weight you did 2 weeks ago.
for your nutrition log, this where you keep tabs of your calories, protein, carbs, fat, fat %, and fiber each and every day. if you want to list every single item you ate or drank thats up to you. this may seem like a pain in the rear at first but after a while it will get easier especially if you eat
pretty much the same things day after day. remember nutrition plays a big role in getting bigger and here is your proof that you were eating and drinking what you had to to reach that goal. this is where you keep tabs on your bodyweight, bodyfat % and measurements also.
lets say today you ate 3800 calories, 145gr of protein, 361gr of carbs, 92gr of fat and 29 grams of fiber and you weigh 142 pounds. you ate enough protein, 142 times 2.5 equals 355 so you ate enough carbs, 92 times 9 equals 828 divided by 3800 equals 21% so you got enoug fat. and at 29 grams you got enough fiber. now if you wasnt writing this down each day, how would you know all this? you'll get much better results than the person who says they eat till they cant eat anymore when asked how many calories they eat each day.
I found this massively (ptp) inspiring! Looks like this might be the thing for me. One thing though, regarding the workout routine:
How would I arrange the exercises mentioned? Any thoughts on set/rep numbers?
Thanks
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\"Some people see a mountain as a mountain. Others take it personally, they see it at something that should be climbed, or else. Awful as the climbing might be, the or-else is worse.\"
i posted this as a guideline to use to make programs. however you want to plan your splits is fine: full body, push-pull, etc
as for reps, IMO start out with more reps/few sets and as you progress do few reps/more sets.
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They get a program that lasts 74 weeks, and this week calls for a protocol of four sets of seven partial quarter arm extensions with an L-bar twist doing a 12-0-9 tempo with 32.9% of their projected monthly three rep max. Daniel John
kinda wish i could go back and edit it up some. the wording could be done better and some of the ideas are showing their age. but oh well.
the main idea is to get nutrition in order and train with the basic movements and get plenty of rest.
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They get a program that lasts 74 weeks, and this week calls for a protocol of four sets of seven partial quarter arm extensions with an L-bar twist doing a 12-0-9 tempo with 32.9% of their projected monthly three rep max. Daniel John
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They get a program that lasts 74 weeks, and this week calls for a protocol of four sets of seven partial quarter arm extensions with an L-bar twist doing a 12-0-9 tempo with 32.9% of their projected monthly three rep max. Daniel John
Massive... Thanks for that post! a lot of great info in there! If i may, i'd like to comment on the calorie counting thing. I am an ectomorph. I tried counting calories. I weigh 145 lbs and at one point was eating 4,000 calories a day under the supervision of a nutritionist. No gains!
I had the best luck when i stopped counting calories, and started focusing more on eating many quality foods every couple of hours.
Also, may i suggest that anything over 45 minutes is too long of a workout for a scrawny kid with a high metabolism?
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sounds good. i'll be the first to say if you respond to something, dont change it no matter who says what. i've had ppl tell me they did the exact opposite of what i suggest and they got good gains.
i couldnt be more happier for them. what, was i suppose to take offense and get mad? sorry, but i've got better things to do with my time.
yea, thats one of the things i wish i could go back and change. it should be 45 to 60 minutes. same thing about simple carbs pwo.
i'll admit when i posted that in 2002, being "accepted" and not being "flamed" censored alot of what i would post. now, well frankly i dont give a flying flip and speak straight from the heart.
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They get a program that lasts 74 weeks, and this week calls for a protocol of four sets of seven partial quarter arm extensions with an L-bar twist doing a 12-0-9 tempo with 32.9% of their projected monthly three rep max. Daniel John
haha. i put that together in 1998. i had wasted so much time training like everyone was telling me: 5-6 days a week, 2 hours a day, training the whole muscle. it was a complete waste of time.
then when i started doing my own routines which was just concentrating on using the basic movements with good solid nutrition and getting plenty of rest, i finally grew.
i went from 125lbs 5% bodyfat with 12" arms to 180lbs 10% bodyfat with 15" arms. then i lost the gains.
but i'm coming back strong.
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They get a program that lasts 74 weeks, and this week calls for a protocol of four sets of seven partial quarter arm extensions with an L-bar twist doing a 12-0-9 tempo with 32.9% of their projected monthly three rep max. Daniel John
Has anyone read Anthony Ellis' Muscle Gain book? Any comments, and whether it is recommended, or if I will be able to get most of the info on the web anyway?
i've talked to a few ppl who done anthonys program. the majority said it was good.
but yes you can get all the info you need for free here and other places.
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They get a program that lasts 74 weeks, and this week calls for a protocol of four sets of seven partial quarter arm extensions with an L-bar twist doing a 12-0-9 tempo with 32.9% of their projected monthly three rep max. Daniel John
Hey Massive,
Great post! I am an extreme ectomorph who has just recently started training. I have been following a lot of what you suggested, and have gained 10 lbs. in about 3 months (129 lbs. to 139 lbs.) I still have a long way to go, but I have finally started seeing some gains. I think the most important thing for me has been to work my ass off in the gym for no more than and hour, then get the hell out and rest. I can't emphasize enough how important it has been to work as hard as I can for a short period of time.
Bulking Up
hey, im new to weight lifting.. so i have some questions.
in other posts people say weight gainer isnt good.. so why do you say for us to use it? is this only for people who are underweight? if so, im going to buy it. im 5'11 and weight 135-140.
also, you say a lot of rest is required. well, how many days a week should i work out? im planning on doing 2 days, then 1 day off.. or should i go 3 days and 1 day off?
Originally posted by Bulking Up: Hey Massive,
Great post! I am an extreme ectomorph who has just recently started training. I have been following a lot of what you suggested, and have gained 10 lbs. in about 3 months (129 lbs. to 139 lbs.) I still have a long way to go, but I have finally started seeing some gains. I think the most important thing for me has been to work my ass off in the gym for no more than and hour, then get the hell out and rest. I can't emphasize enough how important it has been to work as hard as I can for a short period of time.
Bulking Up
Originally posted by NiwaShock: hey, im new to weight lifting.. so i have some questions.
in other posts people say weight gainer isnt good.. so why do you say for us to use it? is this only for people who are underweight? if so, im going to buy it. im 5'11 and weight 135-140.
also, you say a lot of rest is required. well, how many days a week should i work out? im planning on doing 2 days, then 1 day off.. or should i go 3 days and 1 day off?
like i had mentioned, i wrote this years ago. at that time i was still using commercial weight gain products. now i understand they're not worth it. too much sugar, we can do better with better choices.
the gimmick now is not to count the maltodextrin in the product towards the sugar. so even though malto is listed first, the label will only say like 6 grams of sugar. so what is malto?
Technically, maltodextrin is a complex carbohydrate. However, maltodextrin has a very high glycemic index, which means that it raises blood sugar levels very quickly. Because maltodextrin isn't classed as a simple sugar, the products can claim to be a "low sugar" meal. Technically, this is true. But when you consider the effect that maltodextrin has on blood sugar levels, the "low sugar" claim has little relevance.
i admit they got me then but i know better now.
as for how many days it depends on you and what you can handle. me and many others i've helped started out with only 2 days of full body workouts each week with 2 days of rest in between. as we gained more experience, we would go to lifting every other day with one day of rest in b/w. [img]smile.gif[/img]
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They get a program that lasts 74 weeks, and this week calls for a protocol of four sets of seven partial quarter arm extensions with an L-bar twist doing a 12-0-9 tempo with 32.9% of their projected monthly three rep max. Daniel John
Massive, I like what you say!! Just started a new routine the other month and am seeing alittle size and some jump in strength. I am very interested in this site and will be talking to ya gain. Just not really feeling this new work out. I am worried about my midsection, getting ni=ce size in my back and delts, chest and tri's but also getting good size in my guts. Should I use a hydroxy cut or something along with my protiens and creatine. Thanks
thats pretty much the most common problem. guys trying to gain weight and end up gaining it all in their gut. believe me, i've been there.
its a matter of keeping good track of your progress. your measurements and your bodyfat % will tell you what direction you're headed.
many times ppl take the poor advice given out like "just eat more" or "you should be eating so many calories a day" or doing these formulas that are one step above pulling a number out ones rear. there has to be a method to the madness.
find out how many calories you are currently taking in and slowly add 200 to 400 to that number. go 7 days and check your weight.
use good food choices. remember the saying "you are what you eat." we could go one step further and say "you are what you digest".
if you're waist is gaining more than your biceps, something is wrong. take an honest assessment of what you're doing. some ppl spend more time hitting pubmed than they hit the gym. others spend valuable time studying the science than studying their training and nutrition journals.
find good ppl to get quality information from. the worst thing to do is to "google" because you'll get all sorts of information and it will all contradict. ppl i look up too include alwyn cosgrove, craig ballantyne, christian finn, will brink, etc and a few more. [img]smile.gif[/img]
Thanks, I am doing good on the eating I think, I know I should eat more (5-6) smaller meals aday. I am taking in around 200grams of protien aday, I dont really eat breakfast and sometimes I get my feed bag on at dinner. I was asking about a dietary supplement to maybe help the cravings of wanting to pig out. well thanks again
Hey Craig,
Thanks, I know I should eat breakfast and I will start. I am active Duty Army and sometimes it is hard to stick to a diet. I know stop making excuses!!! My work out partner would slap me if he heard me whinning (LOL). Thanks again
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