Building muscle

[Sawcats]

Ive always been in very good shape, as I am pretty athletic. I was 7th in the state of connecticut for high school cross country this year (my first year doing it), and I have been wreslting for 4 years. At the end of wrestling season I weighed out at 137 lbs, 5'8, 3.4% body fat. Now that I will no longer need to keep my weight low, or make sure I dont build too much upper body (cross country), I want to start building mass muscle (going to college).

 

 

I can easily do 50 pushups in a minute, and I can do crunchs for hours. My main problem is building muscle that you can see. What should I be eating? Do supplements ACTUALLY help? Do I need to rotate my workouts, like doing arms one day, legs the next?

 

 

Tl;dr: Workout tips. Go.

 

Knowing what to eat would be very helpful.

[Junior]

weights and creatine i guess? and if u want results hit the dbol

[Johny`]

Gonna start working out myself soon, so can't really help you much, this will probably help me a little though :blush:

[samuel]

When bulking you want to eat 500 calories above your daily caloric intake. Heres a calculator that can help you http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/macronutcal.htm

 

Bulking: In order to gain muscle you need to eat 500 calories above your daily maintance level, this will enable you to gain about 1lb a week. You dont need to gain anymore than that a week as it will just be fat your gaining. (first couple months you will experience noob gains..this will slow down after a while).

 

I think for you figuring out what you're going to be doing as far as exercises go you're all good. So here are foods you'd want to be eating.

 

Chicken

Fish

Whole wheat bread

Brown Rice

Pasta

Fruits

Veg

Eggs

Nuts

Qourn

Red meat (high in that so dont eat it to often)

 

 

Those foods are ideal for muscle building, try eating around 5-6 meals throughout the day, try to keep the bulking clean aswell, you don't want to massgain unless you want to work even harder to cut off all the fat you gained while you bulked. As for supplements, 2 shakes of whey protein a day will be enough. Look for gold standard whey, thats a good one

 

Edit: Heres a beginners workout schedule

 

Monday:

 

Chest/Tris:

Bench press 3x10

Incline Bench press 3x10

 

Dips/Bench dips

 

Wednesday:

 

Back/Bi

Deadlift

Pull up

Barbell Row

 

Barbell curl

 

Friday:

 

Legs/Shoulders

 

Sqauts

Leg press

Leg curls

Leg extentions

Shoulder press

 

That gives you a good starting workout routine, as you go, you do more research and ultimately do what works best for you and what gives you results

[Pali]

Do Chest, Arms, Legs, Arms, Chest, Abs

 

Drink protein supplements

[l Kreiger l]

For building muscle you want to work out for a day and then take a break for a day. When you build muscle your muscles are literally taring apart so you need to give them a day to heal. You can do cardio all you want.

[Dark]

p90x follow what it says.

[Zero Fear1]

Just take a multi and keep lifting heavy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 20, 2011 by Zero Fear1

[Maggie295]

Eat alot and join a gym. If you're looking for a bulk, the key is not to limit what you're eating but to actually eat more.

[Applerune]

What part of Connecticut are you from?

 

Your post comes off as a bit confusing in terms of the results you're going after. I assume you want to just be bigger and have more muscle definition? Samuel posted a pretty good general "guide" but at 138 pounds 5'8" and 3.4% BF (I don't even know how you got down that low, that is insanely low bf% but if it's true I applaud your effort I suppose) you really need to gain weight. A normal person can gain 10-20 pounds of muscle a year and with your height 150 pounds isn't really going to make you look bigger.

 

And honestly, no girl (I assume by your post that you want to impress the ladies which is cool) at whatever college you choose to go to is going to want to see a skinny little shit who thinks they're hot shit. You're just going to look like a tool. I don't think there's any guidelines you need to follow in regards to your diet or workout "routine" and the only advice I think you need to be given is to bulk up. I assume by "muscle you can see" that you want abs. Your abs are the hardest muscle to get to show but it shouldn't be to much of a problem for you if you're 3.4% bf (again, that's pretty ridiculous, the lowest I've ever seen or heard of is maybe 4% and that's pushing it) but building "mass muscle" will be unrealistic if you plan on enrolling in college in the fall and are starting to bulk up now.

 

I think you might be confused or at least unrealistic in what you really want to achieve (I do not mean this as a flame or anything) nor am I trying to sound like a know-it-all. I think your best bet would be to gain some mass and by that I do not mean just muscle, you are far to skinny to even consider looking big, bulk or having any real muscle definition (again, when I say muscle definition I mean noticeable definition, not being a stick and having it show that way).

 

If I had to give you any advice it would be just to gain weight. Contrary to popular belief there's no real set routine or diet that will make you look "bigger" or whatever. Every person's body is different and only you know how you truly feel when you eat certain foods and when you exercise certain muscles. Gain weight first, (I'd probably work my way up to 170 pounds at your height), cut afterwards (make sure you do a clean cut, you'll need to get rid of all the shit in your body after gaining a lot of weight in a short period of time), and lift as hard as you can. Again please remember that this will all take time and is in no way, shape or form going to work for you this summer.

 

That's just what I'd do if I was in your position. Gaining weight is just like gaining muscle and getting big: just eat. If you want to get big: just lift. As for what lifts to do you can really do anything but standard shit that you probably already know about are things like: benching (incline/decline, if you're weaker/not comfortable with that yet try machine bench press), rows, dumbbell row, curls, deadlifts (if you're not comfortable doing them try trapbar deadlifts, they're easier and less taxing on your muscles), squats, lat pull downs, and I'm a huge fan of calisthenics + free weights.

 

Edit: As for supplements, a protein supplement is all you need. Make sure it's 100% whey protein, though. Oh, and Jack3d is good if you need that extra boost of energy to get you through your workouts. I doubt you do but if you have a case of hypertension or any heart/kidney related illness/disease don't take it. And like Zero Fear said, take a multi vitamin no matter what you choose to do.

Edited June 20, 2011 by Applerune

[Gig]

You won't gain any muscle with 3.4% body fat. Increase the amount of calories you consume.

[Applerune]

You won't gain any muscle with 3.4% body fat. Increase the amount of calories you consume.

My long ass post in one sentence, good work brother (and I still have no idea how you are 3.4% bf)

Edited June 20, 2011 by Applerune

[Guest Desire]

gain weight , lift, then cut weight..

 

work out atleast 2 muscle groups a day

 

all i can say rly as u get bigger you'll be able to do more than 2 muscle groups etc and just start doin upper body than lower body in a day

[Gig]

You won't gain any muscle with 3.4% body fat. Increase the amount of calories you consume.

My long ass post in one sentence, good work brother (and I still have no idea how you are 3.4% bf)

 

I assume he is addicted to some heavy drugs to be 3.4% bf.

[J oh n]

Do Chest, Arms, Legs, Arms, Chest, Abs

 

Drink protein supplements