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Need help gaining weight/muscles

AmazingGracePlayer

AmazingGracePlayer

Oct 8, 2006
3,193
3
Summit, NJ
www.google.com
#1
Well, I'm 5'8" and 130lbs... and I need to put on some weight because I want to be in the swim team in the winter/spring. But the problems is, no matter how much I eat and how much I work out, I CANNOT gain weight...

Two or three years ago, I used to go work out intensively over the summer break, and I ate a lot of meat/eggs. But didn't gain any weight at all. What's weirder is that there was this period when I ate a CRAP load of junk food (chips, cookies, soda) along with my regular meal, and I still didn't gain any weight...

So, can anyone give me some insights and tips on how to gain weight/muscle and bulk up (just a little bit). I just need to gain about 10-20 lbs or so, because I'm too skinny to be doing butterfly on the swim team... I'm not skinny and agile, I'm just skinny and not so agile, because my arms and legs can't seem to give enough power. I need a lot of muscle in my calves, a little in hamstring, a lot in bicep/tricept/chest, and a little in abs.

Thanks in advance!
 
#5
First of all, 20lbs of muscle is no little bit! It will take dedication over a long period of time, so don't be dissappointed if you seem to start slowly.

Commenting working out and eating up would take a very long post, but let's phrase it shortly: There is only one explanation why you didn't gain any weight: you didn't eat enough. If you would had eaten enough but not exercised well, you would had gained weight in form of fat. It also might be that you weren't exercising in a proper way, but you should have gained at least something. This is why the BB guys call it "bulking up", some fat gain cannot be avoided and indeed is acceptable - especially for someone like you.

Consider this: eating a bit more than usual and hitting the weights four times a week is going to mean that you are burning those few extra calories, and perhaps even more. Therefore, you need to eat even more. At a bodybuilding site I frequent, I constantly see the comment "I really had no idea how much I actually need to eat to gain muscle - it took constant eating and not just when I was hungry". The diet, of course, should be plentiful but relatively healthy.

I personally am in the same situation, being a university student and a lazy cook. Right now, I've got a big bag of some protein shake stuff they call "gainer", basicly some carbohydrates and protein to provide both a lot of energy and some extra protein to help your muscles grow, I hope it does the trick for me. You might try the same - IMO a good gainer is one that has maybe 1:2 ratio of protein to carbohydrates, so a decent gainer would have perhaps 30g of protein per 100g of product.
 
#6
AmazingGracePlayer said:
But the problems is, no matter how much I eat and how much I work out, I CANNOT gain weight...
Click to expand...
That's not true. If you're eating enough, you will grow. At 130lbs, you should be taking in at least 2200 calories per day if you want to gain (2200 is maintenance for you), but you realistically (if you're swimming and will be lifting) should probably take in anywhere from 2700-3000 calories per day.

Since you have a particularly fast metabolism, you may want to eat even more than that -- but don't go from 1800 calories per day to 4000.

So, can anyone give me some insights and tips on how to gain weight/muscle and bulk up (just a little bit). I just need to gain about 10-20 lbs or so, because I'm too skinny to be doing butterfly on the swim team... I'm not skinny and agile, I'm just skinny and not so agile, because my arms and legs can't seem to give enough power. I need a lot of muscle in my calves, a little in hamstring, a lot in bicep/tricept/chest, and a little in abs.
Click to expand...
You need next to nothing in your calves actually. You're looking at a lot of power in your shoulders, arms, chest, and back with emphasis on shoulders and back.

That said, there is no point in only training the muscles used in the sport, so don't neglect other exercises. Besides, the "bigger" the exercise (the more muscles used in the lift) the more testosterone and natural GH is produced by your body. So if you want to get bigger everywhere, make sure you're doing squats, deadlifts, and bench pressing on regular basis.

Check out Invalid Link Removed and read up on nutrition. There are lots of articles -- and if you're going to do this, don't be lazy, just do it right the first time. Doing it right takes long enough, do you want to screw up your chance of being on the swim team because in six months you still haven't grown and you have no idea why? No sir. Read up, get informed.

As for a lifting program, I'd suggest doing Link Removed. It's a 3 day a week full body workout with lots of compound lifts, there aren't a lot of exercises each day, and it's incredibly effective.



Get onto a "clean bulk" phase (eating a caloric excess of 99% good clean food with good macronutrient ratios spaced over 6+ meals in the day).

You definitely also want to look into protein shake and maybe something like Cytogainer or Muscle Milk. Things like that are mainly to get those extra calories in when you just can't bring yourself to eat even more food -- 3000 calories per day of solid meals is a hell of a lot of food.


Oh, and just to let you know, 10-20lbs of muscle is a lot of work. This is not going to be "a little bit."
 
#7
Like Tsal has said you haven't been eating enough food. Simply put, if calories in > calories out you will gain weight in some form (fat or muscle or a combination). When I would "bulk" I would literally feel like I was force feeding myself in order to eat 500 calories above maintenance per day (which will roughly allow a pound a week of gain). You need to figure out how much food you need to eat to maintain your body weight and then eat more. You also have to remember that as you put on muscle weight, your maintenance calorie level goes up.
 
#9
Protien and BCAA combined with a heavy lifting program will put on muscle fast.

but you're not looking to be a body builder or a boxer

you want to be a swimmer you should probably look for advice from other swimmers. I'm sure you wouldn't want to put on too much weight for swimming.

I would think high protien diet along with lots of swimming and a lifting program focused on muscles you use more for your swimming would get you there.
 
#14
Play video games, eat snacks, eat alot of peanut butter sandwiches and whole milk. I can almost with 100% certainty tell you will gain weight. Especially if you eat two peanut butter sandwiches and have two tall glasses of whole milk besides what your meals are everyday. Like a 600-800+ calorie boost with good fats and calcium.
 
#19
Simple quick and safe way to put on a few extra pound is to start taking creatine. Although there are people who will tell you "don't mess with that stuff", those are generally people who have little or nothing to base their warnings on. Last time I researched it, creatine studies had shown only benefits to it's use. There are guidelines to taking it also that will further insure it's harmlessness - like taking it 3 months on, and 3 months off. I've used it on and off for years with only positive results. People are also gonna tell you too that it's only water weight you're gaining (which is true), but it does aid in strength and muscle building so a lot of the benefits remain after you're not taking it any more.

There are lots of other supplements you can benefit from also. Protien powders, weight gain powders, bars - tons of stuff these days. Educate yourself, research anything you're looking to give a shot, and then make educated healthy decisions.

Last note - it's absolutely essential to feed yourself the right foods and enough of them if you're lifting. The weight lifting itself destroys your muscles. It's the food and rest that repairs them and makes em grow.
 
#20
The weight you gain with creatine by itself is mostly water. If you plan to workout long term, then it can be very beneficial. If you need to gain some weight and stay there, then you'd better start working out or else you'll lose that weight once you get off your cycle.
 

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