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I am naturally a thin guy. I gained about 20 pounds of fat a while ago. Lost that weight, due to running and eating much less, and now I am thin again. I've lifted weights for years but don't see much contour in my muscle tone. Nor do I see the abds forming to well at all. Any advice on getting the muscles to form and look good? I am aiming for a male models body.
Its likely due to your own diet & genetics. I also dont gain muscle fast at all. But try cleaning up your diet. I'm no expert but find a good site on healthy workout diets.
Quote:
Originally Posted by artsyguy
I am naturally a thin guy. I gained about 20 pounds of fat a while ago. Lost that weight, due to running and eating much less, and now I am thin again. I've lifted weights for years but don't see much contour in my muscle tone. Nor do I see the abds forming to well at all. Any advice on getting the muscles to form and look good? I am aiming for a male models body.
This is what the body builders I know do to build up.
Lots of protein and carbs. Also remember to build you need higher weights and lower reps. Low weight and high reps will tone.
The important thing is as Positiveone said genetics has a lot to do with how you will build.
you have to eat more food in order to build more muscle; otherwise, it's like trying to build a brick wall without any mortar. you may put on a bit of fat, but if you gain 25 pounds and 10 of that is fat, you can go on a diet and lose that 10 pounds and be 15 pounds heaver.
continue to lift hard; i don't want to get too indepth in training, but lifting in a 12-6 rep range should work well for building muscle.
Congratulations on the weight loss. It's near impossible to build muscle and lose fat at the same time. To lose fat means eating fewer calories than you use, hence your body will catabolize lean protein. To gain muscle means eating more than you need so your body won't catabolize muscle.
Anyway, I'd do it in stages. At best you can gain a half pound of lean muscle mass per week, and that's if you're in full growth stage with growth hormone running rampant through your body and working it real hard.
Cut back on the aerobic work, drink 200 calories immediately after aerobic activity, and 200 over the next hour. Then I'd start hitting the weight room 5x a week. Eat eat eat. Do that for six months, then watch your food intake and increase the fat burning distance workouts.
I am naturally a thin guy. I gained about 20 pounds of fat a while ago. Lost that weight, due to running and eating much less, and now I am thin again. I've lifted weights for years but don't see much contour in my muscle tone. Nor do I see the abds forming to well at all. Any advice on getting the muscles to form and look good? I am aiming for a male models body.
I had the same problem until I tried HIT (High Intensity Training) and most importantly changed my eating habits. If you want muscle you must EAT. A lot! And, you must eat only good food (i.e, brown rice, whole wheat bread, wheat pasta, green veggies etc).
Try this workout plan for the next six weeks and you should have MUCH more muscle. These are all to failure - which mean you should not be able to do a 8th rep. Ideally, you should fail on reps 6 or 7. If you can do 8 reps, your weight is too light, add more weight. You MUST do each rep very slowly - same speed up and same speed down. This is important.
Monday
Bench Press - One set
Shoulder Press - One set
Upright Rows - One set
Wide Grip Pulldowns - One set
Weighted negative pullups -
Tuesday
Rest
Wednesday - Remember, each set is to failure. You should fail by your 8th rep. If you can do a full 8 reps, add more weight.
Squats/Leg Press - One set
Leg Curls - One set
Leg Extensions - One set
Calf Raises - One set
I have the opposite problem as the OP. Curious if anyone knows how to tone with weights but not build muscle? I love working out with weights but I am a female and build muscle super easy. I would like to get toned but not look like a guy
One summer I decided to lift weights really hard and gain a lot of strength. And I had a tremendous amount of success. I'd lift weights for about an hour and a half, then do cardo for about a half an hour.
The key for me was lifting heavy weights. If you want to build size, you have to do heavy sets. I'd warm up with something that I could do 12 to 15 times, then I'd start 10 rep sets. Since I was doing heavy sets I'd wait three minutes in-between sets. This was necessary to recover properly, and be able to do the next heavier set.
As long as I could do eight reps I would do another set. This is critical. Always push yourself hard to get that extra last set in. You'll get more out of that last set than you'll get out of all the other sets you've done before it. I'd end up doing 8 to 10 sets depending on the body parts I was exercising.
Since you can't practically spend all day in the gym, I'd recommend you pick out two or three body parts you want to concentrate on, (for me it was shoulders and chest), do a quick full body workout (3 to 5 sets each), then concentrate on the areas you want to really build up. I started out barely being able to military press 150 pounds at the beginning of the summer. At the end of the summer I was able to take 225 pounds of free weights and do multiple 15 rep sets. Also, the bigger and wider your shoulder look, the more narrow your waist will look.
Variety is also key. Don't do just one type of exercise for that muscle group. For example if you want to improve your shoulders start out with military presses, then proceed to dumbbell lifts to the side and front, then do shoulder raises. Always do big muscle groups before moving on to the smaller muscles.
As far as a six pack goes, you need to have absolutely no fat on your stomach. For many that means cutting calories. But if you're already slim then start doing leg lifts. Add 5 or 10 reps every time you do them until you can do a 150 at a setting. And do several sets. It WILL hurt. But push yourself. Once you get up to 150 you can cut down on the reps by using ankle weights.
Last edited by Hawkeye48; 12-11-2007 at 01:43 PM..
Eat eat eat - but not just anything - lots of protein and carbs. Sleep sleep sleep - lots of sleep is important. Less reps on your weights and avoid too much fat burning exercises. Work on a program of 30 percent weights and 70 percent right food and sleep.
Especially for beginners, I like to keep it simple. So "progressive resistance" is your main goal along with adequate caloric intake. Surplus of calories actually.
I used to be a hard gainer myself until I started eating more. Nothing else changed much except for my eating habits and I started gaining mass.
Eat every 2-3 hours all day long, eat clean, and use progressive resistance training.
Don't forget the fats. 1 gram of fat has 9 calories. Flax oil a few times a day will do wonders.
Hmmm, I started this out as "simple". OK progressive resistance and eat! Period.
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Diet & Genetics
Eat eat eat. Do that for six months, then watch your food intake and increase the fat burning distance workouts.
