Hello people, I'm new to the site and also to working out.
I am a small person with a skinny frame and am looking to gain a bit more weight and muscle.
Gaining the weight in the right places seems to be problem. It all seems to gather in stomach but legs and arms are still skinny.
I find it hard to get a straight answer to dilemma on the internet. I have a dumbell set which I have started using just doing some curls and some push ups too.
Would anybody out there know a good dumbell routine for me to do and what's the best course of action for me to gain weight properly.
Thank you
Properly gaining weight and Muscle
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PuroRock327
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Re: Properly gaining weight and Muscle
Hey there BobFino...
I'm no expert, but the way I reduced stomach size/fat was to reduce fat intake and increase workout time. Sounds simple enough, but if fat is the only thing accumulating, then that's what you need to eliminate or reduce significantly from your diet.
Truly, it all depends on what your diet is like, for instance your calorie intake versus your workout regiment.
Take inventory of what you eat, get the calorie/nutrition information from the things you eat.
When I workout, I use enough weight to allow me to do 6 to 10 reps comfortably (usually 8 reps), but give me enough resistance to have to squeeze out that last rep. Anything more and I am conditioning muscles for a marathon producing leaner muscle, but not bigger ones. Heavier weight produces bigger muscle in experience.
When I lost 40+ lbs, I did very little true cardio. No running (not for long anyways, running was the most boring workout to me), no bikes, no jumping jacks, cartwheels or swimming... I did however workout with free weights three days out of the week for an hour each time. Two other days out of the week, I did pushups and situps (I used an online program which I can provide for you if you want) for maybe 30 minutes at a time, which is where I guess part of cardio workout came from. I watched diet, no soda (diet if I did drink soda), no beer, sugar in moderation and lots of protein and whole grain carbs (whole grain pasta, cereal and sliced bread). Lots of protein (tuna, tilapia, whey protein shakes, 1% or skim milk).
Diet had more to do with losing weight around stomach than anything. I understood early on that fat is a result of diet. Situps work out the muscles there, but don't necessarily reduce fat locally.
I'm no expert, but the way I reduced stomach size/fat was to reduce fat intake and increase workout time. Sounds simple enough, but if fat is the only thing accumulating, then that's what you need to eliminate or reduce significantly from your diet.
Truly, it all depends on what your diet is like, for instance your calorie intake versus your workout regiment.
Take inventory of what you eat, get the calorie/nutrition information from the things you eat.
When I workout, I use enough weight to allow me to do 6 to 10 reps comfortably (usually 8 reps), but give me enough resistance to have to squeeze out that last rep. Anything more and I am conditioning muscles for a marathon producing leaner muscle, but not bigger ones. Heavier weight produces bigger muscle in experience.
When I lost 40+ lbs, I did very little true cardio. No running (not for long anyways, running was the most boring workout to me), no bikes, no jumping jacks, cartwheels or swimming... I did however workout with free weights three days out of the week for an hour each time. Two other days out of the week, I did pushups and situps (I used an online program which I can provide for you if you want) for maybe 30 minutes at a time, which is where I guess part of cardio workout came from. I watched diet, no soda (diet if I did drink soda), no beer, sugar in moderation and lots of protein and whole grain carbs (whole grain pasta, cereal and sliced bread). Lots of protein (tuna, tilapia, whey protein shakes, 1% or skim milk).
Diet had more to do with losing weight around stomach than anything. I understood early on that fat is a result of diet. Situps work out the muscles there, but don't necessarily reduce fat locally.
Re: Properly gaining weight and Muscle
Thanks Purorock for the reply.. Yeah I DO need to look at diet which will be a hard task as I am a fan of all the nice things in life, haha. As to the workout you said you can give me, yeah I'd be real interested in having a look at it. Just a question though on the other side of dilemma, is gaining weight in arms and legs? Do I need to just eat more protein and keep working out on those areas??
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PuroRock327
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Re: Properly gaining weight and Muscle
I will PM you the site. I won't post it publicly out of respect to the Mods here. Don't want to step on toes.
Diet is a large part of the battle. But trust me, there's usually a good alternative to whatever it is you enjoy eating.
I stopped eating hamburgers and switched to grilled chicken sandwiches (no bread, though).
I switched from ice cream to fat free ice cream (if you can get past all of the processed items) or Fudgsicles.
I still eat bacon and cheese, but keep it all at a minimum.
To gaining weight or size in your arms and legs, yeah... work them out, and feed them properly with high protein and good carbs. Get rest and stay consistent... then change up your exercise.
Diet is a large part of the battle. But trust me, there's usually a good alternative to whatever it is you enjoy eating.
I stopped eating hamburgers and switched to grilled chicken sandwiches (no bread, though).
I switched from ice cream to fat free ice cream (if you can get past all of the processed items) or Fudgsicles.
I still eat bacon and cheese, but keep it all at a minimum.
To gaining weight or size in your arms and legs, yeah... work them out, and feed them properly with high protein and good carbs. Get rest and stay consistent... then change up your exercise.
Re: Properly gaining weight and Muscle
So puro your advising to build muscle but not work the lungs & heart ? If there was a fire, you'd be hard pressed to move all that muscle out the door with NO cardiovascular conditioning.If regular steady state is boring, try interval training, it is very good for body fat percentage loss.Endurance is 12-20 reps, hypertrophy is 8-12 & strength is 4-8 reps.It is not just a matter of cutting out fat from the diet, you still need adequate healthy fats, carbohydrate timing is crucial & as far as DAIRY goes, unnecessary,full of sugar & carbohydrates, whether fat free or not.
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PuroRock327
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Re: Properly gaining weight and Muscle
Bonnie...
No, I'm not suggesting anything that all, just citing experience. I did not state that the OP should do NO cardio, nor did I state I did NO cardio.
If I was in a fire, I'd probably die from terrible asthma, but that's besides your point I'm certain. To that, the gentlemen did not ask for a cardio routine, he asked for a workout regiment to allow him to 'gain weight properly', to which I shared experience. Being that he mentioned he wanted to lose fat, I did suggest he take a hard look at diet.
I do appreciate your insight on the topic.
No, I'm not suggesting anything that all, just citing experience. I did not state that the OP should do NO cardio, nor did I state I did NO cardio.
If I was in a fire, I'd probably die from terrible asthma, but that's besides your point I'm certain. To that, the gentlemen did not ask for a cardio routine, he asked for a workout regiment to allow him to 'gain weight properly', to which I shared experience. Being that he mentioned he wanted to lose fat, I did suggest he take a hard look at diet.
I do appreciate your insight on the topic.