gaining weight/growing bigger

[purplephilosopher]

i weigh around 130 and i'm kind of skinny
i want to get up to 160 and i guess stronger and bigger
so any tips on how to do that?
right now, i eat three meals a day and exercise regularly for 30-40 minutes a day (i do pushups, crunches, squats, lunges, knee bends, calf raises, stretch, and then i run on the treadmill)
i usually exercise before i eat dinner or right after i get up
im just wondering, is this effective at all?
should i change my exercises or anytihng i eat?
i'm at college so it would be quite hard for me to eat more than 3 meals

[ticktockclok]

You just have to eat more.... 5-6 small meals is better than 3 big ones. If you're strapped for time and can't have that many meals, try getting a weight gainer.

[Minsc]

You'll want to gain muscle and not fat though. You don't want to gain a bunch of fat...

Try doing some strength training(less than 8 reps). Don't see much upper-body exercises in your routine except for pushups. Maybe add pullups, ect(in addition to stuff exclusively with weights like the bench press, military press, some bicept and front deltoid exercises, and a bunch of other muscles that I missed).

Do a warmup before you lift weights. Should be something simple, it's supposed to warm you up and not exaust you. Running no more than 100 meters at a medium pace works alright for me.

You'll need to wait a few days(3/4) to a week before you exercise the same muscle group twice so you could train different muscle groups every day.

Put cardio on its own day if you're going to have it(that would be the treadmill).
Also, run for real instead of using a treadmill. Try to run in a straight path.

You could also wear a backpack with weights in it for most bodyweight exercises if you don't already.

Eat after you exercise. You should be sore the day after you're done exercising(or the next few days) in whatever muscle you've exercised. Be sure to eat lots of fat(raw EFAs, ect, healthy fat) and protein. You need to eat a lot to gain weight but make sure it's mostly protein and fat.
EDIT: But you'll want simple carbs after your exercise along with protein.

[Uplift]

You could make up a thermos full of smoothie or mix everyday, consisting of protein, carbs, fat, with plenty of vitamins and minerals. Blending up eggs and berries or so on, in whatever liquid you prefer will do it. If you think about it, and use your imagination you'll come up with a mixture that suits. Then you can sip it throughout the day, which will keep you in growing mode and which will be easy on stomach size and digestion. A wide mouth thermos is easiest to clean.

Those workouts you described won't do much to stimulate the type of growth you want. See if there is someone at your college that can teach you to deadlift and clean and jerk. You need to shock, or cause your system to grow. I would do three workouts a week. One consisting of deadlifts, dips and abs, one clean and jerks, chins and hyperextensions. 3 sets of 6 -12 reps of each. In between each workout I would do a workout consisting of 3 sets each of deadlifts and clean and jerks, but stop the reps well before you are tired, about 60 - 75% effort, just to pump blood and work on form and flexibility.

Each workout should be 45 min max (not including warm up) to optimise hormone production and profile. Learn about correct form and exercise technique. There is heaps of info in other threads on this forum.

If you are into it, visualisation is a good technique that will produce results, and likewise heaps of information in this website is available.

Overall my advice would be to keep in mind why sprinters develop muscular size, that is, the effects of extremely intense, whole body stimulation or stress, over short time frames. Good luck.

[EnduranceNinja]

You have already got great advice here. I suggest trying FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal You can add what you eat to see how many calories you are getting in. Depending on if you are a hard gainer or not your calories should be around 3000 and like mentioned eat many small meals. Try for 1 gram of protien per pound of body weight so 130 grams of protien a day would work. This can vary depending on how well you gain weight. Some people only need .8 grams of protien per pound of body weight. And mentioned again make sure to add muscle not fat. Eat healthy and plenty and look for a good weight training program maybe. There is many schools of thought on adding weight so do your research.

[Jim11]

Those exercises you're doing are good, but like the other said, they aren't good for gaining weight.

Just get any kind of beginner weight lifting program going with 8-10 reps at the highest weights you can handle, increasing them whenever you can, and if you're patient you'll see weight gains fast enough. (If combined with the suggested eating that's been mentioned already)

Look for a friend who lifts weights to help you with a program, or someone at a fitness club, or even look on the internet from some beginner programs. Disregard any that have really high reps (like over 10) if you want weight gain though.

I'm not a fitness expert, but I work out with a basic routine 3 times a week and have put on a fair amount of muscle over the last year. Consistency is the main thing

[Jim11]

Those exercises you're doing are good, but like the others said, they aren't good for gaining weight.

Just get any kind of beginner weight lifting program going with 8-10 reps at the highest weights you can handle, increasing them whenever you can, and if you're patient you'll see weight gains fast enough. (If combined with the suggested eating that's been mentioned already)

Look for a friend who lifts weights to help you with a program, or someone at a fitness club, or even look on the internet from some beginner programs. Disregard any that have really high reps (like over 10) if you want weight gain though.

I'm not a fitness expert, but I work out with a basic routine 3 times a week and have put on a fair amount of muscle over the last year. Consistency is the main thing

Alternate suggestion: beer, pizza, no exercise. that definitely worked for me when I was around 19.... but I don't think it was intentional.

[Uplift]

Oh yeh, one thing I left out, which is second nature to me. Remember, you don't grow while exercising. Growth and recovery takes place between exercise sessions. So, think about and value recovery.

[openeyes]

Originally Posted by purplephilosopher

i weigh around 130 and i'm kind of skinny
i want to get up to 160 and i guess stronger and bigger

There are a few things I wish people would always be clear on which are much more important than just weight, such as height, bodyfat percentage if known, age, and gender (I'm assuming you're male). The school I go to gives free monthly bodyfat % tests.

Since you mention being in college you're likely over 18. Perhaps you can't sit down and have more than 3 normal meals per day, but surely you can pack a couple handfuls of walnuts in a ziplock bag to eat during class if nothing else. Other than that, you look to be getting fine advice from the other posters.

[dcristo]

Eating right and doing weight training are fundamental to gaining weight.

I would suggest trying to eat more, at least 5-6 significant meals per day. Whey protein post workouts would be beneficial as well.

[Phil Parkinson]

Originally Posted by purplephilosopher

i weigh around 130 and i'm kind of skinny
i want to get up to 160 and i guess stronger and bigger
so any tips on how to do that?
right now, i eat three meals a day and exercise regularly for 30-40 minutes a day (i do pushups, crunches, squats, lunges, knee bends, calf raises, stretch, and then i run on the treadmill)
i usually exercise before i eat dinner or right after i get up
im just wondering, is this effective at all?
should i change my exercises or anytihng i eat?
i'm at college so it would be quite hard for me to eat more than 3 meals

HEy there...

In order to gain weight, I would advise you to eat more (so you are taking on more calories than you are burning off) and start a heavy weights routine with lots of compound movements. These are lunges, squats, deadlifts, bench press, pull-ups, dips etc...

DO you have any structure in your workout? I would advise you get a solid routine so you can be consistent. Here is an example of a good weights routines... there are videos in this routine, so it will help to explain the correct way to do each exercise.

Ahmad's Total Body Exercise Program (with videos) - The Community for Excellence Forum

Perhaps you could try cutting out one cardio workout per week as this will burn a lot of calories that could be used to increase your weight.

I would advise you to drink a good quality protein shake immediately after you workout.

BEst of luck.

Phil x