Gaining Muscle

[crazlunatic]

Hey guys. I am trying to gain muscle. The problem is that I think I am a bit "over skinny".

You can see my rib cages. And basically in my abdomen area above the stomach, there is nothing between skin and bone.

With nothing in between, is it even possible to build muscle? And if so how?

Thanks.

[siniy]

You need protein blah-blah-blah...
Try to count how many calories,protein and others you eat every day(at least approximately) and compare to your daily needs(google: calories calculator). Also choose training for gaining muscle, there are a lot of them over the internet.

[Minsc]

Muscle isn't fat.. You don't need fat to build muscle, the body doesn't create fat when it makes muscle, ect. And most bodybuilders have a low body-fat(~6%).

There are no muscles on most of your front rib cage(the pecs, ect, are on it) so you should see bone there, unless you're fat.

Being skinny would imply that your metabolism is high, though, which might make it harder...

Anyway, if you're wondering how you actually gain muscle, you could try strength training. (You'll definately gain something)
You'll have to increase the ammount of stuff in your diet and make sure it's a good one for weight training(lots of protein/fat, little carbs).

[hollowman]

i went to gym, took up a 5-day program with some protein supplement. really require extraordinary level of self-discipline. i did it for 2 months during a long break from work. Now just doing dumbell and sit up and push up, since i start work again. my physique is a little better than before but i am not dreaming anything near those hunks you see in the health magazine

Minsc is right, with high metabolism, it's tougher, i guess u should seek advise from professional trainer who can tell u more about ur calories intake, combine with the sort of program that you are willing to commit

[benwit]

if you have a high metabolism, that just means you have to eat more to keep your caloric level high enough to gain weight. You will have to lift, but don't overtrain. You have to make sure you have enough rest between lifting, or you will burn your body out. At least a day, and preferably two between intense lifting sessions is what is needed. This is often difficult for someone who is starting out because you want to dive in, but you undermine your efforts by lifting too long, or lifting too often.

With respect to eating, you should try to spread out about six meals of good food during the day, in reasonable sizes, to spread the calories, and also keep your body fully of good nutrients to help with the growth.. I know nothing about your body composition, size, weight, etc., to guess at what number of calories is correct for you, but you'll have to experiment and learn about your own body.

It does take a lot of commitment and an investment in time, but if you're willing to put in the time and don't try to rush things, you'll do fine.

[liverpool footballer]

Your body builds muscle as a form of adaptation to stress, therefore it is best to lift weights that are intense such that you can do them for no more than 15-20 reps. Ideally, a 7-12 rep range should be okay but it varies according to the muscle group.

With this in mind, you should aim to do short, intensive workouts with lots of rest inbetween. Muscles are built between the "adaptation" phase aka rest, so rest is important. There's no need to slave away hours in the gym every week, probably 2-3 hours of intense exercises per week ought to be enough.

The key here is quality over quantity; do more intense, less volume workouts, eat enough protein, get adequate rest. Incidentally, this requires lesser self-discipline since you do not actually need to go to the gym that often and when you do go, its preferable (for me at least) to choose intensity over quantity.