Skinny, underweight, help me please, and I do exercise already

[Tinmad773]

Okay I'm skinny, underweight, I have been doing at least 60 pushups a day doing 20 at a time with a short rest in between, not sure of "work-out" lingo, 200 situps a night doing 100 at a time with a short rest inbetween, 200 jumping jacks 100 at a time with short rest, an I just started to do squats every night with a backpack full of books, but here is my problem...

I can hardly do any more than when I started this routine 6 months ago. I mean I have improved in sit ups alot, but still getting past 25 push-ups in a row is still almost impossible for me at least if I've done a set before that.

And this is my question... Should I take protein supplements or whatever since I hardly ever eat? Even when I do it's a little or I burn it off right away since my job requires a good amount of physical labor. And what should I take ? My only desire here is to be in decent shape and I know to get muscle you have to have something besides skin covering your bones.

One last thing: Diet suggestions will almost certainly be dismissed as I only eat as much as I feel I need...which isn't much. Growing up with overweight parents I suppose had that kind of affect on me.

[WanderingOak]

You didn't mention your age, so if you are a teenager, your metabolism is probably still geared for growth in height, rather than muscle mass. I personally don't like protien supliments because they are highly processed, then flavored and dosed with sugar to taste like milkshakes. If you are a light eater with no appetite, perhaps you could increase the frequency of your meals, or at least change what you eat towards foods high in protien such as beans or lean meats. You will not be able to build muscle without eating right, no matter how many pushups you do. You say that your diet is caused by your parents physical condition. If that truly is the case, then perhaps you need to work more on that aspect of your life.

[SmellyOrc]

Even though you said you didn't want diet advise, you'll still get a bit: in order to get big, you need to eat big. Simple. If you don't eat (much), how do you want to gain mass?
I'm guessing this is the reason why you haven't improved much. You don't eat enough, so your body doesn't have enough energy etc to rebuild the muscles.

If you really want to gain weight, and you're an ectomorph (look it up), you need to lead an almost sedentary life, at least until you've gained enough weight.

I'm against protein supplements. It's a supplement, not a replacement, especially not for a good and healthy diet. You're talking about replacing your meals with protein supplements. Bad boy.

Punch line is: Eat more.

[apt94jesse@gmail.com]

These people are correct. Should you really wish to change your body size, its diet, in combination with exercise, that will do the trick. So not wanting diet advice is kind of selling yourself short. Here's a basic massbuilding / weight gaining plan:

Exercise: You really need to work out with weights, heavier than your body weight. Pushups are not mass builders, as you are lifting less than your body weight each time. Squats with the backpack is a start, but an investment in a bench and some weights would do you good.

Diet: 2 things, what you eat and when you eat. Protein is what builds muscle, but it cannot do so without good carbohydrates. Most trainers will tell you that you need 1 to 2 grams of protein a day per pound of bodyweight you have. So, for round numbers, if you weight 100 lbs, you'd probably need 150 grams of protein. That's a LOT of protein. Skim milk, skinless chicken, soy products, etc. can get you there without using supplements, but there are a lot of people who swear by the supps. It really depends on your own beleifs about diets.

Having a small appetite is something you have to overcome, and your best bet is to spread those meals out over the entire day. There are even people who set there alarms for the middle of the night to get up, eat a high protein meal, and go back to sleep. Pretty intense, huh?

Also, with intense weight training, your appetite should increase, since you'll be using more energy and need to rebuild the muscles you break down.

Limit your stimulant intake as well.

And as was said above, if you are still a teenager, or even younger, you may be physically unable to put on muscle mass yet.

Bodybuilding.com - The Future Of Bodybuilding! Huge Bodybuilding Site. has some good resources for advice, but be warned, they are a store first and an informational source second, so take things with a grain of salt.

Hope this helps.

-Jesse

[ChefSalad]

I completely agree with what the above two posters have said but I would also like to add a few things.

First, with diet: make sure to eat plenty of protein. Chicken, eggs and (if you're really cheap) ground lean pork are your best friends. Protein powders are definitely not the way to go. Egg whites are probably the easiest way to get really good protein and not much else. Whole eggs taste better though, and cost less per calorie and gram of protein although they have considerably more fat. As you're trying to gain weight that's not something you should be worried about.

Also, be sure to eat healthy. Don't go out and wolf down ten dollar menu items from McDonald's because some forum junkies told you to. Eat lots of fruit, vegetables and protein and not so much junk, and you'll do fine.

Second, concerning exercise: DON'T DO IT EVERYDAY!!! Yup, don't exercise everyday. In fact, you probably should avoid exercising more than 4 or 5 times a week. That's probably the biggest reason you haven't made much progress. Without recovery time, you're body won't gain strength, in fact, you may lose it. If you start feeling run down or that you're not progressing fast enough, take an extra day or two off. You'll really notice the results of good recovery.

Also, use weights. They really do help. If you can't get into a gym, look in the Classified Ads of your local newspaper for some used weights and a bench. Usually $50 will get you a full set with a bench off somebody who bought it for New Years three years ago, never used it and is now cleaning out their basement. If you really want to go cheap, you can make sandbags out of trashbags, burlap sacks (go to your local firestation and ask; they'll have them), sand and a roll of duct tape. A full set of sandbags will cost you maybe $20 and will do you very well.

And, last, don't lift for too long. Forty-five minute sessions four times a week will do you a thousand times more for both mass and strength than seven two hour sessions ever will.

[pantera]

I'm going to disagree a bit with the "no protein drink" opinion.

I've always had a similar metabolism to you. Even given your best efforts, it is hard for someone like us to put on muscle mass. Here's what's worked best for me:

1) Exercise aerobically 3x per week for 30-45 minutes. You need to keep your heart healthy. Don't overdue it though, as you'll burn off too many calories. Run, treadmill, bike, etc.

2) Lift weights for 1 hour 3x per week. Lift heavy -- as much as you can handle for 5-8 reps per set. Exercise every body part equally so that you have a proportionate physique. DON'T lift 5-7 days per week. Your body type can't take the abuse. I've noticed that when I lift hard & heavy 3x per week, I gain MORE muscle than if I lift more frequently. It's because my body has more time to repair and grow.

3) Eat good foods as everyone has said. This is very important. No food = no muscle.

4) Here's where I disagree -- it is so hard to eat enough to put on muscle when you are a skinny person like us. If you CAN eat enough high-quality food to gain, do that. But if you are struggling to woof down all that food, do the following. Eat 3-5 healthy small meals per day, then drink a Whey Protein drink. My favorite (just due to my taste buds) is EAS 100% Whey Protein. Drink 16 oz. of SKIM milk with 2 scoops of this stuff, and you'll soon notice a difference. You'll get the extra calories you need, and if you're lifting regularly and properly, it'll help. Order it online rather than in a store -- you can get some big discounts.

Without this routine, I was about 157-160 at 5'9+1/2". Now I'm about 170-173 and and look very athletic, better than most guys.

You can do it too! Do this for 1-2 years and you'll look fantastic. Good luck.

[빈센트]

Drink a gallon of milk everyday along with a reasonable diet.

Read up on this. It talks about caloric excess.
Diet - Caloric Excess

Like the article said, How are you going to add another room on your house with only enough wood or concrete to make small maintenance repair on your existing structure?

If you want muscle, eat up. It really doesn't matter what you eat. I live on cheeseburgers day in and day out, thanks to the poor choice of food available at my college. But this hasn't affected my health in any detrimental way. As long as I'm taking in more calories, my sprints are getting faster and I'm lifting more.


Lay of the high rep stuff unless you're going for muscular endurance. Like alot people here said, lift weights. High sets, low reps.

I recommend "Starting Strength" by Mark Rippetoe. It does alot to address the core lifts (bench, squat, deadlift etc.,).

If you have no access to weights or a gym, I recommend "Never Gymless" by Ross Enamait, which addresses exercises to get you strong without touching a weight.

For now, I recommend adding pullups to your exercise list. If you want to do more pushups, look up "greasing the groove" on google. Basically it's doing pushups at different times during the day. For example if 25 is your max. Do about 20-23 pushups in the morning, afternoon, and night. And progressively increase it every week.

[Andy]

I agree with what most said so far. If you want to put on weight, you're going to need to eat more, the weight has to come from somewhere. Also, realize that whenever you're doing over 15 or so reps of something, you'll generally be working on endurance, and endurance isn't what gets you big muscles. Use a weight/load where you can only do 5-12reps before you're spent, working out somewhere in that range is quite good for putting on muscle.

[DQueens]

ok, first of all, honey, you need to eat!
Find out how much you weigh, google the amount of calories you need a day to maintain your weight, and then add 500 more to that number. If you are really not hungry then try working up to the number gradually.

Second, sit-ups and push-ups are great, but they're not going to bulk you up and build muscle. You need to invest in some weights or a gym membership. If you are a student, you should be able to visit your high school gym or college gym for free. Again, google is your friend. You need to work each muscle group (shoulders, triceps, biceps, chest, upper and lower back, quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, calves) twice a week. Work with a weight that will tire you out on the 12-15th repetition so that you can not lift anymore. Rest for 15 seconds and repeat 2 more times.

This, combined with an increase in calories, will help to bulk you up and make you gain weight.

[Mark Lapierre]

And as everyone else has said, you have to eat more.

I'd also always eaten only when I really need to, though when there's more food put on my plate I'll be happy to finish it off. However that didn't happen consistently enough to allow me to put on weight.

As WanderingOak said, growing teenagers can have trouble putting on muscle mass. I gave up after about 3 months of trying. I was getting there (eating about 3 times as much as normal) but it was far too much effort.

I'm 27 now and still skinny and underweight, but I recently managed to put on 6kg by stuffing my face with protein and carbs for about 6 weeks, just to see if I could (visiting Greece with a friend with Greek relatives helped ). I've stopped doing it the same way because it wasn't a healthy diet, and it was costly, so my weight has stabilised again. I'm still eating a lot, more than I feel I need, and I'm noticing my muscle mass start to improve even though the only exercise I'm doing is yoga (ashtanga and vinyassa yoga, involving a lot of strengthening exercises).

I have no doubt that I would now be able to pump some iron to build up my muscle mass, but I have no interest in doing that.

[Uplift]

I experienced the problem as a kid, young teenager, and now weigh a lean 95kg at 51 years old. I am also a personal trainer with 30 years experience. Lots of the advice is right. Train every third day. The number of times you are doing each exercise, ie number of sit ups at one hit, is too high to add size. Find ways to make it harder so that you can do much less, say max 12 times for upper body and stomach, 20 times for legs, lower body. You need nutrients to recover. Enough protein, fat and carbs, plus vitamins and minerals. You must think like this: exercise is a stress and leaves you depleted, like say your skin being rubbed. In between exercise your body will recover, and if the stress is enough, but not too much, your body will over recover, and grow to deal with the stress, like your skin thickening. A convenient way to get more food is to take a smoothie style drink to work in a thermos. Make sure it has protein, good fat, and carbs, along with vitamins and minerals. Take small sips through out the day. It will get messy if I advise what to put in it, because their are a myriad of opinions, but here is my recipe. Whole milk, 2-3 eggs, berries, banana or other fruit, and ground nuts, or seeds. try to get the best quality ingredients, and create one that tastes good. A pint a day, sips every hour or two, even while working out. More little sips is best. Make sure you still eat some meals, your teeth, gums, and stomach need the exercise. Drink plenty of water. You will grow and your health will improve dramatically.

[SmellyOrc]

Originally Posted by pantera

4) Here's where I disagree -- it is so hard to eat enough to put on muscle when you are a skinny person like us. If you CAN eat enough high-quality food to gain, do that. But if you are struggling to woof down all that food, do the following. Eat 3-5 healthy small meals per day, then drink a Whey Protein drink. My favorite (just due to my taste buds) is EAS 100% Whey Protein. Drink 16 oz. of SKIM milk with 2 scoops of this stuff, and you'll soon notice a difference. You'll get the extra calories you need, and if you're lifting regularly and properly, it'll help. Order it online rather than in a store -- you can get some big discounts.

I agree on taking protein supplement as a REAL supplement, not as a replacement. Replacement = baaaad. As supplement = ok.

To OP: 200 sit ups? Baaaad. Like someone said, you won't build muscle when doing anything over 15 reps, but it will build endurance instead. So you gotta change your way of doing sit ups. Put your feet on the wall, so your shins are parallel to the floor. Then do some sit ups. Feel the burn, baby!

Low intensity builds muscle endurance. High intensity builds strength. So, go from regular 2-handed push ups to one-handed if real strength is your goal and you don't have access to weights.

Squats same thing, do them on one leg instead of 2. It may take a while before you can do a full pistol squat (one-legged), but its worth it. Unless you got access to weights, do regular weighted squats. Or get a kettlebell and still do pistol squats.

[cgs]

I'm in the same situation. Here's what to do. Follow all the above advice about eating. Eat, eat, eat, eat, and eat some more. And make sure it's good for you. Google "healthy carbs" and "healthy fats" if you're unsure.

1) Track your calories. This takes discipline, but just do it, trust me. Bust out excel, and make 3 columns for carbs, proteins, and fats (in grams). After you eat, write down the grams of each. At the end of the day, your total calories will be (carb grams * 4) + (protein grams * 4) + (fat grams * 9).

2) Make sure the proportions of carbs/prot/fat is right. For example, my daily target is 432g/159g/112g (carb/protein/fat), which I got from an online calculator. I spread this over 6, yes 6, meals, spaced about 2.5-3 hours apart. So for each meal, I aim for about 72/26.5/18.7. Doing it in grams is much easier than calories, because you can track the ratio much easier. After awhile, you start to get a feel for this ratio and you don't have to add as much. Note: this will be different for you; its based on me (I'm 6'3" 147 lbs) Keep a calculator and a dry erase board in your kitchen.

3) If you don't want to deal with weights, make yourself a sandbag. Here's some instructions:
http://www.warriorforce.com/sandbagconstructionkit.pdf
I made mine for about $28. That's a good deal for 100 lbs. Sandbags are great, because they really kick your butt. You have to use all kinds of stabilizer muscles no matter what kind of lift you are doing, because it's not as easy to grab as a metal bar.

4) Google "sandbag training" for some good full body workout routines. You need to be doing compound exercises like squats, and clean and presses.

5) Make sure you drink a post workout shake no longer than 5-10 minutes after you're done working out.

Hang in there! This is a 30 day trial for me, and I'm on day 22. I've gained 3 lbs so far!

[Uplift]

Awesome CGS, you are powering! Passion, focus, clarity, I love it! You are the walking secret! have a ball!

[John Hill]

All the things you mentioned in your post that you currently do will never help you gain any weight. I wrote an article on my website called "build muscle fast" it has all the inforamtion you need but sorry you will have to start eating. Muscles need amino acids and aminos come for food. The link is below.

John

[Donkey]

The information you seek is on the internet but not here. Go to a weight lifting site and search throught the articles and posts. T-Nation dot com is a good one buy they shamelessly promotote their products but the info is great. To gain weight, you'll have to apply yourself by educating yourself, eating A LOT of the right kinds of foods (i.e., "clean" eating) and lifting heavy weights. Sorry pushups just won't cut it. You need to lift iron.

HTH

[Uplift]

I like lifting weights, and consider myself pretty strong, but, ever seen a gymnast.

[Donkey]

Without a doubt gymnasts are quite strong. Collegiate and Olympic gymnasts are outright studs but they didn’t get that strong from doing three sets of pushups and chin-ups. Gymnasts are strong from countless hours on the rings and bars. This is a way to get strong but lifting iron is more time efficient and requires a lot less training.

[Uplift]

Yeh I agree with you. Weight trainers understand intensity, overload and recovery really well, and the websites give great advice. There's a lot of ways to make pushups and chinups really intense though. Working up to single limbed pushups, chinups, shoulder stands and squats, combined with hanging leg raises, will test the strongest people out, and give awesome results if you don't have equipment. You still need a bar or something to hang off though, and like you said, you have to understand what you are trying to achieve.