Maintaining weight and building muscle

captainfussy

Hi,

Im completely new to fitness. I've set myself a target to try and get fitter and to tone up. Im skinny build so i dont need to lose weight. Everything article online seems to contradict the next.

Is there anyone who can offer any advice on where to begin?

TakeTheLongWayHome

I guess it depends on what your definition of fitter is. Do you want to be more fit for cardio exercises? If so, start running, biking, walking, hula hooping or whatever is something you will stick with. You do not have to hate what you are doing. If you are, you won’t stick with it and you will quit. Try different things till you find what you like.
If you want to do strength training, there are a lot of resources available. I like muscle and fitness website to get my ideas. They are great at explaining how to do all the exercises. Athleanx is good too. He explains how and why to do certain things.
Tl;dr find something you enjoy doing and you will continue to do it. Good luck on your journey.

sijomial

Join a gym and start lifting.

You should get an induction to the gym equipment and can either get a PT to set up a program to get you started or pick a suitable beginner program from the list in the "Must Reads" pinned to the top of this forum.

If you say specifically what is unclear to you, or what hurdles are preventing you from getting started, it would be much easier to help.

Have a serious think about your short and long term goals because only you know what interests you.
e.g. "Get fitter" to me as a cyclist involves improving aspects of my performance on the bike, "tone up" means very different things to different people (Bigger muscles? Leaner? Athletic build?)

captainfussy

sijomial wrote: »

Join a gym and start lifting.

You should get an induction to the gym equipment and can either get a PT to set up a program to get you started or pick a suitable beginner program from the list in the "Must Reads" pinned to the top of this forum.

If you say specifically what is unclear to you, or what hurdles are preventing you from getting started, it would be much easier to help.

Have a serious think about your short and long term goals because only you know what interests you.
e.g. "Get fitter" to me as a cyclist involves improving aspects of my performance on the bike, "tone up" means very different things to different people (Bigger muscles? Leaner? Athletic build?)

Thanks for your reply.

Im a member of a gym, so i'm familiar with the equipment and confident using the equipment.

Being slim with skinny arms and legs i would like to build up muscle on my arms and legs. I would like to lose belly fat and work towards getting a toned stomach.

The main area im struggling witg is finding out what diet is best for my goal. I've seen different things some say to cut out carbs completely and just have a protein and fat based diet and other articles say to have a mixture.

cwolfman13

captainfussy wrote: »

Hi,

Im completely new to fitness. I've set myself a target to try and get fitter and to tone up. Im skinny build so i dont need to lose weight. Everything article online seems to contradict the next.

Is there anyone who can offer any advice on where to begin?

Can you be more specific? That's very vague.

Without knowing more specifically what your goals are and what fitter means to you, I'd recommend getting into the weight room with a structured beginner program like Starting Strength or something similar. It is a good introduction to the weight room and focuses solely on compound lifting movements which should be the foundation of any other program you ultimately move onto. With consistency, a good 4-5 months on a program like that will give you a solid base of strength to move onto a more intermediate program that is tailored to more specific goals. Starting Strength and similar beginner programs or full body (or mostly) 3x per week.

Without knowing your cardiovascular interests, I'd recommend a C25K running program to get you started on your path to fitness. This is also 3x per week and you can run the program on your non lifting days and then give yourself one rest day. If you're really unfit, you might just want to start walking regularly and then move into a C25K program.

All of what I mentioned is how I started and things evolved from there as I began to get a better idea of what my more specific goals were and what I really wanted to do. Just as an example, I ran a few 5ks after the C25K program and then ultimately signed up to do a sprint triathlon with my mom. I didn't particularly enjoy running all that much but thought the sprint would give me some other things to focus on. Never completed the race due to injury a couple of weeks before the event, but during my training I discovered a love of all things bicycle and became an avid road cycling enthusiast participating in a number of endurance cycling events over the years, and a weekend warrior on the mountain bike.

It all takes time and gaining fitness is something that is built over time...discovering what you are truly passionate about may even take more time. It's a process, not a switch you just flip.

captainfussy

cwolfman13 wrote: »

captainfussy wrote: »

Hi,

Im completely new to fitness. I've set myself a target to try and get fitter and to tone up. Im skinny build so i dont need to lose weight. Everything article online seems to contradict the next.

Is there anyone who can offer any advice on where to begin?

Can you be more specific? That's very vague.

Without knowing more specifically what your goals are and what fitter means to you, I'd recommend getting into the weight room with a structured beginner program like Starting Strength or something similar. It is a good introduction to the weight room and focuses solely on compound lifting movements which should be the foundation of any other program you ultimately move onto. With consistency, a good 4-5 months on a program like that will give you a solid base of strength to move onto a more intermediate program that is tailored to more specific goals. Starting Strength and similar beginner programs or full body (or mostly) 3x per week.

Without knowing your cardiovascular interests, I'd recommend a C25K running program to get you started on your path to fitness. This is also 3x per week and you can run the program on your non lifting days and then give yourself one rest day. If you're really unfit, you might just want to start walking regularly and then move into a C25K program.

All of what I mentioned is how I started and things evolved from there as I began to get a better idea of what my more specific goals were and what I really wanted to do. Just as an example, I ran a few 5ks after the C25K program and then ultimately signed up to do a sprint triathlon with my mom. I didn't particularly enjoy running all that much but thought the sprint would give me some other things to focus on. Never completed the race due to injury a couple of weeks before the event, but during my training I discovered a love of all things bicycle and became an avid road cycling enthusiast participating in a number of endurance cycling events over the years, and a weekend warrior on the mountain bike.

It all takes time and gaining fitness is something that is built over time...discovering what you are truly passionate about may even take more time. It's a process, not a switch you just flip.

Thanks!

I appreciate my original post is vague.

Before the winter i was on weem 7 of the couch to 5k. It was something i really enjoyed and i will be picking it back up.

Lietchi

To build muscle, you need sufficient protein. And you need a certain amount of fat for (hormonal) health.
But aside from that it's just personal preference how you split your macros. You don't need to cut carbs out. In fact, you might find that your workouts are better when you eat carbs (carbs are fuel). So just experiment and see what works for you.

To calculate your protein goal, this site could be useful:
https://examine.com/nutrition/protein-intake-calculator/

sijomial

captainfussy wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

Join a gym and start lifting.

You should get an induction to the gym equipment and can either get a PT to set up a program to get you started or pick a suitable beginner program from the list in the "Must Reads" pinned to the top of this forum.

If you say specifically what is unclear to you, or what hurdles are preventing you from getting started, it would be much easier to help.

Have a serious think about your short and long term goals because only you know what interests you.
e.g. "Get fitter" to me as a cyclist involves improving aspects of my performance on the bike, "tone up" means very different things to different people (Bigger muscles? Leaner? Athletic build?)

Thanks for your reply.

Im a member of a gym, so i'm familiar with the equipment and confident using the equipment.

Being slim with skinny arms and legs i would like to build up muscle on my arms and legs. I would like to lose belly fat and work towards getting a toned stomach.

The main area im struggling witg is finding out what diet is best for my goal. I've seen different things some say to cut out carbs completely and just have a protein and fat based diet and other articles say to have a mixture.

It's your training that provides the impetus for growth, diet just supports the process but doesn't drive it.
An overall healthy diet with a decent (or preferably an above average) level of protein is fine.
And an overall healthy diet can be achieved by an extremely wide choice of macro and food choices - don't seek complexity where none is required.

BTW - cutting out carbs completely is astonishingly dumb advice for someone exercising with strength, performance and physique goals. That sounds like it's coming from a zealot and a zealot that should be completely discounted. Carbs are a brilliant exercise fuel and also include many, many healthy and beneficial food groups.

cwolfman13

captainfussy wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

Join a gym and start lifting.

You should get an induction to the gym equipment and can either get a PT to set up a program to get you started or pick a suitable beginner program from the list in the "Must Reads" pinned to the top of this forum.

If you say specifically what is unclear to you, or what hurdles are preventing you from getting started, it would be much easier to help.

Have a serious think about your short and long term goals because only you know what interests you.
e.g. "Get fitter" to me as a cyclist involves improving aspects of my performance on the bike, "tone up" means very different things to different people (Bigger muscles? Leaner? Athletic build?)

Thanks for your reply.

Im a member of a gym, so i'm familiar with the equipment and confident using the equipment.

Being slim with skinny arms and legs i would like to build up muscle on my arms and legs. I would like to lose belly fat and work towards getting a toned stomach.

The main area im struggling witg is finding out what diet is best for my goal. I've seen different things some say to cut out carbs completely and just have a protein and fat based diet and other articles say to have a mixture.

You can be familiar with the equipment and confident in using the equipment, but if your programming is rubbish, you are going to spend a lot of time spinning your wheels. I'm now 47 and started working in the weight room when I was a freshman in high school and had been in and out of gyms for years after. I had some progress, but I didn't really see great progress until I started working with an established program instead of willy nilly doing whatever I felt like and skipping the things I didn't like. Even more progress when I had a trainer. There is a propensity, particularly among young men to do a lot of isolation work and spend a lot of time doing endless arm curls and chest exercises and skipping a lot of other important things because they aren't necessarily "beach muscles"

Diet wise, if you're skinny I would actually go into a small calorie surplus with a good hypertrophy lifting program. Not a whole lot is going to happen if you're skinny and lifting in maintenance...you need calories to build muscle mass. Cutting carbs out completely (keto) is counterproductive to optimal muscle growth...carbohydrates are very beneficial to building muscle as well as providing the energy for good training sessions. None of this has to be complicated. Eat a well rounded and balanced diet including plenty of fruits and veg, quality carbohydrates, healthy fats, and ramp up the protein to around 1 gram per Lb of LBM or thereabouts and eat in a small surplus. If you're putting on muscle, you should also be putting on weight, not maintaining it.