Gaining weight a muscle?

Options
twan23
twan23 Posts: 3 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
Hello everyone! I have a couple of questions about gaining weight and muscle. First a little about me:
I currently weigh exactly 110 lbs and my height is 5'9", male. That puts my BMI at around 16,9. I barely have muscle and I'm very weak (not only physically, but I always want to sleep). I decided it had to change, so in about April 2015, I started running. I never hit 5k and then for some reason I bailed out. Ever since, I wasn't physically active. I decided, once again, my lifestyle had to change. I am currently tracking my calories and so on with MFP. I started to exercise with a "4 week to 100 push up" thingy. When I was doing the pushups today (it's a 1 min interval between 12, 10, 9, 9, 13+ pushups) at the last 9 I couldn't take it. My arms were shaking like crazy (they're like sticks). So again, something's not right. I decided I could go to the gym, but i'm afraid of other people (I understand it's stupid, but it's true). Too all this, I'm kind of picky with my food, but I try my hardest to eat about 2350 calories a day (or around that, that's my goal created by MFP).
So with this small background, my questions are:
1. What exercises SHOULD I be doing?
2. Should I sign up to the gym? What could I do there and how can I get "accustomed" and be confident at the gym?
3. Should I try to continue running?
4. Any tips for food?
5. Overall what tips could you give me (maybe guides or better even - personal experience) ?
I hope you could answer me and help me reach my goal weight of about 140 lbs with muscle - not fat.
I appreciate everyone who "chipped in" to help me and other like me! Thanks a lot! :smiley:

Replies

  • peaceout_aly
    peaceout_aly Posts: 2,018 Member
    Options
    Okay first off, from the sounds of how tired and low in weight you are, you will probably need to eat more. The first step to gaining muscle is eating at a surplus. A general suggestion is to aim to eat your weight in protein (i.e. I weight 114 lbs. therefore my goal is to eat 114 grams of protein per day) Second, running = calories burned = adding to a calorie deficit, which is what you need to avoid if you are trying to gain muscle. If you would like to continue running just to build stamina/accomplish goals/etc. then do so, but it is not going to "build muscle." If you are looking to seriously make gains, you HAVE to work out. Heavy lift. If you are unable to go to the gym due to social anxiety, invest in a barbell, plates and dumbbells for your home. Start off with body weight exercises and work your way up. Personally, I used to be the same anxious being at the gym. I would worry about being judged, wonder what everyone else thought, if they thought I looked stupid when I did exercises wrong, etc. But then I found that if I put my headphones in and "get in the zone" I wouldn't think about it as much. I did a lot of research online (Instagram is a good place to get work out ideas - lots of fitness enthusiasts post videos of their work out regimens) as to what work outs I should be focusing on, and got to a point where I wasn't afraid to ask the "body builder" type people in the gym what they were doing if a work out interested me. I think going to the gym would be a vital part of your journey. You would learn a lot and build muscle fairly quickly, most likely. After a week of strictly attending the gym, I got in the habit, I saw slight differences. Now, six months later, I'm addicted and go almost every day, always incorporating new work outs and finding that I never have enough time to get them all done!
  • twan23
    twan23 Posts: 3 Member
    Options
    peaceout_aly wrote: »
    Okay first off, from the sounds of how tired and low in weight you are, you will probably need to eat more. The first step to gaining muscle is eating at a surplus. A general suggestion is to aim to eat your weight in protein (i.e. I weight 114 lbs. therefore my goal is to eat 114 grams of protein per day) Second, running = calories burned = adding to a calorie deficit, which is what you need to avoid if you are trying to gain muscle. If you would like to continue running just to build stamina/accomplish goals/etc. then do so, but it is not going to "build muscle." If you are looking to seriously make gains, you HAVE to work out. Heavy lift. If you are unable to go to the gym due to social anxiety, invest in a barbell, plates and dumbbells for your home. Start off with body weight exercises and work your way up. Personally, I used to be the same anxious being at the gym. I would worry about being judged, wonder what everyone else thought, if they thought I looked stupid when I did exercises wrong, etc. But then I found that if I put my headphones in and "get in the zone" I wouldn't think about it as much. I did a lot of research online (Instagram is a good place to get work out ideas - lots of fitness enthusiasts post videos of their work out regimens) as to what work outs I should be focusing on, and got to a point where I wasn't afraid to ask the "body builder" type people in the gym what they were doing if a work out interested me. I think going to the gym would be a vital part of your journey. You would learn a lot and build muscle fairly quickly, most likely. After a week of strictly attending the gym, I got in the habit, I saw slight differences. Now, six months later, I'm addicted and go almost every day, always incorporating new work outs and finding that I never have enough time to get them all done!

    Thanks for your answer! I guess I'll have to come over my fear of the gym, because it looks like I can't go anywhere without it. Do you by chance know a program I could follow for the heavy lifts? I'm a completed newbie in this. Plus, I do have a problem with my knee, so I doubt I can do what I see weight lifters do, when they squat and come back up with weights. Overall, thanks for the tips, it helps me a lot!
  • codsterlaing95
    codsterlaing95 Posts: 221 Member
    edited February 2016
    Options
    110 lbs at 5'9 and a male! Eat everything in sight and lift heavy...


  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,394 MFP Moderator
    Options
    Foods - Check out this thread

    Running - While there is nothing wrong with doing cardio while bulking, it tends to burn calories and if you struggle to get calories, increasing your expenditure is generally not recommended.

    Gym - You will see the best gains (strength and mass) if you follow a structured lifting program, like these but you could start with a body resistance program like you are your own gym or convict conditioning.

  • William4MVP
    William4MVP Posts: 166 Member
    Options
    holy fuark, were you on that holocaust diet? start eating everything in sight..
  • twan23
    twan23 Posts: 3 Member
    Options
    psulemon wrote: »
    Foods - Check out this thread

    Running - While there is nothing wrong with doing cardio while bulking, it tends to burn calories and if you struggle to get calories, increasing your expenditure is generally not recommended.

    Gym - You will see the best gains (strength and mass) if you follow a structured lifting program, like these but you could start with a body resistance program like you are your own gym or convict conditioning.

    Thanks a lot for replying! I've already started my "seefood" diet as people call it. I'm looking into Jason Blaha's program and the StrongLift 5x5 program. I have a question about my knees. I have a couple of problems with them from previous traumas and what happens is my knee just absolutely randomly gives out. I can do squats without weights and normally I'm fine, but it sometimes hurts after squatting. Plus it makes like a snapping noise (sorry if it grossed you out). Would it be safe for me to do squats? If not, how can I substitute it? Thanks!

    P.S. I just tried the exercise where you step on a chair and go up, I can do it, but my right knee will hurt (but go away right after) and I'm a little off balance. With my left knee everything is fine.
  • Wheelhouse15
    Wheelhouse15 Posts: 5,575 Member
    Options
    Ok, at 5'9" even 140 is small and if you go to your doctor for a blood screen you are likely suffering from low testerone levels due to you low body weight so you'll need to eat with a diet with a lot more calories, particularly from fat and protein to get your hormones in balance. I would imagine you are also severely glycogen depleted and running may have been a really bad move at your weight. I can see why you can't do a 5K or a few pushups -- you don't have any energy reserves and this is another reason why you are so lethargic.

    The first thing is to do as a few have mentioned above: eat. Lifting weights will help as well to maximize muscle gains but you also need more fat. I wouldn't be suprised if you start into full panic mode in a few pounds when you see your mid section getting a tad fluffier but bulking is a huge head game and you need to accept this. I recommend that you continue to check in and ask questions as you go because we see a lot of people that are seriously underweight here who stop bulking after a few weeks due to issues with accepting fat gains.

    I would aim for at least 160 if I were you and try for 1lb a week. Best of luck.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,394 MFP Moderator
    Options
    twan23 wrote: »
    psulemon wrote: »
    Foods - Check out this thread

    Running - While there is nothing wrong with doing cardio while bulking, it tends to burn calories and if you struggle to get calories, increasing your expenditure is generally not recommended.

    Gym - You will see the best gains (strength and mass) if you follow a structured lifting program, like these but you could start with a body resistance program like you are your own gym or convict conditioning.

    Thanks a lot for replying! I've already started my "seefood" diet as people call it. I'm looking into Jason Blaha's program and the StrongLift 5x5 program. I have a question about my knees. I have a couple of problems with them from previous traumas and what happens is my knee just absolutely randomly gives out. I can do squats without weights and normally I'm fine, but it sometimes hurts after squatting. Plus it makes like a snapping noise (sorry if it grossed you out). Would it be safe for me to do squats? If not, how can I substitute it? Thanks!

    P.S. I just tried the exercise where you step on a chair and go up, I can do it, but my right knee will hurt (but go away right after) and I'm a little off balance. With my left knee everything is fine.

    The noise coming from the knees could be from very tight tendons. But if you are having pain, I would go to an orthopedic doctor to get an evaluation. There are a variety of issues possible.

Categories