Hi guys, Well after a couple of months of inactivity I'm getting back to the gym tomorrow. You see, I'm a hardgainer, I stand at 6'2 and weigh about 68 kg. The highest I've ever got is to 75 kg and that only after doing the GOMAD program, crazy but pretty effective as those of you who are familiar with it know. Anyway, I've been told that the best for my situation is to workout 3 times a week resting a day between them. I was also told to focus on compound execises using free weights, such as squats, deadlifts, those who involve several muscles and to stay away from machines but I don't know. I also like to swim and plan to keep doing it on rest days but dunno if that will affect my recovery. I swim around 1.5 to 2 km. I do realize nutrition is a key factor on gaining muscle but currently I can't have any dietary supplements as I'm in medication, so it all must come from whole foods which makes it harder for me. Any advice will be welcome, thanks!
Ok, Diego, some of us are not metric (lol), so 68 kg x 2.2 = 150 lbs! Seriously? Your goal is 165 lbs. What did I do to stay at an ideal weight and gain a little bit of bulk? I threw in the protein food, and some of it was a little fatty, but so what, and I worked out 6 days a week - alternating each day between upper and lower body, and not in the muscle head part of the gym but where the resistance circuit machines were, with about 30 to 45 minutes of running on each visit. I was in the best shape of my life then. I like the machines, actually, because they limit the range of motion for muscle groups. If a person is doing exercises with free weights, and a heavy stack, there seems to be more risk of getting hurt, and I've come close. I am now too lazy and not that interested in going 6 days a week!
If you're concerned about your form for compound exercises, then do research on each of them, making sure that you understand how to do them. If you're still uncertain about form, then take a video of you doing a set and post it on a bodybuilding forum. They can give you feedback by that means. I don't think people should avoid machines like the plague, but such exercises serve better as accessory rather than being the bulk of the workout, which ideally would be the compound exercises as you said. For machines, I use triceps pulldown, lat pulldown (as an alternate to unassisted chin ups, as I can only do 3 or 4 max), and leg curls to strengthen hamstrings. For everything else, I just use dumbbells and barbells for the respective exercises.
I agree with compound exercises over machines. They also build your supporting muscles that don't get worked with machines by forcing you to guide the weights and relying on a track. If you keep good form then they are very safe and way more effective. Also, interval training as others suggested is better for toning and slimming down, but not necessarily building muscle mass, so consider what type of muscle and weight you want to gain. Swimming is a great way to spend recovery days, however, it burns a lot of calories and unless you eat enough to make up those calories, swimming 4 days a week can make weight gain tough. On the other hand, it is a completely impact free activity, and the water will soothe the muscles making recovery faster than if you didn't swim. The most important thing is nutrition because if you aren't eating properly, nothing you do at the gym or pool will matter. Make sure you eat more calories than you burn, and fill your diet with high lean protein (chicken or extra lean beef, the second in moderation), and high energy foods (nuts, seeds). Gaining 15 lbs isn't too difficult for most people (usually the problem is losing 15 lbs) but where most people are unsuccessful is in eating effectively.
And remember: to gain a pound you need to add 3,000 calories. I would sign up for a one of those free nutrition "journals" and really track what you are eating. For around four weeks track everything and see where your weight gain is at. If you are not gaining, try to add in around 500 calories more per day (but keep it healthy). And in general you want to eat a gram of protein per pound you weigh or more of good lean protein (egg whites are also a great source). Eat early in the day and often throughout. Focus mostly weight training (as people have said free weights) and always push your self to get that extra rep. I also recommend tracking your workouts to see how you are progressing to make sure your body is always being pushed. High weight, low reps. Since it seems you are always pretty skinny you might wanna avoid any cardio at first. If you do, keep it short (1 minute sprint, 30 second walk, 30 second rest for 5 or so sets). High intensity cardio forces your body to burn its fastest energy source (fat) and while long cardio breaks down muscle (notice the differences in olympic sprinters vs. olympic marathon runners). There are ton of great forums out there for working out you might wanna check out.
Thanks Ryan, I am kinda tracking my calories intake as I do realize how important diet is when it comes to gaining muscle, even more than the training itself I'ld say. I'll definitely be checking one of those journals you suggest as I sometimes find it hard to track what I'm eating through out the day. Now, I don't really do any cardio besides swimming which I don't wanna stop doing but I think I'll cut down a bit my time in the pool.
The main thing for you right now is to increase your food intake. Start the GOMAD programme again. If you combine that with weight training you'll gain some awesome muscle.
I would but I've been put off whole milk for a while by the doctor, however I'm thinking on doing half GOMAD with semi-skimmed milk, we'll see how that works. Thanks.
