The Skinny Guy's Guide To Gaining Weight

Narrow Shoulders

gainmassnow — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 23:10:24 +0000

I noticed in my pictures that my shoulders are narrow (I am an ectomorph!). I’m going to put more focus on shoulder exercises for the next 2 weeks, especially the middle and rear deltoids. I don’t want to focus on front deltoids because the front deltoids get trained so much from doing bench presses and overhead presses, which would easily lead to overtraining and injury. I will continue to follow Vince Del Monte’s program while putting more focus on shoulders also.

Cheating Sucks

gainmassnow — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 04:29:44 +0000

The picture here is taken on Feb. 11, 2008. I ate a huge meal in a Chinese restaurant on Feb. 9, 2008, but I do have a life and hang out with friends, and went to the Philadelphia Auto Show 2008. I am also going to stop drinking Gatorade during workout. Being a retard that I am, I have been drinking Gatorade for working out for awhile now. It is high in simple sugar and high in sodium. By getting rid of Gatorade and having less cheat meals, I’ll get ripped in no time! With the help of Vince Del Monte’s Program, I am pretty sure I’ll reach my goal of a nice beach body.

Burning fat, losing weight, still maintaining strength

gainmassnow — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 00:12:15 +0000

I’m now 164-165 lbs from 172 lbs. All I did was changed my diet and increased cardio. My workout remained the same by doing one lower body, one upper body push, one upper body pull exercise 3 days a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday). I have more definition than before, and I am still maintaining my strength.

Tonight, I started off with deadlift, close-grip bench press, and chin up.

Deadlift:
315 lbs x 5 reps
315 lbs x 5 reps
285 lbs x 8 reps

Close-Grip Bench Press:
145 lbs x 8 reps
145 lbs x 5 reps
125 lbs x 8 reps

Chin Up (bodyweight only):
9 x 6 x 4 reps

I want to be 162 or 163 lbs by Feb. 1st because I will take a new picture of myself. Then I’ll start bulking up again, but this time around I will eat properly so I don’t gain lots of fat.

Click here to learn more about gaining mass and getting ripped

High Reps, Low Weight For Muscle Definition – Myth, Myth, Myth

gainmassnow — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 19:03:40 +0000

I know you will hear this from almost everybody that you need to do high reps and low weight for muscle definition. But out of all the “everybody” that’s been telling you about this, exactly how many of them are ripped?

To really get ripped (I’m talking about beach body and not bodybuilding competition ripped), you must have muscle mass, and a low bodyfat – it is that simple. When you do high reps and low weights, you aren’t burning much calories, and light intensity does not increase your metabolism. You want to build as much mass by doing compound exercises (squats, deadlift, bench press, etc.), and when you think you have reached your goal in mass, then you slowly decrease your calorie intake and do more cardio (3-4 times per week) at high intensity rate (short, but intense). This is when people think it is time to do high reps and light weight – - NO! Continue to do compound exercises but increase the reps to 8-10 instead of 6-8. As your bodyfat decreases, your joints are not as strong as before to handle very heavy weights. This is why bodybuilders who are about to enter a competition would do higher reps and lighter weight because they are getting too weak to do heavy sets around 5-8 reps. They have about 3-4% bodyfat! Imagine doing 5 reps of heavy deadlifting at 3-4% bodyfat…

As you are losing weight, continue on with 3 days a week with one day of rest in between of compound exercises. You want to maintain as much muscles as possible while losing weight. That is the goal of getting ripped.

I know a lot of people would think I’m full of crap, but for those who only believe in myths, they will never see changes.

Olympic Style Training

gainmassnow — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 02:30:22 +0000

You don’t exactly need to know how to do the Clean And Jerk or Snatches like the Olympics do. I wouldn’t recommend doing those without professional guidance because they can easily cause injury if done improperly. You can easily learn how to do Clean Pull, High Pull, Push Press, Deadlifts, Squats, and Hang Clean. These moves require a lot of muscle groups, and almost the entire body. Go heavy on these moves for 5-8 reps per set. These moves build a lot of mass because you are using a lot of muscle groups that allow you to use very heavy weights.

Instead of doing upright rows, try doing high pulls. You’ll be able to use more weights and also hit more muscle groups. Instead of doing military press, try doing push press instead. Instead of using leg machines, go to the power rack and do squats.

I started doing a Hang Clean/Front Squat/Push Press combo. Basically I do a hang clean, and then at the end of the hang clean, I squat down with the bar in front of me still, which is a front squat, and finally, I explode upwards to do a push press. I just wanted to get the form down. Never let your ego take over and start doing heavier weights when you don’t know how to do a certain exercise. I got the form down by doing just the bar. I didn’t care if people looked at me. Either you want to gain mass or lose weight, doing compound exercises work best to increase your metabolism.

I follow Vince DelMonte’s program to get fit and looking good. Click here to learn more about Vince.

Cardio on empty stomach is bad

gainmassnow — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 17:19:50 +0000

I know you have heard people telling you to do cardio on an empty stomach. Sure you can do that, if you want to risk fainting or burning your muscles instead of fat. You need some protein in your body to save as much muscles as possible while burning fat when you do cardio.

I do my cardios first thing in the morning, but before I go, I eat 2 egg whites and a protein shake about 45 mins – 1 hour before I do cardio. The tiny amount of fat and carb from protein shake is insignificant. This is effective because now I am sparing my muscles while burning fat, and not feel tired or weak because of hunger. I mix my protein powder with plain black coffee for the caffeine. Caffeine also helps in losing weight, and keep you energized for your cardio workout.

I only do 20-22 minutes of cardio for 1-2 times per week. I run as fast as I could till I am exhausted, and then I would speed walk (sort of a rest) for 2 minutes, and repeat the first step and so on. I did cardio this morning, and that gave me almost 300 calories burn (it was roughly 290… I think). Also, by running fast, this speeds up metabolism, which would give me additional calories burn for several more hours.

Learn more about cardio and building muscles from Vince DelMonte’s fitness program

Exercise Alone

gainmassnow — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 00:09:54 +0000

It’s best to workout alone than to have a partner or somebody who wants to start working out with you who isn’t serious about it. I just started working out with/training someone today who is having a problem gaining weight. Basically when we got there, he wanted to learn how to run before he even learn how to walk. I wanted him to do no less than 15 reps per exercises because he’s a beginner. His body is not prepped for working out so it’s best to start out with light weight. But instead, he wanted to increase weight and the weight he wanted to do was more than he could handle. That alone shows me that he has an ego problem. Also he wouldn’t listen to me about proper form when he was benching and doing pull-ups. At the bottom portion of the bench, he rested the bar on his chest and bounced it back up. On pull-ups, he was doing more like military kips than a standard pull-up. He was swinging his lower body and he wasn’t going all the way down at the starting position. I wanted him to do high pulls as last workout, but he wouldn’t do it because he was afraid to do them when there were a lot of “big” guys in the gym. I wanted him to atleast do just the bar to get the motion down, but he refused.

I’m not motivated to train him anymore as he’s not putting in the effort for himself. I’m doing this for free to do him a favor, but I don’t like to waste my time when he keeps it up like this.

Anyways, this is my workout today:

Bench Press – 165 lbs for 4 reps, 160 lbs for 4 reps, 140 lbs for 8 reps
Pull Up – bodyweight 168 lbs. for 8x6x4 (I did one more rep after 10 seconds rest to make it 5 reps on the last set)
High Pull – 160 lbs for 3 sets of 5 reps

Simple, Short, and Effective Workout

gainmassnow — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 21:39:44 +0000

I want to write about my workout that I did at the gym today to further explain my simple workouts to pack on muscles. I supersetted 4 sets of barbell bench press with pull ups (I rested 1 minute from bench pressing to pull ups, and 2 minutes from pull ups back to bench pressing). Then my next workout was 3 sets of clean pulls. This whole workout involved an upper body push, an upper body pull, and a lower body workout. I believe I was out of the gym in 45 minutes. To me, anything less than an hour for a total body workout is short. All 3 exercises were compound movements to help me pack on muscles and burn fat. Doing intense compound exercises would increase your metabolism to burn lots of calories.

Click here to learn more about packing on serious muscles for hardgainers

Simple Exercises to Burn Fat and Build Muscle Fast

gainmassnow — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 20:30:13 +0000

- You will do this 3 days per week with atleast 1 day of rest in between (typically Monday, Wednesday, Friday).

- You are going to do one lower body exercise, one upper body push exercise (such as bench press), and one upper body pull exercise (such as pull ups).
Lower Body: Squat, Hack Squat, Deadlift, Good Morning
Upper Body Push: Bench Press, Push Press, Incline Bench Press, Chest Dip
Upper Body Pull: Pull Up, Chin Up, Bent-over Row, Cable Seated Row

- Do 3-4 sets with 6-8 reps per set of each exercises.

- Rest atleast 2 minutes per set. Depending on your recovery rate, you might be able to rest less to do 6-8 reps again. I’m not blessed with great genes so I rest 2 minutes to 2 1/2 minutes.

- You can do these as straight sets, supersets, circuits, whatever. The whole point of this routine is to work your whole body with compound exercises and burn the most calories in the shortest times.

- Don’t do the same exercise the next time you go in the gym. For instance, if you did Squats, Bench Press, Pull Up on Monday, go to the gym on Wednesday to do Deadlifts, Chest Dips, Cable Seated Row for example. Friday, you can do squats, bench press, and pull up again if you want, but just mix and match to prevent boredom.

- Doesn’t matter if you are skinny or obese, this is a simple approach to get a muscular body with addition to proper diet, cardio, and rest.

Join Vince DelMonte’s Step-By-Step Guide Today to Build Muscles Fast

Stick to Compound Exercises for Mass

gainmassnow — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 20:33:09 +0000

If you are skinny, and you want to gain muscles, stop reading musclehead magazines that tell you to do 3 sets of dumbell curls and 3 sets of wrist curls to get 20″ arms. My arms didn’t become 16″ from doing any bicep curls or tricep kickbacks (don’t accuse me of having “great” genetics because my arms used to be sticks like 9-10″). My arms get a great workout from doing compound exercises such as close-grip bench press and pull-up. You never see skinny 120 lb guys in the gym with 20″ arms from doing bicep and tricep workouts 3-4 times per week.

(No-xplode 2.71 Lbs Fruit Punch 60 Servings By BSN – I use this product to prepare me for some intensive workouts. It gives me the energy and focus I need for a great workout.)

What I’m about to say is a stereotype of a typical skinny guy who wants to gain muscles: Either joins the gym or buys a pair of light dumbells. Does couple sets of dumbell curls, and finishes workout. Doesn’t eat or drink anything for post-workout nutrition, but maybe a soda and some potato chips. He then goes up to the mirror and flexes his biceps. After 2 hours later, his biceps are just as skinny as usual. He does the same weights and exercises for his biceps the next day. He then wonders why his arms never get huge. After a week, he gives up “working out”, and blames his genes.

Arms are a small muscle group. Your legs carry the most muscles, followed by your chest and back. If you don’t have much time in the gym, just do a quick few sets of bench press, deadlift, and squat. Those 3 are the basic power move, and they also burn a lot of calories.

If you still can’t give up doing bicep workouts because of your ego, lay off the bicep workout for a month, and do back exercises such as pull-ups, seated cable rows, lats pull-downs, bent-over barbell rows, just to name a few, and then go back to doing your normal bicep routine. You’ll feel a lot stronger to lift heavier weights for your biceps. Same goes for your triceps. Stop doing tricep workouts such as tricep kickbacks and pulldowns, and do close-grip bench press and chest dips to get bigger arms.

Join Vince Delmonte’s Program to Gain Mass Now