So Im a scrawny Eugene wanting to turn into a Stacy slaying Chad
I already do the simple stuff like cut out sodas and junk food (except ChickFilA and Zaxby’s), but I really want to gain muscle on my arms and my legs. I use to be a rather good runner with a mile time of like 5:40 or so, but running keeps you slender yknow?
So what would be the best thing to do? Like do I just show up at the gym and start lifting stuff? Ill look completely clueless man, idk
P.S. I also heard that gymming it up makes you better at arena
figure out how many days a week you’re willing to consistently workout and create a plan based on that so that you hit every major muscle group. minimum 3 days recommended
Workout 3-4 days a week as your schedule allows, stick to a diet of 65% protein, 25% carbs, 10% fats. Eat as many veggies as you want. That’s probably the most simple you can make it, you’ll have to experiment and see what works for you
Intermittent fasting from what I understand is a good way to receive the bulk of your protein/calories at the end of your day, allowing for your muscle to have the most amount of resources for repair & growth while sleeping. Something you can also look into.
as far as diet to start eat 3 meals a day and try to have your bodyweight in grams of protein per day (ex: 150 lbs 150g of protein/day). first learn how to properly do the motions with little to no weight then can increase incrementally.
my favorite workout split to do is Push/Pull/Legs. look up basic guides online and they’re all pretty similar. basically just working the muscles that naturally work together. with that training style you can do either 3 days a week or 6 days a week just complete 1-2 cycles of the push/pull/legs per week depending on your schedule.
Bodybuilding(dot)com. It’s not just for bodybuilders but anyone looking to get into fitness and has a ton of information and posters to help beginners.
Generally you want to get on a proven program and eat in a small calorie surplus to gain muscle.
bench press, back squats and deadlifts are efficient compound lifts to start building muscle. would add front squats, power cleans and overhead press once you’re able to progress to those lifts.
i just do one lift a day monday through saturday - back squat, bench, deadlift, front squat, bench, cleans (work schedule doesn’t afford time for overhead press). fortunately, there are lots of videos on youtube that provide instruction on proper technique to get you started.
Edit - side note: how do i change the toon i post on? thanks!
Instead of hitting the gym, you should join a martial arts school. They keep you in shape while also teaching some pretty good techniques that’ll improve your self confidence.
I started with karate as a kid then moved to BJJ and then to MMA focused on BJJ/Muay Thai and it greatly boosted my self confidence.
Look up the actual strongest men in the world. Most of them have Roy Nelson bods. It’s like driving around in a sleeper car, let’s see a gym bro messing with Askren or Nelson in a dark alley and see what happens to them.
Bench, Squat, Deadlift, Overhead Press are the essentials that I would never replace. Learn those movements and also start working on stuff like Chin-ups, Dips, and Power Cleans. Don’t do Clean & Jerk unless you have a trainer or something, the movement can be tricky and it’s hard to judge the form by yourself on that one. Form is more important than weight lifted, if you can’t lift it with proper form then you’re not lifting correctly. There’s billions of videos on youtube that’ll teach proper form for each lift, and if you have a smartphone you can record yourself to make sure you’re doing everything correctly.
Start with 3 days a week doing the main compounds (Squat, Deadlift, Overhead Press, Bench), then as you get more comfortable with it or start to plateau you can add accessories or increase the number of days you’re lifting. I usually do an Upper/Lower split, so I’ll do lower body exercises on Monday and Thursday with upper body exercises on Tuesday and Friday. Sometimes when I’m bored or angry I’ll do Pushups/Situps/whatever bodyweight exercise just to blow off steam or kill time. Routine isn’t near as important as some people make it out to be, just getting out there and doing it is the most important thing.
If you’re wanting to gain weight, just eat anything. I’m not even joking, ignore macros and just focus on eating more calories. When I’m bulking I’ll eat stuff like Mac&Cheese and Pizza, just because I want more calories and it doesn’t make a massive difference as long as you’re hitting protein goals. Supplements can be useful for hitting protein goals, but don’t let it replace normal food and don’t fall for all the weird lies that’re allowed to be advertised.
Lifting weights is fun, it’s like an RPG in real life. You get to see your numbers go up and see changes on your body like you’re progressing a character, except other people won’t look at you like a retard if you talk about weightlifting as opposed to bringing up your arena rating.
Focus on the compound lifts. Bench, overhead press, rows, pull ups, squats, deadlifts. I like to do a 4-day split with two upper body days and two lower body days. One heavy day of each and one volume day of each. Heavy days stay pretty strict to the wendler program that you can find online. Volume days get more accessory lifts. Then eat. You have to eat more calories than you burn to actually gain weight.
