I Want to Build Muscle

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

Hello there my name is Bryce i am 17 almost 18. I would like to ask for some help. I am not weak but i am far from strong. I am going to start going to the gym because i am no longer in school so i cannot access what little equipment we used. But my new gym has it all.

I am 5 feet 11 inches and weigh about 150 pounds. Im fairly “scrawny” but that does not stop me everbody starts somewhere. Anyone want to help. Thanks.

2

At this stage you need to establish good habits. What are these good habits?

  1. Eat consistently, and well (a food journal is a very useful habit to get into, I would recommend myfitnesspal).
  2. Lift consistently and according to a plan, there are plenty of good beginners programs out there (everyone and their mum will recommend starting strength, Chris Colucci will recommend his “teaching a kid to lift” program, the point is to pick one you can believe in and stick to it)
  3. Lift with intensity. A training session should be work, it should be hard, and you need to be focused and single minded.
  4. Recover properly. You need to sleep and rest to recover. Lifting should give you more energy, not less.
  5. Set goals. These should be both short term and long term, measurable, and with a specific deadline.
  6. Assess your progress. You need to make sure that what you’re doing is moving you closer to your goal.

Some recommended reading:

http://www.T-Nation.com/training/do-this-not-that-dan-john-chris-Shugart

3
4

Good starting points, and plenty of reading, so far.

[quote]The Young Buck wrote:
I am 5 feet 11 inches and weigh about 150 pounds. Im fairly “scrawny” but that does not stop me everbody starts somewhere. Anyone want to help.[/quote]
Help with what… what are your specific goals? Setting some concrete goals will make it easier to figure out how to get there. One mistake a lot of guys make is thinking that “building muscle” or “getting stronger” are goals, but they aren’t.

I’ll presume you do want to build some size since you’re pretty light for your height. Eating is obviously key, slightly more important than the particular training plan. Check the nutrition pointers I laid out here (dagill was right, ha):

Three good meals a day seven days a week is the foundation. Get that in place and work from there.

5

read pretty much any 10 articles on this site

6

[quote]RampantBadger wrote:
read pretty much any 10 articles on this site[/quote]

What he said. Squat, dead lift, press/bench and eat healthy like a horse. Also use your low weight as an advantage in terms of pull ups and dips - get good at them now while you’re lighter, even though you’re not going to be too strong at first.

I don’t think I’ve found a harder exercise to improve than pull ups, and I sit around 190 lb and I can squat, dead lift and press reasonably well (nothing special, of course) for where I’m at (double bw squat, double and half bw dead, about 85% bw standing press). My best is 6 pull ups.