Routine and Supplement Help

Bigger Stronger Leaner Beginners
1

Hey guys, i am 16 years old, 5"11 and 145lbs. As you could tell, im pretty skinny.

Can someone please help me by suggesting a supplement that i could take to get bigger and put on more weight. People keep telling me to take creatine, but im not too sure i want to take it because im not sure if its healthy or wht i need at this age…I was thinking something like Whey Protein or a mass gainer, but im also not sure how/when to take them.

Also, i was wondering if someone could suggest a 4or5 day a week routine for me to help me get bigger. Thanks in advance.

2

[quote]LTD wrote:
Hey guys, i am 16 years old, 5"11 and 145lbs. As you could tell, im pretty skinny.

Can someone please help me by suggesting a supplement that i could take to get bigger and put on more weight. People keep telling me to take creatine, but im not too sure i want to take it because im not sure if its healthy or wht i need at this age…I was thinking something like Whey Protein or a mass gainer, but im also not sure how/when to take them.

Also, i was wondering if someone could suggest a 4or5 day a week routine for me to help me get bigger. Thanks in advance. [/quote]

Read the stickies on top of this forum. Use the search function. Start eating. Start lifting. Come back with specific questions.

Creatine is absolutely safe, but with a normal (weightlifting-oriented) healthy diet you’re already getting enough so that supplementing additional creatine won’t have any effect.

Weight gainers can easily be replaced with ‘real’ food, a good whey protein never hurts if only for convenience.

3

I see, thanks. Do you have a routine that i could start off with? Im still trying to find one using the search tab but no luck and its giving me a headache :expressionless:

4

[quote]Petrichor wrote:
so that supplementing additional creatine won’t have any effect.
[/quote]

I disagree.

5

Very simple; bench, squat, deadlift. Proper form and for 3x10. As far as creatine being safe it’s as safe as Splenda. Don’t get caught up on pre-made weight gainers. I haven’t encountered one worth a dog shit. Try this weight gaining shake: 1 cup milk, 1 cups oats, 2 scoops whey, 1 cup yogurt, 2 cups water, 2 tbs peanut butter, 1-2 packets of Equal/Splenda, and ice cubes. Throw it in a blender and enjoy.

6

[quote]zephead4747 wrote:
Petrichor wrote:
so that supplementing additional creatine won’t have any effect.

I disagree.[/quote]

Depending on sex, age, weight(FFM) and muscle-fiber setup (Type IIb) you need between 3-4 grams per day. Thats the dosage roughly contained in 400-600g of meat, poultry, and fish. If you experienced a benefit from creatine supplementation, you either were not getting enough before or it was a placebo effect (which is fine as long as it helps you move more weight, jump higher run faster or whatever) or some combination of the two. Any excess in creatine is simply excreted.

7

[quote]LTD wrote:
Hey guys, i am 16 years old, 5"11 and 145lbs. As you could tell, im pretty skinny.

Can someone please help me by suggesting a supplement that i could take to get bigger and put on more weight. People keep telling me to take creatine, but im not too sure i want to take it because im not sure if its healthy or wht i need at this age…I was thinking something like Whey Protein or a mass gainer, but im also not sure how/when to take them.

Also, i was wondering if someone could suggest a 4or5 day a week routine for me to help me get bigger. Thanks in advance. [/quote]

you dont need supplements. i remember back in high school all my friends and myself took creatine serum, not sure if they still have it, and worked out. i wouldve gotten the same results without it… and i know that for sure because i didn’t see much results anyway. lol.

just remember these things

eat big
eat often
squat
bench
and do pullups
plenty of fluids and sleep

its so simple you dont wanna believe it, but that’s all there is to it. worry about supplements when you get to 200lbs

8

Go over to Amazon and pickup a copy of Starting Strength 2nd Edition by Rippetoe/Kilgore.

You’re litterally the poster child for which the book was intended – a skinny kid that wants to become unskinny fast.

You can find out information about the program online over in the FAQ at bodybuilding.com, but the real value is in learning form on the basic barbell exercises that will have the biggest impact on your development. That’s what the book teaches.

It’s worth mentioning the program will look very different from the programs you’ll find at a site like this, because a 16 year old with limited training history isn’t really the primary audience here. If you’re honest about your situation, and are able to understand context, this point should be obvious to you; what you need to grow is different from what a 20-30 year old man man needs to gain muscle who has been at this game for several years.

Don’t get caught up in thinking your progress is all that complicated at the moment; I assure you it’s not. You need to hit your body with a little more weight than you used last time within a handful of exercises, and then get the hell out of the way and let nature take its course. Lift, Rest, reover, eat, and repeat. Kids your age always overestimate the amount of time training they need, and underestimate the amount of food – at least the ones that stay skinny do.

Creatine is a non-issue for you at the moment. Take it, don’t take it; it won’t matter much. What you need is more overall food.

Find a nutritional guide aimed at adding lean body mass, and beg your parents to start stocking up the kitchen. Start at about 2600-2800 calories of quality food, and adjust based on how you’re gaining.

9

Thanks for the help so far. I am going to try that protein shake every so often.

I have worked out for a while now but havent seen much results due to school and sports but now that my season is done and i have my licence i am going to hit the gym hard.

As for purchasing that book I dont really have the money right now. Can somebody post a routine that I could do at the gym. I would appreciate it more than you could imagine.

10

I’m usually apprehensive to recommend the program without the book, but since you can find resources online that are so much worse, I guess this is the lesser of two evils ;-).

If it looks simple at first, I just ask you read through the whole FAQ, and consider the premiss around which the program is founded on.

How many exercises are actually needed to assess and build strength for you right now? What’s going to happen to your body when you’ve added 125 lbs to your deadlift, 100 lbs to your squat, 75 lbs to your bench, and 50 lbs to your standing press? I bet you’ll look stronger.

Throw some chin-ups in there, and you’ll be set.

11

thanks for the link.
does anybody else have any other suggestions for routines or where i can find some?

12

Here’s a nice program for you :wink:

A:
squat 3x5
bench 3x5
deadlift 1x5

B:
squat 3x5
overhead press 3x5
power clean 3x5 or 5x3

Alternate your workouts. For example, week one will look like this: Monday: A Wed.: B Fri: A.

Week two will look like this Mon.: B Wed.: A Fri.:B.

Etc.

Before you hit your 3x5s you will warm up on each lift, first with the bar, then adding weight. Generally 1x10 with the bar, 1x5 with 50% of the weight you will use on 3x5, then 1x3 with 75% of the weight. I usually would do only two warm up sets on deadlifts, skipping the empty bar and starting with 135.

Yes, you will be squatting 3 times per week. Yes, every other week you will be deadlifting twice a week. You will be sore. You will come to love being sore. It will make you feel like a man.

Start small and add weight to each lift each workout. If you can, add 10 pounds to each lift each workout. You will not be able to sustain this long, then drop down to 5 pounds per workout. This will mean that you are putting 15 pounds on your squat per week, 60 pounds a month. When you can’t keep up with that, put on 5 pounds every other workout. And when you can’t do that any more, you will probably be ready for something else. You will be amazed at how much weight you will be putting on the bar in 4 months.

Enjoy!

13

Oh, and if you can afford mass gainer, or whey protein, you can afford Starting Strength. Even if you don’t use the program, it contains incredibly important information about how to correctly perform the core lifts that you will use to become massive. Don’t short yourself.

14

Creatine is more important as you age. Some coaches recommend it for young people so you may get benefit. It’s not expensive and you don’t need a lot so it lasts a long time. You may not need it and I agree, “Starting Strength” is a better investment.

Stu

15

Thank you for your help guys. My last gym closed down after i was there a couple weeks. So i will be starting at a new gym very soon. I will also be using the routine given to me by Palindrome.

I have heard that deadlifts can be bad for your lower back, is there any other exercise(s) that i can subsitute it with? If not is there a tutorial that i can find that will explain how to do them properly. Ive found a couple of videos on youtube, if theres no other exercise that will give me the same gains then i will stick with doing deadlifts. THanks

16

Yeah, deadlifts get a bad rap from some people. My chiropractor told me not to do deadlifts when I was about your age, and it took me a long time to realize that he was an idiot (not all chiros, just him). Having said that, my back has never felt better than it does now, with all the squats and deadlifts.

There are tons of good articles here on T-Nation about the deadlift. Check them out. The “Mastering the Deadlift” articles are very good; maybe not written with a complete neophyte in mind, but worth a read, with some good tips.

It is possible to over think any exercise. A deadlift is one of those. The important thing to remember is to never ever bend your lumbar spine when it is under a load. If you do flex your spine, it is likely that you will discover why some people consider it bad for the back. If you can figure out how to keep a “neutral spine”, the deadlift is fairly simple to figure out.

With your feet about shoulder width apart, grip the bar with your palms facing you (overhand grip). They should be wide enough apart so that your thumbs clear you legs when you lift the bar, but not much wider than that. The bar should be right over the middle of your foot. Your shoulder blades should be slightly forward of the bar.

Take a big gulp of air in your lungs and hold it in. Then lift the bar. Keep back on your heels. Remember, you are not initiating the lift with your lower back. The only thing the lower back does is stays straight. The bar should stay very close to your shins.

Your knee angle will open up fastest at first, till the bar clears them, so that you’ll be sticking your butt back. Then your hip angle will open completely as your knees complete extending, finishing the movement. Then you put the bar down in reverse.

Start very light. Don’t think you’re such a badass that you can go in and start deadlifting 200 pounds. Regardless of whether you CAN or not, you SHOULDN’T until you feel comfortable with your form.

Deadlifts are probably the most exhausting exercise I have encountered. They’re very hard. And they will make you feel powerful. There is nothing that will substitute for them in terms of making you mentally tough and physically powerful. You won’t be sorry if you do them.

Good luck. :slight_smile:

17

Some nice videos on deadlift (and other basic lifts) by Mark Rippetoe, author of Starting Strength, here:

www.crossfit.com/cf-info/excercise.html#Power

18

Thank you for that last link palindrome. I watched his deadlift video, and now im going to watch his video for other exercises. THANKS :slight_smile:

19

Cool! Hope it helps.