Thread by @Rob_NBF

Are you skinny?

Are you "skinny-fat"?

Need to build some muscle?

I've put more actionable tips into this thread than there are in a $60 ebook.

I've stripped out all the fluff & padding & left in all you need to know & do.

Read this thread to cure your skinniness! 👇

Firstly, you need to be following a resistance training program.

I've got a free 3x per week full body workout for beginners (people have been following this with great results.)

See it here 👇

nothingbarredfitness.com/the-perfect-wo…

Don't mess around with this plan unless you know what you're doing

The exercises are there in that order for a reason. It's a balanced plan with about the right amount of volume

Tinkering with it risks sub-optimal results

Don't make your own plan until you're more experienced.

Important point: Progressive overload is CRUCIAL in your training.

That means you need to get stronger over time.

You don't have to lift more weight every session (although you might at the start). It can be as simple as adding one more rep to one of your sets each week.

Progressive overload = any of:

More weight
More sets
More reps
Slower reps on the way down
Faster reps on the way up
Better form
Less rest

Make sure you're improving in at least one of these each week,

I use a mixture of reps and weight to progressively overload.

I work in a range of 8-10 reps, for 3 sets.

I add reps every workout, until I'm doing 3 sets of 10, then I go up to the next weight and back to 8 reps.

You could do this with:

4-6
6-8
10-12
12-14
etc.

KEEP TRACK OF ALL LIFTS!

You won't know if you're improving unless you keep track.

I recommend the FitNotes app. It also includes a built in rest timer so you know you're not just lifting more because you're resting more.

What gets measured gets managed.

If you don't have access to a gym, you can do bodyweight exercises. Checkout @jerryteixeira YouTube channel, he's got progressions for all kinds of bodyweight movements.

Progression = getting stronger = gaining muscle.

youtube.com/channel/UCPEAh…

Let's talk about diet.

If you want to put on muscle, you're going to have to eat enough food, and enough protein.

Take your weight in pounds.

That's how much protein in grams you need to eat.

Weigh 180 pounds? Eat 180g of protein. Easy.

1g per pound is not scientific but it works. It's going to get you in the right ballpark (if you're 10-20% bodyfat)

If you're higher than this, you need to cut first.

Get your protein mainly from whole food sources. Eggs, beef, chicken, turkey, tuna, salmon & pork are all great

You can use protein shakes too. They also work (but not better - they're not steroids).

Just be aware they don't carry the same nutritional benefits as whole food sources of protein.

They also don't fill you up the same but still contains calories.

And speaking of calories, we need to figure out how much of everything else you should be eating.

I don't recommend you simply eat everything in sight with no limits as some might tell you to do.

You will very likely gain a lot of fat if you do this.

You DO need to take in a surplus of energy.

Calories are simply how we measure energy. Some foods are more filling for the same energy, and some foods require more energy simply to digest them.

However, the fact remains, consume more energy than you've burned and you'll gain.

There's only so much muscle you can gain in a given amount of time.

For most normal people (this is probably you), it's about a pound per month.

Eating more doesn't make you gain more. It just makes you add more fat along with the muscle.

Ignore people who tell you to eat as much as possible.

You will get fat quickly & need to cut.

You want to prolong the bulk as long as possible so you can spend more time building muscle & less time cutting fat trying to hang on to muscle.

Shoot for gaining 0.5lbs per week.

Why shoot for 0.5 lbs per week if the max muscle you can gain is probably 0.25lbs per week?

Because the margin for error is so small that attempting to gain 0.25 lbs of WEIGHT per week is likely going to be a frustrating process, probably resulting in NOT gaining any muscle.

0.25 lbs per week would be a calorie surplus of about 100 calories per day.

This is so small that you will end up missing it on many days simply through tracking inaccuracies.

And then there's the chance your metabolism may upregulate to burn off this small extra bit of energy.

You also can't perfectly partition nutrients so that EVERYTHING goes towards muscle.

Your will always store some as fat.

0.5 lbs per week gives us the best chance of building as much muscle as possible, whilst minimising fat gain.

You need to watch your weight like a hawk!

Weigh yourself daily, but ignore the daily fluctuations.

Compare the AVERAGE weight change from week to week.

0.5 lbs per week is a small change. Daily changes in water, food & glycogen storage due to hydration, food & salt intake etc. make daily comparisons pointless.

Always weigh yourself at the same time and under the same conditions.

Make it your morning habit.

Wake up. Use bathroom. Undress. Weigh yourself before eating or drinking anything. Record weight.

Done.

Now, back to your diet....

So how much to eat?

This calculator is excellent and has options for folks that want a keto option:

musclehacking.com/calorie-calcul…

Yes you're going to need to pay attention to calories...

I highly recommend you track calories, for at least 30 days, so you learn what the right amount of food is.

Take the calories given to you by the calculator.

Eat 1g per lb of your bodyweight for protein, but worry less about the carb/fat split.

You can get great results high carb low fat, low carb high fat, or somewhere in the middle.

So go with what allows you to eat the foods you like and stay on plan. Protein matters though.

To track all of these things, you'll need to use myfitnesspal and a digital scale.

I highly recommend being as accurate as possible in the short term, so you learn how to go by feel in future.

These scales from amazon will do the job.

amzn.to/2ph9sFv

Lastly on nutrition:

You can get carbs & fats from some "fun" foods like chocolate & ice cream.

But limit it.

They won't stop your progress, but if you eat only shit & you're deficient in nutrients like iron or calcium THAT will stop you gaining muscle.

Get in micronutrients.

Let's talk about recovery.

You need to ensure you're getting it.

Avoid stress, don't overwork yourself in the gym, and try to get at least 7 hours of sleep per night.

You don't actually grow in the gym, you grow when you rest, so make sure you're getting plenty of it.

Lastly, let's talk about how long it should take you to see results.

You're not going to see major results in 3 months.

You need to stick to this for years to see a really dramatic change. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

This transformation took me almost 5 years.

I cut and bulked many times during that time, adding a little more muscle than before with each bulking phase.

5 years.

Not 5 weeks.

Not 5 months.

You can do it faster than me, for sure, I made mistakes.

But this takes time.

That's all for now.

If you found this useful, give the thread a retweet.

I've got an email list where I send out more tips on gaining muscle (and losing fat), you can get on it here:

mailchi.mp/332adc3ff7ba/m…

Have fun gaining muscle!