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15 and trying to bulk up
Hey im 15 and quite skinny and weedy...i have very little muscle and weigh 125 pounds.i desperately want to improve my physique but i want to be lean with muscle like gaz from geordie shore.i am going to sign up for a gym and my friend suggested that i start off working 'bitch muscles' (arms,chest,core) to imrove my appearance at first.i was just wondering what i would have to do to see gains in those areas in 5/6 weeks.after a few months i might introduce legs,back,shoulders aswell but i want to improve my 'bitch muscles' first.any advice or tips or workouts would be much appreciated.i just dont want people looking down at me anymore
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Want to answer more questions in the Health & Fitness category?
Maybe give some free advice about: Fitness?
At the age of 15, your body is still not developed very far into adulthood, so you should be aware you MAY not see the results you want.
BUT...working out NOW, WILL tell your body which muscles it needs to feed as your body continues to grow, and so working out now, might not deliver results now...but will deliver even better results later, so long as you keep at it.
So if you don't see results, don't get discouraged.
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Your friend's advice is not so good because the bigger the muscle groups that you train, the greater your body's natural testosterone production and the bigger your overall strength gains. This is why the best lifting is done with compound (i.e. multiple-joint) exercises using free-weights. The king and queen of all exercises are squats and deadlifts. This means that training your legs will actually help you make quicker gains in your "bitch muscles".
Secondly, it is not very good for you to train just parts of your body. It can lead to posture problems and various injuries when you try to use your new strength. In particular, one needs to balance front and back, e.g. chest and back, abs and lower back, etc. However, as I said before, the most muscles you train the better... so train them all.
Now, as a beginner, you should adopt a routine that focuses on the core (thats the one part I agreed with). The core must be trained so as to create a stable platform for heavier lifting later on. As one of the greatest lifters ever once said: you wouldnt fire a cannon out of a canoe.
The 5/6 week thing is unrealistic. There are different ways to do this, but here is a very viable option:
For the first 8 weeks run a full body routine 2-3 times per week, with at least one day's break between the sessions. E.g. Mon-Wed-Fri. Use 2 full body routines and alternate between them, e.g.:
1.
Squats 2x 8-12 reps
Leg curl 2x 8- 12 reps
Bench press 2x 8- 12 reps
Military press 2x 8- 12 reps
DB rows 2x 8- 12 reps
+ core exercises primarily for the abs and mid/lower back
2.
Deadlift 2x 8-12 reps
Incline DB press 2x 8-12 reps
Cable pulldown 2x 8-12 reps
Narrow grip bench press (for triceps) 2x 8-12 reps
Standing biceps curl 2x 8-12 reps
+ core exercises primarily for the abs and mid/lower back
For the core exercises have a look online, there are zillions of options.
What you should notice from the workout above is that I have given you no machines other than the leg curl (the stiff-leg or Romanian deadlift is a better exercise here, but it requires impeccable form). The exercises are free weights or cables and most are compound.
I set the rep range at 8-12 because I find that beginners are very bad at determining what they can do. Basically, aim for that rep range and stop when you can still do 2 reps. After the first 8 weeks you can push harder, i.e. almost to failure. Remember, no matter what you see in the gym, the body gains NOTHING from training to absolute failure - in fact, it just exposes it to injury.
If you need to see how exercises are performed, check out:
[Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
Remember, all your efforts will hinge on your diet and rest. Think of this as a three-legged stool... knock one down and the whole thing is broken. You need to eat often (about 3-4 hours), you need to eat a lot (not unhealthy, but a lot), and you need to make sure that you get a fair amount of protein with each of your 4-6 meals.
In the first 5 months or so, you will experience gains almost no matter what you do. This is called the "honeymoon period" in weightlifting. These gains are largely due to neurological adaptations in the body. It is crucial that you learn to train and eat right in this period, otherwise you will have to re-learn everything later. Most people quit after the honeymoon period unfortunately.
Feel free to send me any additional questions you may have.
Good luck.
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