NOTE: THIS ARTICLE IS AN OVERVIEW ONLY. IN DEPTH CONCEPTS WILL NOT BE DISCUSSED TO LENGTHY DEGREE! (Coaching opportunities coming soon).
Right folks, let’s skip the pleasantries and get right down to brass tax.
YOU WANT… NO DEMAND RESULTS from your training efforts.
After all, you don’t go to work and expect NOT to get paid. (Unless you voluntarily work on the basis of charity).
SO WHY IN THE HOLLY HELL, would you invest all this time and energy in the gym and “not get paid” for your labor?
Why are you not getting the results & desired outcome?
Put simply, there’s 3 key factors that dictate to results of lack thereof.
- Training
- Nutrition
- Recovery
If any of these pieces of the puzzle are out of whack/alignment then kiss your dream bod/ fitness goals goodbye.
Lets break down and dissect these three pillars and figure out exactly why you’re not seeing the progress you’d like and surely deserve.
Now we’re going to approach each scenario from two different ends of the spectrum.
Scenario A: “THE SKINNY BOY SOLUTION”
Scenario B: “THE FAT GUY FORMULA”
Note: For the purposes of this post we’ll focus completely on the first scenario and make it all about the “Skinny Boy.”
Let me preface this by saying,
When referring to “Skinny Boy’s” I’m literally talking about individuals that are essentially slim, frail looking with no muscle tone or definition whatsoever.
Don’t get it twisted… “Wiry but lean & ripped” (which I consider the warrior build) isn’t what we’re addressing. You still need some muscle and definition to achieve that look… No, no, no
We’re talking about a complete “bag of bones” here. No muscle tone & no fat mass.
Anyways, I’ve dragged on long enough.
So without further ado, I present to you…
“THE SKINNY BOY SOLUTION”
Training
Skinny, under muscled and lacking in strength. The quote “98lb weakling .”
People in this category need to emphasize heavy, big, basic compound exercises and really focus on getting as strong as they possibly can. I need to drill this point home.
“The sole purpose of your training should be dedicated to making your entire body as strong as possible.”
The key here is to build a solid foundational base of strength, which will lead to the growth and development of bigger muscles overtime.
I don’t care what anybody says, to a great degree a stronger muscle is a bigger muscle and vice versa.
Bottom line is, if you’re skinny and want to get muscular and strong, the workouts you perform need to be designed with the priority and sole intent to build you up in terms of strength.
I personally perform 3-5 heavy sets in the 5-8 rep range when focusing on explicitly on maximizing strength and muscle. (Which I might add is practically all the damn time).
If you’re a complete beginner, your aim should be to add a little more weight to the bar from session to session or at the very least try and add an addition rep to 1 or 2 of your sets.
Training like this will, build dense, thick, hard muscle. Sure, you may not get pumped up like a bodybuilder, but you will still look damn impressive, especially when you peel back any additional ounce of the fat and “reveal the steel” so to speak.
What’s more, from a performance standpoint, you’ll actually develop usable strength that you can incorporate into daily life. (It’s a win/win situation).
What about cardio?
Thought you’d never ask.
From a health perspective, everybody should do some cardio. (Got to keep the old ticker thumping). However, the issue with many skinny individuals is that performing too much cardio or aerobic activity takes energy (calories) away from what would otherwise go towards synthesizing (building) new muscle tissue.
Personally from experience as a small boned individual, eating enough food to grow is already a pain in the ass and challenging enough as is.
I still recommend doing about 20 mins cardio at a steady pace 2-3 times a week for skinny boys, to help recovery and for heart health. You can do it either first thing in the morning or after your weights session. (Just get it done).
Nutrition
Now onto the next reason skinny boys don’t see progress…. Their nutrition flat out sucks or falls short to some degree.
Without getting too technical, your body has a certain energy level requirement (calorie). If you fail to meet this requirement you will start losing weight. (Which we don’t want to do as skinny guys).
Therefore, it’s imperative and stands to reason that in order to put on muscular size (and not just weight/ slop/ fat mass) you need to eat more of the raw building materials that make up that lean tissue.
Keeping this in mind, there are two key nutrients that the human body absolutely requires. These are:
- Essential amino acids
- Essential fatty acids
If you don’t ingest these key nutrients on a consistent basis, your body will eventually breakdown and die. (Paints a pretty grim image, I know).
Protein is the key macronutrient here.
You need to emphasize protein. Protein and more specifically the amino acids that protein breaks down into is what actually builds and repairs muscle tissue.
I’d aim for 1-1.5g of protein per 1lb of bodyweight. So if you weigh 150lbs eat anywhere from 150-225g protein.
Next you need fats. Fats do more than just supply your body with energy. They’re also responsible for proper hormone and endocrine function. (We won’t get into the nitty gritties of this within this post).
I usually like to get at least a bare minimum of no less than 30% of all daily calories from fat (& that’s during a dieting or fat loss phase).
Depending on dietary preferences this may vary e.g. On a ketogenic (keto) diet a higher percentage of calories can come from fat, verses more traditional or carb based nutritional approaches.
So keeping with our hypothetical 150lb person… that’d translate to roughly a bare minimum of 45grams of fat.
I’m currently eating approx.. 180g of total fat per day at present.. (Keep in mind I am experimenting with my own personalized a low carb muscle and strength building nutrition approach).
Lastly carbs…
Carbs are like rocket fuel. Carbs don’t really build muscle per say, they’re “protein sparing” which is a fancy way of saying they allow the protein you eat to be used to actually do it’s job of repairing and building cells and tissues in the body.
So one could say carbs are “anti catabolic” instead of “anabolic”. (However, I digress, we’re delving too much into the technical nuances).
Don’t be fooled into thinking you need to consume monstrous quantities of carbs in order to build muscle.
You only need enough to replenish the glycogen (stored carbohydrates/sugar./glucose) in the muscles, any additional beyond that will just be stored as excess lard.
As I said earlier, you need a lot of protein (amino acids actually build the muscle) and fat, for hormonal function (again steroidal hormones, e.g. testosterone are made of cholesterol and fat) not to mention the fact that on a calorie per gram basis fat has 9 calories to 4 cals per gram found in protein and carbs.
I personally keep the carbs extremely low, especially since lately I’ve been experimenting with a low carb “muscle building/ bulking” diet, where fat is the primary energy or fuel source. (Will outline this in further detail in future).
It’s difficult to give an exact number on how many carbs an individual should take in without factoring in their training, lifestyle, and current nutrition/ dietary preference and response.
That said however, as a basic rule, assuming the person is following a standard diet (i.e not keto or low carb) carb intake could vary all the way from as close to zero, all the up to 2 or even 3g per lb of bodyweight.
Now that’s quite a wide range… but it truly does depend on the individual’s sensitivity to carbohydrates and how their body processes them.
So to sum up nutrition, you need to first hit enough protein, secondly get your essential fats for optimal hormonal function and lastly any leftover calories should be allocated to either carbs or additional fats for energy.
Remember, this is just a basic overview, many other factors also play a hand in determining dietary practices.
Keep in mind all these recommendations are merely guild lines and not concrete, set in stone principles that are made to fit all.
(There is also a hormonal aspect to food that will not be addressed in this post, for time sake, but will be discussed at a later date).
Recovery
Onto the final piece of the jigsaw and something that often gets overlooked or just plain neglected.
Ah, good old recovery… It’s like the friend you least like hanging out with, but when you need them, they’re always there.
“WITHOUT RECOVERY THERE IS NO GROWTH”
Tattoo this on your forehead, ingrain it in your brain. Do whatever, but just make sure you fully realize this statement. (Actually it’s fact).
Think of recovery in three stages:
Stage 1: While lifting in the gym, you “rip up”, “tear up” & “slash up” (you get the idea) the muscle fibers. Essentially the gym is the stimulus or spark that triggers the potential for growth to occur.
Stage 2: Next you exit the gym, eat, sleep and engage in “non gym related” activities. The muscle fibers you damaged in the gym then begin to repair and return to their original state.. This is recovery.
Stage 3: The final stage of recovery is actually what we’re really after… It’s called super-compensation, where the muscles grow a little bit bigger and a little bit stronger. This happens due to the fact that your body thinks to itself:
“What the hell is this idiot doing? If I have to lift this crazy ass weight again, I better be prepared and build a little more muscle and get a bit stronger so I can do it more easily the next time round.”
Problem is people don’t recover sufficiently in the first place. You need to train hard enough to stimulate growth in the gym, then get the hell out, back off and recover to actually grow.
The critical factors to optimized recovery are (in no particular order):
- Sleep– Aim for approx. 7-8hrs quality sleep a night
- Hydration – Drink adequate water.
- Nutrition – Refer to nutrition section above.
- Rest days – Take days out from the gym. AKA DON’T TRAIN BALLS OUT EVERY FRICKIN DAY.
- Active recovery – stretch daily, do yoga or cardio. Anything that promotes blood flow and flushes the lymphatic system and pushes wastes, toxins and metabolites out of the muscles.
- Epsom salt/ mineral baths – This is a nice luxury one. Once or twice a week treat yourself to a nice relaxing soak in a hot bath. This really helps relax the muscles and the calm the mind
So there you have it ladies and gents. 3 sure fire ways for skinny boys to make progress on their physical pursuit.
This list could go on and on, but these are just a condensed few recovery options to get you well on your way.
Next time, we’ll talk all about fat guys.. Subscribe if you want to stay in the loop.
Till we meet again.
DISCLAIMER: NONE OF THE INFORMATION PRESENTED IN THIS ARTICLE IS MEANT TO REPLACE MEDICAL ADVICE. SEEK THE GUIDANCE OF A DOCTOR BEFORE UNDERTAKING ANY FITNESS PROGRAM.
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