I am going to disagree on the amount of weight training. It really depends on your body type. While I have no doubt that Imcloud is somewhere between a mesomorph and an endomorph you are most likely a Ectomorph. I was a true Ectomorph before I started training, weighing in at 124lbs at 5'11". The key to training this type of body is intense but very short workouts using all basic compound movements and hitting each body part infrequently.
Divide your workouts to hit each body part once a week. with the push pull routine-Chest/tri, back/bi, legs
Your goal here is maximum recovery with an excess calorie intake.
Imcloud's diet plan is fine but track your calories and adjust by watching your weight. Pound in protein at 1g per pound of body weight and drink that last one on your way to bed.
When I starting lifting, a big gym rat took interest in my goals and had me describe my plan to him. I laid out my perfect diet and training plan and he told me it was great if I wanted to stay at 124lbs. He asked me to do him a favor and follow his advice for 30 days. It was as simple as this:
Only train for 30-40 minutes a day, every other day.
Divide body as described above.:
Only do basic compound movements consisting of bench press, DB press, wide grip pull-ups, barbell rows, shoulder press, squats, leg press, stiff leg dead lifts.
You notice there are no specific arm exercises on here.
Eat 5 ham or turkey sandwiches per day on 9 grain bread and start and end every day with a protein shake. Don't worry about fruits or veggies for this 30 days but take a multi-vitamin.
63 days later I had gained 26 lbs and very little fat.
We adjusted my diet and training after that but always stuck to primarily basic movements. 3 years down the line I was huge and even entered a few local contests where I would weigh-in at 216 lbs at 3% body fat. Off season I would get up to about 230 and BF would be around 12%.
I was caught up in this body building for several years but then realized I didn't like that culture. The one thing that has always amazed me is what anyone can do with their body.
I am a cyclist now and concentrate on cardio and endurance but lifting always stays in my routine. Muscle/weight actually hinders me on the bike but growing up a skinny kid and then getting bigger than most people, left me with a desire to want to stay muscular.
Good advice, I never payed much attention to the body types, I would be a meso, very offset shoulder to waist ratio, but If I ate cheeseburgers all day and never worked out I would be an Endo, and if I grew up eating like a rabbit and doing gymnastics I would be an Ecto.... I feel this way because of my brothers, 1 eats like a rabbit, spent a lot of time growing up with my mother and aunt so he never did any real work, he is tall like us and has big feet like us big hands ect, but he is 6'3" 190 lbs and straight up and down text book ecto, then my other brother {his twin}, got a summer job at a local apple orchard when he was 12-13 and spent a lot of time working in that field {all year after school and a lot in the summer, he loved working} and they fed him well over there {too well imo} and he likes cheese burgers lol {called me last week to tell me about a cheeseburger that they put in the middle of 2 grilled cheeses}, and he is 6'3 265 and definitely an Endo, I am the oldest {not a twin} and I grew up smashing the gym, eating a high protein diet, working hard and and Im 6'5" 280 {Essentially the same size as lou, except his legs are bigger and I have a bigger upper body than he ever did, the biggest his arms ever were was 22 and Im an inch or so heavier than that...} I met him a couple times and that was his analysis... But this isnt my job, I also live a life and work, not just gym as job {I pick things up and put them down}... I also know anyone that says they can get this size naturally is a damn liar, I have great gynetics, and with out "help" could have got maybe 80% of where I was before my injury... Now I'm done, Im going to work out and Ill always be big, but I do a lot of cardio {boxing and biking} and a lot of stretching {most important, muscle bound sucks, I seen friends of mine not take stretches seriously and then it turns getting in and out of your car an olympic event....
But anyway, I think paradigm has some good advice, you just kind of have to see what works for you, I was never a fan of eating all day long like a lot of guys do, I like 3-4 meals, some guys do 5-7, the problem is this keeps blood in your stomach vs being pumped to your muscles, muscles grow by over filling them with blood, that's why a lot of guys don't get big, they do their 10 reps and rest for 180 seconds, then do it again, that will take forever, you need to smash 12 reps until failure, then wait 40 seconds, smash again to failure {you may only get 8 reps that time}, then 50 seconds off, then again until you get around 5 reps before failure, then take some weight off and smash out 10 again until failure and start over until you can not pick the bar up, this works I have a couple hundred lbs of muscle to prove it
, This IMO works for everyone that can do it, I know there are these ps90x or what ever programs out there with high rep whole body what ever, that is good and works, but you are going to do more work, I spent a lot of time flipping tractor tires {I still have them at my shop and once and a while pre injury would do it for a few weeks} but nothing builds muscle like steel, 1 muscle group at a time, Bis back, tris chest, legs everyday, then shoulders and core, I live by that regiment, and like my quest with speakers I have tried many others, but nothing shows gains like lift to failure pyramid to zero, not just on me, I have seen other guys do the same thing, the problem is, IT HURTS, A LOT, DURING AND AFTER AND AFTER THAT, be prepared to BURN like the devils d!ck, especially in the beginning, what I have learned is no matter the size of your muscle you over inflate them guys for the first couple dozen times and if your doing it rite, you will be hurting, too hurt to workout the next day, but you have to.. My wife spent plenty of mornings helping me brush my teeth because I couldn't lift my arms....
Anyway, thats enough about that, most likely, when you get to what ever gym you go to, there is going to be a trainer that says something totally different than me and Paradigm, lol... Bodybuilding is worse than speakers when it comes to advice and opinions. I heard a trainer telling a kid to go and buy 10 mcdouble chz burgers a say and eat them all day long, a 17 year old skinny Kid, I was like are you nuts? Build muscle, you are better off being skinny than have high cholesterol high bp and 30lbs of tire around your waist... You are what you eat, eat lean meats and high protein foods, dont forget fiber the belly function and carbs for energy and keep fats and sugars as low as possible Pnot diet low just no unnecessary fats like french fries, cheese, ect and no sugars like soda and snickers...
