Trying to beef up a bit....

Cherokeekid88

Cherokeekid88

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2007
Location
High Point, NC
So I am a skinny guy. 5"10 - 142lbs. I would like to bulk up a bit, but I just cannot get the motivation to stick with it. I feel like I eat a lot for someone my size, but I know its not enough to keep up with my metabolism and working out is just not something I "enjoy" doing.
I have a membership to planet fitness, but I just find it hard to go a lot of nights and would rather work out at home. I have some weights and exercise equipment at home, but finding the drive to do it every night or at least 4-5 times a week is hard.
Eating is another problem of mine. I love food, but I worry that I am slowly killing myself with the junk that I eat to gain the calories I need to put on weight.
My wife also wants to lose some weight and I know that she kind of needs me to work out, so that she feels motivated to work out as well.
I thought about waking up early and working out in the mornings, which I would like better, but getting out of bed early enough to do that and not feel rushed to get ready for work is daunting to me. I just cannot wake myself up quick enough to not want to go back to bed a sleep for another hour.

Anyone else deal with this? any advice that will get me in the habit of waking up early enough and wanting to work out and wanting to eat more food to get me to that desired weight and look?
I don't want to be huge or anything, I would just like some nice abs, muscle tone in my arms and back and weigh about 165lbs.
 
A; Avoid using the phrase "beef up" just in general.
B; The kinds of foods you should be eating to add extra calories should not be junk food. A calorie is a calorie, but everything else that goes along with it is not. There are plenty of healthy "mass builder" supplements on the market to make it easier.
C; Planet fitness is not the kind of gym that is geared towards putting on 20lbs of muscle mass.
D; It will take you well over a year to put on that much muscle assuming you can devote at least four days a week to serious weight training.
E; If you don't have a real goal (and the goals you have set are tough ones) then you will lose motivation. Enter a contest or race of some sort.
F; Set two hours in the morning or afternoon that you consider unavailable time and let everyone else know. Then you'll have no excuse to skip.
H; I'm just an internet expert.
 
If you do not enjoy going to the gym, and pushing yourself into pain when your muscles start to burn, then you will NEVER gain any size.

I personally love lifting weights and always have. I love the burn of muscle fatigue and pain. I love the feeling of pumping my muscles so full of blood that my skin feels like it is going to rip open. It is addictive as hell.

My wife was off today which meant that I did not have to drop our boy of at daycare so I was up at 4:30, and in the gym at 5:45am. But I am the kind of person who was laying in bed last night thinking about what I was going to do in the gym and looking forward to my early morning workout.
 
Last edited:
image.jpeg


Really though, unless you change your mindset and start from square 1, you're just pissing in the wind.

1: get your head right
2: get your diet right
3+: wont work as well unless you take care of #1-2.
 
Cherokeekid88 said:
I just cannot wake myself up quick enough to not want to go back to bed a sleep for another hour.
Click to expand...

This statement to me just says that you do not want it bad enough.
 
Get a physically demanding job. It's amazing what a few years of crawling under houses and heavy overhead lifting will do.
 
drkelly said:
This statement to me just says that you do not want it bad enough.
Click to expand...
I do want it, I am just stating that I am stuck in this rut at the moment and want to get out of it. I am just looking for ways to trick my body into getting up earlier and work out if only for 30 min at first...
XJsavage said:
Get a physically demanding job. It's amazing what a few years of crawling under houses and heavy overhead lifting will do.
Click to expand...
This I think is a big part of my current problem. I sit at a desk all day and I can tell I have lost a lot of my energy that I had 5 years ago.
 
Cherokeekid88 said:
any advice that will get me in the habit of waking up early enough and wanting to work out and wanting to eat more food to get me to that desired weight and look?
I don't want to be huge or anything, I would just like some nice abs, muscle tone in my arms and back and weigh about 165lbs.
Click to expand...

Put the alarm clock on the other side of the bedroom so you have to get up to turn it off?

I posted my diet in the crossfit thread. I eat every few hours when lifting regularly (which I just got back into a couple of weeks ago due to recovering from a neck injury).
 
Doing side work outside might be an option. Fencing companies where you dig countless 2-5' deep post holes or a brick company handling multiple tons of brick a day will get your blood flowing.

Think of it as a weekend at the gym, but getting paid to go.
 
drkelly said:
Put the alarm clock on the other side of the bedroom so you have to get up to turn it off?

I posted my diet in the crossfit thread. I eat every few hours when lifting regularly (which I just got back into a couple of weeks ago due to recovering from a neck injury).
Click to expand...
This is what I am going to start doing... I also heard that eating a mint right when you wake up, gets your body going.
I am not looking to be one of those gym fanatics (nothing wrong with it) I just want to be more healthy and gain weight and also look good and feel good at the same time.
 
Cherokeekid88 said:
I do want it, I am just stating that I am stuck in this rut at the moment and want to get out of it. I am just looking for ways to trick my body into getting up earlier and work out if only for 30 min at first...

This I think is a big part of my current problem. I sit at a desk all day and I can tell I have lost a lot of my energy that I had 5 years ago.
Click to expand...

If someone told you the night before that they would meet you at the Twin Pines mall at 5:30am the next morning to give you $10,000 in cash, would you hit the snooze button and roll over or get up and go collect the money? Again, how bad do you want it? It is that simple.

I hear you on the rut, so decide right now that you are going to start tomorrow. Set your alarm 1 hour earlier, then go to bed 1 hour earlier.

I sit at a desk all day too. It sucks, and rots the body.
 
11:30 bedtime damn... I am in bed asleep by 9 most nights.

I have no useful advice for you. Other than to say I was 6' 145 for years, then when I hit 29-30 Bam 200lbs
 
drkelly said:
If someone told you the night before that they would meet you at the Twin Pines mall at 5:30am the next morning to give you $10,000 in cash, would you hit the snooze button and roll over or get up and go collect the money? Again, how bad do you want it? It is that simple.

I hear you on the rut, so decide right now that you are going to start tomorrow. Set your alarm 1 hour earlier, then go to bed 1 hour earlier.

I sit at a desk all day too. It sucks, and rots the body.
Click to expand...
I went ahead and set my alarm on my phone for 1 hr earlier and I think I am going to place the phone in the hallway to my bathroom so I have to get up and walk a good ways to turn it off.
 
Having a desk job is a plus, not a negative. You are not wasting energy that can be used later in the gym. Use that to your advantage.

Gaining muscle is a SLOW arduous process that requires a ridiculous amount of self control, discipline, planning and consistency. Consistency is the #1 key to it all. Get a plan, and stay with it. Day in and day out it's a grind, and you have to LOVE it!

Eggs, beef, chicken, turkey, tuna and oatmeal are my staples. I measure my portions and chart the progress. I'm up 20 pounds over the last 2 months doing my winter "Bulk". Yea, some days it's a grind to stuff in the calories, but that's what it takes to put on some size.

Get a basic exercise plan centered around the big movements. Squat, deadlifts and bench presses make up the big 3. Leave the curls and machines to the prima-donnas. Keep a journal to chart your progress and get big.
 
Last edited:
Cherokeekid88 said:
I do want it, I am just stating that I am stuck in this rut at the moment and want to get out of it. I am just looking for ways to trick my body into getting up earlier and work out if only for 30 min at first...
Click to expand...

This is lack of mental discipline. You do not need to trick your body, being "stuck in a rut" sounds like a fat chick eating a snickers bar thinking . "I can't do it today"


Make a decision and go with it. You tell your body what to do, it does not control you..
 
I've always struggled on the other end.
When I get serious and workout friends hte me because I can add mass easily, but conevrsly I have to watch every damn calorie I eat or I gain a pants size.

All that said, is everyone missing that you are 142lbs and want to gain 20lbs of muscle mass.
That's a 15% gain in total body mass and likely a near 50% gain of lean muscle mass.

These are HUGE gains.

That's serious dedicated eating and lifting unless you are adding a needle a day.
 
Am in the same boat as you. I was 6'0" 118lbs. A little over 5 months ago, before i started going to the gym and trying to gain weight. Now I'm a whopping 130lbs, not great but it's progress. If you're not gaining weight, you're not eating enough. I have to eat around 3200 cal. a day to gain any weight, but I have a very active job.
Drinking calories helps alot of you have a hard time eating that much food. Make your own weiggt gainer shake. Milk/PB/oats/protien /bananna or what ever else you wamt to throw in there.
Download the myfittnesspal app. It's free and it's a great way to keep track of calories and macros.

Oh and what everyone else said also.
 
I'm on my 3rd week of 21 day fix. It has colored containers for portion control and eating every 2 hours.

I've had the opposite problem for about 2 years, I'd usually sit down and eat till I feel miserable. It was hard at first but now I love it. 30 minute work out every day, I prep my food every 3 days and pack my lunch. My stomach has shrunk and I don't eat huge portions. I eat a lot of chicken and vegetable and fresh fruit. Actually been making a lot of fruit and yogurt smoothies with a protein additive which replaces a meal. I've only lost 8-10 pounds but have lost an inch in my waste and some weight in my face.

The main thing is I feel amazing. I haven't had this much energy since I was 17 (almost 10 years).

No to mention the girl on the work out DVD is smoking hot!!

I too hate working out, but if I push myself, halfway into the 3 minute warm up I'm glad I'm doing it and I feel good about myself.

It will probably be a life long battle not to over eat all the time for me.
 
In addition to the great advice listed above, read "Be Unstoppable, The 8 Essential Actions to Succeed at Anything" written by Alden Mills, former US Navy SEAL Platoon Commander. Easy read and great info to succeed at anything from running your own business to getting your butt in the gym.
 
Thanks for all the tips and advice guys. Its hard because some days I get home and all I want to do is relax and wind down from a stressful day at work. I feel that working out in the mornings would do me better and give me a good start to my day.
I have a hard time eating in the mornings because it takes me a bit to get hungry, but buy 9 or so, I am starving. So I think waking up earlier and working out will get me hungry faster and allow me to get more calories in.
 
Back
Top