i am trying to exercise, but it's not going so well. I weigh only 119 pounds at age 20. That may have to do with the fact that I have always been underweight for my age--my birthweight was 2 pounds, 4 ounces!
What sort of exercises and foods would bulk me up? There's tons of stuff out there about weight loss, but I have the opposite problem. It's very discouraging to go to the gym, and despite my best efforts and desire to lift as much as I can, everybody else there is stronger than I am and seems to have gotten results. My lack of results discourages me, but it might be my fault since I don't think I work out enough, nor is there anyone there to tell me what or how to do things. So I could be doing everything wrong without even knowing it.
#1. Diet is the most important. For hard gainers and people with a high metabolism, you'll probably have to consume 5-6 meals per day. You will need to consume both low and high GI carbs. Higher GI carbs are good after your workouts, and are good in the mornings for the first meal of the day(you'll want to take in some low GI carbs as well with them in your first meal). A good portion of your day is going to consist of prepping meals.
#2. Consistency. If you're not being consistent, your body will not have much reason to adapt/change. This means being consistent with your diet and exercise routine.
#3. Exercise routine. Start out with low weight high-volume sets. After around several months, start doing pyramid sets, x10/x8/x6/x4 and increase the weight by 5 lbs. on each set. Once you're able to completely do all of the sets, then you increase the weight. For example, if you're able to do 65 lbs. x10 / 70 lbs. x8 / 75 lbs. x6 / 80 lbs. x4 on a given exercise, then the next time you do it, you would do 70x10/75x8/80x6/85x4. After another several months, you could try starting a routine geared more towards developing power & increasing mass, something along the lines of 5 sets of 5 for each exercise. A 5x5 routine generally consists of fewer exercises, which is a plus, but its going to be much more physically demanding and you'll only focus on back, legs, and chest once in the same week. For example, Mondays could be leg day, Wednesdays could be back/bicep day, and Fridays could be chest/shoulder day. However, if you're still getting significant gains in strength, OR gains in BOTH strength and mass, I would STICK WITH THAT ROUTINE until you hit a plateau. If you're seeing a significant gain in mass, but no strength gains, you're probably consuming too many calories. On your off days when you're not lifting, be sure to do at least 30 minutes of cardio. It shouldn't be anything crazy, but you don't want to end up out of shape. I don't see the point of being able to toss 150+ lbs. across the room a couple times and then be completely whipped from it.
#4. Watching your weight. Get into the habit of weighing yourself at the same time once per week, preferably after waking up in the morning before you eat.
#5. Keep a journal. This way you can record your progress. Some people include all of their meals and what they were able to do in their exercises.
PERFORMANCE ENHANCING DRUGS
Avoid them. Even if you're able to find a doctor who is willing to monitor your hormones, liver enzymes, heart, etc., this does nothing regarding the long-term risks. For example, the heart naturally enlarges(along with the sac surrounding it) when you start exercising. Anabolic steroids increases this more than what would normally happen, and when you get older you pay for it depending on how frequently & how much steroids were used since this causes the heart to work less efficiently.
Testosterone production works on a negative-feedback mechanism controlled by the pituitary gland in the brain. When there is sufficient testosterone in the body, the pituitary sends a chemical into the bloodstream signaling to the testes to halt production. When you have such a huge excess of anabolic steroids in your body, the pituitary is going to be chemically signaling non-stop to the testes to cease production(which causes them to atrophy). In the long-term, this can damage that part of your pituitary(or even cause cancer) and/or the testes.
Another thing to be aware of is we are not capable of pharmaceutically producing 100% racemic-free testosterone. Only our bodies can do it. It is the unnatural enantiomers of testosterone that can cause cancers, and when you're a bodybuilder that is taking doses far above that used for hormone replacement therapy, you're putting yourself at risk for cancer later on in life. If you don't know about racemization, look up the chirality of testosterone.
