Question for the gym experts

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The right way for skinny guys to gain muscle
Here are few quick tips that will help you build muscle if you were a skinny guy:

You should weightlift 2 days a week, with 3-4 days between workouts. Antagonist pairs of muscles should be exercised on different days. For example, exercise biceps on day 1 and triceps on day 2. Do dumbbell presses on day 1 and lat pull-downs on day 2. Do rows on day 1 and bench press on day 2, etc, etc... You should do 4 sets on most exercises, more for exercises with warm-up sets like squats.

I am doing 2 muscles per day, so 1 muscle is better?

I think you're a masochist. What you doing getting involved in that lark? What are you trying to get at? If you just want to get laid, you're most likely in the wrong place, chum. You should come to England. They're letting half of South Asia in, so you should have no absolutely no trouble at all.

(Seriously, though, if you come to my patch for a holiday - it's quite nice here in summer - I'll be more than happy to show you round.)

Your routine should look something like this-
On Saturday: squats, dumbbell press, rows, pec press, rear deltoids, biceps, calves.
On Tuesday: leg press, back, bench press, lateral raise, flys, triceps, lats, calves.
Note how antagonist pairs like biceps and triceps are on separate days.

^ 2 muscles i said, not one. And stomach every other day.

Honestly, everyone is telling me a different story.

This is a situation where there is NO "right way". I've done them all, and I know that many routines which failed me, work great for someone else of my exact same body type. It takes time and experimentation to find your routine. I change out lifting methods at random. Sometimes I'll do a month of heavy weight (fail at 3rd or 4th rep on the 4th or 5th set), and sometimes a month of lighter weight (never fail; complete 12 or 14 sets of 16 reps). I won't get into specifics because I don't think that would help anyone, and I'm not the expert anyway.

But with that said, I can almost guarantee that following any one routine will not work.

Charles

I agree with Charles. Experimentation is your best bet, as long as you're steady and do each movement correctly.

I also agree with Charles. I had to work very hard at rearranging my program to keep it properly suited to my needs. Someone else might think it's strange that I work out for such short periods on so many days of the week, that I mix things in the particular way that I do, or that I have certain other elements to the way I do things. But it accomplishes exactly what I want in order to make my life manageable with a chronic ailment while also altering my appearance in a way that I enjoy.

I would be careful of any plan, though, that advises that cardio is a bad thing, unless you have a health restriction. Whatever you do, it's a good idea to keep at least somewhat well rounded. If you have trouble because of your cardio (for example, if you get the smell of ammonia in your nose during or after a hard cardio workout) eat more carbs. Your body is probably burning protein for lack of adequate carbs, and you need to replenish your supply. Just be sure to go for healthy ones. To be quick, try fruit. For longer term effect, try whole grains and other complex carbs.

#1 concern when experimenting: avoid injury. Learn about an exercise before you try it, and try to find out if there are unnecessary and unnecessarily high risks associated with it. There may be competing info, so check multiple sources to evaluate properly. Some exercises are just not worth doing. For those that are, find out the right way, and work with weights low enough to ensure correct form with every rep. Doing it right once is worth any number of times of doing it wrong.

Have fun with this if you can. The best way to make exercise part of your lifestyle is to enjoy it. I may feel unwell working out because of my fibromyalgia, but the mental aspect of fitness and the results make it all worthwhile. For someone who's physically healthy, the workout itself can also feel good. Go for it!

^^ well, MWW, to be honest, the male fitness world is a messed one and based on what I am seeing so far, those who have toned/six-packed bodies (and yes, including the 'athlete' type that women usually find eye-candy) follow a far from a healthy routine.

I have noticed a huge difference between what male trainers recommend for the male gym attendees and what the female trainers recommend for them (even for the ones who want to build muscles).

For the first 2 months, I got a female trainer and she made me a well rounded program (mainly compound exercises, as knife1000 recommended) with about ~30% of cardio stuff, her food recommendations were even more diverse and balanced (almost like the Mediterranean diet which is one of the best) ; she didn't recommend protein supplements much except for little of whey protein only for later stages, yet she explained the health risks of any excess use.

When I had to switch to another trainer (a male this time), he ditched the whole previous program and was totally against its philosophy, calling it a girly-program, his male buddy trainer agreed too; and replaced it with the extensive two-muscles weight training program and much much less cardio.

Food-wise, he quickly recommended strict protein diet and extreme supplements at the beginning ,one of them was nitro tech, I did search about it and I found out it's banned in the developed countries since it contains steroids, this thing is s**t, that made me suspect his overall competence as a fitness trainer. So I've consulted aside their most senior trainer, who happens to be female too, and the program she mentioned (verbally) was almost the same written by the first trainer (except with ~20% of cardio instead of 30), wasn't much pro-supplements either.

I've asked another male trainer and his opinion was the same as the other male trainer (even was crazier about protein-rich food), so I came to realization this is a cultural-gender-mentality-related thing!! Even among the trainers!

Female trainers are more concerned about overall health and performance (even when it comes to their male resistance-type trainees), their food recommendations are the same what doctors and nutrition specialists usually recommend.
While male trainers all they talk about is pumping iron ,protein supplements, animal protein intake (the more the better) and fat-burning without explaining the health-risks.

So clearly, when it comes to health-wise matters, female trainers > male trainers.

but everyone else (guys) is telling me her program won't give any results and i'll stay as skinny as I am, so I am lost.

Oi, you can always have some of my bulk if you want it.

(in the style of the lookey-lookey men)

Best price! Best price! You look! Two for one! Best price!

As much as I plug powerlifting/Olympic lifting here, really, you should do some of that type stuff first. Let them call your program girly, you'll probably lift more than them anyway. A lot of the really successful bodybuilders were into powerlifting first, actually Arnold Schwarzenegger was a competitive powerlifter/Olympic lifter before he got into bodybuilding.

https://sites.google.com/site/miniarchi ... werlifting

Plus, it's fun. It's fun putting big heavy weights over your head, it's fun deadlifting, too. The way I see things, I figure just get stronger and the looks will follow. I don't know, since I started lifting in maybe like...October, I've gained like 15 pounds, I'm thinking mostly muscle, as I don't really see much more bodyfat, and people still say I'm skinny still, even at 195lbs 5'9. I do take protein when I can get it, when I can't get it, I just do without and try to eat more. I've only used random Walmart whey protein, Walmart soy protein powder, and now my latest powder was $7 a pound at my Indian market, and it's quite literally for kids. It's called Complan, it's casein protein with some minerals and whatever, and it promises kids to grow strong. I was just surprised looking at it, as the protein per serving amount was good, 18g, and it was cheap.

But yeah dude, heavy compounds, where it's at. Try to eat well, try to up your protein a decent amount, but no need for really crazy supplements or anything. Just remember, it's gonna take a while to reach your goals, whatever they are, patience, perseverance, all those fun life lessons they talk about.

http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/ ... and_Cardio