@yahunatan Hi OP. I understand the struggle you're going through. M20 here, been underweight most of my life with an unconventional belly.
I had recently been hospitalized (cause of dehydration) and my body was so weak they couldn't even draw blood. The experience was like wake up call to genuinely take care of my health.
6 months later, I'm now in a much better shape and I'll make sure to give you the advice that helped me bulk. Hoping that it'll work for you too since our case is so similar.
It's slightly long but I promise, if you bear with me you'll find everything you need to know to make a positive change:
EXERCISES :
I'm assuming you cant follow the 2-hour 6 days/wk workout I follow since you have a life, so here's a 1 hour beginner version. I've also taken into account that you'll different aesthetic preferences depending on your gender. Its suitable regardless of if you're just a beginner or a veteran:
DAY 1
- Lat Pulldowns
- Seated Cable Rows
- Y and W Raises
- Dumbell Incline Rows
DAY 2
- Weighted Squats
- Dumbell Lunges
- Romanian Deadlifts
- Hip Thrusters
- Leg Extensions
- Leg Curls
DAY 3
- Dumbell Tricep Kickbacks
- Lateral Dumbell Raises
- Dumbell Curls
- Tricep Pushdowns (Rope/ Bar)
- Dumbell Flys
Follow the specific order of days.
Week 1 will be purely for you to determine your starting load. Pick a weight which you are able to do 12 reps with and do 3 sets.
Week 2 start working on your form and perfect it over successive weeks. Week 3 onwards add 2 kgs to the weight (or the next increment available at your gym). Add weight every successive week. This is called progressive overload and it's the holy grail of growth.
DIET
The science behind weight gain (ideally with muscle) is to eat in a caloric surplus. Which is fancy way of saying eat more food than you burn through the day. Now this varies based on your gender and level of activity but you can calculate a rough estimate
here.
Once you have that just add 200 calories to that and you have your daily calorie intake. It's very easy. You want to add mass, eat more mass than you're burning (Caloric Surplus). You want to loose mass, eat less mass than you're burning (Caloric Deficit).
Second thing is macros. Which basically refers to 3 categories - fats, carbohydrates, protein - and what percentage of your calories are you getting from each.
(FYI calories are a measure of energy your body generates from each unit of food which can be made of any of the 3 categories mentioned. Vitamins, minerals, water essentially are 0 calorie)
Now ideally you would want Fat:Carbs
rotein to be 25:65:30. And if you want a lower limit to your daily protein intake [in grams] = [bodyweight in pounds].
You can customize your meals accordingly. I found my 3 meal diet lacking and used 2 protein shakes - Whey after workout and Caesein before sleeping - to reach my daily intake. Mixing them with milk helps give it a little extra juice.
IMPORTANT MYTH-BUSTERS
Cunches spot-reduce fat
SPOT REDUCTION DOESN'T EXIST. Now hear me out.
Your SKIN is made out of fat. And its spread equally all over your body. That - "stubborn belly fat" or "flabby arm fat" you want to reduce - actually exists in a fat layer under the skin located in a layer of tissue called hypodermis.
Since it's a layer, it's thickness is reduced as a whole over the body and not just in spots. This confusion stems from how we train muscles. See muscles have a different anatomy. They are like strings connecting one joint to the other. Hence by focusing on the movements around that joint we can train the muscles around it.
Fat, however, is like a sheet - an outer wrapping around our body and is reduced as a whole.
Cardio is the way to get toned
It really isn't. It's called cardiovascular because it trains you to reach and function at high heart rates. And at high heart rates you burn calories faster. Now to "bulk" or add mass to your body you need to eat in a caloric surplus. By doing cardio you're not burning fat, you're just burning calories. In turn requiring you to eat even more to hit that daily calorie intake and making it harder on yourself to gain weight.
"Burning" fat and growing muscle actually requires something called resistance training (most effectively done by lifting weights - think dumbbells, barbells, squats, deadlifts - and also done by bodyweight training or resistance bands).
Here's the science behind it in 1 min.
Whe you lift weights its indication to the brain that it needs to be "stronger" ie be able to lift more weight comfortably. The brain thinks, and it concludes there are two ways to do this -
1) Grow the muscle. More power. More weight can be moved.
2) Reduce fat. Less fat. Less net weight (the external weight and your bodyweight) that the muscle has to move.
And brain proportionally does both. Hence, you lose fat and/ or gain muscle depending on caloric surplus or deficit.
Cardio does have its place though. Although I've found no benefits from hour long pure cardio workouts. And doing cardio before weights just reduces your ability to give your all during weight training. There is a sweet spot.
10 minutes of cardio after an hour of your pure weights training works like magic.
Girls shouldn't lift weights
This one is so far up on the bullshit scale I can't even keep track. You might hear that "oh no but weights will make me beefy and muscular. Or you might even hear yourself saying that. Here's my understanding:
A) You're an endomorph already having a hard time gaining. This muscular look is something body builders take years to even reach. So chances of you accidentally reaching it are slim.
B) To reach that muscular look you'll first have to go through the "just toned" and then add on more muscle. Once you reach that, you can just stop there and maintain it.
So in summary, lift weights fearlessly (albeit with good form). It's the best way to loose wait or/ and gain muscle. It'll help you get there.
(Final and most important) Eat only clean food if you want to be in shape
Actually, this one is more specific to our
Endomorphic body type. Some people have a hard time losing weight and are advised to eat clean, etc. Hard gainers on the other hand can eat a mountain and gain a peanut.
The trick is to use this fact to our advantage. Being hard-gainers does mean you'll have to eat more but thanks to your high metabolism it also means you can eat a little dirtier and still be alright. (Doesn't mean you McDonalds every meal, but you get the point).
I hope that helps. All the best on your journey, it'll be a mental, physical and spiritual change. Let me know if you find it confusing, I'd be happy to help you with diet planning too if you need it. Cheers.
