I haven't tried it but merely stick to my daily routine of oats for breakfast, salad for lunch and cut down the carbs during dinner. No more soda and candies. Helps in establishing some discipline.
that's a very good diet, imo. If u find that your brain slows down during the day, try adding a bit of carbs for lunch and afternoon snack:
learn.fi.edu/learn/brain/carbs.htmlif ur brain is very good and fine, ignore the above.
Any guide to gain muscles?
On the presumption that you have a skinny body, i.e. a 'hard-gainer'?
watch in order:
NEVER EVER buy weight/mass gainers from supplement/drug stores (total waste of $$$):
assuming you want an aesthetically-nice body; u'll need muscles.
and at the same time, you do not want to look like an olympic lifter - too bulky/thick/no muscle definition.
Protein: the "1 gram of protein per pound of body weight Daily' is a respectable guide.
Lifting Weights:
If you are zero experience with weights, use the machines! One can get a very nice body with machines. many people hate/dislike machines because only 'wimps' use them. Bah. Horseshit. The truth is that free weights (dumbbells and barbells and kettlebells) are much more efficient at building muscles but what's more important? Building muscles or preventing injury? In my books, preventing injury is far more important, i.e. good form is EVERYTHING. Once you get the hang of the machines and what muscles they work and how the muscles are activated to lift/push the weights, you can build on that knowledge and apply them when starting out on dumbbells and barbells.
Always start light. regardless of machine or dumbbells/barbells.
"(slow) progressive overload" Again, like nutrition, it's just math. You'll need to keep track of records of the amount of weights you are lifting for each exercise. Increase the weights every 2 weeks or when it gets too easy. Easy is not good. Your muscles need to be worked in order to grow. Bad Injury pain =/= being worked, so just note and always be careful and take care of your body.
Just Do compound exercises. really. here:
www.aworkoutroutine.com/compound-exercises-vs-isolation-exercises/I only focus on doing 4 key exercises when I am at the gym, (not for beginners): Deadlift, Squat, Bench press and Dips. (most serious lifters will probably agree with me and also add pull-up to that list) These exercises will already kill me. I can only focus on 2 of the exercises per gym session, 2 gym days a week, i.e. if I am working on Deadlift and Squat, I'll go light on dips/bench press. At the next session, I will work chest/arms/shoulders and go easy on deadlift and squat.
Anything else I do is merely to work the muscles more at different angles to provide more stimulation/activation for muscle growth.
How many sets and reps? Man, I don't have an answer to this. It depends on the type of exercise, IMHO. I generally aim for a solid 3 sets of 6 reps (yes, heavy). Before that, I do as many warm up sets as I feel I need. If I use machines, I go for 3 sets of 8. It'll take another essay to explain that so I will just skip. Many trainers recommend "5 x 5"; it's not a bad idea. After the 3 sets are done, I reduce the weights a little and do reps to failure. (google "train to failure")
Yes, I am a fan of "less reps brings more gains", i.e. 'go heavy', it works for me. IMHO, my take: if you can do 5 sets x 20 reps at a certain weight, I would rather you don't do that. Instead, increase the weight and do 3 x 8 reps, followed by a forth set whereby you do as many as you can, without killing yourself. (You shouldn't be able to reach 8 reps easily in the 4th set because if you do, you should have use weights that are heavier during the core 3 sets!)
How do you know if you have truly "worked out?"
At the end of your entire workout, do Drop sets:
good luck! it will take time and work! My journey has just started too.