ARmy Rumour SErvice

I used to be the same mate. At 18 I was 9.5 stone, I'm now 14.5 but still able to do my 1.5 in sub 9.30.

Eat and eat until you feel sick and then eat again. Breakfast is key and should be packed full of several dishes: porridge; eggs; fruit; cereal etc is good. Snack until lunch, things like meat sandwhiches or wraps (wholemeal is always good but not essential if you cant hack the taste). Lunch should be something decent like a pasta sald etc. Snack again in the afternoon. Dinner should be a big meal packed with carbs and protein and then snack again before bed. Get your diet sorted and things will pick up.

Supplements will also help but don;t buy into the pricest.flashiest/best sounding one! A decent protein shake used after your work out and as snack during the say will help. myprotein.co.uk is the best and cheapest in my opinion (try the Hurricane XS).

With regards to training, you're right about compound movements. Squats, Deadlifts, Military Press, Bench Press and Power Cleans are some of the best. At your weight don't worry about doing split set training. hit the gym 2/3 times a week and do an all body work out. Get a knowledgeable mate or PT to teach you proper form as this will not only prevent injury but also improve your gains.

Plus, now you're 18 you'll be on the piss more and eating more takeaways which will help! Keep up your cardio and body weight exercises (Dips, heaves and proper pull ups) to ensure you stay lean. It took me about 2 years to go from 9 to 14 stone and I don't proclaim to be a gym freak at all . At 5ft 11'' aim to be about 12 stone by October and you won't be goign to far wrong!

Originally Posted by alex965

Evenin' all. Basically, I'm 18, in the process of joining the TA. I'm skinny as a rake and always have been, used to assume that I just had a fast metabolism until about 5 months ago when I realised that I wasn't eating enough calories. Just with a bit of cardio and bodyweight exercises I have managed to go from being 9 stone 3 pounds at 5.11 tall to 10 stone and 1 pound. Unsurprisingly, I'm still fairly skinny but I'm now just out of the "holocaust victim" end of the BMI and onto the bottom of healthy weight. My fitness levels are already pretty much enough to pass selection but I still feel like I want to do the best I possibly can.

Obviously I know that doing weights would help but I know f/a about what exercises would be good. Heard something about sticking to compound movements to build mass etc. Just wondering if anyone that actually knows this stuff could steer me in the right direction. Also would it be a good idea to focus more on short, quick runs and fartleck/interval training as opposed to longer and slower runs which I do now? (Obviously I'll need to do the odd long distance). My problem is that I'm skinny as hell so I find it hard to run short distances fast, whereas I can go for miles and miles at 60% effort without many issues. Ah, and what about weighted runs/walks/hikes or whatever? Would they be any good?

Cheers everyone

Google, Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe. A program that does what it says on the tin; it's designed to help beginners gain weight and strength. The only problem is that you are Squatting heavy at least twice a week, which can make it difficult to recover when you are also doing a lot of running. But you can still use the program until you stall - by which time you should have increased both your bodyweight and strength - before switching to another program like Wendler's 5/3/1.

Good luck.

Thanks alot I'll take on board what you said. I've been slipping on my breakfasts recently and only having a small one but I'm deffo gonna start eating a proper one again. I went from eating nothing for breakfast to having a massive bowl of porridge, bannana, and apple and a tin of beans on two slices of toast. Oh and I put nuts and raisins in the porridge lol worked out in total at about 900 calories+ I've already got some weights in the house but I'm going to try and find someone that knows what they're talking about to directly teach me proper form. And I'll keep on the bodyweight movements. Thanks again

You don't need supplements kids you need food.

So while we're on the subject of food, has anyone got any suggestions for cheap, calorie dense food with carbs and protein? I know the obvious ones like beans, porridge and tuna but eating the same few foods gets boring after a while. Maybe I should just eat some MTFU? lol

I forget to mention pasta a.k.a the backbone of my calorie intake

Originally Posted by alex965

So while we're on the subject of food, has anyone got any suggestions for cheap, calorie dense food with carbs and protein? I know the obvious ones like beans, porridge and tuna but eating the same few foods gets boring after a while. Maybe I should just eat some MTFU? lol

http://www.bda.uk.com/foodfacts/sportsfoodfacts.pdf

Thanks, just reading through it now.