Hey everyone,
Well for a while i've been looking around trying to get questions answered about weight training and everything, and it seems theres different answers everywhere I look, but I think I'll get good help here, so I'd appreciate advice and anything else you can offer to me. Anyway, I'm 17 years old, 6'1" 147-152 lbs. tops, so I'm pretty skinny. I would like to bulk up with muscle, I would like to weigh around 160, by just adding muscle. I need help of putting together a workout program, also a diet that would be conducive to my workout, what to eat, what not to eat, also I have mass XXX shakes and creatine monohydrate, just sitting around, so I'm not sure if you all think that should be incorporated into my workout and everything. Thanks for reading, hope to get some good responses too. Also, how long would it take to see real improvement, it seems my body frame doesn't allow me to gain muscle, hah.

I would like the most to work on basically my entire upper body, and abs, I'm a basketball player so I'm not worried about how my lower body is, because it's in good shape and I'm happy with it. More so than my upper body for sure.

This a good place to start.......

http://training.fitness.com/new-memb...nks-18741.html

My goal is to have lean, cut muscle and a 6 pack is one of my higher goals, I have trouble developing the lower abs as that is the harder place to work. So I need some workouts for those too. Sorry, I'm definetely a work-out newbie

lol thats a very foolish statement
legs are very important in sports especially basketball
squats, deadlifts power and clean snatch etc..

will all improve leg strength and speed which is very important to sports


most people arent really dedicated enough to there sport to really care about there performance rather then how they look

not saying your one of em tho

yeah, i see where you're coming from, but this will be my last year of competitive basketball most likely, so I'm not just trying to get in basketball shape.

yea sorry i was an ass about that truth is i really dont know much about weight training that isn't oriented in improving athletic ability :P
good luck

I've had some knee injuries that meant I could only work my upper body for many years. It didn't pose any problems, and I didn't think it looked crazy, but not optimal og insignificant either.

But obviously, if I didn't have those injuries, I would've worked my legs.

Doesnt working the legs also increase optimal results for upper body also?, something to do with releasing more hormones? Iv heard it a few times.

That's what people say. I got to be the size I wanted for my upper body without working any legs though. But then I never wanted to be body builder big, and I don't know if it could've been done in half the time if I could've trained legs too.

Yeah, when your body is placed under stress it releases hormones like testosterone in response. Your biggest muscles are found in your lower body/back so when you perform your lower body compounds like deads and squats you get more 'bang for your buck' in terms of hormonal response.

One day I'll get tired of saying it but the path to upper body growth is through your lower body

How long it'll take depends on your level of dedication and the nutrition/workout plan you have set out. I have to say though, I think your progress will be slowed if you use excuses like your body not allowing muscle growth - your body will do it as soon as you learn how, regardless of body type

I was very skinny like you and I managed to put on about 40-45 pounds in the first 12 months, I went all out for maximum muscle growth though so my calorie surplus was bigger than maybe it had to be and I also gained some fat. If you want to try and gain muscle with very little fat gain then start focusing your reading on nutrition rather than weight training because it's very hard to do

My number 1 tip for a skinny guy starting to lift is to avoid the temptation of isolating arms and pecs and stick strictly to your compounds - They'll get you bigger, faster

I can only second CCR's advice, nutrition is the key.

I was also really skinny, I was doing both martial arts and lots of weight lifting, but wasn't really getting anywhere, I thought I was just genetically disposed that way or something. I remember pics from a skiing holiday where I'm parading around making fun of my skinniness. Not so. Then I got a book on body building from the library, increased calories a lot and shifted my workout around a bit, and gained 17 pounds in 8 months. A third of it was probably fat though, but hey, I just got hooked on the gain gain gain

Yeah, I have a hard time just gaining weight itself, so my nutrition along with my workout is a good place to start, how should I set out a nutrition plan for myself?

I know that I'll have to take in more calories to gain some mass, because I have a very tough time putting on weight, I have mass xxx shakes that are about 990 calories a serving, if someone could work that into some sort of plan for me.