How can a skinny 14 year old gain muscle?
Hey... um well I've been working out for about a 2 years and I'm about to turn 15. before last winter, I worked out with 15 lb dumbbells, those became too light, so i stopped for a while. Now its summer, and I want to get back at it. I weigh about 119 pounds, about 5'8"-5'9", haven't been sleeping/ eating too good... my moms BF gave me some 30 pounders, but they're too heavy for me to properly exercise. I'm using these because I want to gain muscle mass. I'm already cut, but I'm really skinny. my bones hurt when i lift the weights. I want to get strong enough to use these weights as soon as possible, I want to get strong enough to hold my own. I know people say 14 is to young, but hell I'm already started, I want to be stronger. I've checked in a lot of sites, some say i should gain weight but am unsure on how to properly do this. I have some Whey Protein (Its kinda old, idk if that changes anything.) if that will help, I also need to know how to properly use that stuff. I used to drink some protein powder my bigger cousin gave me, but i didn't want to mess up so i just stopped taking it... just read this and i know its a lot but... any help would GREATLY be appreciated.
Will my tattoo look ugly if i gain muscle mass?
I wouldn't assume you're not going to grow more. Men grow easily into the late teens, and I've known a few who grew into their late college years (21, in one case... I kid you not). It isn't just height either. There is a fairly substantial amount of rib cage & torso filling out that happens. It isn't so much that it's going to mess up the tat - it's more that the layout might look a little odd as some areas grow a little more and others stay the same. This will be doubly true as you work on your back, chest, arms & shoulders. I'd play it safe and wait until 18, and get your exercise regime in full swing & you at least close to where you want to be. Barring competition level bodybuilding, by 18 you should be stabilized enough so that the body & muscle growth is more tuning rather than drastic expansion.
How to get your muscles cut?
More repetitions and less weight does NOT tone, as the myth suggests. More repetitions and less weight just increase endurance by utilizing slow-twitch muscle fibers (the muscle fibers used for endurance). Fast-twitch muscle fibers, the muscle fibers responsible for strength and speed, are utilized when you do less repetitions and more weight. The rep scheme works like this: 1-5 for strength 6-10 for mass 12+ for endurance You can do something like this for sets: Set 1: 5 reps (very heavy weight) Set 2: 8 reps (heavy weight) Set 3: 8 reps (heavy weight) Set 4: 10 reps (fairly heavy weight) Set 5: 12+ reps (pretty light weight) This way you're improving your muscles in several aspects, hitting all the muscle fibers. The amount of repetitions will not tone, the weightlifting itself, a caloric deficit, and a healthy diet will. Also, remember, don't just do one exercise, do about 2-4 exercises per muscle group. Like for biceps, don't just do bicep curls, do preacher curls and/or concentration curls and/or hammer curls, with about 5 sets of increasing repetitions per exercise (like the above). Here's a website on the myth about less weight and more reps toning: http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Myths.html