I find it impossible to put on weight and have very low confidence, but I want to try and put on muscle and increase endurance, what sort of exercise routine would help build me up (I;m 22, male and very poorly built).

1. ie how often & how much should I exercise to sensibly put on body muscle, I ask this here cus I'm kind of confused about advice the web gives me, and what are some good exercises to increase upper body strength
2. You should start with some cardio stuff to just increase general fitness before working with weights depending on whether you have excercised much before.

   I started with an all over weight workout in the beginning rather than the ones you read about saying back and shoulders one day, chest and arms the other day, once you are an intermediate you can do that kind of workout.

   With an all over workout you should limit it to about 1hr/1 hr 15mins. You need to have some good compound exercises like the bench press and squat in your routine.

   If I was you I was start with a simple routine like bench press, squats, lat pulldown, bicep curl, tricep curl, shoulder press and some ab and lower back work. Start with about 2 sets of 10 reps with a moderate weight and increase 3 sets of 10-12 reps. Any leg work you do you should increase the reps to about 20 as they are generally bigger muscles.

   If you want to get big you need to lift heavy with lower reps (about 6-7) per set, if your looking for lean muscle then the above (10-12) per set would be ok.

   Try reading mens health and mens fitness magazines for tips, also try reading Bruce Lee`s Art of expressing the human body, very good for tips!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3. To gain weight you have to eat more calories than you burn. When adding calories, try to stay away from adding too much fat. While you can get fat from eating carbohydrates or protein, your body likes to use carbohydrates as fuel more than fat. To gain muscle, in addition to eating more you have to stimulate your muscles enough through resistance training that while they recover, they'll get bigger and stronger. To get an efficient workout you might want to join a gym if you aren't already a member.

   Guide to Gaining Weight - http://straighthealth.com/pages/guides/g…
   Health, Exercise and Diets - http://straighthealth.com

4. ok- you are what we call an ECTOMORPH- that is your body REALLy struggles to gain weight

   with this type of body type you have to eat and eat and eat! try to avoid crap if you can- eat a balanced diet of healthy, clean food, with lots of carbs, proteins and some fats too! DONT avoid fat- thats rubbish, fat is REQUIRED for muscle building! the fat in cheese, currys etc etc isn;t too good thou- aim for oily fish etc etc, but TBH if your as skinny as you say you are, who cares if you eat a bit of fatty food- your not gonna get fat overnight. eat every 3 hours.

   you need to train in the gym so the food you eat goes towards buidling muscles!!!! as some1 else here said make sure you include big exercises- squats, bench press, deadlifts, chin ups, rows, shoulder presses & dips should make up 80-90% of your exercises!

   find a muscle building website for more information m8- there is tonnes of it out there.

   if you find eating loads of food vvvv inconvienient then a weight gainer shake will make life a bit easier, but its not magic- only designed for convienience when your vvv busy at work etc etc

   the 1 and only website you will ever need to visit is www.muscletalk.co.uk im a member, pm me on there if you want more help, but read the articles on there, they will sort you out easily m8

5. you take supplements for gain weight it and ask your personal instructor about your specific program in the gym tell him you're on a weight gain program.
6. Doughnuts and Red meat. And try a spot of weightlifting.

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