A young new recruit!

[UnceasingBoom66]

I've been poking around the forum for a few days, and finally decided to sign up, so here is my introductory spill:

I'm 16 (yes, I know I'm young) and I'm not in this for the reason of losing weight and becoming healthy after beating around the bush for 10 years, but rather to PREVENT those ten years from happening and getting into good habits early on. The way I see it, I might as well sign up in a forum where I will have people that I can go to for advice, rather than trying to do it on my own and just ending up hurting myself.

I am 5'11, about 150 pounds and neither overweight nor underweight, muscular or skinny, just stuck somewhere in between. Dieting is no problem at all for me, because I've always watched what I ate anyways (either way, I still might try out the paleo diet). I'm mainly here to start a regular exercise regimen, and try and bulk up some. I love hiking, and really don't mind running.However, I really need to work on my muscle building plan. A gym is out of the question for me (the closest one i s 45 minutes away) but I do have a weight machine available at my disposal.

So, any inspirational words of welcome? Advice on muscle building? Any and all opinions and bits of advice are appreciated =)

-Dillon

[BoomerKuwanger]

Yo! You can do it!(<----much inspirational.)

If you are 16 id say the best inital thing to do is read about weightlifting and types of exercise that might interest you. Are you interested in big time weightlifting? Bodyweight exercises? Kettlebells? Powerlifting? etc. Find out what it is that you really desire. Id also encourage you to read a lot about exercise and try to familiarize yourself with the various types of movements and basic lifts. 5'11 and 150lbs but neither skinny nor muscular sounds like as good of a platform as anything. If i were in your position id first focus on building a platform, sort of a foundation of muscle that can be added to in time. When i was getting into fitness i had a lot of muscles that just lacked development. Like my biceps were already somewhat developed because they are a commonly used muscle, but lats and triceps were pretty undeveloped because it wasnt often i used those muscles. Push ups, shoulder presses, pull ups, rows, sprinting, etc will all help you to develop a base which can be built on later.

Sounds like you have the diet fairly well under control. It may need to change a bit if you are looking to really bulk up. Just ask yourself what you wanna look like, a spiderman physique? thor? hulk?!(my best recommendation for this is gamma radiation). Seriously though, you have to consider the amount of mass you want and you can tailor your lifting/exercising/diet accordingly. What sort of strength do you want? wanna blast out 25 pullups? wanna deadlift a buick? I will say that just having a regular exercise regiment(with resistanceie: your body, dumbbells etc.) with a quality diet will help to build muscle,amplify whats there, or shave off excess fat.

I think ive been wordy enough with this, there is a ton on information out there and on this forum, and welcome!

-Devin

[Pat G]

Welcome to the rebellion!

On muscle building at that young, the only advice i can give is to take it slowly. At 16-17 i had a gym mate who had his shoulder joints busted from going to hard, too heavy on his still developing body.

Get the info you need off the muscle builders here re proper starting weights, rep & set types, recovery and stretches and you should avoid that problem.

Bodyweight exercises FTW for a good base to work off as they force you to use stabilising muscles, unlike cabled weight machines.

[UnceasingBoom66]

Thanks guys! I think I'm going to head over to the Muscle Building Brigade (that sounds SO epic) to get advice from here. Catcha Later!

[Tom Kenobi]

Welcome to the rebellion! No worries about the age, think of it this way, you are establishing a better foundation, while some of us are rebuilding the foundation. definitely heed the advice given and read, read, read. There is A TON of good info on NF as well as links that steve has supplied to articles outside of NF. Again, welcome to the rebellion man.