A gain of several kilo's over six month's for a skinny guy is pretty good gain, don't let anyone say any difference :D , I know I'm a skinny guy 72k on a good day but I can more than hold my own in the weights room and on a bike :twisted: .
If I was in your "boots" I would be concentrating on Pull ups all varieties, dips, mil press squats and or leg press and of course "tabbing".
Get used to self abuse coz that's exactly what the trainers (gods) will do to you, the mind set you will require is to push yourself accept the pain and get on with the job :twisted:
take care of your feet they are and will be your freind if you treat them right, get them used to wearing boots, but don't over do it.
Hit the basic exercise hard but don't forget things like sit up's and press ups. DO NOT injure yourself before going to basic training, they would much prefer you turn up fit and well than with a injury, they will take care of the fitness side give 110% no matter where you finish.
take some lessons in "milling" they will expect 110% in that as well.
Most of all enjoy your new career. Have a good one cheers John Murphy :wink:

Thanks for the advice mate, but I already know what I'm letting myself in for! I'm a member of an airborne TA unit as is!
It was my PTI's advice that I should put on some weight or I'd struggle.
What I'd like (if you would) is maybe some other ideas or stategies for gaining lean muscle mass on my upper body!
I weighted 66k when I started and I'm not 68k. And belive me its not much! It doesn't even show!
I really don't understand why I can't gain weight, its really dark.

knew you had some background from the post just not sure how much, "tabbing" is a para saying after all. :wink:

As I said hit the basic's heavy and hard and get plenty of rest in between, try the "super squat" routine basically sqaut ya ass of and drink gallons of milk. :shock: dont neglect the leg work this will help gain upper body mass as well, the legs are the bodies engine.

Many people over estimate the amount of food and calories they are actually eating, hence the milk, I am at present drinking several litres a day. Dont worry about gaining fat coz you wont.

Pick a weight that you can squat with for 10 reps fairly comfortably and hit 20 reps when the going gets tough take 2 breath's between reps BUT you must hit the 20. :shock: then add 5lb's every workout.

Deadlift and pull ups should take care of the back, mil press for the shoulders and bench for chest, dont over do shoulder work they get killed by everything else. :roll:

Eat ya ass off and then eat some more, if you are tabbin a lot already you are gonna need the calories, make your own protein drinks up and add some icecream to it for the extra calories, you are already gaining so hit the calories hard. Bump up your carb intake easy way of doing this is by drinking it. Tekno Fuel do a good carb supplement and is relatively cheap it's available on the internet.

I wish I could gain several kilo's every 6 month's, when not working out get as much rest as you can.

Hope this helps, if not post your present work out routine and ask for some direct feed back on it, it's hard to give more specific stuff when we dont know what you are doing at present. KISS is the way to go.
cheers John Murphy :wink:

Abaddon..what is your age and occupation?

Thanks guys. Sorry I didn't give you enough background.
I'm 25, five foot eight and (unfortunately) have an office based job. Which I'm sick of.
I cyle or jog 5 miles a day (to & from work) I do Thai kickboxing once a week, I attend the TA once a week (usualy end up doing circuit training or running) and I try do do at least two decent weights sessions a week at the gym.
I'm eating a lot of protein. I have a big fried breakfast every morning, a round of tuna and cheese sandwiches for luch and lots of chicken in the evenings (occasionally steak or fish to break up the monotony)
I've been reccomended milk before, but I'm mildly lactose intolerant! It makes me fart like a champion. It wouldn't bother me too much but a)I'm not sure I'm digesting it properly & b) co-workers and girlfriend complain about the smell.
Is there a good alternative to milk? I'm using a whey-protein supplement that I dilute with water, but obviously I'm still having trouble gaining weight.
As for exercise, the Muai Thai and TA both consist of shit loads of press ups, sit ups, squat thrusts, shuttle runs etc. (+ the kickboxing @ muai thai)
With the gym, I try and concentrate on the bench machine, pec deck, and doing bicep curls with the free weights, with a couple of tricep exercises and shoulder presses thrown in for good measure.
I do quite a lot as you can see, but I never seem to change shape at all, or gain weight! Its driving me nuts!

Try changing the programme you do every couple of weeks so that you complete different exercises, sets, reps, loads and rest. Also try make every gym session different from the last interms of different exercises.

The body can adapt very quickly and improvements can be slow. If you dont give the body enough time to adjust ie by increasing the load and completing more sets but less reps, then you start training the muscles differently than before.

As John Murphy stated, increase calorie intake. If lactose intolerant, stay away from milk but use other substances with protein - dried egg white added to milkshakes is always good. Look at your post exercisr nutrition. If you dont consume enough carb and protein immediately after workout, the body will use other sources of energy - your muscle which you have just spent an hour or so trying to increase its mass.

Hi, just a quick note from me - definitely stay clear of the milk - you will not be digesting it properly, hence the amount of south wind!

Is it necessary for you to run that much every day? Im just thinking that it will be pretty hard to gain muscle bulk if you are naturally an ectomorph ('skinny guy'!) and doing this much cardio, along with the circuits - high density but low intensity (mainly aerobic) the kick boxing circuits - again mainly aerobic.

My advice would to, if possible, cut back on the aerobic work and increase the intensity of your resistance training. Your body may not be recovering enough and therefore as Alex said, you may be eating into your own muscle.

Also just be careful of your exercise selection - from what i see you are heading towards a pattern overload and exercises that if over used will cause poor posture leading to increased chances of injury, decreased strength/power.....i could go on and on.

Pretty much all the exercises you have listed are flexor based, or medially rotate the shoulder girdle, may drop the sternum etc etc Don foget to work on the muscles that extend such as your thoracic extensors eg, otherwise you could end up with a number of problems that guys from th TA usually end up with.

Hope this helps

James

Has your gym got any decent free weights, ditch the Pec dec and the curls and the tricep work straight away your just using precious energy that you require else where. cycle your training more, you cannot hit all your targets at the same time, eat more, put in another 3 meals into the day (snacks) between the 3 big meals you are already eatting, eat nuts and fruit all day if need be try supplementing with oil, hit the big compound exercises bench, pullups, deadlifts, mil press, squats, dump the machines use Free weights they will use more muscle and thus be more productive, cut back on all types of exercise at the moment to concentrate on the weight gain, if you are lactose intolerant LEAVE the milk alone (phart) :oops: it will upset the digestion of other food. Sorry mate but give us some more details on the kit the gym has and we will see what we can come up with. Hope that helps some, take it easy Cheers John :wink:

My gym does have a fair selection of free weights, but I'm not all that au fait with all the exercises which is why I've been doing quite a bit of machine work.
Its got a couple of benches with a good selection of dumbells, it also has a normal barbell and a couple of machines of indeterminate operation that seem to incorportate barbells.

I've been advised that the amount of aerobic exercise I do is greatly hindering my weight gain issues. Is there any way round that?
Or does it simply come down to, ' cut down the cardio or stay the same weight ' ?

??? Don't really understand that bit, but it sounds nasty!!! :( What kind of problems are you talking about and how do I avoid them???

Hi - sorry i didnt mean to worry you but....... all the exercises you have mentioned ie bench press, peck deck, shoulder press, press ups, bicep curls, sit ups etc etc can all lead to muscle imbalances if you do not work the opposing musces too, such at the rear deltoids, mid/lower traps, rhomboids, lumbar erectors etc etc

The exercises you have chosen have mainly been 'push' patterns, dont forget to include pulling patters too eg bent over rows, single arm rows, seated rows etc etc

Furthermore the kick boxing can also increase the same faulty posture that the exercises you have mentioned can cause. making the use of opposing muscles and essentila part of your conditioning program!

But make sure you get a quality trainer/coach to teach you the exercises and might be an idea to have them design your program too.

Hope trhis makes things a bit clearer, cheers

James

hi there i dont no if a pep (person exasize program ) will help i go to the gym and my trainer set me 1 up a 6 week 1 to inprove up my upper and lower body it help me alot

Try including 1 -2 tsps of Brewers Yeast in your protein drink and base it with soy milk instead of dairy milk. Also, you may be overdoing the cardio a bit. :? Good Luck

Spread out the protein you consume over six meals per day 20grams per meal. Ensure you also have plenty of carbs with each meal. Never go more than 2.5 hours without eating. Eat protien imediatly befor going to bed. If you have to maintain the cardio have low GI carbs imediatly befor the workout and Hi Gi carbs during and straight after. THis will reduce the muscle breakdown during cardio training.
imediatly after all training have a hi GI carb to raise insuline levels and have protien with this. This will enhance protein uptake by the muscles.
NEVER DO ANY WORKOUT FOR MORE THAN 40MIN MAX PREFERABLY 30MIN. If you train for to long your body will burn to many calories to allow you to grow.
Ensure you have enough fats in your diet as a low fat diet reduses testosterone levels. Focus on including unsaturated fats.

Hi - you may want to avoid soy products read the following:
http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/index.html