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Eating right is only half of what it takes to gain weight. We also need to exercise, to make sure we gain lean muscle
mass, and not fat. Although we need to make sure our body fat is high enough, flab doesn't look good on skinny people, either.
Plus, exercise helps to improve your overall fitness, something many underweight people struggle with.
Exercise Tips from our Members
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To build your muscles you have to use them.
If you can't go to the gym, here's a home workout to turn you into
one sexy lady.
Arms:
pushups - not the girlie ones but the real guy ones
dips - put your hands on your bed and your feet on a chair, your butt just off the edge of the bed, you're facing up.
Bend your arms to lower your butt about 12 inches below the height of the chair, then straighten.
bicep curls - steal a couple of cans of veggies from the kitchen, use them as dumbells
tricep extension - use the veggie cans as dumbells again. Lie on your back on the bed, but your hands on the bed just
above your head, elbows bent 45 degrees. Straighen elbows, lifting the veggie cans.
Legs:
Step-ups - stand sideways on the bottom of the stairs, put one foot on the bottom step end the other on the
ground. Straighten the top leg. You're now standing on one foot on the bottom step. Bend and straighten your leg, tapping
the heel of the other leg on the ground. Always keep your weight on the upper leg. Switch to the other leg after 15 repetitions,
repeat 3 times and feel the butt-burn...
Lunges - stand with one foot forward, one foot back, feet pointing forward. Put your weight on the heel of the front
foot and just behind the toes of the back foot. Beng your knees so that the front knee is at 90 degrees and the back knee
touches the floor. Be sure that the front knee does not go past the toes, that's bad for your knee. come back up to the standing
position. Repeat, 3 to 15 times depending on how much U can handle. Switch legs and repeat.
Back:
Super-woman - Lie face-down on your bed. Lift your arms and legs, hold position for 10 seconds. Repeat 3
to 10 times
The Board - lie face down on the floor. Prop yourself up on your elbows and toes. Keep your back and legs straight.
Start out holding for 10 seconds, work up to 60 seconds. Repeat 3 to 10 times.
Abs:
The Board sideways - Lie on your side, body completely straight. Prop yourself up on one elbow, the only other
body part touching the floor is one foot. Once you get good at this, raise and lower your butt for a dynamic workout of the
diagonal abs.
Situps:
Regular crunches
If that's too easy to bicycle crunches - alternate bending the knees to
touch the opposite elbow when you come up.
If that's too easy try V-ups: Sit up and lift your legs at the same time, hold
your body in a V shape for 3 seconds and come back down. Your butt is the bottom of the V. CAUTION this one can hurt your
back if you're not in top shape, start with the easy ones first.
posted by: smallshark
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Over the past summer we (my family)bought an exercise bike. It was the best investment we ever made. I did about 5 minutes
a day every other day. After a month of doing it, my thighs finally got curvy! And I still continue to use the bike and I'm
so proud of my thighs. They're stronger and more fit...not to mention my pants fit so well!
Another exercise that's really good is bum squats. And since I have thin calves, I also do 100 calve raises
plus 100 reverse calve raises, it really helps.
Those are the three exercises I do for lower body. For the upper body,
I just use weights.
posted by: ivgirly_girl
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I exercise but i wouldn't really call it that, it's more like playing sports and having fun in life. I do bowling
about four hours a week, and frisbee golf probably about 17 hours a week if not more.
They work well, my arms feel leaner and stronger (which is really important for me) and my legs have gotten
a lot stronger from always walking while playing frisbee-golf... sorry i'm kind of obsessed with frisbee-golf, it's addictive.
posted by: woodoo_kitty
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I have two different types of weight workouts, depending on the season.
Off-season is endurance weights, I start with
a weight I can lift for 2 sets of 10 repetitions and then I increase the reps each week until I'm doing 50 reps. This is usually
3 times a week to start, and then it gets cut down to twice a week as the workouts get longer. If you're not going to need
insanely long power output (as in competetive endurance sports), just add 1 rep a week until you're doing 15. This is also
short enough that you can do 3 sets without spending your entire life in the weight room.
During the build-up (pre-competition) phase I transition from endurance weights to power weights. I increase the weights
until I can just lift it 6 times. Then I increase the number of repetitions each week until I can do 10 repetitions. DON'T
increase more than once a week or you will get hurt, give your muscles time to grow.
Once I can do 10 reps I increase the
weight and go back to 6 repetitions.
To for better progress, use supersets or circuits. In supersets you alternate between two exercises for the same body part
without resting in between, for example you might switch between bench press and biceps curls. In circuits you chain a whole
bunch of exercises together, going from one to the next without rest.
Here is my current (Power) weight program:
Circuit A: Back extension, situps, dry skate, pushups, 1-leg squat, 1-leg balance on balance disk
Circuit B: Triceps
extension, bench press, biceps curl, overhead press
Circuit C: Pulley station, skate specific (straight-away push, crossover
push)
Circuit D: Pull-ups, dips
I usually go for a swim after I do weights so I don't stiffen up.
It generally takes 2 months to really see a good increase in strength.
Don't go by the mirror, go buy how much you can
lift. Muscle takes up less room than fat, so you may actually look smaller but gain weight. But if 2 months ago you couldn't
get 10 pounds up and now you're lifting 15, you know you're building muscle.
Last but not least: if you're increasing your weights or trying something new, get a spotter. A lot of guys take long breaks
between sets because they lift more than we weigh, and most won't mind spending 30 seconds making sure we don't drop the 20-pound
dumbells. If you're new to weights, one or two sessions with a personal trainer may be worth it (it's not too late for a letter
to Santa...
posted by smallshark
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Here's a piece from a recent newspaper article:
And, as Ottawa dietician Marilyn Booth points out "most people who say they want to
gain weight mean that they want to gain muscle mass."They do not want to turn into Bridget the Blimp, even for a starring
role opposite Hugh Grant.
The route to increasing muscle mass is a combination of weight training - specifically
a progressive resistance strength-training program - taking in extra calories, exercising and balancing te exercise and training
with sufficient rest and recovery.
"Most adults cannot put on more than 10 pounds of muscle mass in a year," says Ms.
Booth, who is a registered dietician and exercise consultant. (...)
Exercise at moderate intensity for about 30 minutes at least three times a week and
make sure that you have enough rest to give the muscle time to grow.
The Ottawa Citizen, 16 december 2004
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Tools for you
Hot Workouts and Programs for Home or at the Gym - Anything from Aerobics to Pilates, Running, Swimming or Yoga
Body Toning - make almost any body part appear firmer and sleeker
Check the Favourite Links folder for more resources
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