Tired of being skinny...it's time to man up!

[quitthegame]

As for squats, if your family history is bad backs (as is mine), avoid squatting as a whole. Substituting leg presses is an excellent alternative as the weight is not compressing against your spine, but more so your hips.

 

My family history is weak arms, so I took your advice and omitted arms from my workout program. Yesterday I tried to move my refrigerator, and my powerful legs and core were fine, but my left arm literally ripped off. I have no arm, now. Thanks.

 

Someone told me that a true workout program should carefully bring weak areas up to par, not ignore them--but I just can't risk my one remaining arm. I hope nothing happens to it.

 

As Ouchy mentioned, 1g/1lb is the text book definition for your daily amount of protein. You mentioned having an 1,800 calorie diet which puts me on the worry, at 6'1 and 145 pounds, you have a metabolism that competes with a Bughatti Veyron.

 

People who say they have a high metabolism usually are actually telling you that they don't eat very much. People who say they have a low metabolism are generally telling you they sometimes eat 2-3 cartons of ice cream when they're sad. (No offense intended, but calories aren't magic numbers, and the truth is out there if you look.) People who compare people's metabolisms to Veyrons are telling you they don't know much about Veyrons, or metabolisms.

 

 

Heed my advice and stay away from anything that uses the word "creatine," as it's water weight, and will bloat you by diluting your muscles with water.

 

While advising a beginning lifter to take creatine would be unusual, advising people to stay away from energy sources that bloat you by diliuting your muscles with water is also unusual. Carbs do exactly that, too, are you advising a zero-carb diet for a beginning weightlifter trying to put on 20 lbs? No? Then what's 'nasty' about creatine's moderate water-retentive properties? Water absorption tendencies of carbohydrates are extremely well known.

[Rooler]

I don't know if you're schedule permits it, but if you can lift five times a week and focus on a body part a day, I personally find that to work really well. I've been flying up in weights everywhere and gained 20+ pounds in 2 months. Deadlift and Squats are really important as well, do quite a few of those if you can. If you want to gain muscle, do low rep/high weight stuff. I like doing a 10x3 routine with bench, squat, and deadlift every other month to help with them; I personally think it works out pretty well. I'm no veteran to lifting or anything, but this stuff has worked really well for me, at least.

 

Also, no matter what you do..

Oh, and muscles are built in the kitchen.

Eat a -LOT- like nearly 3k calories a day. Lots of proteins (fish is really good, red meat, stuff like that) and just eat a lot.