What I’m about to tell you changed my training forever. It did for my strength training what TiVo did for my television schedule: simplify and improve it. It’s been the single best piece of advice I’ve ever received. It was an “aha” moment that I’ll never forget.
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The Best Tip I Have Ever Received for Skinny Guys
“Skinny guys don’t need to chase the pump, they need to chase the poundage. No matter how skinny they are or how bad their genetics suck, if they add weight to their bench, squat, and deadlift weekly, they’ll grow like a weed.”
It works. In fact, it works extremely well. Plus, it’s simple. All I had to focus on was increasing my bench, squat, and deadlift. Ignore the fluff and the frills. All that matters is weight is being added to the bar every week. It didn’t matter if it was 2.5lbs or 10 lbs. The bar just needed to be heavier than last week. You can use a simple linear progression powerlifting template or you could use something like Joe DeFranco uses at his gym. It doesn’t matter as long as the bar is heavier than your previous workout. (Note: Don’t be fooled. Diet also plays a major role)
What Was I Doing Before
I was so focused on getting the pump every workout that I forgot about the number 1 tenet of strength training: progressive overload. The bodybuilding magazines had brainwashed me into training like the genetic freaks on their pages, and my skinny frame couldn’t handle it. I would trash myself with 12-15 sets for every major body part and take every set to failure. If I wasn’t completely exhausted by the end of the workout, it wasn’t a success. Unfortunately what I didn’t realize was that I couldn’t recover adequately. Thus, my muscles didn’t have time to grow. I was just continually pushing my into a state of overtraining until eventually I would either get injured or need a month off.
I had been misled into thinking I had the talent bodybuilders have. I don’t. I don’t have the genetics. I don’t have the recovery ability. I don’t have the nutrition regimen. I don’t have the “supplement” regimen. I was skinny. My genetics sucked. I went to school, had a job, and a wife. My diet was erratic, as was my sleep schedule. Their training wasn’t going to make me look good naked. It was going to put me in a hospital. I needed something simple. I found it in the above piece of advice. And sure enough, as my bench, squat, and deadlift grew, so did chest, arms, legs, back, and shoulders.
Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. – Antoine de Saint-Exupery
There are countless people in the gym and on Facebook that can give you all the facts you want to know, what supplements are good for weight loss or gain of muscle building, the number of repetitions is optimal for growth muscular, cardio etc types. But how many of these “experts” actually walk the walk and live this lifestyle every day? My point here is that there is no use talking of doing something, not just shut up and do it, there will be time to talk about it after you’ve done it, more people will be interested once you have to lead by example anyway. –