Hi,

I'm underweight and just take my word when I say I'm skinny.

Eating better, calories etc but started to hit the gym but I felt like I was too weak to be there. I couldn't bench press the lowest weight they had.

My question is, is it best to just keep fit and get into a healthy weight band and maybe use body weight exercises to save spending money at the gym? I understand for most guys wanting to bulk it doesn't get them very far but for someone like me (who can't even do a push up) will it get me very far?

I was thinking eating right and 3 months of body exercises before the gym. I do feel sore after the gym and there would be progress but I just don't feel comfortable being there. Being 6ft 2" at 59kgs.

Or what if I just ate big and healthy, sit on my arse for a few months, fatten up and then I'll feel more comfortable at a gym?

Thoughts?

Yes, doing just bodyweight exercises will help you build a foundation of mass and strength but you will eventually need to use free weights to have a variety of stimulation for the best gains. Also, dont worry about ever feeling out of place at a gym. Everybody was born weak it is up to you to build yourself to something better. I remember being too afraid to do free weight exercises, being too afraid to do pullups at the gym, all because I was too self conscious and I felt that people would snicker at me behind my back.

But what I came to learn was that people really dont care if you lift 45 pounds or 400 pounds its about how hard you work and if you know what you are doing.

Weight training is similar to approaching, sometimes you just need to man the fuck up, get your head under that bar, take a breath and squat. Youll never regret working hard, only not working hard enough.

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Pain is Temporary, Pride is Forever

I've heard many times in many places that you shouldn't live and die simply by the scale and that you should instead plot your daily weight on an average curve that smoothes out the daily fluctuations in weight.
plz suggest me any tips.......

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You have actually gotten off to a good start by eating better. Even if you decide not to hit the gym, eating good foods in the proper portion sizes is healthier than eating the wrong foods or larger meal portions.

If you are trying to lift free weights you may want to consider starting out on the machines for a couple months until your muscles are in better condition. Free weights take a lot of muscle-effort to balance the weights, so even if you are doing a standing bicep curl your legs, wrists, forearms, and back are all working to lift the weights AND to keep you from falling over while the weights are moved back and forth. With the machines all you have to be concerned with is the actual lifting/pushing/pulling motion of the weight itself.

If you are on the machines and you aren't yet able to lift the lowest weight, either get a spotter or seek the opinion of a doctor regarding a therapy/training program, because you may run the risk of injury until you can get stronger, and they will have got advice on how you can improve your strength. You could also see if your gym has a personal trainer, and they might be willing to give you some free advice or maybe even a free workout with them. Just tell them you are considering a trainer, but with your special situation you are not sure if it would be worthwhile, and see what they say.

It's totally natural to feel a little self-conscious in the gym for the first time, but if it's a good gym nobody will judge you on the amount of weight you are lifting, rather you will earn others respect with your dedication, persistence, and discipline. Some of the biggest, strongest guys in my gym are ridiculed because they are considered to be "meatheads" in the States, which means they have little life outside of lifting weights and they are also loud, rude, and completely oblivious to basic gym etiquette). Besides, many of the people in your gym probably started out like you and were skinny or overweight....they just started exercising before you did, that's the only difference.

Going the bodyweight route would be better than not exercising, but eventually you'll want to do more. You would probably get the biggest gains from weightlifting, but you can't just start from scratch and expect to be an expert in a couple of months, it takes time, and you have to build up the strength and conditioning for it.

Go to the gym go to the free weights (dumbells) and use those on a bench. They have 5 lb dumbells. I would be in shock if you couldn't bench 10 lbs. Its ok to start low, as long as you add more with each workout.

This is what I would do if I was you.
4 sets 6-12 reps (if you can do 12 do a larger weight)
4 secs going up 4 secs going down
Monday
Military Dumbell Press
Dumbell Bench Press
Tricep Kick-backs
Tuesday
Lat Pulldown(Machine)
Bent over dumbell curls
Bicep Curl
Wensday
Squat
Romanian Dumbell Deadlift
Thursday Off
then repeat Friday-Chest Shoulder Tricep,Saturday Back and Biceps, Sunday Legs, and Back.

Now if that is to much, your muscles hurt that just do Monday Wensday and Fridays.

Like I said dumbells start a 5lbs so you should be able to do every excersise no matter how weak you are. As long as you get lots of protien you will get bigger. If you are skinny and can't put on weight just drink a gallon of milk a day lol, you will grow.
Now I know your think 5lbs is nothing, if you do 5 the first bench then next do 10lbs, then next 15lbs. Doing twice a week you could be doing 40 lbs in a month. If you do once a week you will have 40s in 2 months.

Search SS and GOMAD or Stronglifts 5x5 and GOMAD for building muscle and gaining weight, with barbell work.
Also I advise searching for the /fit/ repository torrent, I have a couple of routines for bodyweight exercises on it. Convict conditioning is a great bodyweight exercise programme for building muscle if you use my routine, the one in the book is very short.
The diet is the most important part as well, I recommend googling 'Harsh's worksheet' and giving it a thorough read through for various lifting programmes and diets.

A lot of weightlifters use the 5X5 method and have reported big gains in strength with it. Others follow Wendler's 5/3/1 and have made significant gains. Both are basically powerlifting and/or strength training routines.

On one hand, I'm not sure if the original poster can do either one of those, because one of the main exercises is the bench press, which he said he had trouble with. Maybe he can get started by just lifting the bar with no weights, that's going to be somewhere around 20 kg/44 lbs, depending on bar length.

On the other hand, the both exercise routines use a lot of compound movements which work more than one muscle, and you can build up some major core strength this way, which is what he needs. Either program can also be scheduled to allow a lot of time off, which would give him time to recover. With 5/3/1 for example, you can lift as little as three days a week.

The main problem is, I don't know of anyone who started out with either program, most guys were already lifting weights when they heard about these routines.

Some weightgainer shakes before & after each workout would probably be a good idea, too.