The Skinny College Student's Guide to Getting Ripped

Being a skinny guy is not always easy. In this day and age, it's almost impossible to escape the media's blazing messages of what it is to be sexy and attractive. For men, being sexy almost always equates to being buff and cut. Just walk into your closest Abercrombie and Fitch store and you'll see what I mean. From the wall-long portraits of ripped men to the anatomically perfect mannequins, guys face a lot of pressure to be muscular.

In college especially, men want to impress the opposite sex. While being funny and smart is a big plus, having a buff body can help you get noticed.

Unfortunately for us skinny dudes, it's not just a matter of working out. What we eat, when we eat it, and how much we eat is a big deal. Also, what exercises we do and how many times we do them matter. Finally, the amount of rest we get in between workouts is paramount when it comes to sculpting a body from scratch.

So before I delve into some helpful hints that'll get you ripped, let me tell you a little about myself and my experience weight training. I'm a full-time college student going into my sophomore year. I'm 6'2" and weigh 185 pounds. No, I am not a hulking mound of muscle. What I am is strong, cut, and athletic enough that people often ask me, "Hey, have you been working out?"

I started lifting weights in high school but saw little results. Part of the problem was that I was still growing in height and my body couldn't fill out quite yet. But the other problem was the way I was training. I didn't take time to research a good routine for my body and ended up doing exercises that did little more than give me a small hump on my bicep.

When I went to college, I had a goal in mind to work out religiously and return home totally jacked. While I definitely saw improvement, it took me a while to develop a system that fit into my college lifestyle. That's why I advise you not to waste your time buying fitness magazines and researching bodybuilding sites. Those publications are targeted toward Schwarzenegger-like men who have the time, money, and genetic blessing necessary to put on a bunch of mass by doing certain exercises. A skinny college student needs a different approach, and here it is. The information is divided into three parts: Training, Nutrition, and Rest.

Training:

Remember those football players we envied in high school for their ability to put on muscle seemingly overnight? Well, there's a reason their training proved so effective. Football players use compound lifts in their training program, meaning they use several muscles to perform one exercise. Usually these motions mimic movements humans make on a daily basis, not just on the football field.

For us skinnies, the quickest and most effective way to put on mass is to do basic compound lifts. These include squats, deadlifts, power cleans, bench presses, shoulder presses, rows, and pull-ups.

I've included a link in the "Resource" section that will show you the proper way to perform these exercises. Make sure you learn the form for each exercise before embarking on your sets.

If you are a complete beginner to weightlifting, it's important to start light so your body gets accustomed to the movements. There's no exact rule on how many sets and reps you should do, but I'd recommend doing 2 sets of 12 with a moderately challenging weight for each exercise. You may feel a little soreness the next day, but that's ok. Use the 2 sets of 12 rule for 2-3 weeks, monitoring the difficulty of each exercise. If you find the exercises are becoming too easy, then it's time to increase the weight.

For guys who have a solid foundation in lifting but are still seeing little results, it's possible you aren't challenging yourself enough. One of my biggest mistakes was getting comfortable with a certain weight and forgetting to progressively increase the load. A good idea is to try and add more weight every two weeks. If you're body isn't ready for the new weight, that's all right. But at least you challenged your muscles to see how much they could handle.

A good plan for adding mass it to perform 3 sets of 6 -8 reps for each exercise. Make sure to use a heavy and challenging weight. One of the primary rules of weight training is this: to get bigger, use more weight but do less reps. To get leaner, use less weight but do more reps. In our case, we want to get bigger, so that means lifting heavy and challenging loads.

Another trick to getting results is to train with a lot of intensity. Pushing yourself during workouts forces your muscles to work harder, therefore sparking the growth process. Make sure you're mentally prepared to hit the weights hard when you enter the gym. A lackluster workout will do nothing for you, so don't waste your time if your mind's not up to the task.

Nutrition:

Aside from practicing the right exercises, a skinny college student needs to eat plenty of nutritious foods, not just to feed the muscles, but to energize the mind too. Having a meal plan can come in very handy for this purpose as it allows you to eat various foods in the dining hall with the opportunity to get seconds.

While stuffing your face with junk food is generally a bad idea, the truth for skinny guys is that we need to consume more food than the average person if we plan on adding mass. Our metabolisms are so fast that we rarely overload them. But to have enough nutrients in our system to promote muscle synthesis, we need to stock up.

The first thing you need to know is that eating a balanced meal is key to fueling your muscles. Make sure to have servings of protein, carbohydrates, and fats in each meal. Now in college, it's often tough to find time to eat, and as weight trainers, we actually need to eat every 3 hours! Now when I first discovered this, I found it extremely discouraging. I didn't have the time or money to be constantly feeding myself. However, I now have some cost-friendly ideas to ensure we're getting our nutrients.

First off, eat a balanced breakfast in the dining hall, if you can. I usually indulge in an omelet, a bagel with cream cheese, cup of yogurt, and a glass of milk (Milk is a fantastic muscle-builder, by the way).

For the next small meal, I've taken to eating a peanut butter sandwich and drinking a bottle of water. A PB sandwich is packed with protein, carbs, and healthy fats to keep you going. It's easy to take with you around campus, and buying the ingredients won't leave you broke at the bank.

For lunch, I return to the dining hall and once again eat a balanced meal. I usually start off with a salad, and then I eat a burrito with fresh ingredients (none of that processed, Taco Bell stuff). A sub is also a great idea if your dining hall has a deli. Both these foods have protein, carbs, and fats. If you can get your hands on some pasta, that's great. Pasta is a great energy food that can help you fuel your workout later in the day. While I like to drink water with my meal, I always drink a glass of milk before I leave; on my way out, I usually pick up an apple or a banana.

Since I usually lift in the afternoon, I like to drink a whey protein shake after the workout. Now some supplements are quite pricy, but whey protein is the most basic and most effective supplement there is (unless you take steroids). Some vitamin stores are overpriced, but you can always find good deals either online or at wholesale markets such as Sam's Club and Costco. As a skinny person, I'd recommend you use 2 to 3 scoops of protein for each shake you make. We need the extra calories.

Dinner is pretty much the same as lunch. I start off with a salad, then usually eat a lean meat, depending on what the dining hall offers. Rice and pasta are great sides that pack plenty of carbohydrates, as are potatoes. Try to always eat seconds during lunch and dinner. The extra calories will be extremely helpful in making sure you gain some weight. For dessert, there's nothing better than ice cream. Ice cream is one of those "cheat" foods you can eat plenty of as a skinny guy who works out regularly.

For the last small meal, I usually do a repeat of the peanut butter sandwich, or I eat fruit and drink more milk. By this time, my stomach is usually pretty full and I don't want to force myself into stuffing food down my throat.

Rest:

This may come as a surprise, but for a skinny guy to benefit from exercising, less is actually more! While bodybuilders and athletes train 5 to 6 days a week, skinny guys should only train 3 days a week tops. Your muscles grow after a workout, so it's important to give them plenty of time to recover and rebuild. A typical routine might look like this:

Monday: Chest and Tricep

1 set of push-ups till failure

Incline press: 3 sets of 8

Bench Press: 3 sets of 6

Tuesday: Legs and Shoulders

Warm up with jump roping

Squats: 3 sets of 10

Deadlifts: 3 sets of 10-12

Shoulder press: 3 sets of 8-10

Friday: Back and shoulders

Pull-ups: 2 sets till failure

Dumbbell Rows: 3 sets of 10

Power cleans: 3 sets of 8

Now this was just a model routine, but if you were to use heavy weights, it'd present quite the challenge. After using this routine for a month, I'd take 2 weeks to scale back on the weight and increase the reps. This will give your muscles a chance to recover and prepare themselves for the next big haul, but you won't risk losing any precious mass. Once the 2 weeks is up, try lifting heavier weights than ever before. You might be surprised to find you can manage it.

Conclusion:

What skinny guys need to understand is that how we train and how we eat dictates whether we'll have a shot at adding mass. I'm still far from my goal, but I've finally started breaking out of the skinny form and have added some shape and meat to my body. Hopefully my tips will get you closer to your goal. Just remember to challenge yourself in the gym by doing compound exercises with heavy weights. Make sure to eat nutritious meals 6 times a day, ingesting plenty of protein, carbohydrates, and healthy fats. Finally, rest in between workouts and make sure you're not sore before you hit the gym again. Good luck!