<p>First, a little background info on myself. I'm about 5'11" weighing at 125 lbs (part of that may be due to my small skeletal structure). I don't work out nor exercise. When I enter university, I want to start building some muscles, mainly for my physical appearance because I don't want to look like a stick figure (that's exactly how I look like right now). I also want to start exercising for health reasons (my rest pulse is almost 100/min).</p>
<p>My question is, what should I do and eat to pack some muscles and get healthy?</p>
<p>A good cardio routine will help get that resting pulse down. </p>
<p>My advice is on the assumption that you've not recently played a sport or done any kind of workout routine ever, meaning you're in pretty bad shape. Start out by going on extended runs at a slower pace, and once you're at the point can hold an easy pace (like say, twice to three times your normal walking pace) for 30 minutes or so (i.e. your muscles are used to moving for a while)...then you start picking it up to the point where you have to work a little harder to keep the pace constant.</p>
<p>I'm not a fan of weight training (I find it tedius), I tend to stick to excercises that don't involve weights--pushups, chin-ups, pull ups, all the various forms of situps and crunches, etc.</p>
<p>"I'm not a fan of weight training (I find it tedius), I tend to stick to excercises that don't involve weights--pushups, chin-ups, pull ups, all the various forms of situps and crunches, etc."</p>
<p>Unless you add resistance, those exercises will add very little mass--something the OP is looking for. To gain muscle mass, you will need to eat lots of protein, lots of "healthy" calories, and lift weights. In fact, I'd recommend limiting the cardio to only 2-3 times per week, since it will hinder muscle growth (as it will burn calories needed to put on muscle).</p>
<p>lotsa protein, complex carbs, efa's...if you're gonna do cardio to get the heart rate down your gonna need to take in more calories to stop your body from catabolizing muscle tissue</p>
<p>benderunit, don't listen to everything you hear from random people.</p>
<p>Your best bet is to look it up yourself. I'm tempted to type a heavy spew - but chances of most OPs actually reading and following what's written is slim to none. </p>
<p>If your goal is to seriously change how you look, you will find enough of websites out there that seriously will help. If you need help finding those websites, send a PM. </p>
<p>
[quote]
"I'm not a fan of weight training (I find it tedius), I tend to stick to excercises that don't involve weights--pushups, chin-ups, pull ups, all the various forms of situps and crunches, etc."</p>
<p>Unless you add resistance, those exercises will add very little mass--something the OP is looking for. To gain muscle mass, you will need to eat lots of protein, lots of "healthy" calories, and lift weights. In fact, I'd recommend limiting the cardio to only 2-3 times per week, since it will hinder muscle growth (as it will burn calories needed to put on muscle).
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yeah, I accidentally erased the next line--"so you should get advice from others on how to go about weight training"</p>
<p>If your school has a gym, go talk to the staff there. You should have a physiology or health sciences department. Go talk to one of the professors. They would love to help you make up a routine and answer some of your more techincal questions.</p>
<p>Don't bother trying to use a super customized diet and exercise routine. You're not trying to become a body builder. Just exercise (strength and cardio) and eat healthy food.</p>
<p>A lot of people gain more strength from MaxOT than size. Maybe the OP will like HST since the OP wanted to weight train for physical appearance:</p>