Is anyone a twig?

What does that mean? (hey! that rhymes :D)

Oh....

No, I won't take a pill for that. Just like diet pills, I don't think they are safe....

I just don't think so...

Twig....I use to be real skinny. Most would say today that I am not as skinny as I use to be.
Before I started working out I weighted only 125 pounds. I stand 5foot /10 inches.
I looked worse than "Olive Oil"....

I had a 26 inch waist. Today I weigh between 145 and 150 pounds. My waist has gotten to a 29. Now I can find pants that will fit
me.
My BMI is around 11%....most skinny guys have more fat than they think.
One good thing about being skinny...my muscles grew more quickly. I had no fat covering them up...

Creatine monohydrate is not a pill, it is a powder. And perhaps my answer was a little brief, so I will elaborate some in this post. Hey, I know, I'll tell a story! I love stories! *squeals*

Ahem.

As a freshman in high school, I was 5'0" and weighed about 100 pounds. I had no muscle definition. Hell, I didn't even have pubic hair. Now, I tried out for the basketball team and got cut. Looking back, I guess I should have expected that, but I didn't and was really down about it, because basketball was my second favorite sport (after baseball). The coach told me that if I wanted to try out next year he'd be more than happy to let me; he said I had good ball-handling skills (ha-ha, laugh it up) but that I was just too small and timid. He suggested that I join the wrestling team to get used to rough physical contact and also that I begin lifting weights.

Well, I did both. I bought a book on nutrition and upped my protein intake - I began eating scrambled eggs with my breakfast, and I drank those High Protein Boost things with lunch and dinner. I asked my mom to start preparing more meat for dinner, and she complied. I began lifting after school three times a week. Fast forward a year. In addition to growing six inches, I also gained about thirty pounds. So that was good. Unfortunately, I slacked off over the summer, but thanks to a growth spurt still managed to put on another ten pounds. Granted, this was mostly bone mass, but upon the commencement of my sophomore year, I was given some incentive to resume my activities - our 140 got hurt! Fueled by a desire to fill this void, I redoubled my efforts - if I wanted to wrestle 140 I needed to weigh about 150, and I was still ten pounds shy of that.

So I began to lift twice a day, five days a week. I ran to school at 6:00 every day and got a quick workout/shower in. I stayed after school every day and lifted some more. I made a sincere effort to consume 3000 calories and 150 grams of protein per day. Some days I got there and some days I didn't, but the point is that I was trying.

In three months, I gained the ten pounds. But then I lost the wrestle-off to our 145, who had decided that he wanted to drop a weight class. And of course there was someone to fill the void left at 145 who was also better than me.

So . . . I cut.

When I was weighing 150, I'd guess that I had about 7% body fat. Three months after I lost the wrestle-off for 140, I stepped onto a scale and weighed 127.1. The tenth of a pound that I was over was allowed due to the possibility of a scale error, and just like that I was our new 125.

After the season was over, I didn't feel much like working out. I bloated up to about 140 shortly after my last weigh-in, but much of it was water weight. By the time August rolled around, I weighed in at 135. Then Jake (my stepbrother) told me that he was going to start supplementing. I asked him what he meant, and he explained it to me. Creatine, glutamine, HMB, multivitamins . . . he had it all figured out. Since we were now living under the same roof, I began to mimic his habits. And by doing so, I gained twenty pounds in three months.

This time, it was not bone mass.

I didn't cut weight my junior year. I just refused to. I weighed in at 155 the first day of the season and I weighed in at 155 on the last. After the season was over, Jake and I began discussing what our lineup would look like for the upcoming season (our senior year). We were obsessed with building the best team possible, and what we eventually decided was that he would wrestle 140, and I would wrestle 160. This seemed like a good plan until school started back up and our veteran 180 announced that he was dropping to 171, leaving us with a dipshit freshman as our starting 180. This was unacceptable. We had the potential to be a nationally-ranked team, and I was not going to give that up just because our 180-turned-171 was a dickhead.

This is getting a little long. I'll try to wrap it up.

In the three months prior to the season, I went to the gym twice a day, six times a week. Each workout lasted about ninety minutes, so on average I guess I was spending eighteen hours a week there. I consumed between 5000 and 6000 calories a day, and I never ate less than 200 grams of protein in a 24-hour period. However, most importantly of all, I was taking 10 grams of creatine in four doses a day. I put on 25 pounds.

If I had let nature run its course, I'd be a twig.

But I didn't.

And I'm not.

Wow, that was a fun story. Point is, if you want to overcome your genetics, you've got to work your ass off. And if you don't think creatine is safe, you haven't researched it enough. Do so. Here are some links to get you started:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/creatine.html
http://www.bodybuildingforyou.com/cr...onohydrate.htm
http://www.muscletalk.co.uk/article-creatine.asp
http://www.creatinemonohydrate.net/
http://www.vitacost.com/science/hn/S...onohydrate.htm
http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/1038.html
http://www.raysahelian.com/creatine.html
http://www.trulyhuge.com/creatinemonohydrateL07.html

Many diet pills are also safe when used correctly.

Sounds like your hard work and self-discipline were at least as responsible as your supplements. Even though I've never met you or your family, I bet some good genetics probably helped, too.

I don't know if supplements have as dramatic an effect on those of us whose growing days are long over. Not saying they're ineffective, just don't want anyone else here expecting to get results like yours.

Word of advice: don't slack off now that you're in college. I did and I regret it.

This is true.
This is not true. My father was extremely underweight for the vast majority of his early years, too. My grandfather is and always has been underweight.
They do. I quit working out after my wrestling "career" ended. I lost twenty pounds over the course of a year. I recently started working out again and I've gained back ten of those in about three months. Obviously because the urgency is gone I am much more relaxed about it, but the gains are still coming, and the supplementing plays a MAJOR role.
Too late.

I was skinny growing up and through my 20s---was 160 when I graduated highschool and about 170 when I graduated college (and 6'1"). I lifted a bit and never saw many gains. Then, my 30's came and I stated seeing weight gain so I used the opportunity to hit the gym. In two years, through gluttony, age and exercise, I have gained and am not at about 195 pounds.

Drinking water, eating fiber, fruits and veggies and lots of protein helps build muscle mass. Also, you have to let your body rest-muscles need time to recover and grow. I work out 4-5 times a week for 40 minutes. 15 minutes of cardio on a bike (fat burn, cardio, hill) and then a different muscsle group each day: Chest, arms, shoulders, back, core).

I hit a wall about 4 months ago--weight wa stable but muscles weren't growing, so I started eating spinach salad with albacorfe tuna/chicken breasts on it, more yogurt, almonds, etc.--and was ab le to see shifts in my physique as a result. I have never taken any pill or supplement, although I know they work for some people. Just my thoughts.

Yah. I'm a very healthy person. I really couldn't change my diet much to fit that kind of need. I never have candy, except on special occasions. I almost always have a spinach, tomoato, almond, ect. salad for lunch, and everything I make is either steamed, boiled, broiled, or baked, never fried. (I really like cooking). I do have some muscle definition, ie. I have clearly definablly arm muscle, however, unless I flex it, it is still very lithe, and unseeable, because my arms aren't very thick. Because of time requirements with theatre productions I am constantly in, I have not been able to go to the gym, thus, I lost my abs... But it isn't important. I am VERY flexable, from dance, so... But then, because of the type of dance I do, I have to stay rather thin... Tap makes you jump, and if you've got extra weight, you're gonna jiggle, and fitting into form fitting pants, ugh, you cant have much thigh... it makes it hell :D.

Regardless, I am happy with my weight. But it is good to know that that works... I'll remember that... :D:D:D

I make the joke that i am fat now, 6 ft 144 lb. up from 127 at my skinniest at this hieght.

I was tested at 2.5% body fat after my 2nd marathon 129 lb. 6' tall

I have gained a whopping 15 lb since high school that many years ago. You could count 12 of my ribs just by looking at me till i was a jr.

to heck with the protien shakes its all about the ice cream. I went from 127 to 137 in few months on that stuff. ( it was shortly after my divorce I had a lot to recover from). I was also told that is sometimes subscribed to people who are over thin. so Injoy the double chocolated malted crunch all you can.

makes me feel better there are a few people in this world who are my weight but taller. Makes me fell more a part of the world. to know I am not alone.

Both. It really depends on what sort of wrestler you are. Different aspects of the sport require that you use different muscles.
That is an awesome sign-off. You should make that your signature.

call me uber-twig. i am almost 20 but i have been the same weight pretty much since high school. at 6'5" and around 162 lbs i should be well over the 200 mark and that was from a chart i looked at back at the start of HS. i mean everything i have on me is muscle, almost zero fat can be seen at all. and as skinny as i am, i have this strange strength that i can only attribute to being from generations of farm boys. i say ive got farm boy strength. its ok though, even if i do wish i could be a little bit "buffer" or at least show a bit more muscle.

I've been skinny all my life too. I'm 125lbs and no matter what I do, I can't put on any weight. It all seems to go to one place

You should be so lucky to be thin. With age you will lose that. It will take a lot of work to stay thin and well built as you get older. My advise is to keep active, work out & eat right to stay that way or you will be in for a hard time losing weight later. Its a terrible thing to have to do (speaking from experience).

im 19 and 6'1'', i weigh around the top side of 165, got into working out a few months back and here in the last month have gotten into it full time, I guess i can still be considered skinny, but i'm actually pretty big if i flex, and like goneA said drink that protien up, it will add muscle mass.

Before I left for college, I was what I would consider thin at 6'0 and around 170lbs. Four years later I was 6'2 and 210lbs and have pretty much maintained that over the years (being in the military helps). Looking back I would have considered myself a 'thick twig' in high school.

As far as abs go though, I always been trim, but not cut. In fact, I have an old pair of jeans from college that still fit! Unfortunately, I can begin to see old age setting in as my metabolism slows down because the keg is slowly getting in front of my six-pack...