Mistakes Skinny Guys Make: Not Dialing In On the Basics
So, in case you missed it, last week, I started what I hope will be an on-going series of “tough love” advice for all the skinny guys out there who, no matter or what they do, can’t seem to put on ANY quality weight.
In the first installment (HERE) I discussed the dieting side of things, which, when all is said and done, accounts for roughly 75-80% of the battle right off the bat.
In short (for those who are too lazy to click on the link), here’s the Cliff Notes version: you’re not eating enough. No, seriously, that egg white omelet you made for breakfast –outside of completely wasting all of those perfectly good yolks – isn’t even scratching the surface in terms of how many calories you need to actually grow. And lets be honest – egg whites? Seriously? Let me guess you probably drive a Prius, right? Wait…..wait……do you pee sitting down, too? I knew it!
Okay, okay, all kidding aside, there’s actually a lot of great insight not only in the post itself, but in the comments section as well, so I highly suggest you check it out if you haven’t already.
With that out of the way, today I want to switch gears and start to discuss the training side of things, because, well, most (skinny) guys tend to miss the boat entirely when it comes to this component.
Have you ever met or seen a guy who can deadlift a mack truck (figuratively speaking, of course) who was tiny? Or, what about someone who can squat 3-4x his bodyweight? Most likely, he (or she) is probably not a small human being. Or, at the very least, they’re not skinny. Or skinny fat.
Sure, there are exceptions to the rule (Olympic lifters who rely on relative strength comes to mind here), but it stands to reason that those guys who tend to focus on the tried and true movements, are generally the biggest and strongest guys out there. Put another way, they don’t rely on smoke and mirrors and otherwise “fluffy” programs that you can find anywhere on the interwebz. Rather, they tend to focus on the basics.
Trust me when I say this, your biceps aren’t big *not* because you’re not performing enough DB isolation curls.
I can’t tell you how many time I want to offer my head up as a punching bag whenever I start talking to someone and they go on and on and on about how they can’t seem put on any weight, and then proceed to tell me that yesterday was their rear delt and lower abs day.
Too often, guys (and girls for that matter) tend to focus on the pebbles, when they should be focusing on the big rocks.
The Pareto Principle and How It Applies to Pretty Much Everything
For those who aren’t familiar, the Pareto Principle was inspired by the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who back in the early 1900′s, demonstrated that 80% of the wealth in Italy was owned by only 20% of the population.
Interestingly, since it’s early inception, the rule has been studied and applied to every facet and aspect of life; showcasing, almost resoundingly so, that certain activities tend to give more return on investment than others. Put another way- 80% of the effects, comes from 20% of the causes. As an example:
- 20% of the crops a farmer plants typically results in 80% of his overall yield.
- 20% of a business’ clients typically result in 80% of the profit (and complaints for that matter).
- 20% of the time I actually listen to what my girlfriend has to say. As a result, I sleep on the couch 80% of the time.
You see, the principle can be applied to anything! As you might expect, the fitness industry is no different. Going back to the example above, we all know that guy who spends 45 minutes doing every variation of arm curls imaginable, and wonders why he can’t gain any weight.
Similarly, walk into any gym in the country, and you’ll witness people spending endless hours on the treadmill *sigh* in an effort to shed some body fat; only to follow that with 100 sit-ups…….on a BOSU ball.
Which brings us to the Big Rocks Theory
Popularized by Alwyn Cosgrove, in a nutshell it revolves around a story of a professor who walks into class one day and asks his students to fill a glass with rocks, pebbles, and sand.
To start, he stacks the big rocks and then asks his students how to put the rest into the bucket. Not surprisingly, the students place the pebbles into the glass, followed by the sand. In the end, everything fits into the glass.
The professor then asks his students to reverse the process. However, after pouring the sand, the students realized that the sand alone filled the entire glass and nothing else could go in.
“It is the same with time”, explained the teacher. “Give time slots to the big things before anything else. Otherwise, the inevitable sand would fill up your day”.
Summarily, the story demonstrates how a vast majority of trainees like to focus on minutia (sand) rather than the “bang for your buck exercises” (rocks).
Simply put, it makes more sense to identify the big items that need to be addressed, whatever your goals may be (in this case: getting hyooooooge), and planning the small things around them.
In the scope of guys trying put on weight, it makes infinitely more sense to focus each training session around ONE MAIN MOVEMENT (rocks) rather than one bodypart (sand).
Which is why, when working with skinny guys, I like to get them into the mindset of performing a “deadlift day” rather than a upper quadripizoid day. Or, maybe a “chin-up day” rather than a rhomzipidus day. Catch my drift?
So, a sample day my look something like this:
Monday (National Bench Press Day – but in your case, it’s SQUAT Day)
A1. Front Squats 4×5
A2. Quadruped Extesion-Rotation 3×8/side
** Basically, you need to put your heart and soul into the first movement of the day. Don’t pussy foot around. Literally, you should hate life
*** from there, all your accessory work will “compliment” your main movement (in this case, squats)
B1. DB Forward Lunges 3×8/leg
B2. Reverse Crunch 3×10
C1. Supine Barbell Bridge 3×10
C2. Pallof Press 3×10/side
D. Stretch something.
Similarly, I’d probably also have 2-3 other days where a “main movement” is emphasized (think: deadlift, bench variation, chin-up, row variation), followed by accessory work to help compliment the main movement and/or help bring up or address and glaring weaknesses or imbalances.
Of course, we may have to take into consideration any current injuries, training experience, equipment availability, etc, but for the most part, the above is just a very basic day that will undoubtedly help guys not only get stronger, but in addition, assuming they’re getting enough rest and calories, will help them put on weight as well.
I know there’s A LOT more I could espound on here, but hopefully the take home message is this: focus on the basics (big rocks), and everything else will seemingly fall into place.