Skinny and Weak

[jboles773]

Originally Posted by TheShogunner

the first thing i would do is check with your doctor to see if thats a smart idea

I agree.

But if he does clear you, go for it. Skinny and weak doesn't immediately make you a bad fighter. Look at the Diaz bros. You've just gotta train hard and be smart.

[FEDORRULEZ]

Originally Posted by RoBertODeSSertO

i posted about a year ago about this same topic im now 5'10 and still around 120 pounds i have thyroid disease and have just recently been diagnosed with crohns so its really hard for me to gain weight. im worried if i train mma right now that i will be too weak and wont be able to keep up. if i try and bulk up and gain strength until i graduate high school.. im a junior now. then start mma while in college. i live near lauzons gym so i was going to sign up there. im sick of being skinny and having people think they can walk all over me because of it. any advice would be appreciated thanks

get clear by your doctor before you do anything

[RoBertODeSSertO]

thanks for all the replies ! i wish they had wrestling at my school. im going to start lifting and after a year if i bulk up a little and am stronger im going to sign up at a gym and start training and who knows maybe ill actually have some talent . im a hard worker in everything i do so maybe ill go far !

[IkMarc]

Find something that you are talented at.

[Kevza]

You dont have to be strong or big to start MMA mate, everyone has their own reasons for joining up and no one is guna laugh at you because you aint muscular and ripped. There are all shapes and sizes going to my gym so dont worry

[TheeFaulted]

Starting Strength and eat everything in sight that doesn't irritate your Crohns.

[TheeFaulted]

From Dave Tate on hard gainers

There was a time at the Old Westside gym where I couldn't gain weight to save my ****ing life.

There was this dude who trained there who could just put on weight like ****ing magic. He'd go from 198 to 308 and then to 275 and back down to 198. And he was never fat. It was amazing.

I finally asked him one day how he did it.

"You mean I never told you the secret to gaining weight? Come outside and I'll fill you in."

Now remember, we're at Westside Barbell. And this guy wants to go outside to talk so no one else can hear. Think about that for a minute. What the hell is he going to tell me? This must be some serious **** if we have to go outside, I thought.

So we get outside and he starts talking.

"For breakfast you need to eat four of those breakfast sandwiches from McDonalds. I don't care which ones you get, but make sure to get four. Order four hash browns, too. Now grab two packs of mayonnaise and put them on the hash browns and then slip them into the sandwiches. Squish that **** down and eat. That's your breakfast."

At this point I'm thinking this guy is nuts. But he's completely serious.

"For lunch you're gonna eat Chinese food. Now I don't want you eating that crappy stuff. You wanna get the stuff with MSG. None of that non-MSG bull****. I don't care what you eat but you have to sit down and eat for at least 45 minutes straight. You can't let go of the fork. Eat until your eyes swell up and become slits and you start to look like the woman behind the counter."

"For dinner you're gonna order an extra-large pizza with everything on it. Literally everything. If you don't like sardines, don't put 'em on, but anything else that you like you have to load it on there. After you pay the delivery guy, I want you to take the pie to your coffee table, open that ****er up, and grab a bottle of oil. It can be olive oil, canola oil, whatever. Anything but motor oil. And I want you to pour that **** over the pie until half of the bottle is gone. Just soak the **** out of it."

"Now before you lay into it, I want you to sit on your couch and just stare at that ****er. I want you to understand that that pizza right there is keeping you from your goals."

This guy is in a zen-like state when he's talking about this.

"Now you're on the clock," he continues. "After 20 minutes your brain is going to tell you you're full. Don't listen to that ****. You have to try and eat as much of the pizza as you can before that 20-minute mark. Double up pieces if you have to. I'm telling you now, you're going to get three or four pieces in and you're gonna want to quit. You ****ing can't quit. You have to sit on that couch until every piece is done.

And if you can't finish it, don't you ever come back to me and tell me you can't gain weight. 'Cause I'm gonna tell you that you don't give a **** about getting bigger and you don't care how much you lift!"

Did I do it? Hell yeah. Started the next day and did it for two months. Went from 260 pounds to 297 pounds. And I didn't get much fatter. One of the hardest things I've ever done

[TheGlow]

I don't ever post on Sherdog, but this question really caught my eye. When I went into college I was 5'10 and weighed something along the lines of 125-130lbs. While training in martial arts over the years, I felt much the same as you, especially considering my best friends (and most frequent sparring partners) weighed 190, 260, and 210 respectively.

One day I went to a friend of mine, who is far more intelligent than I, and asked for help putting on muscle. The plan was incredibly simple and mirrors what many people in this thread have said. Eat everything. Do your olympic lifts (ie deadlift, squat, snatch, clean and jerk, etc.) Lay off the cardio!!! This was the hardest part for me because I have always had admirable endurance and was afraid to lose it, but trust me, you can always get it back.

I now weigh in at 165lbs on most days and while my lifting is not impressive, the gains I made from where I started are huge. I am more confident in the ring and don't mind tackling bigger opponents.

This all being said, I have three major pieces of advice you should/must follow:

TL; DR
1. Buy Rippetoe's "Starting Strength Volume 3" It is everything you need to know about weightlifting.

2. As everyone else said, TALK TO YOUR DR.

3. Don't stop training. Skip the movies with your friends. Tell your girlfriend you will have to reschedule that date. SKip the party. Skip the bullshit. To do this you have to be willing to lift 5 days a week and never miss a day.

[Robmasterflex]

1. Talk to your doctor.

2. Eat like a f---ing monster, every 3 hours. Eat a small child before and after your workout.

3. Condition like a ninja.

4. Have fun fighting guys while you have a longer reach if you can't put on that much weight.

5. Profit.


Also, skinny doesn't mean weak. If anything it means fast. You can be strong as hell and not look like a roided out monster. Train for strength 2-3 times a week on top of your mma stuff.