Bodybuilding

Bodybuilding 

This is where a large proportion of your confidence will be gained along this journey, now it's not a stretch to assume a lot have tried or are already working out.  Thats good but this will go into depth to help you carve a great physique as quickly and as efficiently as possible. 

Genetics

Yes, we have all heard by now, it's the reason why you're here. 

Everyone has different genes, different pros and cons. The optimal genetics for a Male  would be wide clavicles (collar bones), narrow waist and pelvis. Now not everyone has this obviously. So working out is a good way to accentuate it, if its a weaker point as well as attaining a six pack. 

Now everyone responds differently to training stimulis, some build muscle quickly, others a lot slower. You are going to need to deal with this and tailor to your body. Of course if you're like the guy on the left it would be better off to just  focus on face aesthetics.

If you are taller, its going to take you longer to fill out your frame, and you won't look as stocky as people below 5'9, but that's not a loss considering you have height a largely sought after trait.

If you are shorter, you can expect to look a lot more beefy and stocky.

If you are average you will be a mixed bag of both.

How to start

If you're skinny, muscular, or fat the main goal is pretty much the same, just with differences on getting there. 

Skinny; Eat a lot  more, Gain muscle

Muscular: Gain Muscle

Fat: Gain Muscle  while losing fat

Heres where the path deviates DIET wise, not TRAINING wise. 

Skinny guys need to intake alot more calories, most think that they eat a lot I did myself, but in reality we often skip meals or do not eat at all for long periods during the day.  It Doesn't matter where you get your calories from unless ofcourse  you are prone to acne or are  worried about facial bloating then you can opt for a cleaner bulk, but if not eat whatever you want just make sure to intake 500+ calories more than you are burning. To figure out how  many calories a day you need bare minimum to survive just use a BMR calculator (Basal Metabolic Rate).  If you are still not gaining weight just increase the amount of cals further, 1000+ won't matter if you don't gain fat easily. 

For average people who have a some muscle mass it's largely the same although you might want to bulk a bit cleaner.

Fat or Obese people will need to watch what they eat, you can choose to go into a caloric restriction (consume less calories than you burn via an adjustable range of 100 - 500 ) or you can do Intermittent Fasting and see how it goes for you. 

For tracking calories you can learn to eyeball it or you can download an App called MyFitnessPal onto your phone to help you track your calories.

TRAINING

We want a fast and effiecient way of building muscle, a straight forward free program I reccomend is 

Jason Blahas 5X5 program, it will help you develop foundations, increase strength and gain size very fast. Just make sure you learn how to do all the movements correctly, injuries or poor workouts will only hinder your progress. If you don't want to follow this program, find another. I highly advise it to be a 3 - 4 day program,  bro splits and the like are terrible for begginers and you want to maximize recovery especially if you are skinny starting out.

Another great program is StrongLifts largley similar and a very efficient free program.