So, a potentially sensitive subject.

However, it's true that body fat (how much and where) is a big contributing factor to how masculine you appear at a first glance. Body fat also obscures muscle definition, which is the opposite of what a lot of us want!

My experience here has been entirely with LCHF eating - low carb, high fat, that is - a variation on the 'primal' style of dieting - and I've got nothing but good things to say about it. Mostly, I've followed the guides put together by J. Stanton of Gnolls.org, but the jist is this: no sugar, no grains, no plant oils (coconut oil is OK), lots of veggies, some fruits and nuts, and lots of grass-fed/pastured animal products including butter, eggs, cream, offal, and everything else. I'm vegetarian, so I just eat a lot of butter, eggs, pastured cheese and organic tofu.

I initially switched to this style of eating for reasons of metabolic inflexibility and my tendency to get hypoglycemic... pretty much every day. Ten years down the road, I could have easily set myself up for insulin resistance and pre-diabetes. No bueno. So, while I didn't actually cut the carbs to lose weight, I lost weight anyways: 10 pounds in two weeks, even. My BMI went from 20.5 to 19, and I didn't even notice until I stood on a scale. Aside from a single day battling the low-carb 'flu', I never felt hungry, listless, foggy, or any of it. In fact, my energy is better than ever.

So, that was my unintentional strategy.

The result? Less fat around my hips and thighs, and a pretty ideal blank canvas for me to start throwing some muscle onto. As far as that goes, I bought myself a pull-up bar and set of resistance bands. Planks, pushups, wall-sits... I'm gunning for abs, good thighs, and damn good arms/shoulders. Still learning about all the tricks out there to maximize gains, but lean and strong is at least better than skinny in the meantime.

Any one else got some pointers to share?

Agree on the low carb diet, that's what I do.

For bigger shoulders/legs and improving general endurance I took up swimming, and it seems to maintain the mass well. I'm not currently looking to start any sort of serious gains routine until later next year after all my surgery's out of the way but for now I use swimming to maintain everything at current level and keep myself fit. A lot of the old exercising I was doing ended up a bit superfluous after swimming, you don't even need much warm up with it; a combo of that and some hard workouts 3 days per week and I'd imagine I'd be a beast. I'd check what sort of body type you are, (endomorph, ectomorph, mesomorph) and tailor your workout routine to that. There's some sites you can pull up with a Google search on those terms and workouts where they explain how to get the best results for each body type.

In my opinion the best way to get big is to get really strong first and the best way to do that is with a barbell doing the big three powerlifting moves; squats, deadlift, and bench press.

You know you had a good deadlift day when you step away from the bar dizzy.


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Push-ups and more push ups, and when you're exhausted - keep a plank for extra 30 seconds (on your elbows, but parallel to the floor and tight). Squats and again - after 30 or so, freeze in a squat position for extra 30 seconds. Plenty of things to do with your body without any need for weights or equipment.

Having said that, in my opinion, a boxing gym, Muay Thai, or krav maga (or any wrestling) is more fun than doing it at home alone. 


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Low impact cycling is good for toning. Start to power into the hills and you'll build mountains of muscle on your calves and thighs.

Quote from: Viktor on December 16, 2017, 09:42:33 PM
Agree on the low carb diet, that's what I do.

For bigger shoulders/legs and improving general endurance I took up swimming, and it seems to maintain the mass well. I'm not currently looking to start any sort of serious gains routine until later next year after all my surgery's out of the way but for now I use swimming to maintain everything at current level and keep myself fit. A lot of the old exercising I was doing ended up a bit superfluous after swimming, you don't even need much warm up with it; a combo of that and some hard workouts 3 days per week and I'd imagine I'd be a beast. I'd check what sort of body type you are, (endomorph, ectomorph, mesomorph) and tailor your workout routine to that. There's some sites you can pull up with a Google search on those terms and workouts where they explain how to get the best results for each body type.

It's funny, I'm a very strong swimmer: free-diving, body surfing, spent a summer in lifeguard camp once upon a time. I guess I can't imagine swimming laps in a pool for exercise. I associate it with recreation pretty strongly. Though I do know that you're 100% right - swimming is by far one of the best full-body workouts out there.

I'm definitely an ectomorph; gaining weight is hard. The recommendation for ectos is to lift heavy, and lift often: take short breaks between reps, and just generally train to failure when possible I think. I'm still building strength, so my tactic has so far been to train until I know I'll feel it the next day. Ideally, I'd like to be sore somewhere all the time.

Quote from: Deborah on December 16, 2017, 10:09:11 PM
In my opinion the best way to get big is to get really strong first and the best way to do that is with a barbell doing the big three powerlifting moves; squats, deadlift, and bench press.

You know you had a good deadlift day when you step away from the bar dizzy.


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Unfortunately I don't have the money to go a gym - I actually like working out at home more, tbh - so I'd have to see what I could jury-rig at home to approximate those. I could probably think up something with the resistance bands. They're super versatile and if you pair them up, you can actually get a lot of poundage out of em.

Quote from: elkie-t on December 16, 2017, 10:14:21 PM
Push-ups and more push ups, and when you're exhausted - keep a plank for extra 30 seconds (on your elbows, but parallel to the floor and tight). Squats and again - after 30 or so, freeze in a squat position for extra 30 seconds. Plenty of things to do with your body without any need for weights or equipment.

Having said that, in my opinion, a boxing gym, Muay Thai, or krav maga (or any wrestling) is more fun than doing it at home alone. 


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Noted! I was following the Simple Fit routine for a little while, which is all bodyweight stuff, but it's geared more toward losing weight and building basic strength than building obvious muscle.

Quote from: krobinson103 on December 16, 2017, 11:10:44 PM
Low impact cycling is good for toning. Start to power into the hills and you'll build mountains of muscle on your calves and thighs.

I'll definitely be doing more of this after I move in the next few months. I don't have a bike where I live currently, and finding a place to ride that doesn't make me feel like I'm going to wind up a statistic takes getting in the car and driving a ways.

There's a hike nearby that I like to do every once in a while that is absolute murder on the thighs on your way down. I should probably try and do that one more often though it takes getting up balls early to avoid the worst of the sun exposure..

Quote from: BT04 on December 17, 2017, 10:29:27 AM
It's funny, I'm a very strong swimmer: free-diving, body surfing, spent a summer in lifeguard camp once upon a time. I guess I can't imagine swimming laps in a pool for exercise. I associate it with recreation pretty strongly. Though I do know that you're 100% right - swimming is by far one of the best full-body workouts out there.

Agreed. I can't do laps in a pool, it's the sea or nothing these days. I mix it with fish hunting sometimes so it's both exercise, endurance and skill training. There's also general freediving which is good for improving your anaerobic capacity. With the sea there's always variety, you never know what the exact conditions are going to be or what you're gonna meet out there and there's always some risk as well which keeps you alert. I'd say freeclimbing would be my next pick if I couldn't do the swimming. You gain a lot of strength quickly with it on indoor walls or natural and it's a great way to test if your workouts are paying off. Also less boring than most kinds of exercise.

QuoteI'm definitely an ectomorph; gaining weight is hard. The recommendation for ectos is to lift heavy, and lift often: take short breaks between reps, and just generally train to failure when possible I think. I'm still building strength, so my tactic has so far been to train until I know I'll feel it the next day. Ideally, I'd like to be sore somewhere all the time.

Yeah, some say it's easier from the ecto side but it means attention to detail. As an endo I have an easier time keeping muscle without work but I still have to watch my diet like a hawk.