I just started working out hard at the beginning of this year, and I made a alot of good gains on most everything. Right now I'm in basketball season, so it's hard to gain weight. After the season is over, I'm looking to go from 165 to somewhere around 180, without putting on a lot of fat. By the way I'm 6', so I'd hope you could understand why I am wanting to gain. Anybody have any suggestions for me?

Describe what you might eat on an average day- Nutrition is normally the first place to start looking when it comes to making gains OR cutting fat- But keep in mind that when you eat to bulk, you will be gaining some fat with it- How much depends on how disciplined you can be with how and what you eat.

I wish I could say my diet was better, but unfortunately I eat like a normal teenager. Every morning I eat two smores poptarts, with about a big glass of milk. Lunch is "supposed" to be a healthy lunch, you know everyday school stuff. I usually try to bring a sandwhich and some fruit to eat around 10 a.m. though. Around my house we usually have the same basic things for supper. Chicken is big, but so is porkchops. At least 2 vegetables.. usually 3. For a while I was drinking whey protein at night, with some glucosamine powder, milk, and two raw eggs. Thats about it.. definately not what it needs to be.

Are you wanting a bulk type muscle or do you want a weiry bball player build. Have you heard of Josh McRoberts was on the East Us High School team he worked out with me and a couple of my rugby/fball guys for his arms and core. Guys 6 10 and not clumsy has some good feet, has a full ride to duke and an NBA prospect. Im in Indiana so anything bball is discussed just wonderin if youve heard of em.

You'll definitely have to improve the way you eat- Otherwise, all the supps in the world won't get you the results you want. You need to eat five or six meals a day, each with a nice source of protein, good carbs and good fat- You can find out more about specifics in the nutrition forum, but trust me- Most of your progress will come from how and what you eat.

alright, so i know i need to change my diet, but what about workouts? I've been looking at a couple, but haven't really seen one that stands out. Any suggestions?

If you're looking for a good workout program, keep a couple of things in mind- First, you need to lift heavy- If a program has you doing more than ten reps or so per set, forget it- If you can lift a weight more than ten times, you're training more for endurance than strength. Will it get you results? Sure- But lifting heavier does a better job. Different people do respond differently to various rep ranges, but I think it's pretty safe to say that no one ever got huge by using light weights. Second- If a routine has you doing a lot of isolation movements, forget it. To build a nice amount of strength and muscle, compound movements are the way to go- That is, exercises that use a lot of different muscles throughout the motion. Preacher curls are a perfect example of an isolation movement- This is where your elbows are resting on a pad to keep them in place, forcing the biceps to do all the work by themselves. The compound alternative to this is the standing barbell curl- Your arms aren't locked in place, you're not sitting on a bench- Instead of the preacher pad and then bench keeping your body in proper position, other muscles have to help you keep proper form. Another example is machine bench presses vs. free weight bench presses- With a machine, the bar moves up and down in a rigid line- There's no possible way for the weight to tip forward or back, the machine keeps your form perfect. With free weight bench presses, you're holding all that weight in your hands above you- In order to keep the weight in a straight line as you go up and down, your shoulders have to do a lot of work. Bench presses, deadlifts and squats are the three biggest muscle building exercises out there- If a routine you're checking out doesn't have those three in there, skip it.

Anyway- If you're looking for a specific program, Max OT has added plenty of strength and muscle to many of our members here- Check out this thread, there's a link in it that gets you to the pdf- Yes, it's long, but it's well worth reading. You'll learn a lot from it- And don't skip over the nutrition part.

I've read over about half of the program so far, and I think its exactly what I was looking for. Thanks

first you need to figure out you caloric needs and then increase them acording to your exercise schedule with high protein like lean meats, eggs and protein shakes. Then your lifting program needs to be altered to increase mass. Try maxing out and then lifting that max in the top 4-6 inches of movement to exhaustion. Make sure to take 2-3 days off and then increase the weight by 5-10% and do it again. After 2-3 weeks max out again and you will see improvements of 5-15%. Changing your program with new, different movements will also speed up your gains by challenging your muscles in a new way and working neglected muscles. If you do change your program, expect to be sore and give yourself time to rest or your muscles won't be able to fully rebuild.