looking for a skinny kids guide to building muscle basically

Hey, new to the site and fairly new to body building. Let me introduce myself... I'm 17 years old and 5'11 145 pounds. Really skinny, and don't have exactly the biggest ripped muscles. I haven't bought any nice supplements or protien or anything yet because I am short on cash and don't want to waste my money on something when there might be somthing better and maybe cheaper I could have gotten, which is another reason why I came to here. I looked around and read alot of the articles and found them to be pretty useful and have already learned alot.
What I need help with is this: What should I buy at the GNC in order to boost either weight gain or muscle performance...?
What kind of foods should I be eating and how often should I be eating them? I'll eat whatever i'm really dedicated and i'll eat it as often as I should.
Currently lift 115 in reps of about 3-5 (bench) and about 3-4 sets of that with other auxillaries. I don't know if that's what I should be doing but it has shown slight improvement.  I really would like to improve my chest and bench just like every other small chested kid out there :\.
and How fast should I be moving my weight up? Every week every two weeks? Should I do 3-5 reps and sets of 4 all the time or 3-5 reps sets of 4 one week and 5-8 the next?
Simple things like that I need help with... Hoping nobody just reads this and blanks over it cause i'm serious about this and want to go out and get started on this soon!
I already read which is something I wasnt doing I should be doing back and leg workouts but should I do them the same day as my arms? I talked to this Olympic weight trainer in the gym and I don't know if he took steroids or not but something he said was he worked his legs the same day as his chest and arms because of the adrenaline rush he got when he did his legs... Is this practical or should I do legs one day arms the next?

Hi ryannoah, welcome to the site. You have made a good start coming here. Keep reading the articles posted here, it is well worth the time. I would not worry about supplements just yet. I would determine your caloric needs and then eat a healthy diet of real foods with enough calories to build muscle. Get lots of protein, eat healthy fats and carbs and avoid the junk, ie: soda, candy, etc.

Some of the others here can advice you much better than I on the lifting aspects. Just keep reading and post when you have questions. There are some real experts here.

175 lbs
47 48 years old
Feeling pretty good

I'm sure one of the more exp lifters will post soon but a couple of things for you:

1.  Read some of the other posts lots of them have good workout routines in this beginner forum.
2.  You are young, eat as much clean food as you can.  Emphasis on clean goes to what designer said above.  You need calories to gain weight(muscle).
3.  There is plenty of info here but a basic starting routine for the new weightlifter might be something like this:  (you want compound movements using major muscle groups)

Alternating Workouts work out as hard and often as you like just if you go 2 days in a row skip the next day.

Workout A
Squat
Static Lunge
Bent Over Row
Bench press
ABS (incline, swiss ball, u pick whatever I like the ball don't worry its not girly)

Workout B
Deadlift
Step up
Shoulder Press
Lat Pulldown
Pushups
ABS


This is pretty much the beginner program I wish I did when I started out.

The last thing is what I say in almost every one of these posts I reply to:
Google Starting Strength or The New Rules of Lifting
You can likely get them for free from a library.

Good luck.

Eat a lot of healthy foods--- chicken, fish, tuna, brown rice, pasta, salads, peanut butter, whey protein shakes, almonds, oatmeal, etc.

Workout A:
Squat
Stiff-leg deadlift
Bench Press
BB Row

Workout B:
Squat
Lunges
OH Press
Pullup

ACE-CPT, NASM-CPT, AFPA-Nutrition Consultant 

eat like theres no tomorrow. increase ur food intakes as u build muscle too. if u find it hard to eat enough, chew gum between meals, it helps my apetite.
And I'd follow MVPs workout if i were u lol

After a few months: 

Weight: 177lbs

6 reps 
Deadlift: 300lbs
Squat: 240lbs
Bench: on hold. Rotator cuff injury 

MVP


Eat a lot of healthy foods--- chicken, fish, tuna, brown rice, pasta, salads, peanut butter, whey protein shakes, almonds, oatmeal, etc.

Workout A:
Squat
Stiff-leg deadlift
Bench Press
BB Row

Workout B:
Squat
Lunges
OH Press
Pullup

MVP beats me to everything, haha I guess I can explain this a little more though so I have a point of posting
Week 1 looks like this: A, B, A
Week 2: B, A, B
Repeat
And put a day inbetween each workout most people do M/W/F
 
Also stiff-leg deadlift can be switched with regular deadlift, although I kinda like the SLDL's there since the squats are already hitting alot of the muscles that DL's do and I always seem like I need extra hammy work.

Goals by end of 2009:
Bench 205
Squat 255 ATG
Squat Clean 185

"There is no elevator to success, you must take the stairs."

You should have a PM (private message) that will allow you to download the 19 Tips to Build Muscle.  It's something I wrote to address your exact questions.  Read that first.

You need the basics laid out first.  There's 100's of posts here with very solid information.  What keeps people being frustrated for months if not years is Information Overload and running around asking and getting so much different advice.

First... learn some nutritional fundamentals.  Then lay out a simple workout play.  Be consistent and track your basis progress.

I believe the 19 Tips ebook will help.  And this DB community will fill in all the blanks and then some.

Marc C. David - NGA CPT
Author of NoBull Bodybuilding
www.nobullbodybuilding.com

thanks alot everybody, all that information is reallly helpful! I'm going to get started on that workout routine and I figured that PM was just one of those PM's most forums send you when you join so i didn't even bother to read it.
Eat healthy, follow the workout routine, eat eat eat eat eat. Anything I missed? I've been eating peanut butter and banana sandwich like three to four times a day ontop of just eating like chicken and salads and ****.
Should that be doing anything or am I wasting my time?

A lot of peanut butter and banana sandwiches should add up to a lot of calories. I would throw 16oz of milk in with those sandwiches.

Snack on almonds. The ounces add up real quick for big quality calories. Red meat and sweet potatoes are your best friend.

Sounds good, if anybody has a certain diet they maintain to make sure they get all the calories and protien they get could you help me out? Cause calories are good but I want to kind of be balanced and not like having a ****load of calories but not enough fruits or veggies or whatever... Suggestions? Thanks for the tip on the almonds and sweet potatoes I already knew about red meat obviously lol. Going to buy some next time I go out.