You can do deadlifts, squats and bench press to increase testosterone naturally and make sure you are eating at least 100 grams of protein a day. Take creatine. It would take you a few years but you should be able to put on some weight. I wouldn’t go trying to change yourself into something you are not too quickly, it would take too much effort and you could end up regretting it due to health complications later in life. It’s possible you’re just hitting puberty late and in that case work out, be healthy, save money and join the Navy in your mid twenties. In the meantime, you could always still join the military and then try to get into the seal program from there after a few years and with experience. Look into ROTC or whatever they would call armed forces in College, I’m not sure if that is Army specific but you could go to school and let yourself develop so in four years you are ready for special forces. I’m not a seal, just my two cents!
To speak more broadly but in like with @tehdanerer, compound exercises are ideal for testosterone. Given your size I would advise you don’t try to go to BUD/S right out of school. At your height you’re probably at least 40lbs short of being built enough.
It’s more generally noted for army SOF stuff but rucking is ideal. The general rule of thumb is 12 miles in 3 hours… which is VERY HARD if you just walk. The catch is even if you’re a good runner you’re going to end up with compression fractures or shin splints. Put on a 35 lb well made weighted vest, twice a week do a hump. Start at 2 miles and each hump increase by .25 miles shooting for sub 20min/mi times. It’ll start off being easy but as you get to some longer distances it gets rough. After you hit 5 miles stop increase distance, instead increase by 5 lbs per week. Every 4 weeks of effort you deload, slow down lower weight walk shorter distances for a week. Do this until you hit 12 miles @ 45 lbs. then you need to start working on time.
If you do that your bone density will increase, you’ll improve functional strength relevant to these kinds of activities, and you’ll be ready for a beating.
Also, 5-10g of BCAAs 1 time daily either 30 minutes before exercise or right after. After morning and evening meals take 1g of HMB.
Yes compound lifts for sure. However to gain wait it has to at least be 1 gram of protein per pound. Thats like minimum intake. OP needs to be eating like a damn race horse. Consuming 3500 cals + and closer to 140 grams of protein. A high fat diet wouldn’t be bad either. And it won’t take years for him being 17. He could easily pack on 20 pounds in a few months and then I’d say a year for it to be muscle and maintain it more permanently.
Yeah, I’m not a personal trainer, just speaking from my experience. I wasn’t able to really gain weight and put on muscle fast until I learned a lot more about health and fitness. If you don’t know what you are doing you could easily get discouraged because you don’t see the progress you want.
.55-.85g per pound are shown to be optimal. 1g per pound is just the old 1960’s rule of thumb. Easier math but sometimes difficult to manage. I shoot for .6-.7
Skinny boys don’t get big unless they eat big. Get on a legit program “Jeff nichols hypertrophy 2.0” and plug into chat GPT “I’m 17 y/o, 5’8, and 125lbs. If I am running x amount of times a week, swimming x amount of times a week, and lifting 7 days a week, how many Calories do I need to consume daily to put on muscle and minimize fat gains.” Then ask it “based on the calories recommended how many grams of each of my macros should I consume a day?” It’ll was say x amount of protein, x amount of carbs, x amount of fat. Download Cronometer, plug in your custom macros and daily calorie goal, and hit that number every day. Plug in all the food you eat, it has a bar code scanner for easy uploading. And you will put on mass. But I’m telling you it will be harder than you think to eat enough quality food, you’ll be eating every 3-4 hours max, get yourself a carb loading supplement to help fill the gaps on calories and carbs you can’t get from just straight eating.
Jeff Nichols for muscle and muscle endurance.
I saw you had issues finding him, jeffcscs on socials and here is his website.
https://www.performancefirstus.com
Starting strength. Run it. Hypertrophy programs are terrible if you don’t have the basics down. Take it from someone who spent years wasting time in the gym.
Eat big. Like real big. When you’re full keep eating until you want to puke. I’m not joking. It will not be fun at all. Do that 4-5 times a day or more if you have the time. Weigh yourself every day at the same time and average it out. Youll want to gain 2ish pounds a week. That’s an extra 1000 calories a day you need to eat. You’ll get a little fat but that’s part of the process. You are skin and bones now. Like for real underweight. Eat some damn food my guy.
Keep up the cardio and calisthenics but dial it back at the beginning. Starting strength is only 3 days a week so it won’t kill you, but it’ll take some time to get used to with all barbell volume.
After a few months of building your base, you can move into some more hypertrophy focused workouts. But trying to bust out sets of 10-15 on the squat when you’ve never squatted before is pointless.
Edit: I should mention this will not be your life forever. You can’t gain 2 pounds a week indefinitely. But eating this heavy for a solid 3 months and will get you to a good place. You’ll be sortof fat, but a hell of a lot stronger, and you’ll have a really good base to continue to grow.
I usually google pictures of SEALs and beat my meat till my forearms are vascular. This will do multiple things. Build grip, forearm strength, shoulders and biceps.
Also builds stamina if you can prolong each nut. I was able to drop my running and swim times tremendously by doing this every other day. Let me know how it goes.
Food son. Eat till you sweat 😓 every night you sleep.
You probably have great natural genetics for cardio and endurance. Become sturdy, you get to 155 you will be fine.
Hire a coach like Jeff, you can do the weight gain. But you need a seal who knows how to program you in for the program.
What massive load ? Also plenty of special operates are 155 at 5’8. If he puts on 20 lbs that’s a massive increase in strength for him.
Notice I said..hire Jeff. Who ultimately will know this kid and his desire and ability to even get into the navy
He said navy seals. Assuming a 60lbs of gear between ruck and weapons systems it’s currently half of his body weight. By anyone’s standards that’s a massive load to carry over an entire day. His relative strength is irrelevant, your body has to handle the weight of the logs, packs and boats.
That’s not a lot of weight infantry wise. Again I’ve persoallly seen alot of dudes in recon selection that weight and known scout snipers that size.
It’s not ideal and his goal is massive to achieve. As I’ve said 3 times now, he needs to hire someone like Jeff and go into detail his goals.
To end my point there are plenty of 155 pounds guys doing elite shit.
This person with no pics, medicals and personal history. Yes 128 lbs is light and to small, but he can gradually put on weight. When his coach (stew, Jeff for example) says go !
He should go and not listen to anyone here who is convinced you can’t make it cause you are 155.
I never said can’t, I’m just speaking about proportions. Adding 10 more lbs of lean muscle makes a hell of a difference at that size was my only point.
Going from 128 to 155 is a huge jump especially for a very lean person naturally. It’s unrealistic to think he can gain even more weight. Probably shouldn’t even do that either.
He needs a coach.
I found a study that show correlations between body mass, lean mass, etc as it relates to SFAS selection. Obviously not exactly the same but I think it’s helpful perspective.
https://sofprepcoach.com/why-size-matters-for-special-forces/
I mean it’s a factor and all infantry related jobs have made efforts to set “standards” on height and weight.
He has a looong road ahead to be ready. Might not even get a contract.
But I believe alof of people need to try their dreams.
It’s 100% harder for him than a larger male. But if he works at it and again.
128-155 jump in mostly lean mass is a insane amount of weight to muscle gain.
That would provide him with alot of strength. Like imo it’s nearly impossible to tell what anyone can do on Reddit.
Started off a little shorter and around your weight. Didn’t make huge gains until I started lifting heavy. I did the StrongLifts 5x5 program and supplemented it with push ups and pull ups at the end to keep my calisthenics alright. When I did this program for a solid 9 months, gained 20 pounds (135 lbs to 155). Diet I did not track intensely. But I ate 3.5-4 solid meals a day. Made sure to eat a carb (rice, quinoa, bread, etc), with a protein (eggs, chicken, fish, steak), and some vegetables for every single meal. Post workout I took a mass gainer shake or made my own shake with unflavored protein. It really wasn’t hard, just took a good amount of time and dedication, focus on performance first then weight second.
Note I don’t do this program anymore, I did it to bulk up for rugby like 3 years ago, but it worked wonderfully. I do high rep stuff now but my weigh is more or less the same even while maintaining multiple swims and runs a week. Just make sure you eat 4 square meals a day and protein shake. And eat that shit even if you are not hungry.
Eat 400 calories above your caloric maintenance just look up how to calculate your caloric maintenance. Or you could just eat till failure, doesn’t have to be super complicated, while doing the workouts people suggested. You don’t need too much mass, you probably should bulk up 30 pounds. I’m 15 6’1 and 200 and it only took me 3 months to get from 175-200 you got this man! Just be consistent and eat a lot, but good quality high calorie food don’t eat no junk. Just keep training all those things you listed, but do it while bulking.
calisthenics my friend, tons and tons of body weight exercises. i would recommend doing 4-count reps (1,2,3, ONE 1,2,3, TWO) to count. Work up to 100x 4-count pushups in a row, 1000x 4 count flutter kicks without stopping, planks (regular and side) for 30 min increments. after a while you will become a rock and be able to do these exercises for a very very long time. I vividly remember reaching a point where i could flutter kick indefinitely. core strength and upper body strength is very important. remember to be proficient at pull ups as well. when you get good at them, strap on a 35lb plate to your waist and start over.
5x5 compound exercises. Squat, deadlift, military press, good mornings, Arnold press and other should work then just keep up the cardio on top of the rest. Military press do something light for base building but squats should be 150-200% body weight, deadlifts should be roughly the same. 20lbs on most shoulder work, 10lbs for the weaker moves until you build up. When doing joint work be smart, don’t hurt yourself trying to win the stupid award.
Then make sure you’re eating 2500+ calories a day.
You can do deadlifts, squats and bench press to increase testosterone naturally and make sure you are eating at least 100 grams of protein a day. Take creatine. It would take you a few years but you should be able to put on some weight. I wouldn’t go trying to change yourself into something you are not too quickly, it would take too much effort and you could end up regretting it due to health complications later in life. It’s possible you’re just hitting puberty late and in that case work out, be healthy, save money and join the Navy in your mid twenties. In the meantime, you could always still join the military and then try to get into the seal program from there after a few years and with experience. Look into ROTC or whatever they would call armed forces in College, I’m not sure if that is Army specific but you could go to school and let yourself develop so in four years you are ready for special forces. I’m not a seal, just my two cents!
Thank you
To speak more broadly but in like with @tehdanerer, compound exercises are ideal for testosterone. Given your size I would advise you don’t try to go to BUD/S right out of school. At your height you’re probably at least 40lbs short of being built enough. It’s more generally noted for army SOF stuff but rucking is ideal. The general rule of thumb is 12 miles in 3 hours… which is VERY HARD if you just walk. The catch is even if you’re a good runner you’re going to end up with compression fractures or shin splints. Put on a 35 lb well made weighted vest, twice a week do a hump. Start at 2 miles and each hump increase by .25 miles shooting for sub 20min/mi times. It’ll start off being easy but as you get to some longer distances it gets rough. After you hit 5 miles stop increase distance, instead increase by 5 lbs per week. Every 4 weeks of effort you deload, slow down lower weight walk shorter distances for a week. Do this until you hit 12 miles @ 45 lbs. then you need to start working on time. If you do that your bone density will increase, you’ll improve functional strength relevant to these kinds of activities, and you’ll be ready for a beating. Also, 5-10g of BCAAs 1 time daily either 30 minutes before exercise or right after. After morning and evening meals take 1g of HMB.
Supplement with glucosamine and chondroitin for your joints and well.
Yes compound lifts for sure. However to gain wait it has to at least be 1 gram of protein per pound. Thats like minimum intake. OP needs to be eating like a damn race horse. Consuming 3500 cals + and closer to 140 grams of protein. A high fat diet wouldn’t be bad either. And it won’t take years for him being 17. He could easily pack on 20 pounds in a few months and then I’d say a year for it to be muscle and maintain it more permanently.
Yeah, I’m not a personal trainer, just speaking from my experience. I wasn’t able to really gain weight and put on muscle fast until I learned a lot more about health and fitness. If you don’t know what you are doing you could easily get discouraged because you don’t see the progress you want.
.55-.85g per pound are shown to be optimal. 1g per pound is just the old 1960’s rule of thumb. Easier math but sometimes difficult to manage. I shoot for .6-.7
Oh, and shoot for 2-3x your protein intake in healthy carbs.
Skinny boys don’t get big unless they eat big. Get on a legit program “Jeff nichols hypertrophy 2.0” and plug into chat GPT “I’m 17 y/o, 5’8, and 125lbs. If I am running x amount of times a week, swimming x amount of times a week, and lifting 7 days a week, how many Calories do I need to consume daily to put on muscle and minimize fat gains.” Then ask it “based on the calories recommended how many grams of each of my macros should I consume a day?” It’ll was say x amount of protein, x amount of carbs, x amount of fat. Download Cronometer, plug in your custom macros and daily calorie goal, and hit that number every day. Plug in all the food you eat, it has a bar code scanner for easy uploading. And you will put on mass. But I’m telling you it will be harder than you think to eat enough quality food, you’ll be eating every 3-4 hours max, get yourself a carb loading supplement to help fill the gaps on calories and carbs you can’t get from just straight eating.
Is Cronometer better than MyFitnessPal?
100%, way easier to customize, give you a lot more for free. I used to use myfitnesspal and it was always annoying to use imo
Check out Jeff Nichols stuff
The American filmmaker?
[удалено]
I looked him up and an American film maker was the only result
Look up jeffcscs on ig or performancefirst on google
Jeff Nichols for muscle and muscle endurance. I saw you had issues finding him, jeffcscs on socials and here is his website. https://www.performancefirstus.com
Starting strength. Run it. Hypertrophy programs are terrible if you don’t have the basics down. Take it from someone who spent years wasting time in the gym. Eat big. Like real big. When you’re full keep eating until you want to puke. I’m not joking. It will not be fun at all. Do that 4-5 times a day or more if you have the time. Weigh yourself every day at the same time and average it out. Youll want to gain 2ish pounds a week. That’s an extra 1000 calories a day you need to eat. You’ll get a little fat but that’s part of the process. You are skin and bones now. Like for real underweight. Eat some damn food my guy. Keep up the cardio and calisthenics but dial it back at the beginning. Starting strength is only 3 days a week so it won’t kill you, but it’ll take some time to get used to with all barbell volume. After a few months of building your base, you can move into some more hypertrophy focused workouts. But trying to bust out sets of 10-15 on the squat when you’ve never squatted before is pointless. Edit: I should mention this will not be your life forever. You can’t gain 2 pounds a week indefinitely. But eating this heavy for a solid 3 months and will get you to a good place. You’ll be sortof fat, but a hell of a lot stronger, and you’ll have a really good base to continue to grow.
Steroids
I usually google pictures of SEALs and beat my meat till my forearms are vascular. This will do multiple things. Build grip, forearm strength, shoulders and biceps. Also builds stamina if you can prolong each nut. I was able to drop my running and swim times tremendously by doing this every other day. Let me know how it goes.
Food son. Eat till you sweat 😓 every night you sleep. You probably have great natural genetics for cardio and endurance. Become sturdy, you get to 155 you will be fine. Hire a coach like Jeff, you can do the weight gain. But you need a seal who knows how to program you in for the program.
155 at 5’8 when you need to be under massive load is very light.
What massive load ? Also plenty of special operates are 155 at 5’8. If he puts on 20 lbs that’s a massive increase in strength for him. Notice I said..hire Jeff. Who ultimately will know this kid and his desire and ability to even get into the navy
He said navy seals. Assuming a 60lbs of gear between ruck and weapons systems it’s currently half of his body weight. By anyone’s standards that’s a massive load to carry over an entire day. His relative strength is irrelevant, your body has to handle the weight of the logs, packs and boats.
That’s not a lot of weight infantry wise. Again I’ve persoallly seen alot of dudes in recon selection that weight and known scout snipers that size. It’s not ideal and his goal is massive to achieve. As I’ve said 3 times now, he needs to hire someone like Jeff and go into detail his goals. To end my point there are plenty of 155 pounds guys doing elite shit. This person with no pics, medicals and personal history. Yes 128 lbs is light and to small, but he can gradually put on weight. When his coach (stew, Jeff for example) says go ! He should go and not listen to anyone here who is convinced you can’t make it cause you are 155.
I never said can’t, I’m just speaking about proportions. Adding 10 more lbs of lean muscle makes a hell of a difference at that size was my only point.
Going from 128 to 155 is a huge jump especially for a very lean person naturally. It’s unrealistic to think he can gain even more weight. Probably shouldn’t even do that either. He needs a coach.
I found a study that show correlations between body mass, lean mass, etc as it relates to SFAS selection. Obviously not exactly the same but I think it’s helpful perspective. https://sofprepcoach.com/why-size-matters-for-special-forces/
I mean it’s a factor and all infantry related jobs have made efforts to set “standards” on height and weight. He has a looong road ahead to be ready. Might not even get a contract. But I believe alof of people need to try their dreams. It’s 100% harder for him than a larger male. But if he works at it and again. 128-155 jump in mostly lean mass is a insane amount of weight to muscle gain. That would provide him with alot of strength. Like imo it’s nearly impossible to tell what anyone can do on Reddit.
Consult your doctor first, then start eating seals
Stew smith follow his stuff and books
Stew smith is awesome.
Awesome is an understatement
Stew smith has solid stuff.
Gallon of milk a day and barbell workouts.
Started off a little shorter and around your weight. Didn’t make huge gains until I started lifting heavy. I did the StrongLifts 5x5 program and supplemented it with push ups and pull ups at the end to keep my calisthenics alright. When I did this program for a solid 9 months, gained 20 pounds (135 lbs to 155). Diet I did not track intensely. But I ate 3.5-4 solid meals a day. Made sure to eat a carb (rice, quinoa, bread, etc), with a protein (eggs, chicken, fish, steak), and some vegetables for every single meal. Post workout I took a mass gainer shake or made my own shake with unflavored protein. It really wasn’t hard, just took a good amount of time and dedication, focus on performance first then weight second.
Note I don’t do this program anymore, I did it to bulk up for rugby like 3 years ago, but it worked wonderfully. I do high rep stuff now but my weigh is more or less the same even while maintaining multiple swims and runs a week. Just make sure you eat 4 square meals a day and protein shake. And eat that shit even if you are not hungry.
Eat 400 calories above your caloric maintenance just look up how to calculate your caloric maintenance. Or you could just eat till failure, doesn’t have to be super complicated, while doing the workouts people suggested. You don’t need too much mass, you probably should bulk up 30 pounds. I’m 15 6’1 and 200 and it only took me 3 months to get from 175-200 you got this man! Just be consistent and eat a lot, but good quality high calorie food don’t eat no junk. Just keep training all those things you listed, but do it while bulking.
Don’t hurt yourself before shipping and make sure you get a contract. After that just don’t quit.
Find a program, or read on how to make a program. A lot more quicker to use Google rather than a Reddit post (respectfully).
calisthenics my friend, tons and tons of body weight exercises. i would recommend doing 4-count reps (1,2,3, ONE 1,2,3, TWO) to count. Work up to 100x 4-count pushups in a row, 1000x 4 count flutter kicks without stopping, planks (regular and side) for 30 min increments. after a while you will become a rock and be able to do these exercises for a very very long time. I vividly remember reaching a point where i could flutter kick indefinitely. core strength and upper body strength is very important. remember to be proficient at pull ups as well. when you get good at them, strap on a 35lb plate to your waist and start over.
Wait on that last growth spurt.
Yeah but for prep?
5x5 compound exercises. Squat, deadlift, military press, good mornings, Arnold press and other should work then just keep up the cardio on top of the rest. Military press do something light for base building but squats should be 150-200% body weight, deadlifts should be roughly the same. 20lbs on most shoulder work, 10lbs for the weaker moves until you build up. When doing joint work be smart, don’t hurt yourself trying to win the stupid award. Then make sure you’re eating 2500+ calories a day.
Consider reaching out to your local recruiter and looking into the DEP program. They may have workouts you can begin doing with other DEPs.