With regards to this and what Argent Towers said, supplementation is just that Supplementary. A strong base of a clean diet and decent exercise need to be there before supplements will make that much difference - the diet and exercise are so much more important that supplements. If you’re getting enough protein in your diet from lean protein sources then you’ll increase muscle mass if it’s coupled with resistance training - a shake a day will not make that much difference.
With regards to training, try Starting Strength, all you need are free weights and a bench you can extend the supports of to a squat rack. 3 workouts a week, compound movements. Google it. I went from never having touched a weight before to deadlifting my bodyweight in 6 weeks through linear progress. It’s easy to set goals, and there are similar programmes to advance onto once you aren’t a biginner anymore. All the info is out there free on the net, and it’s geared towards getting stronger, not having big muscles.
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This will give you significant gains in muscle mass. If, and only if, you put in the time with the lifting.
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Eat a lot of fish, beef (or buffalo, which is leaner and also more sustainably farmed) chicken, along with fruit and vegetables, etc. It’s not hard to do. You will be happy when you see the results.
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He said he’s in the Air Force; I don’t know what kind of food he gets there. It’s probably pretty good, if the stuff the Army, Navy and Marines guys always say is true about the Air Force guys getting all the best stuff.
Most good weight training programs will not just build showy biceps but also target the “core” muscles that help you with, well, just living (sitting, standing, walking with good posture, etc.). If you get into the habit of having good core conditioning, you’ll be less prone to posture, back, etc. problems if (like most of us) you later in life become generally more sedentary.
As mentioned, you will get older and find that as you do, you tweak or sprain or misalign something or other more frequently. (Full disclosure – said tweaking might, on occasion, take place during exercise, so there’s no free rides). But I found that increasing overall muscle mass across the body made me less prone to this sort of anno domini related “I’m getting older” sort of random injuries, etc.
There’s some evidence that weight training (probably most exercise/activity) can boost immune response. Anecdotally, I can’t think of one time I’ve gotten sick over the past year or so of trying to lift more (surprising as gyms are full of other people’s secretions/germs).
At a higher level any activity/exercise probably provides substantial benefits to health (and for many people, mood – endorphins, etc.). The OP though probably has his body steering him toward strength training rather than hardcore cardio (i.e., IMHO, a skinny guy taking up running marathons just doesn’t seem like a good idea – skinny long distance runners always look cadaverous to me).
Finally, there’s another aging-related benefit to resistance training/muscle building. It’s fairly well established that in addition to building muscle, this makes for stronger connective tissues and attachements (ligaments, bones, etc.). Aging people who do even light training show improvements in arthritis, balance, avoiding falls, broken hips, etc. – all later-in-life dangers that are at minimum, quality of life impairing, at worse, life threatening.
For someone who hates spending an hour in the gym – consider two currently-popular and seemingly-effective alternative approaches: bodyweight exercises and/or Crossfit, or super-high-weight/low-rep lifting regimens (see Fenriss’s Four Hour Body for some guidance).
I’m 6’4" and used to hover around 170 in my late teens and early 20’s. Over the years hard work and an active lifestyle has put me up to 260 pounds and I’m not fat either. I didn’t do anything specifically to achieve this aside from being generally active & never having shied away from hard work.
I like being big, and I’m willing to bet you would too.
Do it! I worked out pretty hard for a 6-month span and the added muscle was a huge boost to my self-image. I was actually able to do more than 10 pushups. I think I almost cried. OK…not very manly I know.
Anyway, if you want a work-out system, I hear great things about this one. Some dopers are doing it together, or were: The Beachbody Company - Wikipedia
I’m fairly new to strength training (started in August, and I’ve made some mistakes along the way), but I have to wonder about bolded piece of advice. If you’re going to make sustained progress with weightlifting, you need to lift things that are heavy for you. This is especially true when you’re a beginner, and your body can handle lifting heavy multiple times a week for months at a time. Struggling to get the weight up will be part of your program.
The key to avoiding soreness is consistency. The one thing that almost guarantees soreness is doing something new. You’re likely to be quite sore the first day after you start lifting weights, and that soreness will probably linger for about 2 weeks. However, if you stick to a schedule of working out, say, 3 days a week, eat enough and well, and get enough sleep, you shouldn’t have much soreness at all.
Sure, it’s work, but results are highly motivating. I’m currently doing Starting Strength (more on that later), since about mid-September (with some mostly self-caused problems in between) and my lifts have gone up quite a lot. Squats have gone from 95 lbs to 240 lbs, and I expect to get another 20-35 lbs before I have to slow down a bit. Deadlifts from 135 to 265. Bench press is not nearly as good, currently at 125, but I’ve had a history of skipping that exercise.
Having goals that I’m moving towards also motivates me. Plus, I’ve started getting faster on my bike again, after a while of being constantly tired and slow. My SO is lifting with me, and she noticed that she’s having an easier time moving over obstacles on hikes.
In addition to Starting Strength, which is probably the best reference for the technique of the important compound lifts, I’d also recommend Practical Programming for Strength Training, which gives quite a bit more detail on programming (i.e., which exercises to do, how many sets and repetitions, how much to increase the weight for the next workout, and how these should change as you get more advanced).