Skinny guys are prone to injury and because of cliches like “no pain, no gain,” while there is truth in that statement, the uninformed can take them to mean working through lasting pain resulting in or from injuries.
That’s not a smart thing to do.
Never overtrain. When you’re an ectomorph you should be training a maximum of 3 times per week. Some people suggest 4, but when you stick with 3 then you can maintain the simple schedule of Monday, Wednesday and Friday for training with the weekend for a 2-day recovery period.
Listen to your body and never train or push yourself when you’re feeling sore from a previous training session. Pain is an indicator; don’t ignore it with arrogance or pain pills.
Train to near-failure. Having the guts to push yourself past your pre-conceived limitations is important, but don’t train to failure with every set. Reaching that point where the muscles you’re training begin to shake violently and blood rushes to your head is not a place you should try to get to too frequently.
Occasionally, perhaps once per week training to failure is worthwhile to determine your true limits, but in most sessions stop sets 1-2 reps before you need to push that hard.
Pushing yourself is important to provide adequate stress for your muscles, but in excess it can knock you around and take you out of the training process. Is that final rep and bragging rights really worth the risk of missing potentially weeks of training?
Start small and act progressively. Confidence is a brilliant trait to possess, but don’t let it overtake your own well-being. Benching your own weight on your first try may sound heroic, but in reality, it’s probably best to start with lifting the bar by itself.
Everyone starts from zero. Don’t feel ashamed for starting small and working towards where you want to be. Underestimate how much weight you can lift and how far you can push yourself until you find that middle-ground of pushing yourself and safety that is unique for everyone.
If you face injury, or even if you just feel a bit sore on a training day: continue to rest. Remember, lifting weights only stimulates muscle growth; it’s during the recovery period that it’s actually built. If you don’t give your body enough time to recover you won’t build any muscle.
This can require patience at times, and you may be overly enthusiastic to pick up those dumbbells or do more pull ups. Be mindful of the long term mindset however, and distract yourself with strength training education or a low impact exercise like swimming (which actually aids recovery).
