…when gain comes in bulk!

While more and more stress is laid upon losing weight and fat, one important segment is often ignored: people who want to gain weight and muscles on their thin or “skinny” body frame. This segment can be further subdivided into two parts: First, if “thinness” runs in your family, you can be called an" Ectomorph”. Alternately, if you’re too skinny because you find it increasingly difficult to gain muscle mass, you belong to the category of “Hard gainers”.

No matter which type you belong to, the good news is that you can gain weight and build a solid muscular body frame by following some basic and simple tips. Let’s find out how…

Workout Tips

Set Goals and Objectives: Be clear and set your goals about what, when and how much you need to perform to build your body. Have a detailed plan to take specific action each day. You need to exercise correctly until you have achieved what you wanted, to pack on muscles and gain muscle weight. There are specific sets of activities and a recommended frequency of reps for shaping each of your body muscle groups. Set your priorities and exercise schedule accordingly to gain muscle quickly.

Do Compound Exercises: Compound exercises are those in which several muscles are used and utilized, putting your body under heavy physical stress. This stress, in turn, stimulates your nervous system and causes release of muscle building hormones, resulting in increased muscle gain all over the body. Examples of such exercises include squats, dead lifts, dips, shoulder press, pull-ups (wide grip), chin ups, military press and bench press.

Focus on Multi-Jointed Lifts: Multi-jointed exercises are those that stimulate the most number of muscle fibers. Unlike isolation exercises which only work individual muscles, multi-jointed lifts work many different muscle groups simultaneously. You can always do some isolation work; but it should not be the focus of your workouts, and should only come after your multi-jointed lifting is complete.

Prefer Free Weights Over Machines: Free weights allow the stimulation of certain supporting muscle groups when training. Stimulating these stabilizer and synergistic muscles will allow you to get stronger, and ultimately build more muscle faster. Examples include training on dumbbells and barbells etc.

Keep Your Workout Short But Intense: Your goal should be to get in, stimulate your muscles and then get out as quickly as possible. It is not necessary to do large amounts of exercises per body part, trying to target every muscle and hit every angle.

Eating Tips

Eat a Quality, High-Calorie Diet: As a rule of thumb, to build muscle mass, you must consume more calories than you expand. Accordingly, your calorie intake needs to be on higher side. However, as not all calories are the same, you should choose good calories e.g. those found in fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy products, legumes, cereals etc. Calories found in soft drinks, deep-fried food and pastries are fattening ones and, hence, not beneficial for muscle building. Try to eat up to six to eight small meals a day. And yes, drink plenty of water.

Eat Protein To Make Protein: Don’t forget that your muscles are composed of “proteins” and they need proteins to grow. Intense exercise increases demand for amino acids (basis structural units of proteins), which support muscle repair and growth Therefore, calories derived from high quality sources of protein (e.g. protein whey, cottage cheese, lean beef, poultry, eggs, fish, beef, poultry, and dairy products) are efficiently converted into muscle when supported by an exercise plan. For the same reason, experts ask body builders to ingest 1 gram of protein for every pound of body weight. To achieve this, every meal that you eat should contain some form of protein.

Maintain Eating Consistency: Studies show that those who are consistent about their meals are more likely to keep their weight off. Therefore, be consistent and try to eat the same way on weekdays and weekends.

Last but not least, never lose hope of achieving your dream. Keep yourself motivated, work hard and be focused on the target. With proper planning, efficient exercises and balanced dietary habits, you can surely transform your body into a result you love, as well as what could be a model for others.