How to Gain Weight and Build More Muscle!
For many thin guys around the world, gaining weight without
using illegal steroids has been a challenge. For thousands of
lean young men, the dream is to gain weight, but no matter how
much they eat they remain thin. Some people are naturally thin;
that means their genetic makeup is in such a way that the body
burns more calories than others. The very basic method of weight
gain is to eat more calories than your body burns off. By
providing the body with more calories, this balance can be
altered and body mass can be increased. Weight training is of
great importance in this context, which enables the body to
absorb more nutrients from the food by increasing the level of
certain hormones and increasing the muscle mass.
There are many incorrect beliefs and theories bout building
muscle. The type of food to be eaten is an important factor
which decides the type of weight gained, whether it is muscle
mass or mere accumulation of fat. Some types of calories are not
equal to others for gaining muscle; because most processed junk
food contains empty, totally nutritionless calories. These foods
promote accelerated fat storage, and do not provide the body
with the correct nutrients essential for gaining muscle. High
quality protein, which the body breaks down into amino acids,
should be the centerpiece of all your meals. Intense exercise
increases demand for amino acids, which support muscle repair
and growth.
Another factor is the selection of the right type of weight
training. Resistance exercises will help with muscle growth.
Whereas aerobic exercises can result in the reduction of weight.
For maximum muscle gain, the focus of your workouts should
consist of free weight exercises, rather than machines or
bodyweight exercises. To get a very effective workout, you must
stimulate as many muscle fibers as possible, and machines do not
do this. The main reason for this is a lack of stabilizer and
synergist muscle development. Stabilizer and synergist muscles
are supporting muscles that assist the main muscle in performing
a complex lift.
The results of weight training can vary from person to person,
and will usually depend on your consistency and commitment to
your program. You should have the patience and motivation for
building a powerful body with a consistent diet and exercise
schedule.
Exercise Guidelines for building muscle:
Weight training involves the use of equipment that enables
variable resistance. This resistance can come in the form of
free weights like barbells and dumbbells, machines that use
cables or pulleys to help you lift the weight, and bodyweight
exercises like pull-ups or dips. The more stabilizers and
synergists you work, the more muscle fibers stimulated. The
exercises that work the large muscle groups are called compound
(or multi-joint) movements that involve the simultaneous
stimulation of many muscle groups. These compound exercises
should be the foundation of any weight training program because
they stimulate the most amount of muscle in the least amount of
time. Multi-jointed free weight exercises like the bench press
require many stabilizer and synergistic muscle assistance to
complete the lift.
Free weight exercises like the dumbbell press or squat put a
very large amount of stress on supporting muscle groups. You
will get fatigued faster and not be able to lift as much weight
as you did on the machine. But you will gain more muscle, become
stronger very quickly and have a true gauge of your strength.
If you use machines in your program, they should be used to work
isolated areas and only after all multi-jointed exercises have
been completed. Beginners should begin with a limited
combination of machine exercises, bodyweight exercises and
multi-jointed free weight exercises. Before increasing the
weight levels, they should work on becoming familiar with the
proper form and execution of each.
The following are some proven basic exercises to encourage
muscle and strength gain unlike any other exercises.
Bench Presses - works the chest, shoulders, triceps
Overhead Presses - shoulders, triceps
Pull-ups/Barbell Rows - back, bicep
Squats - legs, lower back
Dead lifts - legs, back, shoulders
Bar Dips -shoulders, chest, arms
To build mass, you must weight train with heavy weights. To
consider a weight heavy, you should only be able to do a maximum
of 4-8 reps before your muscles temporarily fail. A weight is
considered ‘light’ if you can do more than 15 reps before muscle
fatigue sets in. Heavy weights stimulate more muscle fibers than
lighter weights which result in more muscle growth. Heavy weight
training puts a huge strain on your body, so adequate rest and
recuperation after your workouts is essential.
Eating guidelines for building muscle:
A high protein diet is an inevitable part of any weight training
programme, importantly, protein derived from animal sources.
Proteins you need to be concerned with are those found in whey,
casein (cottage cheese), eggs, beef, poultry, and fish. Soy
protein, tofu and bean curd are some alternatives. Eating the
right amount of foods consistently will force your body to grow
beyond what you may think possible. The diet also should contain
an adequate amount of carbohydrates (potatoes, sweet potatoes,
yams, oatmeal, cream of wheat, cream of rice, rice, beans,
bread, pasta, all cereals) and fat. Green leafy vegetables and
fruits also should be included.
When you train with weights, you should eat a minimum of 1 gram
of protein per pound of body weight. You also must have protein
at every meal. To enable your body to actually assimilate and
use the all the calories you will ingest, you have to reduce
your meal size and increase your meal frequency. Splitting your
calories into smaller, more frequent portions will enable food
absorption and utilization of nutrients.
During the past 20 years there have been great developments in
the scientific understanding of the role of nutrition in health
and physical performance. Studies shown that adequate dietary
carbohydrate should be ingested (55-60% of total energy intake)
so that training intensity can be maintained. Excess dietary
saturated fat can exacerbate coronary artery disease; however,
low-fat diets result in a reduction in circulating testosterone.
So the balance between protein, carbohydrate and fat should be
maintained.
So the focus on weight gain programmes must be on two
components, lifting heavy weights, which will stimulate the
largest amount of muscle fibers. Your body responds to this
stimulus by increasing your muscle mass and secondly eat more
calories than your body is used to. When you overload your
system with plenty of protein and fats, your body has no other
choice but to gain weight.
A Mass Gaining program is incomplete without the timely
measurements to monitor your progress. Without it, you won’t
know how exactly your body is responding to your diet and
training routine. Just looking in the mirror and guessing is not
acceptable. If you want to start getting great results, you must
develop the habit of accurately tracking your progress. This
also provides the motivation to continue with the weight gain
schedule and for the further progression. So even though you
have a very thin body type, and haven’t been able to gain weight
no matter what you try, you will definitely succeed with a well
planned weight gain programme.
References:
1) http://www.fastmusclegain.com/part1eating.htm
2) http://www.fastmusclegain.com/part2weights.htm
3) http://www.fastmusclegain.com/part3muscle.htm
4) http://www.fastmusclegain.com/part4suppl.htm
5) http://www.fastmusclegain.com/part5monitor.htm
6) http://www.skinnyguy.net/tips.html
7) Lambert CP, Frank LL, Evans WJ. Macronutrient considerations
for the sport of bodybuilding. Sports Med. 2004;34(5):317-27
About the author:
Former “skinny guy” Anthony Ellis is the author of Gaining Mass.
The most widely used weight gain program in the world. This
unique program designed to help people gain weight and build
muscle, is currently being used in over 90 countries. For more
information on how to gain weight and build muscle, check out
his website at http://www.fastmusclegain.com