7 Ways to Gain Muscle Even if You Are Skinny Gaining muscle isn’t a privilege only those who are physically large get to enjoy. While it is true that certain types of people have an easier time building muscle and keeping it on, the body type of a person generally has no impact on their ability to bulk up. So long as a person is actively and consistently engaging in the types of physical activities that promote new muscle growth and is observing a healthy diet and lifestyle, even skinny people can gain muscle quickly and easily. There are seven ways to gain muscle that require little more than focus, determination and the right technique. #1 Eat More Food When people indicate they have difficult time gaining muscle, it is traditionally because they’re not eating enough. By eating more and monitoring your calorie intake, you can start increasing the amount of energy your body absorbs and converts into essential nutrients and minerals, all of which aid in new muscle development. To gain muscle as a skinny person, you need to be eating 20 times your body weight in calories on a daily basis. If you weigh 120 pounds, for example, you should be eating 2400 calories per day at a minimum. Many smart phone applications exist that allow you to track your calorie intake on an ongoing basis. Once you have eaten 20 times your body weight in calories for a period of two weeks, begin adding 500 calories per day. So long as you gradually ramp up the calories you’re consuming, you won’t feel like you’re eating too much and you will start quickly putting on new muscle when paired with a workout routine. #2 Eat More Often Another reason why skinny people have a difficult time gaining muscle is because they aren’t eating often enough. If you don’t eat on a regular basis throughout the day, your body begins to go into “survival mode.” Your body will begin burning muscles in an attempt to create the fuel you need to carry on about your normal activities. To gain the most amount of muscle, eat six times a day. The most important meal you should be eating is breakfast. If you don’t start the day with a larger meal, your body will begin burning muscles for energy as soon as you wake up. Make sure you’re eating breakfast every day at around the same time. Afterwards, eat meals every three or so hours. Not all meals you eat throughout the day need to be large ones. You can start out your day with a big breakfast, followed by a late morning snack, followed by a large lunch, followed by another snack. So long as you’re eating on a regular basis, your body will never enter into survival mode. It is important to alternate meal sizes to keep your body guessing and your metabolism stimulated. If you eat 600 calories for breakfast, for example, eat a snack that is around 400 calories three hours later. #3 Eat Foods That Are High in Calories When people start trying to live a healthier lifestyle and gain muscle, they often get the mistake impression that eating healthier foods is always better. Vegetables have a large number of health benefits, but they aren’t the best food to consume when it comes to building muscle. Eating foods that are high in calories on a regular basis will help promote new muscle growth. Oats, pasta, breads and other whole grain carbs are excellent sources of calories that your body can put to good use. 200 grams of pasta, for example, is 700 total calories. When eating high calorie food, take care to not eat foods that are high in sugar and fats, as well. Calories are also an important source of fuel for your body which it then converts to energy. By eating more calories before and after workouts, you can go into your next weight training routine with increased energy that will translate to increased efficiency. 4. USE SUPPLEMENTS While your body can get all the vitamins and minerals it needs from eating the right foods, you can also put on a significant amount of muscle through the careful use of supplements in addition to a workout routine. If you’re trying to up your calorie and protein intake, for example, you can use a protein powder like Creatine. When choosing a supplement, get one that does not have added artificial sweeteners or ingredients like soy or corn. Those ingredients will actually be counterintuitive when it comes to putting on muscle. Look for supplements with probiotics and enzymes that will help maintain a strong digestive system. Vary the supplements you’re taking depending on when you plan on working out. If you take Citrulline, for example, you should take approximately six to eight grams between a half hour and an hour before you exercise. Beta-Alanine should be administered in doses of two to five grams between 30 and 60 minutes prior to a workout for the best results. #5 Employ Amino Acids “Branched chain amino acids”, also referred to as BCAAs, are a common technique used by bodybuilders to gain large amounts of muscle in short amounts of time. These amino acids include protein-building ingredients that are absorbed very quickly by the muscles during regular exercise, at which point they are used to create energy that can be used to push yourself harder and longer. For the best results, use between 10 and 20 grams of branched chain amino acids before your workout. If you’re planning on performing weight training workouts for long periods of time, take the same dosage every hour or so. These types of amino acids are also beneficial during the “recovery” period after a workout. During an intense workout, small tears are caused throughout the body’s muscles. As those tears are repaired, new and larger muscles grow in their place. Muscles also become stronger during that period. Amino acids make the body’s post workout recovery process more efficient, which results in both stronger muscles and more energy the next time you perform weight training activities. #6 Eat More Meat Meat has a large number of qualities that make it an aid to the body during the process of building muscle. Meat is classified as a muscle fiber due to the high quantities of fats, hormonal precursors and proteins. All of these nutrients and minerals help the body put on larger amounts of muscle at faster speeds. Eating meat is a much more efficient way to get these types of proteins than eating vegetables. While many vegetables are high in protein, you would have to eat uncomfortably large quantities to equal the benefits you would get from an average amount of meat. When maintaining muscle, a person needs to eat around one half gram of protein per pound of body weight they have. If a person wants to build muscle, they need to eat both 0.7 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight and an additional 500 to 1000 calories above their normal consumption. Meals made primarily from meat products are an ideal way to accomplish both requirements at the same time. Additionally, meat naturally increases testosterone, which the body uses in building muscles on a regular basis. Other foods that can provide an increase in testosterone include eggs, seafood, garlic, beef and broccoli. #7 Confuse Your Body by Mixing Up Your Workout Routine When you start a weight training routine that you perform on a consistent basis, you will immediately see positive gains. You will likely see a noticeable difference in your body weight in just a few weeks. If you don’t mix up your weight training routine and include varied types of exercises, those gains will quickly taper off due in large part to the fact that your body “learns” through repetition. As you do the same types of exercises on a regular basis, your body becomes more efficient at doing them. As a result, it is using less energy and fewer resources to conduct the same exercises. When trying to gain muscle as a skinny person, the best approach is to design at least three different workout routines that you can alternate between every three to five weeks. If you feel like a particular technique that was once hard has become easy, remember that your body feels the same way. As soon as you feel like you’re not making enough progress, switch to one of the other routines. Continue to use those techniques until your body gets used to them again and switch to another. Keeping your body guessing also stimulates your metabolism, which will help you burn fat while you gain muscle. Exercise strategies that are good for weight training include quarter repetitions, bouncing techniques, explosions, ladder repetitions, stripping, super sets, “super slow” repetitions, forced repetitions, cheating and negatives.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 06:44:40 +0000
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