How to Gain Weight Fast - Supplements

Although supplements aren’t exactly necessary for weight gain, they can generate a decent amount of results. I personally am not big on muscle building supplements but am aware that some of them do have their benefits. If you are in the process of building muscle and gaining weight, you know that doing so strictly on nutrient dense foods is not easy. A lot of us have full time jobs, children, school, or other important obligations that sometimes make prioritizing meals a little difficult. If you fall into this category, I recommend you research some basic and safe weight gain supplements such as:

Weight Gainer
Whey Protein
Nitric Oxide

Weight gain supplement – Weight Gainer
Weight gainer mix works great for emergencies. If for any reason at all you are unable to sit down and have a meal, weight gainer works as a great replacement. However, relying too much on a weight gain supplement like this can have its negative effects. I suggest these protein powders only be taken in the case that you are unable to have a nutrient dense meal. If you are a beginner and find it hard to consume the amount of calories required for you, these weight gain powders work excellent. Typically these weight gain supplements have a large amount of calories but you must be cautious. Do not get into the habit of simply choosing one because it has the most calories, try to aim toward one with higher quality calories.

Muscle Building Supplement – Whey Protein
In my opinion, whey protein is the best and most effective supplement available. Most people do not even consider this a supplement because it is pure and natural. Whey protein comes from cow’s milk and is very high quality. It is low on fat, lactose, and cholesterol. It also carries a rich source of amino acids one would need on a daily basis. This muscle building supplement is by far the best type of protein when rebuilding larger and stronger muscles.

Weight Gain/Muscle Building Supplement – Nitric Oxide
Nitric oxide is considered to be the modern day creatine. Most people take nitric oxide because it claims to increase muscle endurance, muscle size, strength gains, and give you an incredible pump. Whether those claims are true or not, I do believe that nitric oxide plays a big role in taking full advantage of all the nutrients you consume while taking the supplement. My logic is simple, the nitric oxide expands the blood cells (this is why you get a great pump), blood cells help distribute the nutrients to your body. With that being said, it is safe to say that your muscles will receive more of the nutrients you consume while on the nitric oxide.

How to Gain Weight Fast Supplements
I am not an expert on muscle building supplementation but I know enough to tell you that the supplements I have listed are pretty safe. Just like any other supplement, you should consult your physician before beginning to take it. Remember, these weight gain supplements are not necessary but can give a boost if followed by a proper diet and workout regimen.

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How to Gain Weight Fast for Hardgainers

As a “hardgainer”, gaining weight is not exactly the easiest thing to accomplish. However, with just a few simple tweaks to your diet, you could be on the road to some serious muscle gains fast. The main issue when it comes to building size for hardgainers is, we typically try to follow the diets and routines that are working for everyone else. The problem with that approach is that those diets and routines are not created for the “genetically challenged”. Before you go ahead and follow my advice, check out how I was able to gain weight fast without any supplements or putting on any fat. If you can respect those results, then I advise you to follow these small steps I used in order to gain muscle fast.

1. Stay Anabolic
Anabolism is a state in which your body is growing, the opposite of catabolism. Maximizing your body’s potential of being in an anabolic state can literally yield steroid like results without the sabotaging side effects. You can assure that your body is in an anabolic state by dieting eating six meals a day, following proper post workout nutrition, consuming the proper bed time snacks, and taking advantage of the growth and recovery stages that follow your workout. For more details on those stages, check out “How to Gain Weight Fast – Most Important Muscle Building Meals”.

2. More Rest, Less Gym
One huge mistake I see more often than any other is when we over train. The reason this happens is simple, because we fail to see results we assume we that we should be working out harder and longer. However, this is completely counterproductive. You see, while you’re in the gym you are breaking down the muscle and without enough rest and recovery you will not allow your body to rebuild larger and stronger muscles. My recommendation to you is, take the “one day on, one day off” approach while occasionally taking 2 consecutive days off. By simply making this small change I can guarantee you will start to see fast muscle gains, strength gains, and more energy in and out of the gym.

3. Compound Lifting
Another very big thing to focus on is the proper types of workouts. Although I am a firm believer that isolation workouts are crucial when it comes to packing on muscle, I believe that by making heavy compound lifts the focal point to each routine you will give yourself a huge advantage. You see, these compound lifts not only target more than one muscle group at a time, but they also require your body to recruit more muscle fibers in order to perform them. This not only makes your isolation workouts more effective, but it also allows your body to increase strength and muscle endurance at a much faster pace.

How to Gain Weight Fast for Hardgainers
If you can manage to keep your body in an anabolic state as much as possible, allow your body to repair and rebuild, and maximize your workouts, you will destroy those “skinny genetics” in no time. Following these rules has played an enormous role in my success and phenomenal results as a hardgainer and this is why I wanted to share this with all of you.

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How To Put On Weight - Hardgainer Routine

"I have been skinny my whole life. No matter how much I workout and eat, I can't seem to grow. Could you give me somewhat of a quick guide on how to put on weight?"

I had the same problem, that was up until I made just a few changes in my workout and diet plan that would assure that I would put on weight fast. I know how hard it can be for beginners who are trying to pack on pounds of muscle and find it nearly impossible to move the scale. But With 5 simple tips, I am going to show you how to put on weight in a matter of weeks. Are you ready to gain muscle mass rapidly? Follow these simple steps I put together for you to gain weight fast and efficiently without adding fat.

How to put on weight tip #1
Proper nutrition – Without the right amount of the proper types of food, all your efforts are worthless. Our bodies as hardgainers need at least 20-24 times the amount of our body weight in calories daily. Anything less will not be enough for our specific body type to increase muscle size. Any more would be too much and would leave our body no choice but to store the extra calories as fat. Follow this get weight fast formula and gain 3-5 pounds a week.

How to put on weight tip #2
Keeping track of progress – If you are performing the same workouts with the same amount of weight continuously, your body will find no reason to create bigger and stronger muscle. Your body creates muscle after strenuous activity in order to prepare itself for that kind of strain next time around. If we aren’t putting enough strain on our muscles they simply will not grow. The goal is to outperform your last performance each time you walk in the gym. Some ways to make sure you are lifting enough to grow are:

- Keep the same weight and add repetitions
- Increasing the weight without sacrificing repetition amounts
- Instead of resting 30 seconds between sets, rest 20, 15, etc.
- Keep the same weight, same repetitions, and add an extra set

How to put on weight tip #3
Proper post workout nutrition-

How to put on weight tip #4
Increasing testosterone levels – Testosterone is the mother of all muscle building hormones. If you can manage to keep your testosterone levels high (naturally) you can easily yield steroid like results. If you are really trying to maximize results in order to pack on pounds and get weight fast, here are a few tricks to increasing testosterone naturally:

- Sleep 7-9 hours of sleep a night and if possible, sneak a nap into your day.
- Heavy compound workouts such as squats, deadlifts, bench press, pull ups, etc.
- Train legs equal to upper body
- Increase your intake of avocados, oysters, celery, bananas, and almonds.

Things to avoid:
1. Alcohol consumption
2. Pain killers
3. Stress levels
4. Soy products

How to put on weight tip #5

Proper rest – Contrary to popular belief, our bodies do not create muscle in the gym while we lift heavy weights. In fact, while lifting we are actually breaking down the muscle. Our muscles are created during times of rest. If you are working out 5 days a week or more, you aren’t giving your body enough time to repair and grow. I recommend working out 3-4 days a week or every other day. This gives your body enough time to repair and grow and also lets your body rest enough to give 100 percent during its next gym performance.

Packing on pounds of muscle to gain weight fast!
These few changes in your current workout and diet plan will yield amazing results almost instantly. You can expect to gain 3-5 pounds of solid mass a week with absolutely no supplements. If you found this article helpful, you might also enjoy:

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How to Gain Weight Fast for Women

I like to think that because I am a hardgainer that my specialty is in helping skinny guys gain weight. Notice the keyword in that sentence? The keyword is "guys", I am always putting together fast weight gain tips for men. Do these same tips work for women? Not exactly, for women to gain weight and muscle mass they will have to take a bit of a different approach if they don't want to pack on pounds of fat or end up looking like bodybuilders. This is why I have put together this "Gain weight fast for women" post. In this guide I will discuss the three main keys to gaining weight for women.

-Diet
-Workout
-Rest

Diet
The diet is the most important factor when trying to achieve fast weight gain for women. The first thing you will need to know is how much you must eat. If you want to calculate the amount of calories you should be eating daily, simply take your weight and multiply it by 18.

For example: 115 pounds x 18 = 2070 calories

Now that you have calculated how many calories you must take in, it is time to figure out what kinds of calories they should be.

40% of the calories-carbohydrates
40% of the calories-protein
20% of the calories-fats

How many calories in a gram of protein, fat, and carbohydrate?

o Protein contains 4 calories per gram
o Carbohydrates contain 4 calories per gram
o Fat contains 9 calories per gram

So you have the amount of calories you must take in daily and you have calculated how much of each kind of calorie you should consume. Now I will go over the proper sources of these calories. You see, if you just consume carbohydrates, protein, or fats from just any source you could be making a huge mistake. If you take in the wrong carbohydrates they will store themselves as fat very quickly. You must focus on complex carbohydrates, these carbs will be kept as energy sources for much longer. The protein sources are just as important, without the proper amino acids your body will not create muscle as effectively. The fats we take in should all be natural fats in order to avoid creating unwanted fat weight. With that being said, here are some great sources for each kind of calorie.

Carbohydrates:
-Fruits
-Vegetables
-Whole grains (oatmeal, wheat bread, wheat pasta, brown rice)

Protein
-Egg whites
-Chicken breast
-Tuna
-Turkey (Cold cut or ground)
-Salmon
-Yogurt
-Beans
-Almonds

Fats
-Peanut butter
-Olive oil
-Almond butter
-Olives
-Unpasteurized Butter
-Flaxseeds or flaxseed oil

Workout
The workout I recommend is a full body routine with compound exercises. Performing a full body routine will allow you to hit every angle and muscle group. Because you are focusing on compound exercises, you will be able to target every muscle group in as little as 6 different exercises.

This workout should be performed once every other day to avoid burning too many calories and it will allow enough rest for muscle recuperation. Each exercise will consist of 10 reps and 4 sets meaning that you will perform each exercise 4 times with 10 repetitions each time. Rest will be 30-60 seconds between each set and one minute between each exercise.

Pull ups 3x10 (back and biceps)
Tricep dips 3x10 (chest and triceps)
Dumbbell chest press 3x10 (chest and triceps)
Bent over rows 3x10 (back and biceps)
Military press 3x10 (shoulders)
Squats 3x10 (legs)

- Make sure to use to proper amount of weight, if you can perform 10 reps too easily then you might want to consider raising the amount of weight. Also, if the weight is so heavy that you can not finish the entire 10 reps, you should consider lowering the amount of weight.

- On your days off from the workout, feel free to perform 30 minutes - 1 hour of cardio. This will aid in keeping off any extra fat from being stored. Also, things like running and walking are good for overall body toning.

- I highly suggest that you take one EXTRA day off a week. This EXTRA day does not include the days in between each workout day that I mentioned in the "workout" section.

Rest
Our body creates muscle mainly while we are in deep sleep. If you are not getting the right amount of GOOD sleep, your body will not develop muscle. The importance of building muscle is so that you are gaining lean weight and not just fat. The more muscle you have, the better you will look and also the more fat your body will naturally burn.

Fast weight gain for wome is as simple as consuming more calories than you are burning, if you workout every single day you will burn too many calories and make it nearly impossible to gain any weight or build any muscle.

Fast Weight gain for Women

This program is created for women who are looking to gain weight by putting on muscle mass without looking like a bodybuilder. Please feel free to leave any questions or comments in the comment section of this post.

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How to Get Big Fast - The Rep Range for Increased Muscle Size

Where did anyone ever get this idea that heavy weight and low reps adds size, or that light weight with high reps build definition? This is probably the biggest misconception with weight lifters EVER! Today I am going to clear that up and give you the simple truth on how to get big fast.

A couple of weeks ago I posted an article about how to get strong fast. I explained that the rep range of 1-3 is best for strength and makes little to no difference whatsoever in muscle size.

The stronger or larger your muscles grow is determined by the type of muscle hypertrophy you trigger. You see, there are two types of hypertrophy, one called sarcoplasmic and one called myofibrillar.

For the sake of keeping things simple:
-Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy increases muscle size.
-Myofibrillar hypertrophy increases muscle strength and density.

How to get big fast
So what is the actual rep range I should perform in order to get big fast? Well, sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is typically triggered by 10-15 repetitions. Now, this doesn’t mean throw on light weight and pump the reps out. The idea is to go heavy, high rep, and focus on eccentric movement.

But wait, it’s not that simple….
Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy does not increase much strength at all, so what is the problem with this? It’s simple, if you aren’t increasing your volume (strength, intensity, ect), you will plateau and stop noticing gains. You want to know how to get big fast right? Well, although myofibrillar hypertrophy doesn’t increase muscle size, it does increase density and strength which in turn will allow you to increase volume during sarcoplasmic hypertrophy training.

My point is this...
To get big fast you must train with a combination of the two, alternate between 1-3 reps and 10-15 reps. Another more common approach is meeting right in the middle, performing 5-8 reps in order to increase strength, density, and size at the same rate. However, 1-3 reps will increase density and strength much faster than 5-8 reps, and 10-15 reps will increase size much faster than 5-8 reps. So why meet right in the middle? Well I find it more efficient to increase all aspects evenly and progressively. The type of approach you take is totally up to you, either one will work effectively so long as you stay CONSISTANT.

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Gain Lbs Of Muscle With 5 Simple Steps (Hardgainer)

Are you stuck at a certain size and finding it nearly impossible to gain lbs of muscle? Let me explain something, there could be one little thing you are doing wrong when trying to gain lbs, or there could a hundred. What I am not going to do is go through every single possible explanation for your lack of muscle gain, but what I will do is point out the top 5 most common reasons people fail to pack on muscle mass. Fact is, if you have been the same size for as long as you can remember, you are making at least one big mistake. That one mistake could sabotage your entire chance at any significant gains. Consider yourself lucky, you are about to get the ultimate solution for your problem.

Not eating enough:
As obvious as this point may be, it is also the most common reason people fail to gain lbs. You might even argue that you have gained some weight with your diet, that’s great. Let me give it to you straight, do you really think that eating the same amount of calories you did when you were 10 pounds lighter is enough to fuel your new physique? There is a very easy fix to this…..eat more! Right now you are simply eating just enough to maintain your current size.

Here is a very simple formula you can follow in order to know how much you should be eating.
(22 x Your Body Weight = Daily Caloric Intake)

You are at a plateau:
Similar to your diet, most people are afraid to make changes to something that has shown results. This is what I like to call the “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” excuse. Let’s be honest though, at this point, it is broken. You see, if you follow a routine for 6 months without making any changes, your body has adapted to the stress and finds no reason to build newer and stronger muscles. The key here is to add more strain every workout than the session before. A few things you can do to break through that plateau are; increasing the amount of weight you are using without sacrificing repetitions, increase repetitions without sacrificing weight, cut your breaks in half, or add an additional set to each exercise.

Focus on the real muscle building exercises:
It is very important that you make compound workouts the focal point of your workouts. These heavy exercises target more than one muscle group at a time and are great for tearing down muscle fibers. Am I against isolation routines? Not at all, to the contrary, I think isolation workouts are very necessary. The thing is, compound workouts have so many great benefits that it would be counterproductive to ignore them. Some benefits of compound exercises are; increase of testosterone production, increased GH production, added strain on all muscle groups, and rapid increase in strength.

Here are a few Compound Workouts I recommend:
Squats
Dead Lifts
Bench Press
Military Press
Dips
Chin Ups
Bent over Rows

Relying too much on supplements:
The number one mistake we make when we have incorporated some sort of supplement into our routine, is we don’t feel the need to work as hard since we have assistance. What you need to know is, most supplements only make about a 5-10 percent difference and that is IF you are on a perfect diet. Another thing is, these muscle building supplements that claim to help you gain lbs, they don’t create muscle themselves, they only enhance our ability to gain muscle IF and only IF we are following a good diet and strenuous workout routine. You see, these pills and powders don’t make muscle, your hard work dieting and working out are the ones that do. These supplements can only go as far as to give you the ability to create extra muscle, but they will not make a difference unless you are playing your roll.

Not enough rest:
I know how bad it sucks to workout and not see any gains, and I understand the first instinct would be to workout more. Now that may seem like the answer, but unfortunately this will only worsen the situation. Contrary to what most believe, muscle is not created in the gym while we lift heavy weights, it is created at home or away from the gym while we rest. If you fail to rest, your body will not grow, period. What do I recommend? Well for starters, instead of 5-6 days a week, start going to the gym only 3-4 or every other day. This will not only allow your body time to create new larger and stronger muscle, but it you will also benefit from more energy and better workout sessions. Another very important step in the rest section is sleep. You should be getting at least 7-9 hours every single night. This extremely crucial because your body builds the most amount of muscle while we are in deep sleep.

Go Gain Lbs
Whether you are a hardgainer or just a regular guy unable to gain muscle mass, these 5 things are very important for your progress. I can assure any of my readers will definitely be back on the road to muscle mass with these simple changes to their routine. Good luck and Happy Lifting.

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Hardgainer Diet Tips – Gain 5 pounds a week!

Hardgainer diet tips

Today I have decided to create a very effective “quick guide” for hardgainer diet tips. As a hardgainer myself, I understand that dieting may very well be the key to my success when building muscle. I also understand that sometimes people want to get straight to the point. So if you not interested in looking at my personal hardgainer diet, here is a quick summary of all the major points to focus on when trying to gain weight. Simply incorporating these very important points into your routine will allow you to gain as much as 5 pounds per week.

Hardgainer Diet Tips

1. Consume 18-24 times the amount of your body weight in calories. Example: 20 x 155 lbs = 3,100 calories per day.

2. Once you have a daily caloric intake amount, break it down into 45 percent carbohydrates, 40 percent protein, and 15 percent fat.

3. Split your calories into 5-7 meals per day.

4. Take 3-4 days OFF from the gym weekly. (Preferably 24 hours of rest between each gym session)

5. Make compound exercises the focal point of each workout routine.

6. Follow a clean diet by taking in only complex carbohydrates, high quality protein, and natural fats.

7. Keep your body in an anabolic state following your workout by adding simple sugars (banana, honey, etc) to your post workout shake/meal.

8. Make sure to get 7-9 hours of sleep every night in order to recover and allow your muscles time to rebuild.

These very simple but effective points will make a huge difference in the results you are seeing currently. Expect to gain anywhere from 2-5 pounds per week while following these hardgainer diet tips. These are the same tips I followed when going from 115lbs to 160 in less than 6 months.

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Hardgainer Diet Sample - How to Gain Weight in One Week

Hardgainer Diet Sample

Hey guys, so I just wrote myself a new diet that In my opinion will help increase muscle mass while burning fat at the same time. Now, although the physical activity and workout I participate in will play a part in the muscle increase and fat decrease, you must know that the diet is always most important. What I am doing today is basically just sharing my diet with you all. I’ll accept any suggestions you may have and I’ll also be answering any questions you may have about this hardgainer diet sample I have put together.

Hardgainer Diet Sample

Meal 1 - 6 Egg whites, 1 yolk, 1 cup oatmeal, 1 scoop whey protein
Meal 2 – Peanut Butter Sandwich on wheat bread
Meal 3 – 1 cup brown rice, 1 cup broccoli and cauliflower, 6 oz chicken breast

Workout
Post Workout shake – 2 scoops whey protein, 1 banana

Meal 4 – Half sweet potato, 6 oz chicken breast, and 1 cup mixed veggies
Meal 5 – 6 oz Salmon, 1 cup veggies, 1 cup brown rice
Meal 6 – 6 egg whites, 6 oz salmon or chicken breast

Now if you are a larger guy, use the formula on my hardgainer diet post and find out how many calories is enough for you. Once you know how many calories you should be taking in daily, you can adjust this hardgainer diet sample to fit you better.

This hardgainer diet sample was created to build muscle by taking in high quality protein from egg whites and lean meats. It also aids in burning belly fat by incorporating foods with monosaturated fats and omeg-3 fatty acids. Another great thing about the diet is, it takes advantage of the “muscle building window” we have for a few hours following our workout.

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Hardgainer Diet - How Much Should I Eat To Gain Weight?

Hardgainer Diet

The diet you follow as a hardgainer is in my opinion the most important part of building muscle. One of the most common mistakes we make as skinny guys is we assume that because we have a fast metabolism, we can just eat anything. Not only that, but for some reason every hardgainer I speak too always assumes he/she already eats more than enough. In my experience, this is never the case.

First of all, if you eat like crap….you will look like crap. Will you gain weight? Yes, but the question should be “Will I pack on pounds of solid muscle?” and the answer in that case is: maybe a little, but the fat you pile on over the muscle will eliminate looking muscular at all. This is a huge mistake made my tons of skinny guys including myself and the ever so popular “skinny guy savior” Vince Del Monte. I like to call this “Fat Skinny Guy Syndrome” or FSGS. You’re heavier than before and you might look good with clothes on, but going shirtless might be a little more embarrassing than it was when you were 20 pounds lighter.

For those who feel that they are already eating enough, well if that were the case then how come your still 120 pounds of skin and bones? Look, I have been there and I was that guy that said “it’s impossible to eat more than I already do”. That was until I was given a very simple formula that allowed me to pack on all the weight I have till this day.

Hardgainer diet formula:
18 x Your Body Weight = Total daily calories

Now, this is assuming you are at a desk job and live a normal family life with little physical activity. If this is not the case and you are a construction worker or play sports outside of work, you may want to adjust. You can replace the “18” with anything up to 24.

Do not make the mistake of assuming that eating 24 times your body weight while sitting on your butt all day will work better or faster. It is very important that you base this off of your daily physical activity to assure that you are not packing on pounds of fat.

Hardgainer diet foods:
As I mentioned earlier, you are what you eat. If you decide to eat junk, you will look like junk. The calories we consume should come from fast acting carbs, high quality protein, and natural fats.

Let’s just say that you calculated your daily intake and came up with 3000 calories. It’s not as simple as just eating random meals equaling out to this amount. There is actually a formula for the types of calories you should take in.

45% Complex carbs
40% High quality protein
15% Natural fats

For example: Daily caloric intake = 3000

-1350 calories from complex carbs
-1200 calories from high quality protein
-450 calories from natural fats

Hardgainer diet foods list:
Carbohydrates:
Oatmeal
Whole grain pasta
Wheat Bread
Sweet Potatoes
Brown Rice

Protein:
Chicken breast
Egg whites
Fish
Steak

Fats:
Flaxseed oil
Mixed Nuts
Almonds
Natural Peanut Butter

Hardgainer diet conclusion
There you have it, the correct formula to how much calories a hardgainer should take in daily. It is very important that you follow these rules in order to avoid the wrong type of weight gain. Following this diet along with a solid hardgainer workout routine, you can expect to pack on 2-3 pounds a week.

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Hardgainer Routine for Strength and Muscle Density

Hardgainer Routine for Strength and Density

I recently wrote a post on a hardgainer routine for size and if you read that one, you know the importance of building strength and density. You see, without a strength increase, there will be no muscle size increase, period. The density is just a matter of not only looking big when you increase muscle size, but you also want to look solid and defined. With that being said, I recommend you follow my personal hardgainer workout, but this time with the rep range in which myofibrillar hypertrophy is triggered for increased strength and density.

What is the rep range for strength and density?

If you are looking to pack on serious strength and getting the “brick wall” look to appear extremely solid, I suggest you train to trigger myofibrillar hypertrophy. This is a type of muscular hypertrophy that allows you to not only increase strength rapidly, but your muscles will start to become much denser. The rep range you want to perform in order to trigger this type of muscular hypertrophy is typically between 1 and 5. If you are already following a solid compound based workout routine, you can simply change the rep range in which you are currently following.

Because more hardgainers have a pretty typical goal of putting on size, strength might not be of too much interest. If that is the case, you are basically screwing yourself out of serious muscle gains. Although gaining muscle size is triggered by a different rep range, unless your strength and volume increases, you will no longer see results. This is why it is so important that you train to trigger both myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. The myofibrillar hypertrophy will increase your strength which will help increase the volume of your workout when triggering sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. My recommendation to you is, train both types of muscular hypertrophy for best results and continuous muscle gains.

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Do You Know How To Gain Muscle Fast

Could you teach me how to gain muscle fast? Could you teach me how to pack on an extra ten to fifteen pounds of muscle mass before my next vacation? Could you help me get ready for my first bodybuilding or fitness model competition? Could you help you look like someone who actually lifts weights? Could you help me build a body that turns heads and demands respect?

As a skinny guy muscle building expert, I get approached these questions daily in my office. Every single hard gainer I consult with wants to know how to gain muscle fast and how to do safely and effectively.

Hard gainers, please listen up! There is hope for you. I am happy to say that learning how to gain muscle fast is not as hard as some would make you believe but it also not as easy as you might think. But you must be prepared to train smarter and not harder. Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about wimping out during your workouts. I am referring to the big picture of training more intelligently.

Here is some of the most popular advice I give to the hard gainer when he wishes to gain muscle fast.

1. Never Perform More Than 10 Reps.
If you are lifting weights beyond 10 reps than you are emphasizing your slow-twitch muscle fibers which have the smallest opportunity for muscle growth. You are a hard gainer and you need recruit the maximal amount of muscle fibers in every set. Always choose your weights knowing that a 11th rep is forbidden and trespassing into 'skinny land.'

If you really want to gain muscle fast than get your mind into heavy lifting mode. Every single set and every single exercise. Keep the weights heavy and never more than 10 reps. Approach every workout knowing that you are going to be venturing into new territory and waging war on your skinny genetics. I recommend these workouts with a workout partner so you can eliminate any safety issues, not slack off and push your limits every inch of the way.

2. Reduce Your Workout Time
Perform more work in less time and you have increased your work capacity. Work refers to the number of sets, reps and poundage within your workout. Who is fitter? The guy who can do 4 sets of 185 pounds bench press with 30 second rest or the guy who can do 4 sets of 185 pound bench press with 90 second rest? The one who can do the same amount of work in less time. Guess who is more muscular? The one who has a higher work capacity.

Next time you enter the gym, try to complete your current workout in less time. Take shorter rests. Move from one exercise to the next much quicker. Don't be surprised if you feel out of shape! This is one of the easiest tips you can take away to increase your muscle density and take your fitness to a new level. Be prepared to humble yourself and get out of your comfort zone.

3. Do Only One Exercise Per Muscle Group
Only one? Yes, only one, unless you want to buy into the notion that you must mutilate a muscle for over an hour to get any growth out of it. Consider this typical day in the gym. Today is your chest day. Your first exercise is bench press. You perform your first set with 185 lbs, second set with 205 lbs, third set with 225 lbs and fourth set with 245 lbs.

Assuming this is your max weight for the desired number of reps, is it not safe to say that you have used the maximal number of muscle fibers? Your goal is to simple spark your muscles into growth. Not exhaust them to death. Once they experience a unknown assault (stimulus), your body will be forced to adapt and create new muscle to prevent future assaults! Therefore, your take home lesson is this: Once you have out performed your last workout, it is time to move onto the next exercise.

4. Do No More Than 3-5 Sets Per Muscle Group
I question a hard gainers workout intensity if they must do more than 3-5 sets per muscle group. Now if you are using anabolic steroids or have muscle friendly genes than you can safely dismiss this advice. Remember, learning how to gain muscle fast for the hard gainer requires following a new set of rules.

Consider the first 1-2 sets at 85% maximal effort. The third set at 95% maximal effort and the fourth (and sometimes fifth) set at 100% maximal effort. It is only this last all out set that contributes to the greatest muscle growth. Anything over and above this last go till you blow set simply exhausts the muscle beyond reason and delays your recovery ability to hit the muscle again. It is this last set that you should perform at least 1-2 extra reps or 5-10 extra pounds than last workout. Mission accomplished. You have sparked your muscles into growth. Time to move on.

5. Increase Your Strength 5% Every Two Weeks
One of the biggest mistakes I see hard gainers make in the gym is not track there progress. They return week-after-week to simply rehearse the same workouts with the absence of progress. How do you expect to gain muscle fas tif you continue to lift the same weights each workout? Your body is designed to tolerate stress. Assault it and let it get bigger. Assault it and let it get bigger. It's a simple concept.

So your take home message is to aim for a minimum of 5% strength increase every two weeks. You might progress a little quicker with larger muscle groups like back and legs versus smaller muscles like biceps and triceps. Just think, in six months from now, you will be over twice as strong as you are now! I would actually recommend writing down your strength goals for six months from now and than work backwards. If you are currently dead lifting 135 lbs, aim to be deadlifting 270 lbs over the next few months!

Conclusion
I know these five tips were not your typical Muscle and Fitness 101 advice and not your typical generic bodybuilding advice. I learned a long time ago to question everything you read and hear. Learn for yourself by doing and not by talking about it. As a skinny guy once myself, 149 lbs to be exact, I defeated my skinny genetics and learned how to gain muscle fast by not following the herd and training smarter and not harder Will you?

Vince DelMonte is the author of No Nonsense Muscle Building : Skinny Guy Secrets To Insane Muscle Gain found at Vince Del Monte Fitness Dot Com

He specializes in teaching skinny how to gain muscle fast and build 20 pounds of rock-hard muscle mass without drugs, supplements and in less time.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Vince_DelMonte

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Muscle Building For Skinny Guys 101

What some of you must understand is that building muscle is not the same for everyone. It has a lot to do with your genetics, but lets not get confused. Just because you are not "genetically gifted" like some other people, does not mean you cannot build muscle as fast or faster than those who are. You see, muscle building for skinny guys is very possible, not only is it possible, but I am going to give you 3 focus points that are going to allow you to build muscle like never before regardless of your "skinny genes". So forget everything you have read in the past from "fitness professionals" who are only familiar with one kind of body type, NOT YOURS!

In the next few paragraphs I will teach you proper nutrition, what kind of workouts will benefit you the most, and how much training is required in order to put on muscle for skinny guys.

Muscle Building for Skinny Guys Tip#1
Eat, Eat, Eat! - The number one mistake made by skinny guys is, not consuming enough (good) nutrients. Every skinny guy I have ever mentioned this to always has the same response..."I eat so much, I cant possibly eat any more than I do". Do me a favor, follow this Hardgainer Formula (this will give you an accurate number for how many calories you should be consuming) and then let me know if you are really eating enough to build muscle. Simply put, you were blessed with a naturally high metabolism, therefor if you're burning more calories than you are consuming, you just will not grow.

Another very important detail is, the type of calories that you are consuming. If your daily caloric intake should be at 2500, don't go eat burger king twice a day and assume you are going to put on muscle mass. Your calories should come from complex carbohydrates, good clean protein sources, and natural fats. Your meals should be spread out into 6 per day and it is extremely important to stay consistent with an eating schedule.

Muscle Building for Skinny Guys Tip #2
Lift Big! - Your focal point during workouts should always be based on big compound exercises. These are workouts that allow you to target more than one muscle group at a time, tap into muscle fibers, help produce muscle building hormones naturally, and increase strength rapidly.

Here is a great beginners routine I put together for skinny hardgainers that I personally used and got great results.

Muscle Building for Skinny Guys #3
Take it easy! - One of the biggest mistakes made by skinny guys when they fail to see results is, they assume that they are not working out enough. WRONG! That could easily be the most counterproductive thing you could do to your body. This is simply because our body actually builds muscle while we rest and/or sleep, not while we are in the gym lifting weights. Another very powerful piece of advice I can give you is, take your workout sessions down to 3-4 a week or once every other day. This will not only allow you to maximize your gym performance by allowing your body to rest, but it will give your muscles enough time to rebuild and become stronger and larger.

There you have it hardgainers, these 3 very simple steps are the answer to your inability to build muscle. Make sure you follow a clean diet, focus on the proper types of exercises for your body type, and REST! If you can manage to follow these three steps, you'll be on your way to incredible strength and mass increases in no time.

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Gain Weight with a Fast Metabolism - Hardgainer program

Are you finding it nearly impossible to gain weight due to fast metabolism? If you’re anything like I was, you perhaps think that because of your “skinny genes”, gaining weight is not possible, period. I had the same mind set, but only until i was introduced to a simple and effective way to pack on pounds for skinny guys like myself. I wont delay any further, here are a few simple tips that helped me on my journey to gain weight with a fast metabolism.

Proper caloric intake: Due to a fast metabolism, we burn through calories than we are actually eating. Without eating the correct number of calories, you hard work and effort will make no difference. To gain weight with a fast metabolism, you should be eating about 20-22 times your body weight in calories. Any amount less than that will simply get burned and any amount more will just end up in the wrong places. Just think, the types of foods you eat will show in your appearance.

Keep a workout log: If you are in the gym doing the same routines, with the same amount of stress (weight), your body will no longer feel the need to grow because it has adapted. You see, your body creates muscle after exhausting activity by repairing the muscle and making it bigger and stronger. My point is, it is crucial that you add strain every session and push your body to where it HAS to create new muscle.

Additional Reps
Add weight without decreasing reps
Rest less between sets
Add an extra set

Anabolism: Anabolism is the state your body is in when it’s growing and catabolism is the state in which your body does the opposite. Following a tough workout session, your body will start to feed off of your muscle tissue in order to create more fuel. This is a catabolic state where cortisol is released and creates muscle wastage, at this point you should focus on getting your body back into a growing state. Now most of you may know the importance of protein intake following your workout, but more important is the consumption of simple carbohydrates. Now I understand that in most cases these types of carbs are bad, however, immediately following a workout they can yield incredible muscle gains. "Why?" You ask, because they are fast acting and spike your insulin sending your body into anabolism.

Increasing testosterone levels: Testosterone is easily the most important hormone when it comes to building muscle. keeping your testosterone levels up will allow you to produce steroid like results. In order to get the best results, follow these steps to increase testosterone:

- Sleep 8 hours a night and if possible, sneak a nap into your day.
-Focus on big workouts that target more than one muscle group.
-Train your legs as much as you currently do your upper body.
-Raise your consumption of celery, bananas, and avocados.

Rest: Contrary to popular belief, our bodies do not create muscle in the gym while we lift heavy weights. You see, while lifting weights we are simply breaking down the muscle. Restoring and rebuilding muscle fibers takes place while we rest and most of all while we sleep. If your are someone who is in the gym lifting weights 5 days a week, your body is not resting long enough to rebuild new muscle. 3 to 4 days per week of exhausting weight lifting is more than enough. Not only will rest allow your muscles to grow, but it will allow you to be fully recovered for your next gym session.

Gain Weight with a fast metabolism:

Following these 5 simple rules, your body will yield incredible results. Eat right, keep track of your progress, keep your body anabolic, increase your muscle building hormones, and make sure to rest enough for those muscles to grow.

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How to Gain Weight Fast the Healthy Way

A lot of the time when we struggle to gain weight we assume that it’s just not possible without taking some kind of supplement for assistance. The fact is, supplements should only be used as replacements in case of “emergency”. For instance, if you are in a position where it is not possible to get a real meal, a supplement may be your only option. Although they are pretty safe for the most part, they are not necessary in order to gain weight fast. Not to mention that nutrient dense foods are always a more effective option, unfortunately they aren’t always an option for some of us. For this reason I have put together a few tips to help you gain weight fast the healthy way.

Know how much you should be eating:
Using this hardgainer weight gain formula you can figure out exactly how many calories you should be taking in on a daily basis. Once you find out your personal daily caloric intake, you can then break those calories down into 6 meals. This will help give you a better idea of how many calories you should be consuming per meal. Just this simple step will make the rest of the process much easier and assure that you are not over or under eating.

Prepare your meals one week in advance:
This may sound a little crazy and unrealistic but there are a couple of ways to do this. Some people I know do not cook every night, therefore it makes sense that these people should take one day out of the week to prepare all the meals they will need for the following week. Although it may seem a little time consuming, think about all the time you will save during the week when all your meals are ready to go. If I took this approach I would basically cook up a large amount of each carbohydrate that I will be consuming (Brown Rice, Wheat Pasta, etc.). Then I would do the same with all my meats/protein (chicken, fish, ground turkey, etc.). Now you have a ton of food, simply measure out each meal and throw them in a piece of tupperware. Once this is done, you can stay away from the kitchen for a week while focusing on more important things like the GYM and staying away from unnecessary replacement meals and tempting unhealthy garbage.

If you are like me and like to cook dinner every night, there might be a better method for you (the method I use). Due to the fact that I am already in the kitchen cooking, I find it easier for me to just make enough servings to get me through the following day. Only problem I see with this approach is that it can get a little boring due to lack of variety.

Quick foods to prepare in advance:
-Hardboiled Eggs
-Tuna
-Sweet Potatoes
-Mixed Vegetables

How to Gain Weight Fast the Healthy way:
If you are aware of exactly how many calories your body needs on a daily basis and can manage to have nutrient dense food available at all times, gaining healthy weight fast will be no problem at all. Not having food premade can result in skipping meals, breaking a healthy diet, and relying on replacement meals and supplements. This could easily turn into the inability to gain weight, packing on pounds of unwanted fats, and sabotaging your muscle building potential.

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How to Gain Weight Fast - Most Important Muscle Building Meals

How to Gain Weight Fast

If you are anything like I was, you probably feel like gaining weight is not possible for you. That’s understandable, 40 pounds of muscle ago I felt the same way. That was until I dedicated my time to studying fitness for hardgainers/ectomorphs who find it nearly impossible to pack on pounds. I discovered a few simple steps that helped me gain weight fast and I plan on sharing them all with you. Did you know that just by simply eating certain meals at certain times, you will be able to turn your body into a muscle building, fat burning machine and gain weight practically on demand? I know how frustrating it can be to feel like an adult in a child’s body and this is why I have put together this quick guide on how to gain weight fast.

Although I am a firm believer that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, when it comes to building muscle there are a few meals you may be skipping that could potentially turn you from bony to brawny in a matter of weeks. You see, there are a few stages that come directly following an intense workout that should be fully taken advantage of in order to maximize your ability to build muscle fast.

Anabolic Stage:
This stage takes place immediately following your intense workout routine. Once your body has exhausted both stored and usable energy, it starts to create a hormone with catabolic effects called cortisol. This hormone eats away at your muscle tissue and protein in order to create more energy, your goal is to get away from this muscle wastage zone FAST. The best way to assure that you are avoiding this sabotaging effect is to consume fast acting carbohydrates along with protein directly following your workout. The fast acting carbohydrates will give your body the usable energy it requires to avoid cortisol production. The protein is needed to help rebuild /repair the muscle that was broken down at the gym. Taking in the correct post workout meal/shake will allow your body to go into an anabolic state where it continues to grow and stay away from any catabolic effects.

Growth Stage:
The growth stage takes place 1 hour following your workout and lasts about 4 hours total. This is the stage where your body will need complete nutrition. One hour following your workout you will consume an entire meal, this meal will consist of high quality protein, natural fats, and complex carbohydrates. Two hours following meal 1 in the growth stage, you will consume another meal with the same nutritional value. This is a crucial stage when it comes to building muscle, especially for us hardgainers. They call this “the growth stage” because this is in fact the time frame where your body will start to rebuild muscle in order to create new larger muscle. If you fail to fuel your body during this stage, It will simply not have enough nutrients to aid in the recovery process.

Recovery Stage:
The recovery stage takes place 1-2 hours following the growth stage. This is the stage where your body will do all the recovering and rebuilding of the broken down muscle tissue. The idea here is to consume high quality protein to assure that there is enough available to build the muscle. This meal will also consist of high natural fats in order to slow down the digestive process. This will allow your body to work for a longer period of time (including over night while you sleep) without running out of nutrients when recovering and rebuilding the muscle. The recovery stage is ideally the last 1-2 meals of the day.

How to gain weight fast
Making sure to take advantage of these three very important stages has allowed me to pack on more muscle than I ever thought possible while staying lean and ripped. As a hardgainer/ectomorph it is crucial that we take full advantage of every chance our body gives us to build muscle and gain weight. Making sure that you get the most from these three stages will help you increase muscle mass faster than you could imagine.

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Hardgainer Routine for Women to Gain Weight Fast

Being a hardgainer is hard work as is, imagine being a female who finds it nearly impossible to put on muscle. Not only do they feel a disadvantage because they are “hardgainers”, but the fact that they do not produce testosterone nearly as much as males makes it even that much more difficult. Do not be discouraged ladies; I have great news for you! Not only is it possible to pack on pounds of muscle while not looking “bulky”, but it’s as simple as making 3 small but effective changes in your routine. You see, just like male hardgainers, the main mistake we are making is following other bodybuilding routines that are not meant for out specific body type.

How to eat to gain weight for women:
There is a specific amount one should be consuming to assure weight/muscle gain. In the average woman it is usually about 12-14 times the body weight of the individual in calories. As a hardgainer that amount increases slightly. For a female hardgainer the amount of calories consumed should be anywhere from 16-18 times the body weight.

For example: 18 x 115lbs = 2070 calories per day.

The amount you multiply with your body weight will be determined by your daily physical activity. For instance, if you are a nurse who is constantly walking back and forth all day for hours at a time, you may want to use 17-18. However, if you sit at a desk all day with little physical activity, I would recommend using 16 in order to avoid unwanted fat storage.

How to workout/exercise to gain weight for women:
A huge misconception in female weight lifting is that following a man’s routine will yield man like results. The reason this is inaccurate is because as I mentioned earlier, women do not produce muscle building hormones like testosterone nearly as much as men. This is why I simply recommend a full body compound workout routine that will allow women to build muscle faster while burning fat at the same time.

Hardgainer Workout Routine for Women:

Squats 3 x 10
Bent Over Rows 3 x 10
Bench Press 3 x 10
Military Press 3 x 10

As you become more comfortable with the workout routine I would advise that you increase the amount of sets from 3 to 4 and eventually from 4 to 5. Remember, this is progressively and should be taken slowly for best results. You should also focus on increase weight without sacrificing repetitions to assure strength gains. This routine should be performed 3-4 days a week with 24 -48 hours rest in between each session.

No rest, no progress:
If you fail to get the proper amount of rest you will be doing your body a serious injustice. Not only will you eliminate any chance of building muscle, but you will also be unable to perform 100 percent in the gym. If you cannot give a better performance in the gym than your last session, you’re working backwards. Be sure to rest 24-48 hours in between each training day as well as getting 8-9 hours of quality sleep every night. You see, our muscles grow as they rebuild while we rest, without enough rest to rebuild we will never see any significant muscle gains.

Hardgainer routine for women to gain weight fast:
Building muscle for women who are also hardgainers is not impossible by any means; it simply takes a different approach. Make sure you are consuming enough calories for your body type without going overboard, follow a lifting routine that focuses on compound movements, and be sure to get enough rest. Following this advice will allow you to gain weight on a weekly basis without putting on any unwanted fat.

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Hardgainer Routine for Increased Muscle Size Fast

As a hardgainer, it’s safe to say that the number one priority when strength training is to increase muscle size. The best way to achieve this goal is to target a type of muscular hypertrophy called sarcoplasmic. This type of hypertrophy increases the volume of sarcoplasmic fluid in the muscle cell causing increase in muscle size. The only difference between gaining size and gaining strength is the rep range in which you train. Now, you may have heard over the years that low weight with high reps increase definition and heavy weight with low reps increase size. This theory is a load of crap to say the least. Lifting heavy with low repletion targets a muscular hypertrophy called myofibrillar which increases mainly strength and density. The only factors that you should consider when trying to build muscle definition are lower body fat and increased density. With that being said, that old theory I mentioned has it completely backwards.

What is the rep range for building muscle size?
The rep range that targets sarcoplasmic hypertrophy to increase muscle size is generally 12 or more. The idea is not to lift light weight and pump out 20 reps no problem. The idea should be to lift heavy and still be able to squeeze out atleast 12 reps. If you can somehow manage to push for 15, that would work fine as well as long as your aren’t lifting too light. The more traditional way to calculate what weight would work well for you is to calculate how much 65% of your one rep max would be.

For example: Your one rep maximum bench press is 225.
65% of 225 is about 146. This would give you a great idea as to how heavy you should be lifting in order to trigger sarcoplasmic hypertrophy.

The type of exercise routine you follow is equally as important as the rep range you use. If you are a beginner or advanced lifter who is looking for a great full body workout for explosive results, check out my personal hardgainer routine.

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