Every day there are people that are going to the gym to trying to build muscle. Unfortunately there is so much information on how to do it, it is easy to get information overload and end up doing nothing. If the truth be known building muscle is not as hard as most people will lead you to believe. There are basically three aspects that you really need to concentrate on in the beginning.
The first is exercise. You will not build muscle by reading about it. That is the cold hard truth, you are going to have to workout. At first this is going to seem hard, just the logistics of being able to schedule the time to actually do it is the major hurdle that most people face. Once you actually set aside that time for exercise it will be easier as it will become a part of your weekly routine. The second aspect is nutrition. Think of your body like an automobile, the higher quality of fuel you put in the tank, the better the performance. Computer programmers call this GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out) bad fuel = bad results. The third most important aspect is rest and recovery. Every time you work out you are putting your muscles under stress, the ‘rip’ a little bit and heal resulting in a bigger muscle. They need time to repair, that is why every good work out program has a period of rest involved in it, to give your muscles time to repair.
Right now we are going to concentrate on the first aspect exercise. When you walk into a gym it is easy to get overwhelmed by how many machines there are each specializing in a specific body part. For now don’t worry too much about it, we are more concerned with how we are going to work out initially.
You will see people hurling up massive amounts of weight very quickly, do not fall into this trap. They are actually cheating themselves by using momentum and bad form to get all that weight up and are more prone to injury themselves than to do themselves any benefit. Before you start to workout, make sure you have warmed up. There is nothing easier to injure than cold muscles. Stretch, get yourself limber first.
Secondly lift the weight slowly. You will be surprised how much harder it is to lift the weight slowly than fast. Why do we want to lift slowly. To begin with it puts more stress on our muscles. By lifting slowly you are making your muscles work harder in a shorter space of time. Not only are your main muscles lifting the weight, but all of your secondary muscle groups are pitching in also. When you lift fast it is basically your one main muscle group that is doing the lifting. Want some more reasons to go slow.

• Your muscles will get fatigued faster
• Far lesser chance of injury
• A more efficient workout in a shorter period of time
• All of the muscle groups get involved
• You are not subjecting your muscles and tissues to sudden jarring motions

Remember we are trying to build muscle, if we can accomplish that goal in 30 minutes, why spend an hour? Your body does not care if it took you you 2 hours to get your muscles to the point of fatigued or if it took 20 minutes, why should you? Unless lifting weights is your profession, but most of us just want to look good at the beach. So when building muscle, remember go slow.

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Believe it or not gaining weight does not have to be so hard for the skinny guy or gal. I know that there are plenty of thin people out there saying “you are crazy, I eat as much as a horse.” I know because for a long time I was in the same trap myself. I mentioned it before in one of my other articles, but it is worth mentioning again, it takes 3500 calories to gain one pound of muscle. Sounds like a lot, but here comes the good news……That means if you eat an extra 500 calories a day you can gain a pound a week!!!
I know that does not sound earth shattering right now, but realize that if right now today you are 145 pounds bag of bones soaking wet this time next month you could be 150 pounds of good looking muscle. The month after that 155 pounds of even better looking muscle. There is a big difference between a thin out of shape person weighing in at 150 pounds and someone who takes care of themselves weighing in at the same weight.
Now the next trick is to determine exactly how are we going to accomplish this task. Well for starters I am going to make this easy. Take a look at my smoothie recipe. How many calories is that? It is chalk full of the good stuff that is going to help you grow muscles, not just weight. However you should know that this is not some sort of magic bullet, it is merely one of many tools that will help you along your way. Imagine being just 5 pounds more of actual muscle by the end of a month. I know it does not sound real impressive right now, but that is how you eat an elephant, one bite at a time, climb a mountain one step at a time, you get the picture. So one high calorie smoothie a day. Don’t try to worry too much for starters, right now this is just a simple easy to implement immediate step you can take today without much of a hassle. Later we are going to squeeze in another meal,but that is later on, right now just get the blender out.
Next step is that you are going to have to cut down on the soda. I know it is suppose to be fattening, but that is not how it affects our body types. What we need is more water. In the same way you water plants, we are going to be watering muscles. Water is the key all life and we are no exception. The last thing that we want is for our muscles to feel dehydrated before they even get a chance to grow. I know dehydrated conjurers up images of people dying in the desert, that is extreme, we are more afraid of fatiguing muscles to early.
Get to stretching!! I know you are a real tough guy, you don’t need to stretch. You are wrong. Not only will stretching help you avoid injury, it will actually help your muscles grow. What how can this be you may ask, but it is true. When you are working with weights (and you will have to) your muscle fibers actually begin to shorten. You will get bigger without stretching, but you will also get slower, and not look as good. We have all seen some people who obviously workout, but when you look at them, you don’t even think that looks comfortable. Also people who workout and do not stretch are usually the same people that six months later tell you they use to work out until the hurt themselves.
Weights Yes if you thought you were going to be able to git bigger by simply eating and stretching you were wrong. The quickest way to start looking better and getting stronger is through weight training. Yes I know everyone has heard of isometric exercises, and you will look better than you do now if you do them. The only problem is that they take you to a plateau too quickly, but they are an incredible at toning your body and building up raw strength. They would make a superb compliment to any weigh program. With all of that being said, you are still going to have to lift weights. I promise you it gets easier once you get in the groove of going on a regular basis.
Sleep. You read that correctly. Sleep is how we repair our bodies this where mother nature takes all of those good nutrients and proteins that we have been storing and repairs the muscle tissue. Drink another one of those high calorie smoothies before bedtime.
This article is not intended to be the all encompassing health guide, it is here to show you that there are immediate steps you can take today to drastically improve your life. Lets face it the world can be cruel and people can make snap judgements based on your appearance whether you underweight, overweight, short, tall and whatever else. You can make positive changes in your life, but it is always easier to start with a few simple steps.

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It basically takes 3500 calories to gain one pound of muscle. I know hard to believe, but this will serve as our general guide to putting on the pounds that we want. It is also important to distinguish between simply gaining fat, and actually building muscle. What we want to do is build muscle so that we look good at the beach. After all we are after good health too. If we use our above number of 3500 calories a week, we can easily see that we need to consume an extra 500 calories to what we are currently consuming. I know that this may seem daunting at first, but I promise you that you can do this. The following is my little guide that I started on to incorporate the needed extra calories.

• Eat Often: You need to make a time to have 3 large meals and at least 2 substantial snacks every single day.

• Eat Bigger: Your normal portions are not big enough, you will have to increase the portions of the meals that you are currently eating.

• Higher Calorie Foods: Dried fruit, starchy vegetables, dense whole grain breads,cereals,nuts

• Bring on the Extras: No more eating things just plain
  • Unsaturated Fats: Olive and canola oil,nuts,seeds,peanut butter,avocados
    Healthy Carbs and proteins: Jam, Honey, dried fruit, wheat germ, protein powder

• Every Beverage Counts: No more soda as a main food source. Milk, juice,water and we all know my love for the Smoothie.

• Resistance Training : You are never going to gain any true meaningful weight that is going to translate into muscle without weight training. I know everyone hates going to the gym in the beginning, but you are going to have to if you really want to build an impressive physique. You are also going to have to find a good program to follow. Failing to plan is a plan for failure.

This is just a quick little guide. If you are like me, you want to keep it simple in the beginning. As you learn more you can vary your routine, but in the beginning the shortest distance between two points is a straight simple line.

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One day when we all live in a perfect world you will be able to go to any convenience store and buy a perfectly balanced meal or snack., good foods can be hard to find on the go. Unfortunately for us that day is not today.  There are so many websites that say you have to eat better, but they don’t ever tell you exactly what is better.  It is frustrating I know, I have been there.

With that in mind I have created a list which is by no means comprehensive, but it will serve as a good starting point for you.  Before you ask, you do not have to eat everything on the list, that is not the idea.  If you pick out a portion of from each list you will have a good balanced meal.  Use your common sense though, some of them are snacks while others are an actual meal.  I am not going to lie to you in the beginning it is going to take a little while to get use too, but to be honest you will succeed if you are sincerely trying.  Without further ado……….the list
THE GOOD FOODS LIST
good lean proteins:

• Chicken Breast
• Turkey Breast
• Lean Ground Beef
• Lean trimmed Beef
• Lean Trimmed lamb
• Ham
• Trimmed Pork
• Trimmed Veal
• Game Birds
• Crab
• Fish of all kinds
• Lobster
• Shrimp
• Shellfish like clams,oysters, and mussels
• Eggs
• Cottage Cheese
• Whey Protein

Good Vegetables

• Artichokes
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Vauliflower
• Celery
• Cilantro
• Eggplant
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Green Beans
• Leafy Salad Greens
• Lentils
• Mushrooms
• Okra
• Onions
• Parsley
• Peas
• Peppers
• Spinach
• Squash
• Zucchini

Good Fruits

• Apples
• Apricots
• Avocados
• Berries of all kinds
• Cantaloupes
• Cherries
• Cucumber
• Figs
• Grapes
• Honeydew melon
• Kiwis
• Lemons
• Limes
• Nectarines
• Oranges
• Peaches
• Pears
• Plums
• Strawberries
• Tangerines
• Tomatoes

Good Beans

• Black Beans
• Chick Peas
• Fava Beans
• Kidney Beans
• Lentils
• Lima Beans
• Navy Beans
• Peas
• Pinto Beans
• Soybeans

Good Rice and Grains

• Brown Rice
• Whole Rice
• Wild Rice
• Barley
• Whole Oats
• Whole Wheat
• Whole Grain Pastas

Good Fat Sources

• Canola Oil
• Flaxseed Oil
• Olive oil, extra virgin
• Peanut Oil
• Fats found in all fish
• Seeds
• Pure butter in small amounts

Please keep in mind that I am not saying you have to choke down every single one of these items.  I assure you that I do not like everything on this list.  This is just to serve as a starting point.  If you picked one thing from each category you would have a balanced meal.

Good nutrition is going to be cornerstone of any worthwhile exercise system.  There really is just no way to get around the fact that to get a washboard style ab, a lot of the work is done in the kitchen.  Again I am not recommending that you only eat what is on this list, but if you look it over carefully you might find that you actually like a lot more on this list than you probably thought at first glance.

Enjoy

When you first start trying to put on weight and build muscle you might become a a bit overwhelmed with all the information available.  Gaining weight is like anything else there seems to be plenty of experts and sometimes their advice seems to contradict each other.  Most people get information overload and end up doing nothing.

In the beginning keep it simple.  You do not have to know every single thing about every protein powder and what serving size you should use for this or that.  If you have been struggling to build muscle or put on mass there is a possibility that you neglecting one of these four steps.

STEP 1:  YOU HAVE TO COMMIT. lifting weights is going to be you fastest and most efficient way of building muscle.  You are going to be lifting weight three to four times per week!  I know that sounds like a lot now, but if you actually schedule the time to do it, and not just squeeze it when you can, it will become like second nature.  You want to stimulate your muscles, in other put them under stress, which will result muscles growing bigger to avoid the stress from reoccurring.  The second part of the equation is you then have let the muscle heal and repair itself through rest and nutrition.  Your muscles will grow bigger and you will repeat this process, but you have to commit.

STEP 2: You gotta eat.  You have to eat five to seven times a day.  I know that is a lot, but hardgainers have to eat more than other people if they are going to gain and build muscle.  Sometimes the universe is unfair, but it does not change the fact that you have got to eat more.  You should try to make half of those meals actually solid whole foods.  In a perfect world all of your meals would be solid whole foods, but let’s be honest that is extremely hard to do.  I absolutely love my smoothie that I drink and it has every proportionally balanced out, and that will serve as one of meals.  You could also use the liquid meal replacement powders,  I just like smoothies, their quick and easy and taste much better to me.

STEP 3: STRETCH!! I see a lot of people so focus on the weight training it is unbelievable.  I honestly think this one of the biggest mistakes people make.  When you constantly training, your muscle tissue will shorten.  They will get bg, but begin to perform slower and have higher chance of getting injured.  If you are working out four hours a week you are going to have stretch at least an additional two hours.  This is one of the biggest reasons that people quit.  You hear it all the time “I use to work out put I injured my arm, my neck, my back, my leg.”  Or whatever other body part.  If you are not stretching at least half of the time you are working out, you are an accident just waiting to happen.  So stretch!

STEP 4: BE SUSPICIOUS OF SUPPLEMENTS.  There is no magic pill, powder or pixie dust that is going to cure all you ills.  They are just what the name says supplements.  Personally I do not use anything that has not been around for three years.  Why do ask?  Because if you get to focused on chasing down the latest ‘dream in a bottle’ you will find yourself wrapped up in the hoopla that surrounds them.  What is touted as a miracle in a pill one month maybe proven grossly ineffective six months down the road.  I keep with the basics, powdered creatine, protein powder, the stuff that everyone has heard of before.  I promise it will alleviate some heartache and disappoint for you, and your bank account will thank you too.

Just remember, you can do this.  You can gain the weight and build the muscle that you want.  Don’t to hard on yourself, Rome was not built in a day.  Follow these above steps and get yourself on a workout program that is going to work.  By now you all know my personal favorite, but you have to do it.  Any fitness program you choose is going to be a change in your lifestyle.  They are going to require you to change you eating habits and workout and consistently.  You can do it!

Although you are not entering into a fashion contest you might want to think about your attire.  Lets face it you can not walk into a gym and work out in a pair of blue jeans.  Proper attire is a must.

Myself I feel the most comfortable in a pair of workout or running pants.  I always pick out a pair that are not going to strangle me, I want them to be loose fitting so that I can get plenty of movement.  I also prefer dark colors like black or blue because when I sweat I don’t want it to look real obvious.  Secondly I prefer the type that have pockets no matter how light I want to travel, there is always something that I have to have, most of the time it is just the key to my locker, but I have to have it.

The next item is a shirt of course.  Here I just pick any comfortable T-Shirt, but for god sake don’t just show up in a plain white T.  Again I want it to be comfortable, I don’t like working out in a shirt that seems to be wrestling me and trying to hide in my armpits.

Shoes, often overlooked but anyone who has had a really good pair of shoes to work out in knows exactly what I am talking about.  A bad pair of shoes can ruin your form and posture and suck the joy out of your work out.  Don’t worry whether they are labeled athletic,cross trainer, running or what ever sub-category the shoe store has filed them under.  You want ones with good support that actually lace up!! Forget velcro or any of that other stuff, you want real laces.

Another thing that I wear, but you don’t have to is a hat.  Any baseball style hat will do.  For me it puts me in the right mindset for a work out and seems to focus me, I am not looking around distracted my eyes are drawn to the task at hand.  This may differ for you, but to me the hat is a must have.

One more thing to keep in mind.  You are going in there to workout so when you go the beach you will look good.  Save all the posturing for the beach, there will be plenty of time for the super snug shirt showing of ‘the guns.’  Also you don’t want to walk in dressed head to toe like your sponsored by Under Armor or Nike.  You are here to workout and achieve your goals, and you will, don’t get distracted by hype.  I promise you that muscles don’t know what brand you are wearing.

I can think of no greater motivation than this.  Remember how last year you promised yourself when next summer rolls around things were going to be different.  Remember the year before that.  We have all been there and we have all seen the next summer roll around and alas, it was the same old us.

It really is going to be different this time because now you have a plan.  You have an actual concrete plan that will work.  First thing is first though, you need to take a picture of yourself.  I know this is a bit painful and I am not talking about a full nude shot or anything like that, but a picture of yourself without a shirt on.  The reason will become more evident.

When you look at your day one photo, the one that you took when you decided to turn it all around, it will remind you of how far you came.  I know you don’t want to do it, but I am not asking you to post it on the web or anything like that, it is just for your own records.  This will show you how you truly look, the good, the bad and the ugly.  Don’t worry though this is soon to be the old you.

In one month you are going to take another photo of yourself and you will be amazed at the progress you have made.  Actually look at the two photos and how far you have come.  Now you are starting to see some real progress.  Just imagine how you are going to look next month.  Starting to feel better about yourself now.  Next month you won’t be able to wait to take that photo!

Gaining weight and building muscle is going to require exercise.  There is no other way around it.  If you just sat around eating all the calories your suppose to and live a very sedimentary life, you are going to regret it.  Good weight gain is going to require a good exercise program to follow.

Following a good exercise program with your goals in mind is going to make all of the difference.  After all the goal here is to look good, and that is one thing that exercise is good at, so don’t try to fight it, like Nike commercials say  ‘Just do it.’

You are also going to have to pick a workout routine that is geared for gaining weight.  I know there are hundreds designed for people to lose weight, but there are really some quality programs for us too.  When you see most people in the gym they appear to be just copying one another, a kind of monkey see, monkey do routine.  This is a path to failure.

You have got to understand what you are doing and why your doing it.  By this I do not mean just knowing what baody part you are working, but why you are working it.  This will be much clearer when you actually start in on your workout program, right now just keep it in the back of your head and don’t worry if no one else at the gym is doing what you are doing.

Ahh protein we certainly need a lot of it if we are going to put on some muscle.  Let’s be honest one of the reasons you want to put on weight is you want the muscle, so you can look good at the beach.  You are going to need protein.  Your body uses protein to repair muscles, it is that simple.

Not giving your body enough protein is going to hinder their ability to heal the muscles and become stronger.  On average a person needs about one gram of protein for every 2.2 pounds of body weight to build and maintain muscle, and that is what we are after.  Exercise and working out is also going to affect the body’s need for more protein, so if you are serious about putting on muscle and your working out I would suggest 2 grams of protein for every 2.2 pounds of body weight per day.

Do not make the mistake of trying to get all of that protein in you in one sitting, it will not work.  You need to divide out throughout the day or else people at work will just be saying ‘Here comes Old Gassy.”  Do not obsess over it, or it will just leave you to confused just make sure you get the appropriate amount everyday.

My own weight gain story is probably much like yours,  I have been thin all of my life.  I have always struggled to put on weight, without much success until I decided to get serious about it.  Standing six feet tall weighing only 148 pounds.  I decided it was finally time to actually start trying to get that good physique.

All through high school I played sports and led a pretty active life, but when I got older my weight, or lack of it started to bother me more.  I kept putting off finding a good diet and workout, sometimes I would get really interested, but then would only follow it half-hearted, sometimes not at all.  Everyone would tell me “you’re so lucky all I have to do is think about food and I’ve gained a couple of pounds.”  I assure you I did not feel lucky at all.

I turned as most people do to the internet to find out how to gain weight, there were what seemed hundreds of sights on how to lose weight but nothing geared to the skinny guy trying to put weight on.    After trying unsuccessfully to try ‘to do it myself’ I realized that I actually needed a plan, a real plan.  Not just eating more of the same food that I have always ate, but a real plan that would work.

I always said that if I could I would try to help those people that are in the same boat as me, that is why I created this website to help the hard-gainer as we are called and give some information to everyone else out there who is struggling.