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WHY CAN'T YOU GAIN WEIGHT?
Though there may be many reasons why you may be thin, the most apparent reason
is because of your genetics. If your parents are naturally thin or have a small
body frame, then you will most likely have the same small body type.
To some degree, your size can also be controlled by your metabolism. If you have
a difficult time gaining weight of any kind (fat or muscle) then you most
likely have a fast metabolism. That simply means that your body burns calories
at a faster than normal rate. You must take this into account whenever you are
considering a particular diet or training program. Is it geared towards someone
with your metabolism and goal?
Now as you know, there are many ways to train. Hundreds, thousands even. Some
work and some do not, but for the specific goal of gaining weight, there are a
few UNIVERSAL things that all skinny guys must do.
Though much of the information I cover here is not as "magical" as you may like,
I consider these rules to be the basics with regard to weight gain. These are
not all of the answers, but they are definite elements that MUST be addressed
in any successful weight gain program.
You should be able to easily integrate these rules into your current program to
make it more suitable for your particular body and goals.
GENERAL RULES
1.Get the proper information that pertains to your SPECIFIC condition and goals.
The first big problem I find in most people is the lack of correct information.
Yes you are motivated and doing things, but your effort is wasted on incorrect
dieting and training information. Basically, skinny guys are taking advice from
people who have never had a weight gain problem. Want to know how to gain
weight? Then find someone who has walked your shoes. Someone who has been where
you are.
2.Set a specific goal and create a plan of attack.
If you were to drive cross country to another city, would you just start driving
randomly, or would you plan a route that would get you quickly and efficiently?
Think of your plan as a road map and your goal as your destination. Without a
plan and a specific goal you will be without focus and can easily get lost or
side tracked. This happens more often than you know. I see many people in the
gym just doing whatever, or just eating whatever -- no plan or specific goal.
They wonder why they don't make progress. They have no focus.
Having a specific program to follow allows you to take action each day. This
action is focused on specifically getting you to your destination quickly.
There is no thinking, debating or guessing. You just do it. A specific plan
provides necessary daily structure that not only keeps you on the road moving
forward, it also helps to develop good eating and training habits that will
benefit you long after you have reached your destination.
3.Have confidence in yourself and belief in what you are doing.
Let's face it; we live in a cruel world. Hate and jealously is everywhere. For
most people who begin a fitness program to improve themselves, getting started
will be half the battle. The other half will be staying motivated throughout
the constant onslaught of negativity from others. A few negative words can do
serious damage if you allow it.
The most insulting things you hear may be from friends, co-workers and
acquaintances at the gym. People hate change. It makes them insecure, because
they suddenly discover there's more to you than they were probably willing to
admit. They fear that you may actually achieve your goal. It makes them look
less "superior".
Once you have begun your plan, you must have faith and believe in what you are
doing. Stay focused and avoid overly critical or negative people. If you have
to, keep your business to yourself. When I first began my program, I stopped
talking about what I was doing because I got tired of hearing things like "you
can't do that", "that's impossible", "you're wasting your time and money".
Funny thing is, now those people are constantly bugging me for advice.
It's your life. It's your body. It's your dream. Don't allow your success or
failure to rest in the hands of others.
WORKOUT RULES
4. Stop listening to every ridiculous piece of advice you hear in the gym or
read on a message board.
Recently a client of mine informed me that someone in the gym stated that he was
training all wrong and he needed to train 5-6 days a week, and aim for more
reps during his workout. Somewhere in the range of 15-20 reps per set.
The person giving the advice was quite confident about his recommendations, and
he had an impressive physique that typically elevates him to the elusive
"listen to me if you want to look like me" level in the gym. He was bigger than
my client, so even though my client's "intellectual" mind knows that advice is
absurd; his "unrealistic dreamer" mind took this information very seriously. So
seriously that he changed his program and didn't inform me until a week or so
later. This particular person had been making great progress on his current
program, yet he allowed this one person's comment to overshadow that progress
and convince him that his program was inadequate. This is a mistake and it
showed in his lack of further progress.
In addition, don't judge the validity of what a person says by how they look.
Just because the guy is huge doesn't mean he is spewing pertinent advice for
you. Many people that have big physiques are big despite of their training, not
because of it. I know some huge guys that know very little about training and
dieting correctly. They can do whatever and still gain muscle; unfortunately we
are not that way, so we much approach things in a more intelligent way.
5.Workout Infrequently
This is the most difficult concept for many to grasp simply because it involves
less action, instead of more. When we get motivated and start a new program,
it's natural to want to do something. We want to train and train and train.
Thinking all along that the more you train, the more muscle you will build.
Unfortunately, this could not be farther from the truth.
More training does not equal more muscle growth. Understand that the purpose of
weight training is to stimulate muscle growth. That takes very little time.
Once that has been done, the muscle needs to be repaired and new muscle needs
to be built. That only happens when you are resting. You do not build muscle in
the gym, you build muscle when resting! If you never give your body any
essential "non active" time, when will it have a chance to build muscle? Think
about that.
Now, add in the fact that you have a difficult time gaining weight and the
importance of rest increases. Individuals who are naturally thin and have
difficulty building muscle tend to require less training and more rest.
6. Focus on Multi-Jointed Lifts
Multi-jointed exercises are those that stimulate the most amounts of muscle
fibers. Unlike isolation exercises which only work individual muscles,
multi-jointed lifts work many different muscle groups simultaneously. For those
needing to gain weight, this is ideal because these lifts put your body under
the most amount of stress. This is the stress that will shock your nervous
system and cause the greatest release of muscle building hormones. This results
in increased muscle gain all over the body.
You can still do some isolation work; however it should not be the focus of your
workouts, and should only come after your multi-jointed lifting is complete.
7. Focus on Using Free Weights
Free weights are preferred over machines for many reasons, but most importantly
because they allow the stimulation of certain supporting muscle groups when
training. Stimulating these stabilizer and synergistic muscles will allow you
go get stronger, and ultimately build more muscle faster. Yes, some can most
likely still build large amounts of muscle using machines, but why make it more
difficult if you already have a difficult time gaining weight?
8. Lift a weight that is challenging for you
Building mass involves lifting relatively heavy weight. This is necessary
because the muscle fibers that cause the most amount of muscle size growth
(called Type IIB) are best stimulated by the lifting of heavy weight. A heavy
weight as one that only allows you to perform 4-8 reps before your muscles
fail.
Using a lighter weight and doing more reps can stimulate some Type IIB fibers,
but again if you have a difficult time gaining weight, why make it more
difficult? You need to try and stimulate as many as you can with the use of
heavy weights.
9. Focus more on the eccentric portion of the exercise.
When you lift a weight, it can be divided into three distinct periods. The
positive, the negative and midpoint. The concentric or "positive" motion
usually involves the initial push or effort when you begin the rep. The
midpoint is signaled by a short pause before reversing and returning to the
starting position. The eccentric, or "negative" portion of each lift is
characterized by your resistance against then natural pull of the weight.
For example, when doing push-ups, the positive motion is the actual pushing up
motion. Once you have pushed all the way up, you hit the mid point. The
negative motion begins when you start to lower yourself back down. Most would
simply lower themselves as fast as they pushed up, but I recommend extending
and slowing down this portion. Slowing down the eccentric part of the lift will
help to stimulate more muscle growth. It actually activates more of the Type
IIB fibers mentioned about in Rule 7.
10. Keep your workout short but intense.
Your goal should be to get in, stimulate your muscles and then get out as
quickly as possible. It is not necessary to do large amounts of exercisers per
body part trying to target every muscle and hit every "angle". This should only
be a concern of someone with an already developed, mature physique who is
trying to improve weak areas.
If you have no pec, don't concern yourself with trying to target inner, outer,
upper, lower or whatever. Just work your chest. You should do no more than 2-3
exercises per body part. That's it. Doing more than that won't build more
muscle, faster. In fact it could possibly lead to muscle loss. Long training
sessions cause catabolic hormone levels to rise dramatically. Catabolic
hormones are responsible for breaking down muscle tissue resulting in MUSCLE
LOSS. While at the same time, long training sessions suppress the hormones that
actually build muscle.
If you don't want to lose muscle during your workouts, I suggest limiting your
sessions to no more than 60-75 minutes MAXIMUM. Less if you can.
11. Limit your aerobic activity and training
Honestly, I do not do any aerobic activity when I am trying to gain weight. This
is mainly because it interferes with the important "non-active" time my body
needs for muscle building and recovery. I do understand that people have lives
and other activities that they don't want to give up, so it must be kept to a
minimum. It won't hurt your progress as long as you don't over do it. If you
find that you are doing more aerobic activity weight training, that's overdoing
it.
I also don't recommend it because people tend do it for the wrong reasons. Many
start aerobic activity because they believe it will help them to lose fat.
While that is true, it won't do so on a high calorie mass diet. To lose fat,
you need to be eating fewer calories.
12. Don't program hop
Here's how it usually happens. You've just read about a new exercise or workout
that is supposed to pack on the mass. Now, even though you had already started
another training program a few weeks ago, you are tired of it and really want
to start this routine instead because it sounds better.
I call these people, "program hoppers". They are very enthusiastic when starting
a new program, but they never follow it long enough to actually see any
results. They are easily distracted and love to drop whatever they may be doing
to follow the latest "hot" workout or exercise.
My advice is don't do it. This is a bad habit that never leads to a positive
outcome. Understand that it takes time for any program to work. To be
successful, you must follow your program consistently. Yes, there are many
different training methods and interesting routines out there, but you can't do
them all at the same time and jumping around won't allow enough time for any of
them to actually be effective for you. Pick one that is focused on your current
goal and stick with it. There will be plenty of time to try the others later,
but NOT NOW.
EATING RULES
13. Eat more
This rule is pretty simple, but usually the one that is not done correctly. If
weight gain is your goal, then you will need to eat more food. Period. In most
cases, you will need to eat more than you are normally accustomed to.
One large problem that I had when starting out is I just had no appetite. I knew
I needed to eat more, but I just did not want to. I had to force myself to eat
at each meal. Thankfully, after about 2 weeks, my appetite grew. I was becoming
hungry before each meal, and if I didn't eat my meal at the normal time, my
body knew it.
If you have this problem, you still must eat something, no matter how much.
Start off making yourself eat something small like fruit every few hours. Then,
as your appetite becomes more active, gradually move into more real food.
What this will do is gradually get your body accustomed eating at regular
intervals. Eventually you will be hungry before each meal time.
When eating more, you will need to make sure that you are getting plenty of good
quality protein. Protein is a nutrient that is essential for building muscle.
Every meal that you eat should contain some form of protein. Meal Replacement
Powders like Myoplex are excellent for this purpose. They enable you to eat
large amounts of good quality protein in a very convenient manner.
14. Eat more often
In addition to eating more calories, you should also strive to eat more often
throughout the day. Eating infrequently, or going long periods without eating,
will cause your body to breakdown muscle tissue for the calories it needs. This
is especially true for those with fast metabolisms.
Spreading your meals throughout the day will give you more manageable meal
sizes, improve nutrient assimilation, and make sure that your body always has
the calories it needs for muscle building and repair. I recommend eating a high
protein meal every 3 hours. During normal waking hours, that usually equals
about 6 meals.
Now, I know what you are saying, "I'm too busy to do this", or "how can I do
that with a full time job and school?" Don't let the thought of this being too
difficult keep you from doing it. It may seem very inconvenient at first, but
once you get in the habit of doing it, it becomes second nature and you don't
have to give it much thought. Trust me, I've been doing it for years and do not
feel that it's limiting or time consuming.
15. Use Nutritional Supplements.
Before you buy any product, remember that supplements are not magic. Too many
people think that just because you buy the latest product, it guarantees that
you will automatically begin to pack on the pounds. The truth is that
supplements are only there to enhance an already solid diet and workout
program.
They can give you the extra edge by:
* Adding More Convenience: Using food supplements like Myoplex or Designer
Protein help to eliminate the common problem of 'not enough time', by providing
you with a quick, efficient way to get your required nutrients each day. They
make eating large amounts of calories and protein easier for people with low
appetites.
* Increasing Strength Levels: Products that contain Creatine, like Phosphagen HP
or Cell-Tech enable you to swing the odds of gaining more weight in your favor
by increasing your strength output. Creatine enables you to lift heavier
weights, which will stimulate more muscle fibers and cause more muscle growth.
* Decreasing Recovery Time: Vitamin C is essential to prevent free radical
damage, which is accelerated after the heavy trauma of weight training. It is
also essential is helping to repair connective tissue. All of this helps
decrease the amount of time you are sore.
* Enhancing Your Immune System: Weight training increases the body's need for
many minerals like magnesium and selenium. I always use a good multi-vitamin
ensures that I am not deficient in any major essential vitamin or mineral.
Deficiency symptoms include muscle weakness and suppression of the immune
system, muscle cramping and fatigue.
I can honestly say that I could not have built the body I have today without the
convenience and enhancements supplements provide. I simply don't have the time
or desire to do it any other way. This is a choice that you must decide for
yourself. You will be spending your money on these products, so make sure that
you know their place in your program.
IS THIS POSSIBLE?
Yes, but I have to be honest and say that from my experience, gaining weight is
much more difficult than losing fat. Even if you are doing everything right, it
will still be difficult because you are fighting against what your body
naturally prefers. If you are naturally thin, building an impressive physique
involves persistence and determination, but no matter what anyone says, it is
well within your ability. Good luck and for more information on how to gain
weight, be sure to check out my website at http://www.fastmusclegain.com
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
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