Simple keys to muscle gain

If you’re a skinny guy, you’re probably tired of the people calling you sticks, bones, toothpick, and so on and so forth. At one point in your life you stood in front of the mirror and flexed (admit it); you saw how toned and cut you were, not to mention the amazing six packs you have. After seeing all of that in the mirror you said to yourself “Man, I’d look a whole lot better if I put on some extra muscle”. In the mirror you probably mention how all the girls wouldn’t be able to keep their hands off you right? Well, let’s jump back into reality, because the truth is if you have been skinny most of your life, you are what is called a hard gainer, which means you have a really tough time picking up weight and keeping it on. Many bodybuilders have done countless research on hard gainers, but I’m not going to bore you with all the scientific terms that’s hard to understand, instead I’m going to keep it simple so you can understand how simple it really is to gain weight while at the same time maintain that lean physic you were born with.

Don't be afraid to add supplements into your diet. This can help improve your results.

• Creatine
• Glutamine
• Protein powder

Your diet will always have an important role whether you are trying to lose or gain weight, but we are going to focus on the gain. It’s also important to know that you shouldn’t try to gain a lot of weight in a short period of time; this can make your efforts backfire not to mention that it’s not healthy. You should eat every 3 to 4 hours a day; even though a harder gainer can eat a snicker that will last them for four hours, never let your body tell you when to eat. Now that you know how to eat, let’s get into what to eat.

Since we burn calories in our sleep, be sure to eat before bed (a protein shake is highly recommended).

What to eat

For starters, avoid trans-fat for you will eventually lose your toned physic for fat. You’re going to need to consume more protein in your diet, so consider eating peanuts (or peanut butter), hamburger (with more lean that fat), Chicken (baked), tuna, salmon, or steak. You can take protein shakes in between meals or if you forget a meal (they’re quick to make). You weight gain process will progress steadily if you consume more denser foods such as pasta, whole wheat bread, nuts, and dark chocolate. When it comes to your fruits and vegetables you want to avoid produce that has a lot of water in it such as watermelon, berries, oranges, peaches, broccoli, cauliflower, and cucumbers. Watery produce will only decrease your appetite. Let’s get this out the way, there is nothing wrong with straying off your diet every now and then, just don’t overdo it (remember you still want to keep that cut physic you were born with). If your meal requires you to use oil, pick olive oil over vegetable oil.

Reduce stress

Stress and take away a man’s appetite and if a man doesn’t eat, his body begins to eat away at his muscles, so you see how important it is to maintain your stress levels. When dealing with stress and weight gain it’s important to deal with your stress in a healthy way such as meditation, physical activity, or just getting everything off your chest. It wouldn’t be wise to deal with stress with smoking; exercise can reduce stress or how most smokers say “Take the edge off”.

Exercise is a great way to stimulate you appetite, as well as build muscle. The greater the routine, the greater the appetite, as well as muscle development. A hard gainers exercise should be short and intense focusing on large muscle groups. Eventually you’ll peak, this happens when the body is use to the same routine; it begins to adapt to the amount of work you put on your body. At this point you’ll stop seeing results unless you increase your workload or switch up your weight training routine. Never forget to work your legs; this one the biggest mistakes made by hard gainers. You'll miss out on maximum muscle gain on the whole body if you work your legs little to none at all. Try focusing on compound exercise such as dead-lifts and squats. Overall the outcome will depend on whether or not you stay consistent with your routine both diet and exercise until the very end.