Gaining Weight for Skinny People
Most people will be thinking that being skinny is a blessing and wish they had that problem. But if you are a skinny guy like me you may have been trying to gain weight by building muscle and frustration has set in when no matter what you did the weight just did not increase. You will have tried eating more and working out at the gym but you have been stuck on the same weight. After a long time trying I was able to build muscle and gain weight, here are some tips.
First you need to understand the dynamics of weight gain. Some people are naturally skinny the same way that many people have a natural tendency to be overweight. People who are overweight eat more energy than they burn resulting in excess fat. Those who are underweight tend to eat less energy than they burn and therefore can not build muscle and gain weight.
So how do you gain weight?
You can make some simple changes to what you eat to slowly increase you caloric intake. It is fairly easy to do this without having to over eat. However it is important that you understand where you are before you start. A good way to set a baseline is to record everything that you eat for two weeks and then calculate your daily calorie consumption.
After you have some good data on how many calories you are consuming each day you then need to compare this number to your BMR. Your BMR is your base metabolic rate, this is the amount of energy your body uses each day for basic functions. If you are consuming less calories than your BMR then you can not gain weight by building muscle as your body is “out of gas”.
Exercise is very important when you are trying to gain weight and build muscle. When you are trying to gain weight you should not be jogging as this will not help you. You can gain weight by doing specific weight training exercises targeting specific muscle groups.
There is a group of exercises called compound exercises that are ideal for people who are looking to add muscle to a skinny frame. The definition of a compound exercise is an exercise that targets two or more muscle groups. Exercising multiple muscle groups at one time stimulates your body to increase muscle mass and gain weight. Common compound exercises are squats, presses and pull ups.
There are hundreds of different supplements that promise rapid muscle growth but you have probably tried some in the ast with disappointing results. At best supplements should only be used as part of your overall weight gain plan as there is no easy fix if you are a skinny person. If you know of someone who has previously added muscle and gained weight ask them which supplements they used. Most people will use a protein supplement to help with muscle growth.
Learning how to gain weight will help you add muscle and size while still maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Once you have the information it is then up to you to put it into action so make the decision today to do everything you can to build muscle and gain weight until you hit your ideal weight.
Anthony Valdiers has been a fitness coach for more than a decade and has taught hundreds of underweight people gain weight and add muscle. He believes in a natural and healthy approach to gaining weight.. This article, Gaining Weight for Skinny People is available for free reprint.