Building Lean Muscle

Do you truly know how to build muscle and gain weight quickly?

If you knew how to build muscle then the skinny jokes would have ended long ago. If you knew how to gain weight quickly then the blank stares would stop when you tell someone you work out with weights. And if you knew how to build muscle and gain weight quickly you would no longer frustrated that the scale has not budged upwards since you first started lifting.

I know from first hand experience what it feels like to train for hours in the gym, slug back protein shake after protein shake, spend your hard earned money on over-priced and over-hyped supplements, with little or nothing to show for it! If this is you than you’re not alone and are probably missing a few key ingredients that you’re executing effectively.

If you’re a naturally skinny person than you must play by a different set of rules. If you were not gifted with muscle friendly genes than does it make sense to follow a program by someone who builds muscle even when they sneeze? If you’re training drug free than does it make sense to take advice from a guy who’s spending a few thousand dollars a month on steroids?

Or maybe you’re taking advice from someone with great genetics? That’s like taking money advice from someone who inherited a fortune! You must accept the fact if you have muscle ‘unfriendly’ genes you must be prepared to play by a different set of rules if you want to build muscle and turn heads!

Here are a few simple tips to show you – the skinny guy – how to build muscle and gain weight quickly :

Train like a barbarian!

Do people stop and watch you work out? Do you reach the point in a workout where you question your ability to finish? If you treat working out more like a hobby than a job than it’s no surprise that you do not stand out in a crowd and are still spinning your wheels.

The majority of people that work out in a gym barely sweat and spend more time starring in the mirror and trying to impress the new front desk girl than getting into the ‘zone’ and crashing through previous training limits.

Here are some tips on how to ‘train like a barbarian’:

1. Treat every single set like it is your last set.

2. Treat every single rep like your life depends on it.

3. Wear a stop watch and ensure that you keep the rest period honest.

4. Wear a sweater so you can’t stare at yourself in the mirror.

5. Wear a head set on that tells others ‘do not disturb.’

6. No girl friends allowed or wimpy guy friends who are going to compromise the intensity of your workout.

7. Train with an intensity that scares the gym shorts off of every person in your path.

Are you starting to get the picture? There is a philosophy that simply states, “You get what you focus on.” Focus on training like a barbarian and you will soon start looking like a barbarian!

Give your muscles a reason to grow!

Guess what happens when you train at the same intensity as you did in a previous workout? Your muscles laugh back at you and say, “Nice try, we did this workout before and can handle this stress! Is that your attempt on getting us to grow?”

Don’t get caught up in the latest hype of bodybuilding and fitness magazines. Most of it is rehashed and just packaged sleeker to sell magazines. There are two forms of training that must be cycled in a successful weight training program:

1. HEAVY HEAVY HEAVY! Put everything into lifting heavier weights and getting as strong as possible. Use only one compound exercise per major muscle group and focus on a 5% increase in strength from week to week. This will ensure neuromuscular development and targeting the fast twitch muscle fibers which have the greatest opportunity for growth.

2. VOLUME VOLUME VOLUME! Expose your body to as much work possible in the shortest period of time. Placing your muscles under more tension will result in more tapped and untrained muscle fiber being recruited therefore more muscle growth! The key here is to find the correct balance in time and work. Volume training does not mean 2 hour gym workouts lifting light weights. Instead lift heavy weights close to your max threshold but with shorter rest periods, slower tempos and more exercise selection per muscle group.

No more program hopping!

Sure, it’s easier to test drive a program for a few weeks and than say it does not work and move on to the next latest ‘breakthrough’ program. This is called the blame game and neglecting responsibility! Do you think you will become rich if you test out a new job for a few weeks and than call it quits when your first paycheck does not meet your expectations? No way! But if you stay with the company and exploit the companies benefits and opportunities to the fullest than you will succeed.

The reality is that virtually every program will work for a certain period of time if it is done at the right intensity and as the author has written.

Find a program and study the details of it’s full entirety. Ensure that the program goals of the author are in alignment with yours and study all the fine details. Do not ask a million questions and try and find holes or flaws or attempt to make it ‘perfect.’ The perfect program does not exist. Trust the program, follow it honestly and monitor the progress. The experience and results you gain from following one program for a consistent period of time will be priceless.

There are several people working their butts off in the gym every day trying to build muscle, but most of them have no idea what they should actually EAT to build muscle. In fact, most of them eat very little compared to those even trying to LOSE weight!

So if you are one of these folks, you should learn exactly what you should eat to build muscle so that you can get 5 times more results in 1/5 of the time.

Without further ado, let me give you a few brief summary of what and how you should be eating your way to gain muscle mass:

Eat 500 calories above maintenance level

This is very important. A standard maintenance level for men is 2000 calories and 1500 calories for women. In order to build muscle mass, you simply need to add an additional 500 calories to your daily routine to trigger your body in to building more muscle mass.

Eat every 2 to 3 hours.

If you do not eat every 2 to 3 hours, your body will trigger starvation mode, which is a very dangerous situation for those trying to build muscle because when your body enters starvation mode, it starts storing fat and using up your muscle for energy, which means all your hard work and effort would go in vain if you missed a meal in between. This is a very important key when it comes to the eating side of building muscle.

Feed on carbs and protein in every meal.

If you are a skinny guy finding it difficult to gain mass, then you should eat more high GI carbohydrates which makes you hungry really fast. This means you have to eat even more frequently to control the hunger and this will also trigger your body into slapping more pounds of muscle in to the body.

If you are a sensitive gainer, you have to eat medium to low GI carbs every 2 to 3 hours with lean protein in every meal.

Protein is very important for any type of body. It has the highest thermic effect and it is also the building block of muscles in your body. The more protein you eat, the more resources your body has to build muscle on. Just don’t eat too much protein that it clogs up your intestine real bad and creates health problems.

Make sure you eat a lot of high fiber carbohydrates to ensure cleaner intestines, and better restored glycogen cells that get used up when you work out at a super intense level.