What does getting bigger actually mean? You can get bigger by stuffing yourself with junk food all day, but this will just make you fat. You can get bigger and lean to get a ripped physique, but this usually involves first getting bigger and then doing a cutting phase to get lean. Or you could get a physique which is in between these two physiques.

Getting bigger is normally referred to as “bulking up” which requires making adjustments to your diet and training regimen. Bulking up is a benefit to people who want to know how to gain weight. Gaining 30-40 lbs within 6-months of being on a bulk up diet and training is very common. It won’t all be muscle, but gaining some fat should be the least of your concerns. You can always get lean after you have gained the weight, and you will not look out of proportion because of the muscle you would have gained.

However, bulking up is not for all body types. If you are overweight and have a tendency to put on weight easily then it’s not suitable for you. If you have a fast metabolism (which is typical for hardgainers), then this method can be an effective way to increase muscle mass, get stronger and smash through those training plateaus.

Eat Big To Get Big

You need to eat a lot in order to get bigger! Missing out on breakfast and having lunch on the go is no longer an option if you are serious about getting bigger. You need to learn to eat proper meals, and you will want to buy food in bulk so you can prepare meals in advance. Just grab the prepared meals from the fridge in the morning when you are in a rush to get to work so you don’t skip on meals.

Meal Frequency

Eat at regular times throughout the day. Generally speaking you will want to eat 6 meals per day, every 3 hours like clockwork, including breakfast (6am), mid morning snack (9am), lunch (12pm), mid afternoon snack (3pm), dinner (6pm), and before you go to bed (around 9pm). Obviously the times can be different. This is the minimum eating requirements on a bulk up diet. It’s not uncommon for people who are bulking up to eat more than 2,500 calories. Exactly how many calories you will need to bulk up will depend on your weight, how often you are training, how much weight you want to gain and how fast you want to do it.

Stick With High Calorie Foods

Swap low calorie food for high calorie foods which have a high nutritional value. You need to be consuming excess calories if you want to bulk up.

Get Enough Protein

Buy a good protein supplement like Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey. Whey protein isolate is fast digesting and a cheap way of getting adequate protein in your diet. Protein powder can be easily added to weight gain shakes. The best time to take a weight gain protein shake is first thing in the morning and last thing at night. On workout days, instead you can drink one for breakfast and after the workout. Don’t always drink shakes to get your protein though. Eggs are another very good source of protein. You can make an eggs omelet with mushrooms, onions and salsa, which is very tasty and packed with protein.

Don’t Be Too Strict!

You are allowed to cheat with junk foods occasionally, just don’t make it a bad habit. You want to get the majority of your calories from unprocessed healthy foods. Eat what you want whenever you feel like it, just as long as are consistent with eating healthy foods.

Training

During the bulking up phase you will want to limit doing cardio because this form of exercise burns too many calories and does little for building muscle. You don’t need to spend hours in the gym in order to get big. In fact, over training can be detrimental to muscle gains. If you’re a hardgainer, you will not want to workout more then 3 times per week for 45 minutes each session.

When lifting weights, do heavy workouts with low reps (6-10 repetitions). This is the best way to get bigger. Focus on the basic compound exercises like squats, bench press, military press, pull ups, and so on. These exercises target the larger muscle groups. Working the large muscle groups like the chest, back, legs and shoulder will help with your efforts to increase testosterone levels, which is an anabolic hormones which plays a key role in muscle building.

Gaining weight and building muscle can be very challenging to a person who has been skinny all their life. It may be hard to imagine for some but there are people out there who are trying to gain weight without much success.

The good news is there are a few simple steps you can take to gain weight and build muscle naturally.

10 Steps To Building Muscle Naturally

1.) Try to eat at least 20 calories per pound of bodyweight. For example, if you are 130 pounds, then try to aim for 2600 calories per day. If you do not see any weight gain for over 2 weeks, then slowly increase your calorie intake by 200-500 calories. Rinse and repeat if you don’t see weight gain again for 2 weeks.

2.) Now that you figured out how much you should eat per day, divide up the calories into small 6-8 meals per day. For example, if you eat 3000 calories and you eat 6 times per day, then that will be 500 calories from each of your meals.

3.) Eat most of your carbs during the morning and between your workouts. Those are the best times to convert carbs for energy to be used instead of storing it in your body as fat.

4.) You need to eat healthy fat such as nuts, fish, olive oil, etc. Some people believe that all fat are bad because of the name. Healthy unsaturated fat can supplement your muscle growth.

5.) Right before your workout, you need to have some healthy carbs such as fruits and oatmeal so you can have energy to lift your best. You will feel weak if you go on an empty stomach. Also, this is the time to take a protein shake.

6.) Right after your workout, you will need to do the same as your pre-workout meal. This is also the best time to add starchy carbs such as white bread with a little bit of jelly. The bad carbs will be used to help your body recover from an intense workout, and they will not be stored as fat.

7.) Try to avoid fat, even healthy ones, near workout times because fat can slow down your protein intake.

8.) For workout, focus only on heavy compound exercises, such as, deadlift, bench press, and squat. Those 3 are KING when it comes to gaining weight and building muscles. Do not work on bicep curls like all the skinny guys at the gym. Always make sure you do proper warm-up with lighter weight, and ask for help if you do not know the proper lifting techniques otherwise you might injure yourself.

9.) Getting more sleep can help your muscles recover faster to grow. Sometimes hardgainers are not gaining weight or building muscles simply because they are not sleeping enough.

10.) Just because protein is good for you, doesn’t mean you should take thousands of grams per day. Extras will most likely end up stored as fat. You just need about 1 to 1.5 grams per bodyweight.

Article By: Kai Lo

I used to believe that it was impossible for me to build muscle as a skinny hardgainer because I was 135 pounds at 5’7. Now I am a little over 160 pounds with muscles at the same height after 4 months. I wrote a FREE guide based on my own personal experience to help other skinny hardgainer build muscles. Get it now for FREE: Bodybuilding For Hardgainers

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To be faster you have to get stronger. To get stronger you have to increase your resistance, right? Right!

You probably know that taking things like anabolic steroids and growth hormones will help build muscle mass, forget about the side effects for a momment, and think about where the “muscle-building” compounds come from? They may be right there in the kinds of food you eat!

An amino acid is a building block of protein and it controls everything about the structure and function of the proteins it affects. The amino acid Arginine, in its L form (L-arginine) is one the 20 most common amino acids, and cannot be made naturally by your body.

L-ariginine is an “active” amino acid that is caused by the hydrolysis (break down) of certain proteins. It has been used as a growth stimulant, and its ability to encourage vasodilation makes it useful in the treatment of erectile dysfunction.

L-ornithine is a basic amino acid that your body produces naturally. It is a nonprotein amino acid, so it is not ingested in foods. L ornithine is used to biosynthesize L-arginine and other amino acids, like L-proline and polyamines. Many people supplement L-ornithine because research has suggested that L-ornithine may promote muscle-building activity in the body. It does this by increasing levels of the hormones that promote growth, such as insulin and growth hormone.

Luckily, arginine can be found naturally in a variety of foods. Sources of arginine include meat, dairy, a variety of (raw) nuts including pecans, cashews, walnuts, almonds, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, pinenuts, and peanuts, not to mention many other foods.

Many of the following meal suggestions are excellent sources of protein that may help you get stronger, faster. Eating “whole foods” rather than processed foods from a box is a key to getting the proper nutrition so that your muscles can not only form, but heal after a hard training session.

Breakfast Recipes to Start Your Day Strong

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Smoked Salmon Omelet

Try an egg white omelet with the following ingredients to give you a protein punch:

• Smoked Salmon or tuna (substitute chicken or turkey meat if you don’t like fish)
• Bacon
• Cheddar cheese
• Spinach & mushrooms
• Season to your liking: I personally like to add Himalayan Salt & Cracked Pepper.

Protein Enriched Oatmeal

Unflavored oatmeal with your favorite flavor of whey protein powder and raisins mixed in. I personally like to sprinkle ground walnuts on top. You can also add on the side, a slice of whole wheat toast with ricotta cheese and a sliced tomato.

Go Natural

Whole fruits like berries, bananas and oranges with a handful of cheese or nuts will give you a burst of energy and vitamins to help you make it through the morning. If possible, always go with raw nuts and organic, locally-grown fruits. Here’s some useful info about following a raw food diet.

10 Snacks That Keep You Energized

1. A hardboiled egg
2. ½ cup of coconut
3. Yogurt with granola and ground almonds mixed in
4. Chocolate covered raisins or peanuts
5. Half of a protein shake
6. Shrimp cocktail
7. A handful of pumpkin seeds
8. A small can of tuna with some sesame seeds sprinkled on top
9. A slice of turkey or chicken lunchmeat with cream cheese rolled up in the middle
10. Raw vegetables – ANY raw vegetables (carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes) are an excellent choice!

Lunches That Win

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Pork & Bean Sandwich

Shredded BBQ pork mixed with dark kidney beans or black beans on a bun. Add a slice of cheese for an extra boost

Tuna Salad Sandwich

Tuna with light mayo, hardboiled egg and shredded cheese on sourdough bread

Carbonator

Hamburger patty or grilled chicken fillet smothered with smoked cheese and mushrooms (no bread for this one)

Soup and Salad

Low sodium soups that are loaded with veggies and brown rice or whole grain pasta with a side salad that has nuts and cheese provide you with a variety of vitamins and fill you up without weighing you down for the rest of the day

Dinner Ideas That Build Muscle

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Your main course should always be meat or seafood, but I’d recommend that you get even more creative beyond that.

Experiment with recipes, make breakfast for dinner, or go “bunless”. You can use steak, ham, fish (halibut or salmon), lobster, turkey, shrimp or chicken. If you have a salad on the side add some sunflower seeds, pinenuts, cheese and hardboiled egg to it.

It’s important not to eat too much at one meal and store it as fat, but rather to space out small meals and snacks throughout the day so that your body can use the energy to pack on more muscle.

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