When you get started in bodybuilding or if you just want to gain muscle without gaining fat, it can seem like a difficult process. If you are a hard gainer i.e. a skinny guy that struggles to put on weight, or someone who is overweight and wants to get totally ripped, the way that you live your life will need to change before you start to see a difference in your body.
To begin with, you need to make sure that you pick a good workout plan, that your cupboards are stocked full of nutrient rich foods, that you buy yourself some good supplements and that you get enough water and sleep. A combination of all of these things will help you get the body that you want.
Workout Plan
Variety in your workout plan is the best way of seeing faster results. Heavy weight training is also a great way of burning fat but building muscle, and compound movements are the ideal exercises for boosting muscle mass. Compound movements are intense but controlled exercises which work only a couple of muscle groups at once so that you can really target the areas that need work. Compound movements include bench presses, deadlifts, and rows and chin ups – all great ways of burning fat and building muscular mass as set out by my favorite muscle building website.
Nutrient-Rich Foods
You need to be lean to bulk up. Gaining weight on top of fat that already exists will usually result in you looking big and squidgy. Lose weight to begin with by doing plenty of cardio and lifting heavy weights burn fat and eat healthy meals. For the bulking up phase, you will need to stock up your cupboards and refrigerator full of salmon, steak, nuts, sweet potatoes and quinoa.
To gain weight you will need to eat many more calories than you are currently consuming not only to gain weight but also help you maintain it once you have had a good training session. If you are a skinny guy, multiply your body weight in pounds by 20 and that is the amount of calories you should be eating every day to make sure you increase gains. For example a 120lb guy should be eating 2400 calories per day.
Quality Supplements
For fast muscle building, you can use supplements to help you make the most of your workout and the nutrients in your food. Supplements can also help you get the calories that you need when eating heavy meals gets difficult. Whey protein, creative, Amino acids and glutamine are the most popular in any gainer’s arsenal of supplements.
Whey protein is specifically popular for boosting muscle as it can help your body create amino acids which are essential in muscle growth. Creatine on the other hand, is a great supplement for giving your muscles a quick boost before a workout to help you go further and also challenge those muscles for longer.
Glutamine, often forgotten by people that want to increase their gains, is an amino acid which helps with your body’s absorption of protein and it can also aid recovery. This makes it an ideal weapon for anyone that does struggle to gain as your muscle rejuvenation and the end of each workout will help you make the most of the next!
Water
Staying hydrated throughout the day and throughout your workout is really important. Water contains plenty of antioxidants which can ride your body of illness, but it also is vital in keeping your body healthy. Without water, your body will feel weak after and even during a weight training session which means that you could be holding yourself back and not reaching your full potential. Water helps with the synthesis of nutrients in the body, and without it, all of your efforts eating the right foods and taking quality supplements may be worthless. Water can also prevent you eating unhealthy, fatty snacks which lead to fat gain.
Rest
Resting is an essential part of gaining muscle and losing fat. Try to work out every other day and make sure that you get about 8 hours sleep per night so that your muscles have a day in between workouts as well as the night time to recover which can help you boost your gains.
