The keys to gaining muscle mass include eating a balanced diet, a healthy lifestyle, enough sleep, and regular and proper weight training exercise.

DIET

You need enough protein for your muscles to develop. The more protein, the better. Lean red meat should always be a part of your diet. Lean meats contain just about the right amount of nutrients to help muscles grow. As a rule, you should take in at least one gram of protein per pound of body weight per day. This can be easily done by properly spacing your meals into six small servings a day. The proper combination of high protein diet and the proper kind of workout will help you gain the right amount of mass for your muscles. However, as a word of caution, you must integrate all the food groups into your diet daily since a protein-only diet cannot sustain a healthy body.

LIFESTYLE

Avoid smoking and excessive drinking. Smoking can cause cancer, as well as a host of other medical conditions. Taking in too much alcohol can also have a bad effect on the health. The key here is moderation.

It is also a good idea to keep the mind sharp. Activities like reading or a hobby can promote good mental health. While the brain technically isn’t a muscle, it still needs to be exercised as an integral part of your body.

SLEEP
Your body grows and heals itself when you are asleep. You must get enough sleep all the time to promote optimum muscle development. You shouldn’t sleep too late or wake up too late either. 6 to 8 hours of sleep every night is just about right to maximize your growth potential. Also, rest at least 24 hours between trips to the gym.

PROPER WEIGHT TRAINING

It is wiser to use free weights when bulking up. Dumbbells and barbells are more effective than machines in building muscle mass. Free weights tend to make your ancillary muscles work as well, since you need to balance the dumbbells when you lift them. The greater range of motion afforded by free weights simply increases the number of muscles utilized in the training and so results are better.

Here are a few additional tips in gaining muscle mass:

- When lifting free weights, it is advisable to do 12-16 sets per exercise. Find a weight that causes muscle failure (when the muscles can’t handle any more repetitions) within 8-12 repetitions per set. You may need to pace yourself when only starting out, then gradually work your way up to this setup.

- Pay attention to muscles that are less developed and work on them more to achieve a balanced physique.

- Exercise only two or three muscle groups in a day. It’s advisable to work out your shoulders, triceps, and chest on the same day, and your biceps and back on the next gym session.

20 Mass Gaining Tips for the Hard Gainer. If you are having a hard time gaining muscle mass or, if you just want to have a little more information on how to stay on track with continuing gains in your muscle mass, here are 20 tried and true bodybuilding tips. Learn these 20 tips and apply them to your bodybuilding program regularly.

1. Increase resistance regularly. Your muscles will grow in response to increased demand upon them. You must regularly increase your weight, reps, or intensity in order to increase your muscle mass.

2. Use Moderate Reps. Sets of 6 to 10 reps are best for bodybuilders. Sets of five or less reps tend to build more strength than muscle mass and sets greater than 10 reps tend to increase endurance in a muscle, rather than cause it to grow in size. (The exceptions to this rule are calves, abdominals, and forearms, which tend to respond best in rep ranges of 10 to 15).

3. Use Basic Exercises. Build your workouts around compound multi-joint movements such as squats, deadlifts, barbell rows, military presses, and bench presses (inclined, flat and decline).

4. Eat Protein Frequently. Every day you should consume 1 to 1.5 grams of quality protein for each pound of body weight. Divide this intake into five or six meals that are spaced no more than three hours apart. Try to get most of this protein from animal sources like beef, fish, dairy and high quality protein supplements.

5. Do Not Use Shortcuts. Avoid trying to speed up your progress by working out too much without sufficient rest, taking steroids, eating too many unnecessary calories and using weights that are too heavy. These methods will do more harm than good in the long run.

6. Evaluate Your Physique. Take a good look at yourself in a mirror and do an honest assessment of your weak points and strong points. Arrange your exercises to hit your lagging muscles first when you are strong, and hit your best bodyparts last. If your shoulders tend to be narrow, be sure to emphasize deltoid movements, especially lateral raises. If your hips tend to be wide, you may need to prioritize your lats to create the V- taper.

7. Get Enough Rest. You grow when you are resting, not when you are training. Allow four days of rest between workouts for each muscle group to recover and grow. Be sure to get seven to eight hours of sleep each night for maximal muscle growth.

8. Create Intensity. Use advanced techniques such as partial reps, drop sets, and forced reps on most of your sets. This will all allow you to push your muscles past failure and trigger even more muscle growth.

9. Try New Equipment. You should base your bodybuilding program around compound free weight exercises as mentioned in Tip number 3, but don’t be afraid to experiment with some of the machines that are available in your gym. Some machines can stress your muscles in new and different ways which can stimulate new muscle growth.

10. Make Periodic Changes. Every month or two alter the order in which you do your exercises, or alter the exercises you do for a particular body part, or alter the number of sets and reps. Your muscles will become accustomed to the same workouts if they are repeated over and over again. Periodic changes will keep your muscles from adapting and therefore continue to stimulate new muscular growth.

11. Know Your Limits. Understand what your realistic potential is in the sport of bodybuilding. If you are unlikely to compete at a champion level, be realistic about how much money you spend on supplements, how much time you spend in the gym, and how much effort you put into your training. There is no sense in going broke, alienating your family, and risking injury f there is realistically no real possibility of ever making it to the pro level.

12. Supplement Your Diet. As a bodybuilder, you need much more protein and other nutrients than your average person. Be sure to supplement your diet with protein powder, creatine, multivitamins, glutamine, etc. in order to meet the additional demands on your muscles.

13. Prevent Injuries. One of the biggest potential roadblocks to your muscle building success is a training injury. A serious muscle tear or tending injury will not only halt your progress in the short term, but in some cases can limit your long term success as a bodybuilder. Always warm up and stretch before getting to your heavy sets. Start with a relatively light weight and pyramid up from there to your heaviest set. Be sure to use a spotter or power rack on your heaviest sets.

14. Limit Your Volume. Don’t do more than about 15 working sets for your larger body parts (quadriceps, back, chest) and no more than 12 working sets for smaller muscle groups (biceps, triceps, forearms, hamstrings, cabs and abdominals).

15. Prioritize your Weakest Muscle Groups. Whenever possible, train your weakest body parts first, when you have more energy and strength. If certain muscle groups continually lag behind, increase the volume on those body parts, and possibly decreased the volume in your strongest body parts until your body reaches a better balance.

16. Train Your Entire Body. Do not neglect any body part. Be sure to train your forearms, legs, and lower back just as vigorously as youre training chest and biceps.

17. Learn to Control Your Muscles. Practice flexing each muscle in your body. This will help to develop the mind-muscle connection that will enable you to apply more force in each repetition of your exercises.

18. Trust Your Instincts. After you have been training for about a year, you should have a good idea of which exercises and techniques work best for you. You should also have some idea about which time of day you feel the strongest. The more closely you monitor your body and the way you feel after a workout, the better you will be able to increase your intensity, and therefore increase your muscle mass.

19. Set Achievable Goals. You should always have a goal you are working towards. You should have some short-term goals such as adding 10 pounds to your bench press, adding a half-inch to your biceps, or losing and inch around your waist. Short-term goals should be achievable in a time frame of several weeks to a couple of months. In addition, you should have a few long-term goals such as gaining 10 pounds of muscle in one year, increasing your bench press to 300 pounds, or competing in your first bodybuilding contest. Goals are essential to keep you motivated and to give you a sense of accomplishment as you reach each one.

20. Keep A Positive Attitude. It has been said that your attitude determines your altitude. This is especially true when it comes to changing your body from an average one to a powerful and muscular one.

Muscular gains do not come easy, but if you keep a positive mental outlook, continually look forward to your next work out and apply these 20 tips, you will see great improvements to your physique in a short period of time.

Having trouble gaining muscle mass? You’ve probably tried all sorts of garbage hyped by bodybuilding magazines as “the latest breakthrough” for great muscle gains, but have you really sit down and structure a high protein diet plan in order to incite positive changes with your physique? Before I cover my way of structuring the best diet for building muscle, it’s essential that you sink in a couple of important points beforehand:

1. You’re required to eat about 5 to 6 meals spaced out every 3 to 4 hours, day in day out, otherwise you can forget about having a strong and lean body.

2. Realize that the best diet for building muscle mass involves consuming the appropriate ratio of protein, carbohydrates, and essential fatty acids or generally known as the “good” fats.

So to put on more muscle size, I’d recommend a daily caloric intake of 50% protein, 30% carbohydrates, and finally, 20% fat. Don’t subscribe to the common belief that a high protein diet plan may interfere with the proper function of the kidneys. Remember you’re not planning to lounge on the couch, watching TV while nibbling on junk foods all day. You’re goal is to put on weight by increasing muscle size and the only way to accomplish this is to go on a high protein diet plan. Alright I’m going to stop jabbering now and let you in on how I plan the best diet for building muscle.

Meal Structure 1:

The most important meal of the day, breakfast – 1 scoop of whey protein, 2 whole eggs, 1 mug of low fat milk, a bowl of oats, and a capsule of high-potency multivitamin = 44 grams of protein.

Lunch time – A cup of brown rice, 3.5 oz grilled chicken with 2 egg whites plus mix veggies, and vitamin C = 36 grams of protein.

The third meal – 4 whole eggs, a scoop of whey protein, a cup of pasta and a tablespoon of flaxseed oil = 48 grams of protein.

Dinner – Tuna in water sandwich along with an apple or banana plus vitamin C = 30 grams of protein.

Pre-Bedtime meal – 1 scoop of whey mixed with a large glass of low fat milk, a small cup of yogurt and 1 tablespoon of flaxseed oil = 32 grams of protein.

Meal Structure 2 (workout day):

Breakfast – 1 scoop of whey protein, 1 lean burger patty with 2 whole grain bread, an apple, 1 multivitamin plus a tablespoon of flaxseed oil = 44 grams of protein.

Lunch – A cup of brown rice, 4 oz of stir fry beef with 2 whole eggs, mix veggies and a vitamin C = 40 grams of protein.

Pre-workout meal – A scoop of whey with milk, a bowl of oats and a banana = 32 grams of protein

Post-workout meal – 1 and a half scoop of whey along with a glass of lemonade for spiking insulin through the roof! = 36 grams of protein

Dinner – 3.5 oz chicken breast strips with 1 baked potato, mix veggies and vitamin C = 30 grams of protein.

Pre-Bedtime meal – Another scoop of whey protein mixed with milk, a quarter cup of cottage cheese, a piece of whole grain toast and of course, a tablespoon of flax seed oil = 39 grams of protein

I weigh approximately 175 pounds so I’d try to consume at least a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight on a daily basis. The first meal and second meal nets a grand total of 190 grams and 221 grams of protein respectively. As far as I’m concerned this is the best diet for building muscle. This kind high protein diet plan has served me well so far, and you may use it as a guideline for structuring your very own mass gaining diet.

Lean Muscle Diet Tips

When looking to gain muscle mass we all know you need to eat more throughout the day to help your body build and repair muscle tissue. But let’s take a bigger view of the situation; why are you bulking up? I would imagine all of you are saying I want bigger muscles, I want LEAN muscle gain but none of your are thinking I want to gain ‘weight’ in the form of muscle AND fat.

As none of us want to gain fat when bulking, if possible, our diet must reflect this with planned meals that enable the body to gain lean muscle mass whilst limiting the amount of unwanted fat gain. This also has the added benefit that it will be much easier to lose any unwanted bodyfat so that you can cut down and have a lean, muscular physique.

The first point to make is that when bulking we must eat more calories throughout the day. After the amount of calories has been decided the diet must be made up of a balance of carbohydrates, protein and fat, usually in the region of 50% 30% 20% respectively.

Not just what we eat, but how and when we eat will also affect our lean muscle and/or fat gain. For example the majority of your carbohydrates can be eaten around your workout to give you energy and also increase the uptake of nutrients to enhance muscle gain. However at other periods during the day it may be beneficial to decrease the amount of calories you gain from the carbohydrates you eat to decrease fat storage.

Let’s now take a look at what a sample daily meal plan would look like. I have placed the workout at around 5 or 6 o’clock as this is when most people will train, however you can change the pre workout meal and the post workout shake to fit around your workout if it is at a different time.

Sample Lean Muscle Gain Diet Plan

Breakfast

60g Oats

Protein Shake

EFA (Fish Oil/Flaxseed etc)

Multivitamin

Lots of carbohydrates are need in the morning to give you energy and to kick start your system to uptake nutrients. A protein shake is also a fast acting source of protein to help your muscles start recovering after many hours without food. The fat in this meal comes from a very good source in the form of a ‘good fat’ supplement, or this can be substituted for almonds.

Mid-Morning Snack

Chicken Breast

30g Wholegrain Rice (dry weight)

Flaxseed Oil/Almonds

This meals contains slow release carbohydrates, protein to build muscle and good fats.

Lunch

400g Sweet Potato

Turkey Breast Fillet

Almonds/EFA Supplement

Pre Workout

90g Wholegrain Rice/Oats

Chicken/Turkey Breast/Protein Shake

Almonds/Peanuts/EFA Supplement

Creatine or Nitric Oxide Supplement

The pre-workout meal is vital, as it will ensure you have plenty of energy for your training. Lots of carbohydrates are included with a healthy serving of protein as with every meal, and fat for even more energy.

Included in this meal is your creatine or nitric oxide supplement to boost your performance to levels that food alone cannot reach. If choosing a nitric oxide supplement I would recommend one with creatine included.

Post Workout Shake

Weight Gain Supplement (making up roughly 60g carbs, 30g protein and some fat)

Dinner

Lean Steak

Broccoli/Spinach/Asparagus

EFA Supplement/Almonds

This meal includes high levels of protein and fat, but the carbohydrates are limited as they are not needed here. The green vegetables will provide nutrients and slow release carbohydrates (of which there are minimal amounts). Again fat is included in every meal (and limited post workout).

Conclusion

As you can see the amount of carbohydrates, protein and fat varies throughout the day to ensure most muscle gain with minimal fat gain. Of course when bulking up you should expect some fat gain but making sure you eat the right nutrients at the right time can reduce this.

Eating the right amount of calories with this type of diet plan should help you gain the lean muscle you want (of course I can’t say ‘will’ as there are many other factors involved). Following a diet similar to this will put you on the right path to the results you desire!

Protein intake is absolutely crucial for building muscle mass. It is what muscle tissue is made of. So how can you possibly gain muscle by eating NO protein?

To help answer this question, we need to first look at a training technique known as carbohydrate or carb-loading. Carb-loading is used primarily by endurance athletes to increase glycogen stores in the muscles beyond what the body will normally store. This increased fuel storage equals greater endurance. This phenomenon is known as “supercompensation” and it is very well documented.

The basic technique for carb-loading involves first eliminating carbs from the diet for several days while continuing to train hard. Training is then reduced and the athlete eats large amounts of carbs, in effect “loading” the muscles with glycogen (stored carbohydrates). Since the body has been deprived of carbs, it reacts to the extra carbs by greedily holding onto every last one it can. This technique can result in glycogen stores up to 1 1/2 times greater than normal.

But what does carb-loading have to do with eating no protein and gaining muscle? Everything.

In the context of supercompensation, imagine the result if you were to remove protein from your diet for a day. Just like with carb-loading, your body will react by greedily holding onto every last bit of protein it can. But here’s the major difference: when accompanied by appropriate training, unlike with carb-loading where the extra carbs are burnt for fuel, you can convince your body to hang onto that extra protein permanently. How does this happen? By using it to build muscle, which is the primary storehouse of protein in your body.

How To Do It:

Note: before I tell you exactly how to do it, please keep in mind that I am not a medical doctor or nutritionist. This information is for educational purposes only and you should always consult your physician before making any major changes to your diet.

The technique consists of 3 phases: lead-up, protein deprivation, and supercompensation. These phases work synergistically to produce the conditions for very quick muscle gain.

In a nutshell, the lead-up phase consists of your training and diet for the several days before the protein deprivation day. The protein deprivation day is simply a day without protein. The supercompensation phase is the nutrition and training techniques you will use to maximize the rebound off the protein deprivation day.

I first encountered this technique a number of years ago in the writings of Leo Costa Jr. of Optimum Training Systems. He originated this theory after noting that farmers in Bulgaria would rotate protein in and out of the diets of their livestock to improve the amount and quality of the meat in the animals. He applied this technique to humans and weight training with amazing results!

Phase 1 – The Lead Up

There are several ways you can go about leading up to your protein deprivation day.

The first way is to continue with your regular diet and training right up until the day you do the protein deprivation technique. Take it relatively easy on your training – work hard but don’t push yourself. Take a full day (or two) off training the day before you do the protein starvation day to make sure you’re fully rested.

The second method involves temporarily restricting your carb intake before the protein deprivation day. (It is important to check with your doctor before restricting carbs in your diet, especially if you’ve never done it before.)

Basically, during the 3 days leading up to your protein deprivation day, you will keep your carb intake to around 30 to 50 grams per day (don’t change anything else in your diet, just reduce your carb intake).

Restricting your carbs will deplete your body’s glycogen stores, forcing it to rely more on fat and protein for energy. Remember the example I used in the beginning of the article about carb- loading? In the supercompensation phase, you will see how restricting then reloading your carbs, when properly combined with protein deprivation, can really shock your body into new muscle growth.

Phase 2 – The Protein Deprivation Day

This is the day that will set up the supercompensation, muscle-building phase. Essentially, you will be eating only fruit today – nothing else. You will be completely eliminating protein (and fat, incidentally) from your diet. What are the results of this? Your body uses up its protein stores and, just like in carb-loading, this creates an urgent need in your body to store the missing nutrient when it gets it again.

Eat as much fruit as you want on this day – apples, oranges, strawberries, bananas, whatever. You don’t need to limit your intake at all. As long as you keep eating fruit, your body will use up its protein stores (known as the free amino acid pool) and set up the supercompensation phase. Also, eating only fruit for a day is very cleansing to your body. You may even find this day helps your digestive system function better.

As far as training goes, you have several options:

1. You can take a day off training. Depending on how your body reacts to protein deprivation, you may not feel like training at all. This is fine. You’ll still get the effect of the protein deprivation, just not as strongly as if you were training.

2. Do a normal workout. Train the way you regularly train, treating the day as just another day in your exercise routine. Working out will help to increase the effect of the protein deprivation day by creating an even more urgent need in your body to hold onto protein.

3. Break it down hard. To maximize the supercompensation effect of the protein deprivation day, train for maximum muscle breakdown. Use heavy, basic exercises and really push yourself, e.g. use exercises such as squats or deadlifts, bench press, bent-over rows, shoulder presses, barbell curls and dips. Training like this on a protein deprivation day will send your body into a panic. It will really be ready to suck up that protein!

Be very careful when training on the all-fruit day for the first time. You may not have as much strength as you normally would. Be sure to eat a lot of fruit or drink fruit juice immediately after you’ve completed your workout. It is also important to drink a lot of water on this day as your body will be flushing out a lot of toxic byproducts from the system.

Phase 3 – Supercompensation

This is the phase you’ve been waiting for. You’ve just finished depriving your body of protein for an entire day and it’s ready to start sucking it up.

The first day is the most important day. Start your day with a protein shake (if you have that available) immediately upon waking. Every meal you eat today should be very high protein. To maximize the effect of the protein deprivation day, you should try to eat at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight MINIMUM (i.e. if you weigh 200 pounds, eat 200 grams of protein). If you can eat more, do it.

Continue eating very high protein meals for the next 3 to 5 days. Your body is in the process of reloading with protein and you want to make sure you give it as much as you possibly can (just like with carb-loading). Your body will be supercompensating for the protein deprivation day by grabbing and holding onto a lot more of this protein than it normally would.

Now you must train to consolidate into muscle the extra protein your body is holding on to. For best results, you will need to train hard and heavy. Utilize basic exercises such as squats, deadlifts, bench presses, etc. for sets of 6 to 8 reps. Because of the protein deprivation and supercompensation effect, your body will be looking to hold onto a lot more protein, i.e. muscle mass, than usual.

Now, remember in Phase 1 where I described a restricted carb version of the lead-in phase? Here’s where it really shows its power. Not only are you doing a protein-load in the third phase, you will also be doing a carb-load! What does that mean for you? It means even greater muscle growth.

When you eat carbs, your body secretes the hormone insulin. Insulin is the body’s major storage hormone. It helps the body store carbs. It helps the body store fat. But, most importantly for us, it also helps the body store protein. By restricting carbs for a few days, you sensitize your body to carbs and insulin.

Here’s why this is important: you’ve just eliminated protein from your diet for a day and your body is ready to suck up every last bit of protein it can. Now you can also flood it with carbs (and insulin) which your body is now more sensitive to because of your previous carb restriction. The result: your muscles take up even more protein, which means you can gain even more muscle very quickly!

Conclusion:

It’s truly amazing what an incredible effect purposefully restricting or removing a major nutrient such as protein (or carbs) can do for muscle growth. Your body is greedy. It doesn’t like to be deprived. By taking something away, you can fool your body into holding onto a whole lot more of it when you bring it back.

With the techniques described in this article, you can add pounds of new muscle to your body in a very short period of time.

There are 3 simple, proven steps you need to follow in order to build muscle mass. This article will reveal all three in just a moment.

But first, let me ask, are you sick and tired of training every day, with little or no results to show for it? Are you sick and tired of looking in the mirror and seeing that same skinny person staring back at you day after day? Are you simply fed up with being skinny?

Well, this is the first step you have to take in your way of achieving a muscular body. You have to realize that a change needs to occur and that you’re not where you want to be.

Then, when you’ve realized that you really want to build muscle mass, all you have to do is get to work.

Easier said than done. Soon, if you’re a hard gainer, you’ll be asking yourself why isn’t there any increase in your muscle mass.

You may be asking yourself, why your past efforts seemed to have failed. You may be even asking yourself if all of your hard work was even worth it and if it’s even possible for you to build muscle mass.

If you want to build muscle, you’re going to have to understand the process. In order to build muscle mass, you’ll need to:

1) Organize a training plan that is conducive to building muscle.

You’ll need to organize a training program that focuses on building mass, strength, and muscle. The program needs to be structured in a way that optimizes your body’s natural strength.

You’ll need to use certain equipment that uses variable resistance that’s needed to stress or stimulate the muscle into growth.

You can use free weights like barbells and dumbbells, machines that incorporate pulley’s and cables such as the universal or home gym, or body weight exercises like chin ups or push ups.

Through the use of compound movements such as the bench press, shoulder press, barbell bent over rows, squats, and dead lifts, you incorporate supporting muscles as well as the targeted muscle, which equals more strength.

All things being equal, this will mean more muscle growth. Once you start using compound movements in your weight training program, you’ll start to use something called progressive resistance.

When you increase the amount of weight you lift on a continuing basis, your muscle fibers adapt to these greater demands by gaining strength and size. This is how you build muscle mass.

2) Organize a consistent meal schedule that will coincide with your current lifestyle.

The meal schedule must contain the necessary calories, protein, carbohydrates, and fat to sustain a healthy increase in lean body weight.

If you’re wondering how to build muscle mass, this is the solution. To gain muscle, you need to eat. On a consistent basis – more calories on a daily basis than your body burns.

You need a consistent diet that is conducive to building muscle. If you simply change your eating habits around a little, you’ll start to grow and that you’ll start to see the results immediately.

Nutrition doesn’t have to be complicated. As long as you remember a few key points, you’ll do fine.

There you have the most basic, proven formula for building muscle mass: hard and heavy training followed by rest and consuming quality calories in the form of protein, carbohydrates, and fat.

Protein, carbohydrates, and fat need to be structured in a balanced combination to support optimal muscle growth while maintaining overall good health. Once you have your diet down to a science, you’ll gain muscle mass.

3) Rest

Rest is one of the main factors for building muscle mass. Simply put, you have to rest in order to allow your body the time it needs to grow.

You need to give your body the time it needs to recuperate from the physical demands of your workouts. By putting constant stress on your body with no rest, you will stop your growth cold.

It is very important that you get the proper amount of rest in order to allow your body to grow. The amount of rest necessary will depend on your age, genetics, and current state of health.

If you’re a beginner, you generally need anywhere from two to three days rest. Depending on your intensity levels, you may need more. If you are training at high intensity, you may need three to four days rest.

If you feel any soreness in your body on your training day, your body is telling you to take another day off. You shouldn’t feel any soreness whatsoever on your training days.

You should feel strong, rested and energized each and every workout. If you feel tired, sore and drained of energy, you are either overtraining, under nourished, or under rested. Take the necessary time off, to fully recuperate from your workouts and come back ready to attack the weight.

Building muscle mass is going to take a lot of hard work and consistency, but if you follow this information closely, you’ll gain the muscle mass you want.

If you don’t see a pound after the first week, don’t give up because this process doesn’t happen overnight. If you keep consistent at your diet, training, and rest, your body will have no choice but to grow and build muscle mass.

It is the eternal dilemma of most skinny, bony men- how to gain muscle and weight, and look less like a scrawny kid. It is one of the strong reasons why gyms and training centers have all come to proliferation. More men, and even some women, want a highly defined body, one that has all the right contours of muscle and the over-all appearance of good health.

However, what are the perfect means to gain muscle and weight? Are there any pills that can transform any emaciated body to a ripping muscle wonder? Are those protein shakes advisable and effective in gaining weight and building muscle? Will simple cardio exercises aid in weight gaining and muscle building? These are the questions frequently raised by those who wished they had toned biceps and washboard abs.

The truth of the matter is that to gain muscle and weight, you must be able to achieve the right combination of a weight gaining diet and a muscle building set of exercises. You cannot maintain your eating habits yet expect to gain a pound. In the same way, you cannot expect your muscles to develop if you do not stress them to a certain degree through muscle building exercises.

Weight gaining involves eating the right food at the right amounts, and at regular intervals. High calorie meals are most advisable if you want to gain more poundage. A square meal should be composed of carbohydrates like brown rice, potatoes, and other starchy vegetables, protein like lean chicken, beef, and egg whites, and fiber like leafy greens and fresh fruits. To gain muscle and weight, spread out your meals to six times per day, or eat every two to three hours or so.

It is also vital not to overwork yourself during workouts. You will also be able to maintain your bodybuilding workouts if you do not overstrain yourself. A high calorie but also diet plus a good muscle building plan will surely work. Through this you will gain muscle and weight effectively.

A set of thrice per week bodybuilding exercises would be ideal for muscle enhancement. However if you feel you can tolerate more than this, perhaps four times per week, then that would be fine. Squats, dips, and dead lifts are exercises for muscle building.

Work according to your natural pace and observe how you improve on strength and endurance every single day. Your body will eventually adapt to the increased activity and cooperate in due course.

A well muscled, well toned body is like a status symbol nowadays. If you don’t have one, it’s like your way behind the health trend and is taken to mean that you are not really serious about your health. Build your health up and gain muscle and weight for better physical confidence. Click on my website and see how it can help you attain a good shape.

Many men and some women are interested in building muscle mass. Building muscle mass will not only increase our metabolism rate but also give a stronger more solid body. Whatever reasons that you have for building muscle mass, be it to look better or get fitter or even because you are in the bodybuilding business, you must know that building muscle mass is serious stuff. Building muscle mass with the wrong techniques will injure your body only. There are rules that you have to follow:

1) Form and technique – This is the most important rule! You must and i stress again, you must learn the correct form and technique. Many professionals have brought this issue to light but many people are still not listening and dismissing this important rule. Without proper form and technique you risk injuring your body and may even have to stop your training program if the injury becomes serious. One way you can do this is just ask and get advice from a personal trainer or even any bodybuilder in the gym. You can even request them to have a few sessions with you for you to understand and learn the proper form and technique.

2) Consistency – You are interested in building muscle mass but how committed are you? Many people can easily say “yes i want to build muscle” but they do not commit themselves to continue working out and some stop even after a month or less. One main ingredient to building muscle mass is consistency. You have to be consistent and stay focused till the end. Get support from your friends and family. Get a gym buddy to help you out or find a professional in the gym and nicely ask if you could join him daily in his workout. Besides training consistently, you have to ensure you eat well and sleep well consistently too.

3) Weights – Many people go to the gym and when they look at the professionals lifting heavy weights, they want to copy them as well. They think that by lifting heavy they will get bigger and stronger faster. Professionals have also state that you do not go heavy in the beginning. If you lift heavy right away, you risk injuring your body and develop poor mass. You must note that building muscle mass or bodybuilding is progressive, correct techniques and consistency.

4) Rest – One very very important rule is to recover and rest well everyday after your training. It is important not to overtrain yourself. Professionals state that you should not to train the same muscle group two days in a row. The reason why rest and recovery is important is because it allows your muscles to rebuild and as they do, they get bigger. When you work out, the muscle fibers in the muscle tissue tear through the reps you perform. When you rest, the fibers rebuild themselves but they also produce protein filaments resulting in you gaining more muscle mass.

5) Diet – Proper diet is another important rule. The kitchen is another battle you have to win. Proper diet including meal frequency, meal size and the type of food you consume affects your body greatly. Proper diet will help your you and your body to be able to train and recover efficiently everyday. It is crucial that you maintain a balanced diet and be consistent as it is just as important as exercise.

Therefore, when thinking of building muscle mass, do remember these 5 rules and you will not go wrong.

Many people want to know how to build muscle mass for one reason or the other. They search various sources to know how to build lean muscle mass and start following the most attractive program without confirming suitability of that program. As a result inspite of spending their hard earned money and doing rigorous workouts, they don’t get expected results.

At last such people become bored from switching over from one program to another and loose their interest in building muscle mass. Before following the latest fast way to build muscles fad, you need to analyze your physical requirements, environment you are exposed to, genetic characteristics, personal limitations and the available time etc.

Due to involvement of so many factors, an exercise schedule devised for building muscle mass of a person can’t be suitable for another person. Hence, develop your own program for building muscle mass with the help of a qualified and experienced trainer and follow this program with determination and commitment. Maintain a progress chart to review the results of particular mass gaining exercises. The results of any program devised to gain mass can be improved multiple times by following a professionally prepared diet chart. Now, I am going to tell you to develop some eating habits for improving the results of ongoing muscle mass building program:



Eat after every 3 hours- By supplying vital nutrients constantly to your body, you enhance metabolism as well as stimulate muscle building.

Eat 4-6 small meals a day- Habit of Eating big meal in a single sitting may make your body more prone to fat storing. This tendency may counter the results of your muscle mass building activities.

Post workout nutrition- It is must to have good nutrition just after workouts done to gain mass otherwise all your efforts will go waste. Easily digestible protein shakes are considered good for supplying instant energy and to rebuild torn muscle tissues.

Concentrate more on quality of foods- There is no use of muscle mass building exercises unless you eat healthy foods containing lean protein, complex carbohydrates and essential acids. To calculate the needed quantity of protein and carbohydrates, you may use following quote as a thumb rule: ‘Around 2 grams carbohydrates and 1grams protein are required per pound of total body weight.’

Drink water in sufficient quantity: Sufficient presence of water in your body improves the results multiple times.



If you do not have the time or money for a personal trainer then click below to get an online virtual trainer with one of the nets most popular bodybuilding guides that can have you packing on muscle before you know it!

http://www.102tips.info/bodybuilding

Bodybuilders usually have one or two immediate goals: They want to lose bodyfat and get ripped, or they want to pack on muscle size. The Holy Grail would be to accomplish both, but that’s hardly realistic, since it involves going in two opposing directions at the same time. The most you can hope for is to maintain your muscle while you’re losing fat. Building muscular bulk is an entirely different process from cutting up.

In years past the diet portion of acquiring muscle could best be described as haphazard. You simply ate anything that wasn’t nailed down. That, of course, resulted in not just lean mass gains but also a hefty increase in bodyfat. The next step involved reducing calories or carbs or both until you lost the excess fat. Under ideal conditions you also kept most of the muscle gained during your bulking-up phase.

For a classic example of the comparatively primitive bulk-up/cut-down process take a look at Bruce Randall, who began his bulking phase while he was in the U.S. Marine Corps in the early 1950s. He consumed prodigious amounts of food (courtesy of Uncle Sam) including dozens of eggs, quarts of whole milk and plenty of bread. That diet led Randall to a body-weight of more than 400 pounds, but he wasn’t just another fat, sloppy guy. He lifted actively during his entire hulking period, doing some extraordinary lifts, such as good mornings with 900 pounds.

I recall being told a story about the time Randall visited a New York gym for a workout during those days. He opted to do incline presses but for some reason decided to move the bench, which he did. Only after he moved the bench from one end of the gym to the other did Randall realize that the bench had been bolted to the floor. He was so powerful that he ripped the bench from its moorings without realizing it.

Randall later began training for bodybuilding competitions and, through a stringent diet and training program, dropped his weight from 405 to 187. He then increased it to 227 and won the ‘59 NABBA Mr. Universe title in London. His trophy was presented to him at the contest by buxom film star Jayne Mansfield.

A more recent example of a successful hulking program was that of two-time Mr. Universe and star of the “Incredible Hulk” TV series, Lou Ferrigno. When Lou started back in Brooklyn he was skinny, though a enthusiastic young bodybuilder. After a few years of training Ferrigno weighing nearly 300 pounds. What had he done to achieve such phenomenal mass gains?

“Plenty of milk and food,” he said.

And therein lies the key to success in gaining muscular size. You simply have to eat more. These days the object is not to gain just any type of weight, but to ensure that what you gain is mainly muscle. The problem is, you must still increase your calories. There’s simply no way around that, regardless of what you hear or read.

That last statement must be qualified to a certain extent. Using certain anabolic drugs, including anabolic steroids, growth hormone and insulin, among others, can indeed increase muscle size, but even with their assistance, you still need to eat and train properly to build quality muscle. In fact, emerging research shows that you can manipulate your body’s anabolic hormones by making certain adjustments in your diet and supplement regimen. That way you fine-tune your gains so they’re mostly lean mass rather than a combination of muscle and too much fat.

One common question about gaining muscle is, How much can I realistically expect to gain? The amount of lean mass gains varies among individuals due to such factors as genetics, body structure and training intensity. Those who are blessed with a combination of naturally high androgen, or testosterone, levels and a high percentage of fast-twitch muscle fibers will make the most rapid initial gains, but even those who have less of a genetic head start will nonetheless make impressive gains by eating properly and training hard. A bodybuilding axiom holds that you make your best ever gains when you first begin training, simply because your body isn’t used to it and responds rapidly to the added stress of exercise. As you progress to the advanced level, adding muscle each year becomes increasingly difficult regardless of genetics.

Mass-With-Class Weight-Gain Diet

Meal 1

1 cup orange juice

1 cup oatmeal

1 cup milk

4 scrambled eggs

2 slices whole-grain toast with butter (no margarine; avoid transfats)

Meal 2

8-ounce hamburger

1 large baked potato

Tossed