Building Muscle Fast | Even Skinny Guys Can Build Muscle Fast

Hard Gainer Secrets To Building Muscle Fast

admin — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 11:50:59 +0000

As we age our ability to build muscle slows. Also the hard gainers among us just don’t have the genetics – we are naturally very skinny no matter how much we eat. Don’t despair if you are a hard gainer or approaching middle age as there are a few secrets to building muscle fast that work regardless of your situation. First off lets be realistic. Beginners are always impatient when it comes to building muscle. The simple fact is that on average the body can only create a maximum of 0.5-2.5 a pound of muscle a week. Your slower growing bones and sinews also need to grow to support your muscles before your muscles can cater for the increase in progressive weight loads.

How To Gain Muscle Fast

So how can a hard-gainer or an old guy like me gain muscle fast?

There are three broad principles for building muscle fast:

Progressively increase weight
Get plenty of sleep & rest
Eat muscle building foods

Hard-gainers often fall into the trap of sticking to the same routine. You should change your routine regularly – don’t just change the weight you should also vary the angles, types of exercise, and number of repetitions. Each week I cycle between different repetitions and weights:

aerobic one week (low weight lots of repetitions),
mass the next week (progressive weight increase, medium repetitions),
strength the final week (low reps (6), lots of sets with heavy weights ) .. re-cycle

Rest is very important for recuperation after an intense workout. Muscle is actually burnt for fuel so it needs replacing and sleep is important for muscle to be repaired. Another mistake that hard gainers especially make is over exercising muscle groups. It’s best to exercise each muscle group only once a week – wait for it to recover and build up so you can push even more weight the following week.

My routine is
   Monday – Aerobic
   Tuesday – Chest/Triceps
   Wednesday – Back/Biceps
   Thursday – Shoulders/Legs
   Friday – Aerobic

The days you do exercise you need to hit the muscle with multiple exercises, sufficient to feel pumped and soreness the next day.

Muscle Building Foods

Protein is needed for building muscle. A bodybuilder’s diet is pretty attractive for most men as it consists of lots of high quality protein. But on the downside you will need to avoid simple carbohydrate foods such as refined sugar, flour, bread etc. especially if you want ripping abdominal muscles. As mentioned previously since you can only grow muscle at a maximum of 0-5.-2.5 pounds a week then stuffing yourself with an over supply of protein is just a waste of your money. Especially given that human milk only contains about 10% protein based on the calories. A balanced diet is the key

The fast muscle building foods (in order of preference)

Whey powder
Eggs (remove the egg yokes)
Animal protein (fish, chicken and red meat)

Gain Muscle Loose Fat

The big advantage of gaining muscle is that your metabolism increases. This is especially important as we approach middle age as our metabolism slows down. Muscle needs lots of calories to perform, so by building muscle you are helping to keep the weight down. A wonderful added benefit for building muscle fast.

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Building Muscle In Middle Age

admin — Sun, 16 May 2010 13:49:29 +0000

A new discovery offers us old guys hope in building muscle mass fast! Many older men are unable to get the full benefits of weight training as they are unable to lift heavy weights (needed to stimulate muscle growth) due to to arthritis and other conditions. Also physiologically older men are unable to get the gains in muscle growth post-workout as younger men can. But there is hope!

Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have discovered that restricting the flow of blood moderately through muscles combined with low-level resistance exercise produces muscle-mass in older men (average age 70).

"We think that this may be a novel treatment for older people who need to bring their muscle mass back up," said professor Blake Rasmussen

Body builders have been using the technique for years when they noticed restricting blood flow made light weights feel heavier.

"We saw that when we put the cuffs on, they responded similarly to young people doing traditional high-intensity resistance exercise. The low-intensity exercise produced increases in protein synthesis, and activated two cellular pathways that stimulate protein synthesis and muscle growth in the post-exercise period.", said graduate student Christopher Fry, the lead author of the paper.

This new research offers an exciting opportunity for us middle age guys to catch up to the younger guys in building muscle mass fast.

SOURCE: University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston

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Gain Muscle – Lose Fat And Other Benefits

admin — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:58:00 +0000

Body Builders are the definitive experts in body sculpting. They know how to gain muscle and lose fat through practical application, not just theory. Despite the claims of the diet industry there is still no magic diet pill. If there were a “magic diet pill” then two-thirds of adults in the United States would not be overweight – source Weight-control Information Network. The only “magic pill” for losing fat is to gain muscle.

There is a lot of conflicting advice on nutrition and exercise. Most diets help you lose fat but also result in you losing muscle mass and lowering your metabolism. This is one of the reasons why diets don’t work. Body Building is a complete nutrition system and an enjoyable lifestyle – it’s not a diet. Diets are not lifestyles they are burdens which is why people only maintain them short term.

Gaining muscle is no quick fix. Even though diets are advertised as such, diets are only temporary changes to your eating habits that set you up to fail. Body building on the other hand is a lifelong habit that sets you up to success in Life. For a body builders losing fat is not complicated but at the same time it’s not easy – effort is required in daily scheduled exercise habits.

Low calorie diets deceptively do result in initial weight loss but they don’t work over time. You can’t lose fat by starving yourself. Your more likely to gain it and lose muscle mass in the process. Sumo wrestlers starve themselves during the day to trick their bodies into storing fat (tricking there bodies into a survival mechanism for conserving energy). when they eventfully do eat at night their bodies rigorously store the calories as fat in preparation for the next days fast. Sumo wrestlers are masters at gaining fat by “dieting”.

A far more efficient mechanism for burning calories is exercise, and the best way to lose fat is to build muscle. It’s more permanent as well. In fact you can enjoy life and eat more (of the right) foods. This is totally contrary to most diets.

TIP: Don’t be taken in by the supplement industry. Your average supermarket has all the muscle building food you need as we will show in other articles.

The physical appearance benefits of body building are great but the health benefits of building muscle and strength are far more important as we get older. The benefits outweigh those of almost any other form of activity.

improvements in posture
increases your metabolism (your muscles consume calories even when resting)
helps control body fat
stronger bones
slows aging process and resilience to injury (especially in later life)

Treat body building as an investment into your long term health and happiness. Put in the hours and give it your full effort . Make it a habit and part of your daily life and routine. You will look forward to the natural high each day and you will be gaining muscle and losing fat in no time at all.

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How To Gain Muscle Fast – Slow Down and Rest

admin — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:28:59 +0000

We all want quick results and often feel frustrated when we see other guys working out half as much yet getting three times the muscle gain. How do these guys know how to gain muscle so fast? Therein lies the secret to their success and our unfortunate lack of progress. The Secret – “They train less and we train too much!”

You Must Rest To Gain Muscle

It comes as a big surprise to most skinny guys that they probably train too much, but 9 times out of 10 that is their big sticking point – over training. They are not giving enough time for their muscles to grow between training sessions. This is so contrarily to what you would expect – in order to gain muscle fast you need to rest as well as train hard. Let the muscles grow. However, this does not imply shirking on maximum effort while at the gym. Muscles won’t grown if they are not subjected to increasing intensity of training over time. After you train in the gym you need to rest that muscle group until it is fully recovered. By recovering fully you will have gained more muscle and therefore the strength to up the weight and intensity on your next training session. Never exercise the same muscle every day for weeks on end – you will never be able to increase the weight. Ideally setup a split routine so that each major muscle group is only trained once per week. e.g. Back/Biceps one day, Rest day, Chest/Triceps the next, Rest day, Shoulders/Legs the next. Then repeat the same the following week.

You Must Sleep To Gain Muscle

You must get at least 8 yours of sleep a night for your muscles to grow. The level of intensity required to gain muscle mass means you will be pretty exhausted at the end of the day. Your muscles don’t grown when your training – they grow when you sleep. One of the reasons we recommend against training in the evening is that it is difficult to get to sleep when your body is pumped up after a session at the gym. If possible exercise in the morning or at lunch time.

Slow Down And Feel The Muscle To Gain Muscle

Finally, when you work out at the gym don’t treat it as a race. Concentrate on the muscle you are exercising with every single repetition. Don’t think about the weight or impressing those around you. Slow down at the top of the movement and squeeze or tense the muscle for a few seconds. We are not implying that you increase the rest time between sets, try to minimize the rest time for increased stress on your muscle. Intensity of effort at the gym is important. You will have time for rest later.

So take it easy. Enjoy life. Apply our tips to your training routine to gain muscle fast; never exercise if your muscles have not fully recovered, get plenty of sleep and slow down and feel the muscle when exercising.

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Healthy Muscle Building Foods

admin — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 11:31:59 +0000

It is easy to get overwhelmed by all the body building nutrition propaganda. There are so many supplements on the market and just as much diet advice. Rightly so, you won’t build muscle fast if you just concentrate on lifting weight at the expense of nutrition. Fortunately knowing what muscle building foods are healthy and which aren’t really does just boil down to common sense.

A general recommendation that we intuitively know anyway is to eat plenty of lean meat (fish/chicken), eggs and salad. The salad is made up of good slow burning carbohydrate and red meat contains every form of muscle building amino acid known to man. Good carbohydrates (complex carbohydrates) have what is called a low glycemic index – slow release energy. They include fruits, salads and oatmeal. High glycemic index food include potatoes, white sugar and white bread – they often equate to highly processed foods. High glycemic foods contain fast release energy that is more readily converted into fat by our bodies.

Here is our list of top 9 muscle building foods

Whey Powder – whey powder is a body builders dream food. It contains quick absorbing protein and is extremely low in fat. It’s perfect after a workout. Ideally you should drink it within 15 minutes of your workout. This will help prevent you losing muscle mass.
Eggs – a single egg contains 6 grams of protein. The egg white contains the majority of the protein. Be sure to remove the egg yoke as it is high in cholesterol. Boiled eggs and omelets cooked in olive oil are are also a very quick and easy meal to prepare.
Tuna – in addition to containing protein tuna is very high in a special fat called omega-3. It’s also relatively cheap to buy. Some research suggests that omega-3 helps raise our testosterone (natural growth hormone) levels. Human growth hormone is an essential component our muscles need to grow.
Cherries – Some recent research showed that cherries help reduce inflammation after a workout. Inflammation results in a hormone called cortisol being released which actually causes us to loose muscle mass. Try adding cherries to your diet especially if you carry some recurring injury.
Nuts – nuts such as macadamias, almonds and walnuts contain protein and a lot of essential minerals, vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids. They also make an ideal snack during the day. If you feel the need to eat a candy bar eat some nuts instead.
Red meat – make sure you include lean red meat in your diet but limit to only once or twice a week since red meat contains a lot of cholesterol. Red meat is the most nutrient packed food we can possibly eat, it’s full of iron, protein and B group vitamins. It should be a part of your weekly diet.
White meat – chicken and turkey breast are lower in fat than red meat. Make sure you remove the skin and try to go for steamed or baked rather than fried poultry.
Olive oil - if you must fry food rather than steam it then use olive oil since it contains a lot of omega-3 fatty acids.

One final tip. Our bodies are built to store fat very easily – it does this for survival in times of famine. We evolved this mechanism over tens of thousands of years of evolution. We need to trick our bodies into thinking there is no need to store fat. To do this you should eat 5-6 meals a day not the 3 big meals we traditionally eat. As a general check you should never feel starving or overly full at anytime during the day. Eating every 2.5 hours or so will keep your metabolism burning fat and help maintain your muscle mass. We can trick our bodies.Good luck in building muscle fast using our tips on healthy muscle building foods.

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