I don’t like to think of liquid meals as a substitute for eating normal food. They should be used in addition to eating the normal 5-6 other meals you have in the day, which makes the time that you consume the weight gain shakes very important. I like to drink a shake after breakfast so you don’t feel too full for the rest of the day, as well as post workout when the muscles really need the nutrients.

I always choose Optimum Nutrition protein powder which comes in different flavors. I like Optimum Nutrition because I find it to be the best quality whey protein for the price, but feel free to use your favorite brand of whey protein.

To make the weight gain shakes all you will need is a blender, ice and a few easy to get supplements. You can also add some sugar or artificial sweetener to the shakes to make them taste a bit better.

Here is the list of 20 weight gain shake recipes:

#1

• 3 scoops chocolate protein powder
• 1/2 cup skim cottage cheese
• 1/2 cup Quaker Oatmeal (cook with boiling water)
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder

#2

• 3 scoops protein powder (vanilla or chocolate)
• 4 egg whites
• 1 tablespoon peanut butter
• 8 oz water
• 2 cups ice

#3

• 2 scoops vanilla protein powder
• 2 cups milk
• 2 packets of Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate mix
• 1 banana
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter

#4

• 2 cups milk
• 2 scoops vanilla protein powder
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup Quaker Oatmeal (cook with boiling water)
• 1 banana

#5

• 2 cups milk
• 1 banana
• 3 scoops vanilla protein powder
• 3 dashes of cinnamon
• 3 tablespoon flax seed oil

#6

• 1 cup Quaker Oatmeal (cook with boiling water)
• 2 cups milk
• 1 banana
• 1 egg
• dash of cinnamon

#7

• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup yogurt (strawberry)
• 2 scoops vanilla protein powder
• 4 strawberries (fresh or frozen)
• 2 ice cubes

#8

• 2 scoops chocolate protein powder
• 1 cup Quaker Oatmeal (cook with boiling water)
• 4 tablespoons peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon creatine powder
• 1 teaspoon flax seed oil
• 8 oz water

#9

• 2 frozen strawberries
• 1 egg
• 1 banana
• 2 cups milk
• 1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup

#10

• 1 cup Quaker Oatmeal (cook with boiling water)
• 2 scoops vanilla protein powder
• 1 banana
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon flax seed oil
• 4 Ice Cubes
• 8 oz water

#11

• 1/2 cup Quaker Oatmeal (cook with boiling water)
• 2 scoops vanilla protein powder
• 1 teaspoon creatine powder
• 1 teaspoon flax seed oil
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon peanut butter
• 1 banana
• 6 mixed frozen berries

#12

• 2 cups milk
• 2 scoops chocolate protein powder
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter
• 1 banana
• 1 teaspoon flax seed oil

#13

• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup Quaker Oatmeal (cook with boiling water)
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon glutamine
• 2 scoops vanilla protein powder
• 1 banana

#14

• 2 scoops vanilla protein powder
• 2 cups milk
• 10 oz chilled sweet potato
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon honey

#15

• 2 scoops chocolate protein powder
• 2 cups milk
• 1 banana
• 1 cup Quaker Oatmeal (cook with boiling water)
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder

#16

• 2 scoops chocolate protein powder
• 1/2 cup cookies n’ cream flavored ice cream
• 2 cups low fat milk
• 1/2 cup Quaker Oatmeal (cook with boiling water)
• 2 tablespoons cottage cheese
• 1/2 banana
• 2 tablespoons honey

#17

• 1 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon low fat natural yoghurt
• 1 tablespoon flax seed oil
• 1/2 cup Quaker Oatmeal (cook with boiling water)
• 1 banana
• 2 scoops vanilla protein powder

#18

• 12 oz water
• 3-4 ice cubes
• 1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon peanut butter
• 2 scoops chocolate protein powder

#19

• 6 oz water
• 3-4 ice cubes
• 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
• 6 oz coffee (instead you may use 12 oz coffee and no water for a pre-workout kick)
• 2 scoops chocolate protein powder

#20

• 2 scoops chocolate protein powder
• 1 cup low fat milk
• 4 ice cubes
• 8 oz water
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee

If you have a homemade weight gain shake recipe which is tasty and packs on the pounds, please let us know the recipe by leaving a comment.

Make sure you eat a variety of foods. This is one of those recommendations that gets thrown around a lot when planning a weight gain diet but is not specifically addressed. It’s also something that is much easier said than done. I know for myself, I get into food “ruts,” eating the same foods or fixing the same recipes for months on end.

Not only is eating the same foods over and over again boring, it may also lead to an overall lower quality diet. An aspect of the “food rut syndrome” involves getting so bored with what you’re eating that apathy sets in, going to the grocery store to buy those same old foods just isn’t cutting it, and you increasingly find yourself at the fast food drive-thru window on your way home. Sound familiar?

So, what can you do to get that food variety back in your life to gain weight? Actually, there are many different things you can do to break that dreaded food rut. Here are some food rut boredom busters you can try:

• Pull out some of your old cookbooks and peruse for a recipe that makes your mouth water. If you’re over your old cookbooks, go out to your favorite bookstore and treat yourself to a new one!
• Be spontaneous. Go to your favorite grocery store or farmer’s market and try a new food. A place to start may be the produce section. Pick out a fruit or vegetable that always looked interesting to you – but you have no earthly idea of what it is or where it comes from. Ask the produce manager for help if needed.
• As you’re walking down the supermarket aisles, yes walking not running to get through as fast as possible, stop and take the time to pick up a new food item. And since you know how to read food labels, you can look at that new food item and know with confidence if it is something you want to add to your weight gain diet.
• Try cooking some of your favorite foods different ways. I’ll give you an example. I love spinach and always have one of those packaged and pre-rinsed bags in my refrigerator. I have about ten very different and easy recipes I fix from that one bag of spinach. Depending on my mood, I may saute the spinach with garlic and olive oil and top with Feta cheese, or fix a spinach salad topped with mandarin oranges, mushrooms, and Italian dressing. Sound good? Try asking your friends and extended family members how they cook some of their favorite foods. What you’ll find is that there are so many easy and tasty recipes out there just waiting to be cooked. The key is just getting introduced to them.
• Make a commitment to yourself that you won’t eat the same foods for breakfast twice in one week. If that seems too threatening, try at least to add a different jam to your toast once in awhile. One thing I tried recently that I thought was fun was to get a large food storage container, go out and buy four to six of your favorite dry cereals and combine them. You can try different combinations of the cereals with different fruit toppings for variety.
• Lastly, instead of fast food, try a new ethnic restaurant. Be adventurous! Grab your significant other, don’t tell them where you’re going, and take them somewhere neither of you have been. There may be many benefits to this one!

I don’t know about you, but I love to eat and I love trying new foods. Eating is something we all have to do if we want to gain significant size to fuel our workouts, so we might as well enjoy it.

A key component to gaining weight and building muscle which is applicable both at home and in the gym, is having a varied and balanced eating plan. Unfortunately, when it comes to gaining weight in the form of lean muscle, there has been a lot of misinformation produced regarding how much protein, carbohydrates and fats one should include in their weight gain diet. Here are a few tips that will clear up some of the weight gain nutrition myths floating around.

• The more protein you eat the more muscle you will build. False! If you are adding excess protein to an already balanced diet, your body will store this excess protein as fat. A balanced weight gain diet should derive approximately 10-15% of its calories from protein. Remember, 1 gram protein = 4 calories, therefore a person wanting to gain weight who is eating 3,600 calories/day would need approximately 125 grams of protein per day.
• Carbohydrates are bad. False! Carbohydrates are the main source of energy for your muscles and brain to function properly. Carbohydrates should make up at least 60% of your diet. Focus on complex carbohydrates such as whole-grain cereals, breads and pastas, fruits, and vegetables.
• Drinking water before working out will upset your stomach. False! Proper hydration is essential before, during, and after weight training. Drink 2 cups of water 2 hours before working out, ½ cup ten minutes before, and ½ cup every 10 minutes during your workout. After training, consume a whey protein shake to replenish muscle glycogen.
• The weight gain diet should not differ greatly from a regular, balanced diet. True! Read this weight gain diet and nutrition article to help achieve a balanced diet that works for you.
• You can not gain weight on a vegetarian diet. False! It is possible to build lean muscle and bulk up eating a strictly meat free diet. Research has shown that weight training and supplementation of soy protein will result in an increase in muscle mass. Other protein sources for vegetarians include legumes, nuts, whole grain, and cereals. Read the how to gain weight on a vegetarian diet article.

Bench Press

A barbell and bench is needed for this chest exercise. Always have a spotter on bench press and incline bench press. It is much safer and your results will be 10 times greater since you will be able to rep out on every set. Make sure the spotter doesn’t leave the weight on you or takes it right off you when you are struggling. He should only assist you to complete the rep.

1. Lay down on bench and put feet up. Putting your feet up will keep you from cheating with your legs when pressing the weight up. Grip the bar either wide or close depending on which set you are on. (Wide grip should be about 8-10″ outside your shoulders, and close grip should be the width of your shoulders.) Before taking the weight off the rack take a few deep breaths and on the last breath keep your chest sticking out. (Not so that it arches your back) Take the weight off the rack. It doesn’t hurt to have the spotter help you take it off the rack for this chest exercise.

2. Lower the weight down in a steady motion, so that is just touches your chest. The bar should hit just on your nipples.

3. When pressing the weight up for this chest exercise have complete concentration, squeeze your pectoral muscles together. I like to think of trying to bring my elbows up and together during the rep (as seen below). Do not let your shoulders or lower back get involved in this chest workout. Also do not let any momentum into this chest exercise, that will only lead to injury. Keep great form and your chest will explode.

Example of bench press.

Incline Bench Press

A barbell and incline bench is needed for this chest exercise. All the same principles hold true for incline bench press as for bench press.

1. Follow step 1 of bench press, except when you bring your legs up cross them. You will be holding your legs up in the air for the entire chest exercise, also to keep from cheating.

2. Lower the weight down so that it just touches your chest. This may be hard at first since your muscles aren’t used to being stretched like this. The bar should hit just above your nipples.

3. When pressing the weight up have complete concentration. Push weight up but at little bit of an angle way from you. Again squeeze your pectoral muscles together, and picture your elbows coming together. Always keep good form in this chest exercise.

Example of incline bench press.

Example of machine bench press. It’s not as good as doing the free weight bench press demonstrated above, but it has the advantage of not needing a spotter, so you can train intensely by yourself.

Flys

This chest exercise works inside of pectorals and requires dumbbells.

1. Lay on bench and put your feet up. Take a deep breath and leave your chest sticking out, but not to arch your back. Have dumbbells raised above your chest with palms facing each other.

2. Lower weights down and out until your elbows are at the same level as the bench. Keep your elbows slightly bent for this chest workout.

3. When completing the chest exercise rep squeeze you pectoral muscles together. Concentrate on bringing your elbows together, not your hands. Picture yourself hugging a big barrel. Don’t let the weights touch at the apex of the set, and don’t rest in the middle of the this chest exercise, keep going.

Example of flat flys.

Carbs, which are converted into glucose or glycogen in the body, is the only macronutrient which can provide an immediate source of energy, which is essential for any type of weight training. Just because you are consuming a lot of protein for building muscle doesn’t mean that you should exclude carbohydrates in your muscle building diet. Not only do carbohydrates provide the best source of energy required for intense weight training sessions, but they are also protein sparing because their availability allows the body to use protein for it’s primary function, which is to build muscle tissue instead of having to rely on protein to supply energy which is not as efficient.

Carbohydrates are often overlooked when planning a muscle building diet. If you want to optimize your diet for muscle gain it’s important that you know how to integrate carbohydrate foods into your diet and training. It doesn’t need to be complicated you just need to follow a few simple rules.

Eat plenty of complex carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are basically of two types. Simple carbohydrates and complex carbohydrates. Most of your carbohydrates should come from complex sources because they supply muscle glycogen, the long lasting fuel that your body needs to train hard. The amount of carbohydrates which are stored in muscle tissue can influence whether or not your muscles remain in an anabolic mode, which is essential for muscle building.

Just how important are muscle glycogen stores? Consuming more protein then what your body requires for building muscle tissue is not the answer and won’t increase muscle mass if glycogen stores are too low. On the contrary, if muscle glycogen stores are full it can promote muscle growth.

Good sources of complex carbs include whole foods like whole meal bread, whole grain cereal, potatoes, brown rice, pasta, fresh and tinned fruit and dried fruit.

Eat plenty of carbohydrates post workout

Post workout nutrition is very important if you want to build muscle. When you are training hard you need to replenish muscle glycogen stores. Eating a large amount of carbohydrates and at least 1 gram of protein per lb. of body weight. directly after a workout session provides your body with an insulin spike. This insulin spike puts your body into an anabolic state as it will promote a spike in growth hormone. The reason for consuming a lot of protein with the carbs post workout is that insulin increases protein synthesis by a very substantial margin.

Eat smaller amounts of carbohydrates more frequently

The best approach for gaining weight in the form of lean muscle mass is to eat smaller meals with carbohydrates more often. Instead of having 3 large meals throughout the day, make a habit of eating 5 or 6 smaller meals, and make sure you get plenty of carbohydrates with each meal to release a steady flow of insulin into the body. If you eat large amounts of carbohydrates in one sitting your body is much more likely to store them as fat.

For natural bodybuilders, carbohydrates are very important because you have to rely on the maximum efficiency of food for your energy production and muscle growth instead of using steroids. If you follow these simple rules it will enable you to build muscle faster.

As important as weight training programs are to success, it needs to be incorporated with a good weight gain diet and sufficient recovery time. All of these factors are critical to success. If you fail to account for one of these factors, it will definitely have an impact on your muscle building capabilities, and if you are a hard gainer which struggles to gain muscle to begin with, then you want to make sure you do everything right.

On this page, we will work through the many components that go into the design and implementation of a good weight training program.

Set Your Weight Training Program Goals

It isn’t enough to just throw around some weights at the gym, not if you want to see desirable results for the long term. You need to have a disciplined weight training program which is tailored to your specific fitness goal, which is to build muscle mass.

Weight Training Philosophy

There is a lot of controversy over what weight training philosophy is best for building mass. You wouldn’t have to venture far in your gym to find a trainer who is willing to argue that the philosophy his or her weight training program is based on is the best hands down. When you meet a person like this, take what they say with a grain of salt. What you need to know is that there are important guidelines with any weight training philosophy if you want to see good results. I have previously outlined the basic training philosophy which has worked for me.

Here are some more advanced training techniques which will put your training workout sessions into overdrive:

• Train Heavy. I believe great physiques should have awesome proportions with powerful size and mass. I believe weight training with heavy weights is vital in developing awesome mass. I always train for strength all year round in all exercises, especially in the basic power movements such as the squat, bench press, and deadlift.
• Vary Your Exercises. Vary your exercises within the routine. Experiment with ‘new’ movements that you haven’t tried, or variations of old movements. Always try different machines, equipment, etc., to see which one ‘feels right.’ Alternate heavy movements with moderate poundage and higher reps weekly. Finish with your starting movement for a muscle group and vice versa for a change.
• Focus on the Burn. Learn to focus on ‘the burn’ to pump the muscles fully using various techniques: moderate poundage/high reps (15-30), peak contraction, full range of motion, half-reps and partials (burns), forced reps, negatives, posing between sets, stretching, etc. Always strive for the biggest, fullest pump possible on every workout. This is one of our main goals.

Build a Solid Foundation

At the beginning of a weight training program you are not trying to build muscle. You want to concentrate on developing your coordination skills. This is known as a muscle groove. For example, muscles learn how to work through a range of motions and stresses. This is the time start learning the proper form for each exercise. Learn what your muscle tolerance is. We recommend that hard gainers start with a very light weight and wait to see how your body responds. You want to be aware of the duration of muscle soreness. You don’t have to be sore, but if you are, it should not last for more than 24 hours. If you are, you are using too much weight, doing too many sets or reps, or not taking enough rests between sets.

Building a solid foundation is critical if you want to see positive results with a weight training program. Learning proper form is essential because as the weight increases it is more difficult to keep good form. Training your muscle groups, not your ego. You should never sacrifice form for more weight or more reps.

Weight Training Exercises To Build Muscle

When training each muscle group there are dozens of weight training exercises one can chose. These exercises can be broken down into to two categories. These are compound exercises and isolation exercises.

A compound exercise is one that utilizes more than one muscle group to perform an exercise and which incorporates two joints to perform the lift. Weight training programs which are designed to build mass must focus on the basic compound exercises. This is because compound weight lifting exercises allow you to stimulate the most muscle fibers in the least amount of time. In other words, they are the most efficient exercises if you want to gain more muscle mass.

The most important multi-joint compound exercises include:

• Bench/dumbbell presses
• Chinning
• Bent-over rows
• Military presses
• Barbell/dumbbell curls
• Skullcrushes
• Dips
• Squat’s
• Deadlifts
• Calf raises

Conversely, an isolation exercise focuses on one muscle group and revolves around one joint. An example of this would be the dumbbell chest fly. In general it is better to start off performing the compound exercises before the isolation exercises because it takes more energy and one can lift more weight with these exercises. If the isolation exercise is performed first one will have less strength and energy for the compound exercise and won’t be able to lift as much weight.

Additionally because isolation exercises utilize only one joint and are often performed with less bio-mechanical advantage, it is much safer to perform heavy exercises with compound movements.

Training Intensity

Each set should be a maximum work set. This means that you never save anything for the next set. Unless, of course, if it’s a warm-up set. Sometimes intense training gets confused with more sets of training, more isn’t necessary, it’s how hard the sets are performed. Train in the best form possible, force the extra reps out instead of giving up.

Rest Will Encourage Fast Muscle Gains

Many trainers overlook this part of weight training. It’s important that you are getting adequate rest and recovery time between workouts. When you lift weights you are not actually building muscle, you are breaking muscle tissue down. You must give the body the opportunity to do the building that your weight training programs encourage. Allowing 48 hrs rest time for each body part will give your muscles time to repair and grow. So if you did 3 workouts each week, it would be a good idea to focus 2 days doing upper body exercises and the other day dedicated to lower body.

Obviously you can make adjustments to this routine, but it’s a good starting point for beginners. Monday I would usually do upper body exercises, rest 2 days and do lower body exercises on the Wednesday, the on one of the remaining days of the week complete the upper body workout. Because you have two days of upper body exercises, you should train a different upper body part on the second day of the week. Most importantly you want to make sure you are not training a specific muscle group too often to prevent overtraining.

Progressive Overload

Weight training programs is by it’s nature and design a progressive activity. The way for a person to make improvements in strength and muscle gaining capabilities is to increase the intensity of the workout. The most obvious form of progression is for the individual to increase the amount of weight lifted. This will improve one’s strength and muscle mass. Upon starting a weight training program, these increases may occur rather quickly. However as one progresses there are reasons other forms of intensity increase become desirable. For starters one may start to plateau with the weight increases. Also, large increases in lifting weight can produce an undesirable stress on the joints.

Therefore one will want to use other techniques to increase intensity without increasing the weight. The first is to simply increase the repetitions on each set performed. The second is to increase number of sets of each exercise performed. The next technique is to increase the number of exercises performed per muscle group. Then, one can decrease the rest period between the sets. Finally one can drop weight on the exercise and immediately perform a subsequent set with less weight or perform another exercise for the same muscle group with no rest in between.

Warming Up and Stretching

If you want to maximize the potential of your weight training programs, it’s important not to neglect warming up and stretching.

What does warming-up and stretching do for you?

1. Warming up gets your muscles and mind ready for working out.
2. Warming up increases heart rate and blood flow to all of your muscles.
3. It prepares you body for exercise. You will receive the best benefits of working out if you muscles are ready.
4. Most importantly, you can decrease you chances of injury.

Before a workout you should do the following:

1. 5 minutes of light aerobic exercise (stationary bike, jumping rope, etc). Any aerobic exercise which will raise your body temperature a bit. Conserve your energy you don’t want this to be a workout in itself.
2. Stretches. Do your stretching after warming up – the muscles will stretch better when warm.

I would also recommend doing adequate warm-up sets before hitting your muscles with heavy weights. Including this step in your weight training programs will ensure that you remain injury free and the increased performance capacity will allow you to build more muscle in less time. Additionally, remaining injury free will mean you don’t have to take time off lifting weights.

How To Maximize Your Weight Training Program

The important question is whether there’s an optimal way to create and order a program to obtain optimal results for building muscle mass? To say that there is may sound presumptuous and will draw argument and disagreement, but there are some basic physiological principles which one can draw upon to create a weight training program which can optimize one’s time and effort.

One basic principle is to work the larger muscle groups first when one is strongest and has the most energy and then the smaller groups later. An exception to this can be when there is a particular group one wants to emphasize. For example among upper body groups, the chest and back are the two largest, and one would want to work those before working shoulders and work shoulders before biceps and triceps.

In addition to better energy utilization, many chest and back exercises utilize the smaller muscle groups and if these muscles are exhausted first, it will be much harder to exhaust the larger muscle groups. The reason is that the smaller group will tire and force one to stop before the larger group is fully exhausted. With respect to lower body exercises, it’s best to perform quadriceps exercises before hamstrings and calves.

Does It All Seem So Complicated?

The fundamentals of weight training programs to build mass is second nature for experienced weight trainers. However, for beginners and even trainees with a few month’s lifting experience, understanding and correctly applying all this information can be a difficult task because of information overload.

There are a number of factors which can end up preventing muscle gains. That’s why I recommend that the beginner as well as the more experienced trainer who is frustrated with seeing no progress with their workouts, either get help from a qualified personal trainer or get one of the top rated muscle building programs.

More then anything else, the most important component of good weight training programs other than intensity is consistency. If one takes the philosophy that working out is part of a lifestyle rather than a means to achieve short term goals, adherence may be greater and the individual will get the desired results.

If you have skinny genetics and have a hard time gaining weight at all, gaining some fat should be the least of your concerns. You naturally have very little body fat to begin with, so gaining 5 pounds of fat won’t look unsightly at all, and with the increased muscle mass it won’t look out of proportion.

For years, the common method in the bodybuilding world to gain more muscle has been to eat everything in sight in combination with intense weight training in the “bulking” cycle, followed by a period of dramatic calorie reduction in addition with cardio exercise in the “cutting” cycle to burn off the unwanted fat covering the newly gained muscle, just before a contest. Since this has been the common methodology to gain muscle and lose fat, it must be the way to gain healthy weight and improve your physique? Well, believe it or not, there is a better way to gain muscle mass and not fat.

Realistically, you will always gain some fat when on a high calorie weight gain diet. This is an unavoidable fact and anyone who tells you differently is misleading you. Although you can’t totally prevent fat gain, you can keep it to minimal levels if you are disciplined with your diet and training.

Eat to Build Muscle, Not to Bulge

Nutrition is fundamental to gaining muscle. It makes sense that you need to eat more calories to fuel your workouts. However, this doesn’t mean eating everything and anything within your reach. The main reason I see people gain signifcant amounts of fat on a weight gain diet is usually because they are eating too many calories. Yes, you need plenty of calories to fuel muscle growth when lifting weights, but keep in mind too many calories will simply be stored as fat. Include foods in your weight gain diet which will help build lean muscle mass and avoid the bad fats.

What I recommend is increasing your calories in small increments (300-500 extra calories per day) while closely monitoring your body fat percentage. If you notice that you are starting to gain more fat, then reduce your calories slightly.

How Much Muscle Can You Expect to Gain Without Getting Fat?

There is no simple answer to this. How your body responds to implementing a weight gain diet and workout plan will be influenced by your body type, training intensity, and how strict you are with your diet. With that said, if you do eat well and train hard, you can expect to gain about 1lb of muscle per week within 8 weeks.

DO:

Follow the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid) principle. That means a good basic training philosophy. There is so much information about bodybuilding. There are so many people telling you what to do. Forget all that. What works fine for me doesn’t have to work for you. I can’t tell you how many sets and reps to do. That’s something you have to find out for yourself. One will respond good at 4 to 8 reps. The other better at 8 to 15 reps. It’s hard to tell what is good for you. However, I can give you some guidelines.

When you’re trying to build a bigger, better body you need to stick to three basic rules:

1) Stimulation/overload of the muscles by doing resistance exercise. Stimulation means irritating the muscle. Try to overload your muscles by going heavier than the workouts before. Or doing more reps with the same amount of weight than before.

2) Good nutrition and adequate protein; to provide the building blocks for muscle. Good nutrition means eating plenty of carbohydrate, protein and healthy fats. For more info see the weight gain diet and nutrition article.

3) Sufficient rest is important for the actual growth of the muscle. Rest means getting quality sleep. At least 7 hours a day. 8 to 9 hours is even better. It’s essential for the muscles to recuperate and grow.

If only one of these factors is missing it can have a negative impact on your ability to build muscle mass.

Good training includes simple, basic exercises. They’re all you need to stick to, when you haven’t reached the bodyweight that you’re aiming for yet. The most important multi-joint exercises are:

- Bench/dumbbell presses
- Chinning
- Bent-over rows
- Military presses
- Barbell/dumbbell curls
- Skullcrushes
- Dips
- Squat’s
- Deadlifts
- Calf raises

These are the main mass building exercises that will make you bulk up and gain weight. For variation you can use some pully’s, machine’s and other weight training exercises. Your workout should be concentrated on the basic barbell and dumbbell exercises, as described above.

DON’T:

Don’t be an ego trainer. Leave your ego at home. We are lifting weights to gain muscle. So don’t go to the gym to impress everybody with the amount of weight you can lift.

Don’t look up too much at the big pro’s. What they do and what you’re doing are two very different things. They didn’t start training the same way as they are training now.

Don’t screw around when you are training with weights. Keep a good pace and stay focused on each exercise. Talking about the chicks and the weather can take place in the locker room when you’re finished training. Getting in and out of the gym should be the main priority.

Don’t train with a sloppy style. It will only bring you injuries. Cheating is allowed, but in a way of loosening up the style a bit more, to do a few more reps.

Don’t use steroids, you are putting your health at risk. When you start a weight training program to gain muscle, pretend you’re building a big skyscraper of your body. If the foundation is weak, the building will look like crap and will fall down before it’s even finished. On the other hand, on a good solid foundation you can put the biggest skyscraper you’ll ever want.

Yes! But it can only be achieved with sweat and hard work, regardless of your age. The same principles for weight gain apply to both men and women with only one major difference. Men and women were born with different shapes and hormones. Therefore any muscle gain you get as a result of diet and training will only serve to accentuate the feminine shape you already have. You will look sexy and feel better about yourself!

Weight gain can come in the form of fat, water and muscle. By far, muscle is the most attractive of the three. Since you are a female I can understand any concern you might have about getting too muscular. Most of the bodybuilding women you see have great genetics. They are not hard gainers like the majority of women and are usually taking steroids (male hormones). The only way a female could look this ripped is from steroid usage. And let’s not forget that the female bodybuilders which you see in bodybuilding magazines are professional athletes. Their diet and training is a full time job for them. They dedicate their life to building a better physique.

Regardless of what you may have read, it is possible for women to gain weight without looking “bulky”. And even if you do become more ripped then what you would have hoped, once you have reached your goal or feel that you are looking too muscular for your own tastes you can always modify the program a little to suit your needs.

Similar to weight gain for men, diet plays a key role for gaining weight with women. You need to be consuming excess calories so that instead of having a calorie deficit, the opposite is true. You are consuming more calories then what your body requires, so it has to store this energy somehow, and with a good training and diet program, it will turn these calories into muscle instead of fat.

First of all, determine your weight gain caloric needs. Once this is calculated, you want to consume 300-500 additional calories per day. This is no different for women is a topic which is well covered on this site. The main point which I wanted to discuss in this article, which relates to muscle building for women, is the issue of hormones.

As you may already know several hormones play a key role in the ability to gain muscle. Without going into too much detail, the “male hormone” testosterone is the muscle building hormone. The amount of testosterone in your body is a limitating factor because you can not build more muscle if your testosterone levels are not high enough. This is why you see female bodybuilders who use synthetic testosterone (steroids) experience faster muscle gains as their limitating factor has disappeared.

Testosterone is referred to as the “male hormone” because testosterone levels are lower in women. Women need not be discouraged though. Testosterone levels can be increased naturally through specific natural training methods and diet.

Several studies have shown the positive effect that resistance training has on increasing testosterone levels in the body, especially directly after a workout. This is why it’s a good idea to drink a protein shake post workout, to take advantage of the testosterone spike.

For the ladies: Don’t be afraid of the weights, get a gym partner and don’t be intimidated by the guys in the gym. Attend a reputable gym with a supportive staff that will assist you and give you proper guidance on how to lift. Your weigh training program should be focused on progressively increasing the resistance. Do special muscle building workouts with the aim of gaining mass instead of building muscular endurance, which includes doing fewer reps and lifting heavy.

With so many overweight people in the world, you would think it would be very easy to put on weight. The problem is that there is only a few safe ways to do so. Make sure you take the safe road if this is your goal. Don’t look for quick fixes with weight gain pills or using steroids to put on weight fast. Even though you may have skinny genetics, this doesn’t mean you can not build a much better physique, it just takes hard work, and you will still impress the ladies.

I regularly speak with skinny people who on a daily basis ask themselves how to put on weight. Many of them will talk about how they want to put on weight, but I know they really don’t mean it. They just think about the end goal without worrying about what’s involved in achieving it. In order to put on weight you need to focus on the small steps each and every day which overtime will make a difference and guarantee that you will gain weight.

When you are first trying to put on weight, it would be a good idea to count how many calories you would eat in an average day. Eat how you normally would and take note of what you eat and how many calories are in everything. This is actually a really important step when planning to put on weight.

To gain weight you need to be consuming more calories then what your body requires. If you don’t know what daily calories you are currently consuming, you won’t know how many additional calories you will need to consume to start making progressed. Once you have made the calculation, increase your calorie intake by 500 calories to begin with, and keep an eye on progress. If you are not seeing progress when incorporated with muscle building workouts, increase your caloric intake by an additional 500 calories, and re-evaluate. Worry less about what percentage of food is from carbohydrates/protein/fats and focus more on consuming sufficient calories.

This is achieved by making sure you don’t skip on meals. Have 3 large meals per day and 2-3 other snacks. Eat calorie dense foods so you are not just filling yourself with low calorie foods which satisfy your appetite but don’t do much else for gaining weight. When snacking, eat lots of nuts and seeds and other plant based fats like avocado. There is no harm in consuming good fats from these sources.

The easiest split muscle building routine is doing an upper body workout one day and lower body workout the next. This does the best job of making sure you don’t work the same muscles two days in a row, although there is some upper body work in squats and deadlifts. You can work two days in a row, then take a day or two off, then repeat, so you generally do four workouts a week.

A push-pull routine may be the most often recommended. One day do pushing muscles: pecs (chest), front and side deltoids (shoulders), and triceps. The next do pulling muscles: the various back muscles, rear deltoids, and biceps. Do legs with the pulling muscles. Do abs on your pushing day.

Another option is a 3 day split muscle building routine which workout the chest, back, and legs. There are many other split routine variations. Some people like to devote a day to arms. Just remember that biceps contribute to pulling exercises and triceps to pushing, so if you do arms the day after one of those, you may not be getting sufficient recovery for that body part. The same caution would apply to doing chest and biceps together.

What are the advantages of doing split routines?

First, realize that you can go ahead and do full body muscle building workouts three days a week productively for an indefinite period. Splits, if you choose to do them, allow you to work harder on that day’s muscle groups, while spending a little less time working out. You may want to do them just for variety. Also, splits may fit into your schedule better. Because you spend less time working out with dedicated muscle group sessions, you are using your time more efficiently whilst still getting a great total body workout.

You may want to structure your splits to give extra rest to a sore joint or muscle. If you have a sore shoulder, which is involved in almost all upper body movements, you can do upper body, lower body, then a day or two off. Take the same approach with a sore knee. Of course, if the injury is new or severe, don’t work that body part at all.

So don’t you need to work each muscle group three times a week? Not necessarily. Three workouts a week are usually best for beginners who want to build muscle fast, two workouts a week should be the very least, where you could focus on upper body one day and lower body the second day. Most beginners don’t work really hard, and need to learn the exercises and lay down the neural pathways. When you’re advanced, you progress more slowly, and probably need the extra rest, so twice a week is enough. Even once a week for certain body parts may work well, at least on occasion. And take your schedule into account. Make sure you get those workouts in, however you decide to set them up.

Well I have to say that I was a little skeptic at first when I found a number of websites online which are selling weight gain pills and weight gain capsules with claims from the product’s marketers that if you take a couple of pills before every meal you will increase your appetite so you feel the need to eat more and slow down your metabolism. Without having to train or diet they claim it’s possible to gain muscle weight. Saying that I found the claims to be full of hype is an understatement to say the very least.

With such bold claims I wanted to investigate exactly what was in these weight gaining pills. I wanted to know if by popping a few pills you could really gain extra pounds of muscle so I decided to find out what was actually in them. What I found by looking at the nutrition label is that these weight gain diet pills are really nothing more then an average Multi-vitamin with pretty packaging and inflated prices. They cost about 3-5x more then a Multi-vitamin.

Multi-vitamins, although not advertised to show this benefit, are actually a really useful supplement for gaining weight. Small vitamin deficiencies can impact your appetite which affects your ability to gain weight and muscle.

So instead of paying the inflated prices on weight gain pills which are really only a repackaged Multi-vitamin, get yourself a good multi-vitamin supplement. The mistake many people make when getting started with a weight gain program is they skip on important vitamins and minerals which are a good foundation for gaining weight in favor of some glamorous bodybuilding supplement. This is a mistake.

Don’t waste your money on weight gain pills – there is no miracle pill for gaining significant size. Instead, use a good Multi-vitamin. It won’t work miracles, but either will the weight gain pills. Instead, combined with a good workout and proper weight gaining diet program it will ensure that you are successful in your quest to gain weight.

If you have poor bodybuilding genetics it means it will take longer to see the results. A hardgainer will never get the same physique as someone with perfect bodybuilding genetics, at least not naturally. This isn’t to say hardgainers can not gain muscle mass. They just need to work harder in order to see results.

Your genetic make-up affects things like personality (introverted/extroverted), appearance, intelligence, and you guessed it, your ability to gain weight and muscle. Bodybuilding is an ego driven sport so people are not going to want to admit that they can’t look like Arnold if they weight 140 lbs. They will convince themselves if they just try a little bit harder on their diet or routine they will eventually be the biggest in their gym. It’s simply all fantasy unless you use steroids, and even then it’s probably still a dream.

If a person with hardgainer genetics lifts weights they will get more muscular, but will never look as good as someone with great genetics if they do the exact same diet and workout. People with these inferior genes won’t look as ripped or as muscular if they do exactly the same thing as someone with better genetics.

Even steroids are not a magical drug. They give you a boost and get you through plateaus, but watch what happens when you get off them after a year or two, you drastically shrink again. And you don’t want to be relying on them indefinitely for heart, liver, and sexual health reasons.

So what genetic factors affect your ability to gain muscle?

Muscle fiber type and density are influenced by genetics. The more gifted larger bodybuilders often have more muscle fibers and more of them fast twitch (anaerobic) on average. Myostatin is another factor which plays a role in muscle growth. When Myostatin was manipulated in mice they grew muscle at unbelievable rates. Testosterone levels play a huge role also. People with large testosterone levels should have a easier time building muscle and keeping lean.

So if you have been following a strict diet for a few months and a solid heavy weight lifting routine with compound exercises and you still don’t look that great, just accept that the gains will be slower. You may have to accept you’ll never reach your ideal goal in your mind. However, you will look a heck of a lot better than if you did nothing! And that is all that matters in the end.

That may be okay for a while, or all the time if you don’t mind the cost, but in the real world a lot of us need to watch our dollars. Yet organic produce and fancy vegetables often seem to cost more, and those vegetarian or “natural” convenience foods can send even the most indulgent of shoppers into sticker shock. Isn’t there a way to eat veggie without making your bank account dwindle incredibly fast?

Yup, there is. You just need to invest a little time and learn a few tricks. I’ll let you in a little secret: eating veggie can actually save you money. Once you devote some thought and energy to learning how to shop vegetarian-friendly and wallet-wise, you’ll be surprised how easily it becomes a routine.

Here are some suggestions in order to eat well, help the earth, and save your pennies!

1. Buy your produce in season. Not only will you reduce the chances that you’re paying to have your pepper flown halfway around the world (a waste of energy), you’re also going to get fresher, more delicious food. At a loss about what’s in season when? Pay attention to what other people are buying lots of, and to what’s on special and cheapest per pound. Or, if you’ve got a good grocery store, ask your produce person! They know the scoop.

2. Buy in bulk. I can’t say this one enough! You reduce waste, you get a volume discount, and the prices per ounce are usually quite a bit less than you’d pay for the identical food in a package.

3. Try your local farmer’s market. It isn’t always cheaper, but you’ll be supporting local agriculture and getting better food into the bargain. Some farmers are willing to bargain on price, especially when the market is winding down; just screw up your courage and ask.

4. Join a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. If you’re willing to make a small commitment, you maybe be able to save money and help out local agriculture by joining a CSA program. How does this work? At the start of a growing season, you enter into a contract with a local farmer. He or she delivers (or you pick up) a big bag of fresh produce to you every week. To find out more, ask at your local farmer’s market.

5. Join a buying club or food co-op if there is one in your area. The way this works is that a bunch of people get together and order from a bulk natural foods supplier at a (usually pretty big) discount. You’ll have to get things in large amounts, but if your household is a small one, you may be able to split orders with other members. Check with your health food store, put up a flyer asking if anyone knows of one, or ask around.

6. Cook enough dinner to have leftovers the next day for lunch. The more appealing leftovers you have tucked away for you in the fridge, the less likely you’ll be to find yourself waiting in line somewhere you shouldn’t be at lunchtime. And no wasteful packaging!

7. Grow your own herbs. You can make just about anything taste good with fresh herbs, and a whole plant will cost you less than one sprig at the grocery store. Most are easy to grow – I recommend basil, thyme, mint, and oregano.

8. Try to avoid relying on packaged, frozen, instant, and convenience food. You knew this already, right? It’s worth another reminder.

9. Find a store that sells loose spices and buy those instead of the ones in jars. If you’ve never done this, you’ll be absolutely at the price difference. What you pay a few pennies for loose can cost several dollars in a cute little bottle.

10. Compare price per ounce. Price per ounce should be marked on a sticker on the shelf where the food is kept. This is what keeps you from accidentally buying a small bottle of something that “seems” cheaper when the larger size is really a better deal. If you don’t see it clearly marked, complain! In some states it’s illegal not to display this.

11. Eat cheap snack foods, like peanut butter toast, toast and jam, popcorn (not the microwave kind!), flour tortillas, bulk raisins, bulk raw peanuts (to roast: spread on cookie sheet and bake at 350 till golden), baked marinated tofu. Non-vegans can eat hard-boiled eggs and large containers of plain yogurt (mix with fruit and/or cinnamon and brown sugar).

12. Discover what your luxuries should be. Figure out what pricey items you really appreciate, and prioritize those few things. I spend a lot on coffee; I’m a java-hound, and it also happens to be an especially important thing to buy organic. To make up for this, I really keep an eye on the prices in different stores. Buy a good Parmesan cheese and olive oil, because they definitely make a difference.

13. Learn how to cook. Okay, this is a sneaky one, but it’s probably the most important! It really helps to know some basic techniques – and most importantly, to be willing to try. Get a couple of basic veggie cookbooks; there are tons of them out there. Ask your friends, or your mom, if necessary. Experiment gently. The truth is, it really doesn’t take as long as you think, and the rewards are great.

Good luck saving, and good eating!

Yet, I also know that hard work, discipline, and effort are what it takes to get what you want out of life. There are no magic wands. But this seeming paradox simply means that when you are able to set up your life to connect with your style and way you want to live, the struggle is taken out of your life.

Some people equate effort with will power, meaning you’ve got to force yourself to do something. And sometimes just giving in and “doing something” will get you out of a rut. But over the long haul, most of us have had little or no success with simply “willing” ourselves to do something. Effort is the willingness to keep trying until you find what works for you. In my case this weight gain program worked for me.

If one thing doesn’t work, try another one, and another one. Don’t give up. Don’t assume you can’t have what you want in your life. What do you want more of? What do you want less of? Step back and take an objective look at your life, or ask a trusted friend or professional to help you do that.

Effort also needs to have a specific target. There’s an old saying, “if you try to chase two rabbits, you will end up losing them both.” But effort doesn’t have to be drudgery. Effort is about making those small choices and decisions every day – baby steps. The key to weight gain success is the willingness to make the effort – disciplined, repeated action in the specific direction you want to go. It’s not the huge effort that makes all the difference; it’s the small efforts that come with each and every decision you make all day every day. Instead of skipping that afternoon snack, make sure you have something to eat and have the protein shake.

Almost everyone I talk to who wants to gain weight says it will take up too tough. And while the investment of time and energy and money to get such a physique is inevitable, the return on the investment is incredible.

Don’t look at people who have a better physique and have great lives and think they are just lucky or more talented than you. Anyone who wants a better body can get there, with the right amount of effort. You can do it too!

What you eat isn’t the only factor vegetarians can look at when it comes to gaining weight. Your metabolism ensures that the calories you consume are burned and that the nutrients are processed by your body. Having a high metabolism can affect your ability to gain weight. One consideration would be to trick the body into slowing down your metabolism so that you are not burning as many calories. This is particularly useful for people with a fast metabolism to begin with. The trick is to eat a heavy meal late in the day. Consuming a high calorie meal late at night will help make sure that your body won’t be able to burn the calories off so quickly.

Protein is an important part of any weight gain diet. This is no exception for a vegetarian wanting to gain weight. Vegetarians need to make sure they get enough protein by consuming legumes, nuts and seeds in combination with whole grain breads and cereals, as well as soy products. Getting enough protein is such a critical component in repairing and building lean muscle.

Nuts such as almonds are the most healthful. They have the most mono-saturated fat and the least saturated fat. An ounce or so can be a good source of protein and healthy fats. Fresh roasted almonds can be a great substitute for bacon. If you roast or bake an ounce or so to the point where they are quite brown, but not burned, in an oven of about 375 degrees or a bit more – and serve hot, they taste crispy and slightly smoky – just like perfectly done bacon; but almonds don’t have the saturated animal fats and preservatives that bacon has; and the almonds don’t taste greasy or make a greasy mess!

Legumes like lentils and black eyed peas are the best. They tend to produce the least gas, have the lowest glycemic index and have the most soluble fiber. Both can be use for soups and stews; and, lentils can be used to make a great vegetarian chili. Any of these dishes can be made nonfat or with just a bit of olive oil when appropriate. They can be a good cold weather addition to breakfast.

Some people consider themselves semi-vegetarians and eat fish. Fish can be good one to three times a week. Salmon has by far the most healthful oil and is quite satisfying. Halibut is one of the lowest fat fishes and is also good. Tuna is good. And, if you know and like other kinds by all means try them occasionally.

It would be a good idea buying a well written raw diet cook book which provides information on tasty foods and cooking methods to help you in your quest for size. One such book I would recommend is The Raw Gourmet by Nomi Shannon, which provides good nutrition information on how to gain weight for the natural bodybuilder. It teaches you about what foods to eat, protein and carb content, tips in combining raw food dishes, facts to support raw food benefits, and how the body functions in conjunction with switching to this type of diet.

The weight lifting principles for gaining significant weight and muscle are no different for a vegetarian, so I won’t touch this topic in this post. I would advise you to check out the training articles elsewhere on this site for information regarding the training aspect of weight gain.

If you have a high metabolism there is a formula for successful weight gain. This article on Metabolism.com covers this topic very well. In a nutshell…

Step 1: Calculating unique caloric needs for weight gain. If you want to gain weight you must consume more calories than your body requires.

Step 2: Analyzing macro-nutrient needs. You can find the macro-nutrients of every food in the USDA’s nutrient database.

Step 3: Supplementation to ensure you are getting all the vitamins/minerals and sufficient protein in your diet. Here is a list of recommended weight gaining supplements.

Step 4: Designing an effective weight training program which includes compound exercises to train multiple muscle groups.

Even if you are a born with hard gainer genetics, if you follow this strict formula you will gain weight and muscle.

Good luck!

Protein is vital for muscle growth. It’s a well known fact that if you are weight lifting you will need to consume more protein. It plays a crucial role in the recovery and building of muscle tissue. It is absolutely required by the body to repair and build new muscle tissue. Physiological stresses caused by intense weight training leads to nitrogen loss. To grow and get stronger the body must be in a positive nitrogen balance. This means eating protein every 2-3 hours. For optimum growth you should be ingesting approximately 30-50 grams of protein, 4-7 times a day. This is dependent upon your present weight and the quality of the protein you are ingesting.

Good sources of protein are lean red meat, whole eggs, dairy products, fish and chicken. A high quality protein supplement can also be used, such as whey protein or a good milk and egg mix. High quality protein supplements are absorbed well by the body and do not take as long to digest. In addition to protein, add a multivitamin and creatine to your diet.

Here’s an example of a 1-day muscle building meal plan which I can recommend:

Meal #1 Oatmeal or shredded wheat w/milk, 2-6 Eggs – use 1/2 yolks, 2 Slices of Whole grain toast

Meal #2 Protein drink, 8-12 ounces milk, 1/2 – 1 banana, 1-2 scoops protein powder

Meal #3 Lean Red meat, Baked potato or rice, 8-12 ounces of milk

Meal #4 1-2 cans of Tuna, 2-4 slices whole grain bread, Lite or no-fat mayonnaise, 1 banana, 8-12 ounces milk

Meal #5 Large plate of pasta 3-4 ounces, lean ground beef, small salad w/oil and vinegar dressing, 8-12 ounces of milk

Meal #6 Lean red meat or chicken, 1-3 baked potatoes, 1 serving of mixed vegetables, 8-12 ounces of milk

This diet will provide roughly between 3500-5500 calories depending on the size of the portions. You may need to adjust the calories upwards or downwards, depending on your present weight and training program.

Here are some general tips to increase calories:

1) Eat larger portions
2) Use a weight gain supplement
3) Use 2% or whole milk
4) Eat more red meat
5) Focus on high calorie foods

It cannot be stressed enough the importance of being as consistent as possible about your diet. Do not skip meals, or eat poorly. Your workouts will suffer with poor nutrition. If you are a hardgainer struggling to build muscle and put on weight, then this muscle building meal plan is a good starting point. If you have muscle building meal plans which has worked well for you, feel free to share it in the comments below. It’s always good having variety with your meals.

So what are the benefits of creatine? Anyone who wants to develop muscular strength or would like a significant increase in body weight should consider taking creatine supplements. Creatine is a naturally occurring substance which is produced in the human body. This is what makes it a safe supplement. If you take too much creatine then is required, your body will simply convert the substance in to creatinine and excrete it. No known research exists that lead scientists to believe that creatine supplementation would harm the liver or any other bodily organ over a prolonged period of time. That being said, it’s best to urge on the side of caution when using creatine, less is always more.

What does creatine do? Production of creatine in the body aids in the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP fuels short-term energy output. This is very beneficial when you start weightlifting to build mass. ATP is your body’s source of explosive energy. The increased energy will allow you to lift heavier which will result in greater gains in lean muscle mass. And no! Creatine is not a form of anabolic steroids.

Foods which contain creatine include red meat and fish. However, the creatine concentrations in food such as these food items tend to be small. One kilogram of beef contains only one gram of creatine. So, getting the average daily dose of creatine, five grams, through whole foods proves unpractical. Therefore, taking creatine supplements is an easier way to consume optimal levels of dietary creatine.

Don’t neglect your diet. Proper nutrition and a good weight training program need to be combined if you want to start putting more muscle on your scrawny body. Trying to train intensively when malnourished or feeling fatigued is a recipe for disaster. Make sure that you are getting adequate calories and protein in the diet for supercompensation to occur. Supercompensation is the period after a training session when the muscles have a higher performance capacity. This is important to progress to lifting heaver weights. Due to your increased activity level it’s a good idea to increase your protein intake. If you can’t get enough protein from raw foods then protein supplements is a consideration. Just make sure you buy a good quality whey protein. If you are unsure of what whey protein you should get, read supplement reviews to know what others think of different brands.

Food is fuel for your body. Consuming food during the time that you are most active allows a steady flow of energy to your muscles and, most importantly, to your brain. It doesn’t make sense to bank the majority of your calories until dinner and afterward, when your body requires the energy earlier in the day.

Snack throughout the day. Your breakfast and lunch fuel will only last a few hours, so you need to be snacking during the day to maintain energy levels. I would suggest you avoid sugary snacks which will give you a burst of energy but not much of anything else.

Replace coffee for more water. Drink plenty of water throughout the day. Keep your caffeine consumption to a moderate amount, no more than about two cups of coffee per day. Water is the most important nutrient that the body needs, so make sure you are drinking enough water.