I welcome all readers of World Bodybuilding Blog. My name is Mike, I am 25 years old and today I want to share my own story that might be interesting to all the athletes who face problems with mass gain.
I gained a solid 25 pounds of rock-hard muscle in 45 days doing something you could easily be doing yourself, following 5 simple principles!
Getting big. Bulking up. Gaining 15 or 20 pounds of muscle fast. That’s a problem I faced as a teenager and as a young man and so have a lot of other underweight guys.
I’ve always had a tough time gaining weight. At the age of 18 I was so skinny that most people assumed I was a 14 year old. I was 5′ 8″ tall and weighed a whopping 119 lbs.
It was a major embarrassment for me. I’d always been underweight though. I recall wearing suspenders in grade school, because I couldn’t find a belt small enough to hold my pants up! In the summer as a child I never wore shorts, no matter how hot the temperature, because of my “skinny bird legs.”
At the age of 21 I became desperate to gain weight!
When I turned 21 years of age and at 5′ 10″ I weighed just 139 lbs. I realized that I’d have to do something drastic to gain weight. Obviously, Mother nature wasn’t on my side. In fact I later discovered she’d worked against me all along. Still I wanted to be bigger.
So to gain weight I:
- tried all the supplements just short of anabolic steroids
- subscribed to all the “Muscle” magazines
- pounded down pitchers of weight gain protein shakes
- bought all the books and encyclopedias I could find related to bodybuilding and gaining weight
- worked out six times a week, often twice a day
- tried all of the top bodybuilding routines.. i.e. , super sets, giant sets, etc.
- tried meditation and self hypnosis
You name it, I tried it. And after 2 years, still no measurable results. I gained a few pounds here and there, but I still felt thin. Plus I’d wasted a lot of time and money on training programs and supplements that just didn’t work.
Finally, I Consulted The Experts For Help!
I talked to my doctor, personal trainers, fitness gurus, dieticians, etc. all who kindly explained to me that an individual’s weight is determined by genetics. According to the experts, there are 3 body types (somoatypes) that you may inherit from your parents.
Ectomorph – Naturally thin slender build. Has a difficult time gaining weight and putting on muscle i.e. the typical hard gainer.
Endomorph – Naturally heavy and robust with a strong tendency toward obesity.
Mesomorph – Naturally muscular and lean. Characterized by great strength and the ability to put on lean muscle, fast.
The experts claim you cannot change your genetics. You have to live with it. To this I said !@#$%^&*. I did not buy it for one minute, because I believe with the right strategy you can improve anything in your life, including your physique.
Lucky for me and you too, because I finally discovered a totally natural way to pack on muscle in a short period of time. I am talking just a few months…not a few years… all without steroids or other dangerous drugs.
After over 4 years of trial and error, I developed a weight gaining, muscle building program for skinny people that works and works fast. After all, who wants to wait years for results right? Who wants to be skinny forever? The weight gaining muscle building program I referring to, literally transformed my so-called hard gainer physique into something I could be proud of.
The first picture shows me in a high state of overtraining. I was working out like crazy and although I was pretty strong for my size, I was still way too skinny as I’m sure you’ll agree.
My intentions were good but the manner in which I was training was totally unproductive for my body type, that of a hard gainer. After I began applying the training principlesI started making radical changes in my physique almost overnight.
In fact, most people thought I was on the “juice” or at least creatine. Sorry guys, I’m not using Danabol, Winstrol steroids, Testosterone Proprianate, Deca Nandrolone or other anabolic steroid drugs. I do not even use creatine.
Yet my physique looks better than most of the guys in the who are taking who knows what. Also my friends and family couldn’t believe the dramatic changes I had made.
Not to mention the effect that my new muscular body had on women (This was my initial motivation! Maybe yours too!) My formula is tried, tested and proven to work. You do not, I repeat, do not need the genetics of a barbarian or a hulk to gain weight and build muscles. What you need is a weight gaining strategy specifically designed for the so-called hard gainer. My formula for gaining weight and muscles is just the strategy you need!
In fact, I gained 25 pounds of muscle in just 9 weeks while putting in a fraction of the training time anyone else in the gym did.
Also, most of my workouts were conducted in 45 minutes using only barbells, dumbbells and a simple weight bench. No need for fancy equipment with pulleys and cables. You see, it’s not the gym equipment, fancy routines, or bizarre diets that build muscles and put weight on you.
No, if you are skinny and have difficulty gaining weight and building muscles, then you must have a program designed just for your body type.
If you:
- Are skinny.
- Are underweight.
- Feel apprehensive in public.
- Hate the way you look in your clothes.
- Are tired of being pushed around.
- Are tired of being underestimated and overlooked.
- Are lacking in self confidence or self esteem that a strong healthy body would give you.
And if you want to:
- Become more muscular
- Look good in your clothes
- Turn the heads of attractive women
- Feel confident about yourself
- Feel strong and healthy
- Increase your self esteem and self confidence
- Get an edge on life that an attractive powerful physique can give you
- Build a great body safely and without the use of anabolic steroids and other dangerous drugs
Then you’ve got to have my weight gaining system.
What I ultimately learned through my trial and error was that if you are a skinny guy, a hard gainer, then you must train and eat differently than the Mr. Universe and Mr. Olympia types. Otherwise, you’re just wasting your time and money at the gym.
Here’s A Fact For You: Over 85% of the information available today about gaining weight and muscle mass is written by people who gain weight and build muscles easily. The average routines and diet programs you will find in the bodybuilding magazines or on the shelf at Barnes & Noble are designed by and for the naturally big and strong.
You cannot ask Mr. Universe how to eat and train as if he were a hard gainer type. He does not have any idea how you should train. His methods and advice will not work for the hard gainer.
A good analogy would be asking a plumber how to repair an automobile. Auto mechanics is not a plumbers specialty, so although possessing plumbing skills, he cannot give accurate information regarding automotive repairs. Any advice he offers should thus be taken with a grain of salt. The same is true when a hard gainer adapts the training principles of an easy gainer. It just does not work.
In order for the hard gainer to put on weight and build muscle you must first understand the key principles about your metabolism and physiology.
The hard gainer (Ectomorph) is usually characterized by 3 physiological components:
- A very high metabolic rate – quickly burns up caloric intake.
- Lower energy reserves – lowered endurance and energy reserves.
- A less effective recovery system – recuperates and rebuilds tissue at a slower rate.
The “only way” the hard gainer will put on weight and gain muscle mass is through a strategy that effectively controls these 3 variables. The weight gaining strategy must counteract the 3 variables listed above. Nothing short of this will be effective at quick weight gain, or any measurable weight gain for that matter.
The Principles of How to Gain Weight & Build Muscle Fast!
Regarding variable number 1, the fact that the hard gainer burns up or metabolizes nutrients so quickly, demands a higher caloric intake. Simply put, you must EAT LIKE CRAZY to overcome your high metabolic rate! Still, there is more to nutrition than calories. Most of athletes think that to gain muscles realy fast you have to stack Dianabol with Deca Durabolin or Sustanon (testosterone). What can i say you for sure, anabolic steroids play a much smaller role than nutrition and exercise routine.
If you eat cake, ice cream, and beer everyday you’ll probably gain weight. However, your appearance will most likely be not what you have in mind. One more thing. The timing of your meals is also very important. Eat at the wrong time and your body cannot properly absorb the nutrients so critical to muscle growth.
Understanding variable number 2 is crucial. If you have read any of the recent and or popular theories about building muscles, you will find that a lot of the routines suggest high volume training. More and more sets. More and even more repetitions.
Training in this manner is great for building endurance and strength to a degree, but it will not put weight on the hard gainer. In fact, you will get just the opposite of your intended results. Moreover, you run the risk of injury.
To effectively build muscle mass and gain weight requires high intensity short duration workouts. The workouts ideally should last no longer than 25 to 35 minutes. The objective is to fully exhaust the muscles with heavy weights in a short period of time and then stop the workout. Trying to do to much will easily lead to overtraining the ectomorphic physique.
Variable number 3, although last, is still of vital importance. The hard gainer has less recuperative powers. Therefore getting proper rest is vital to your success. During workouts, your muscles are broken down (micro-trauma.)
Hey, this is what progressive resistance training is all about…right? Ultimately, however, the workouts are not directly responsible for building muscle and gaining weight. The exercises are just a means to the end. It is during periods of rest and recuperation that the body rebuilds muscle and gains weight.
You should arrange you life to provide yourself with ample time to recuperate. Remember, growth, rebuilding, and weight gain take place only during periods of rest.
And also it remember the high role of your mind in achieving your success. Because the mind is the deciding factor in any human undertaking I want you to take full advantage of the marvelous power of your own mind to reach your weight gaining goals. You have to motivate yourself each day, set and achieve the physical goals of your choice, build confidence and a winning attitude, harness your willpower to help you effortlessly move forward with your program.
