Can"t Get Buff and Muscular? - 5 Mistakes Skinny Hardgainers Make
As a skinny hardgainer I'm sure you've asked yourself many times in the past "why can't I get buff and muscular?" You've no doubt felt the unbelievable frustration that goes along with it.
It just seems like an uphill struggle to put on any kind of weight whatsoever, let alone lean muscle mass.
What's worse is that I'll bet you know a few guys who are "genetically gifted" and have big muscles even though they barely work out, right? And why is it that the girls seem to notice these guys too?! Well, I can't change your genes but in this article I would at least like to show you 5 of the most common mistakes that skinny guys make when trying to get buff and muscular.
Take a look at them and see where you are going wrong.
Poor Nutrition Plan As a naturally skinny guy, I can pretty much guarantee that you have a fast metabolism...
in other words your body processes and digests food really quickly, meaning you can pretty much eat what you like and don't ever seem to gain weight.
While this is a great asset in not getting fat, it causes a stumbling block to those like yourself who are looking to gain muscle mass.
Insufficient calorie intake is probably the biggest reason skinny guys fail to gain weight.
In order to get buff and muscular your muscles need a constant source of energy and nutrition to repair and grow.
Up your calorie intake to around 4,000 calories or so a day (multiply your current bodyweight in pounds by 24 to get a rough figure for you).
Split these calories equally over 6 meals spread 3 hours apart throughout the day to ensure a consistent metabolic rate and surer muscle growth.
Doing The Wrong Exercises A cursory glance round any gym will show a lot of people who are just going through the motions.
Not that there's anything wrong with that...
if folks want to do that, great.
Just don't expect to follow that same plan if you are looking to get buff and build muscle.
Get serious by following a solid workout routine based around core exercises like Squats, Deadlifts, Bench Press, Bent Over Rows, Shoulder Press, Pull Ups and Push Ups.
These kinds of exercises are multi-joint compound exercises that work many muscle groups at the same time.
This will lead to more muscle building hormones flowing through your body, greater muscle growth in less time and help to develop the smaller ancillary muscles which stabilize the weight throughout the exercise.
It's also recommended to stick with free weights are far as possible instead of machines since you get a much better and more natural range of movement.
Too Many Reps On Low Weights As well as doing the wrong exercises another common reason why skinny hardgainers can't gain buff and muscular is that the weight they are lifting is simply too light, be it through fear of over-exertion or a misinformed idea that more reps are better.
The key to building serious muscle and how to get buff is in performing low rep numbers on heavy weights.
Anywhere between 6-10 reps is ideal and the weight should be heavy to make the last rep almost impossible to complete.
A heavier weight causes more testosterone to surge through your body which leads to increased muscle mass and improved strength gains.
Working Out Too Often While some skinny guys don't workout enough, a large number actually end up working out too often.
I made this mistake a number of years ago, when I found myself reaching a plateau.
It was frustrating to see my muscle gains decrease, so to remedy it I thought "well, I just need to work out more often" WRONG! This actually aggravated the problem as well as made me susceptible to injury and just plain miserable (the gym is a pretty boring place if you're there 6-7 days a week).
The mistake here was in not allowing my body time to recover, which is essential to getting buff and muscular.
The key to consistent muscle gains is in leaving rest days between workouts.
I prefer 3-4 all body workouts per week, with full rest days in between.
This ensures sufficient rest as well as not taking up too much time.
Not Enough Rest Following from the above point is the importance of good quality rest to help skinny guys get buff.
Natural growth hormones are produced when we reach levels of deep sleep which enable the muscle tissue to repair the minor tears that have been caused by our workouts.
By not getting enough quality sleep you can reduce the level of these anabolic hormones that are produced and reduce your body's ability to build muscle.
So get into a disciplined sleeping pattern and eliminate unnecessary stress from your life that can get in the way of your quest to get buff and muscular.
It just seems like an uphill struggle to put on any kind of weight whatsoever, let alone lean muscle mass.
What's worse is that I'll bet you know a few guys who are "genetically gifted" and have big muscles even though they barely work out, right? And why is it that the girls seem to notice these guys too?! Well, I can't change your genes but in this article I would at least like to show you 5 of the most common mistakes that skinny guys make when trying to get buff and muscular.
Take a look at them and see where you are going wrong.
Poor Nutrition Plan As a naturally skinny guy, I can pretty much guarantee that you have a fast metabolism...
in other words your body processes and digests food really quickly, meaning you can pretty much eat what you like and don't ever seem to gain weight.
While this is a great asset in not getting fat, it causes a stumbling block to those like yourself who are looking to gain muscle mass.
Insufficient calorie intake is probably the biggest reason skinny guys fail to gain weight.
In order to get buff and muscular your muscles need a constant source of energy and nutrition to repair and grow.
Up your calorie intake to around 4,000 calories or so a day (multiply your current bodyweight in pounds by 24 to get a rough figure for you).
Split these calories equally over 6 meals spread 3 hours apart throughout the day to ensure a consistent metabolic rate and surer muscle growth.
Doing The Wrong Exercises A cursory glance round any gym will show a lot of people who are just going through the motions.
Not that there's anything wrong with that...
if folks want to do that, great.
Just don't expect to follow that same plan if you are looking to get buff and build muscle.
Get serious by following a solid workout routine based around core exercises like Squats, Deadlifts, Bench Press, Bent Over Rows, Shoulder Press, Pull Ups and Push Ups.
These kinds of exercises are multi-joint compound exercises that work many muscle groups at the same time.
This will lead to more muscle building hormones flowing through your body, greater muscle growth in less time and help to develop the smaller ancillary muscles which stabilize the weight throughout the exercise.
It's also recommended to stick with free weights are far as possible instead of machines since you get a much better and more natural range of movement.
Too Many Reps On Low Weights As well as doing the wrong exercises another common reason why skinny hardgainers can't gain buff and muscular is that the weight they are lifting is simply too light, be it through fear of over-exertion or a misinformed idea that more reps are better.
The key to building serious muscle and how to get buff is in performing low rep numbers on heavy weights.
Anywhere between 6-10 reps is ideal and the weight should be heavy to make the last rep almost impossible to complete.
A heavier weight causes more testosterone to surge through your body which leads to increased muscle mass and improved strength gains.
Working Out Too Often While some skinny guys don't workout enough, a large number actually end up working out too often.
I made this mistake a number of years ago, when I found myself reaching a plateau.
It was frustrating to see my muscle gains decrease, so to remedy it I thought "well, I just need to work out more often" WRONG! This actually aggravated the problem as well as made me susceptible to injury and just plain miserable (the gym is a pretty boring place if you're there 6-7 days a week).
The mistake here was in not allowing my body time to recover, which is essential to getting buff and muscular.
The key to consistent muscle gains is in leaving rest days between workouts.
I prefer 3-4 all body workouts per week, with full rest days in between.
This ensures sufficient rest as well as not taking up too much time.
Not Enough Rest Following from the above point is the importance of good quality rest to help skinny guys get buff.
Natural growth hormones are produced when we reach levels of deep sleep which enable the muscle tissue to repair the minor tears that have been caused by our workouts.
By not getting enough quality sleep you can reduce the level of these anabolic hormones that are produced and reduce your body's ability to build muscle.
So get into a disciplined sleeping pattern and eliminate unnecessary stress from your life that can get in the way of your quest to get buff and muscular.
Source...