Are you tired of being the skinny guy? Do you want to gain muscles and develop a more attractive physique?
A common issue men struggle with is that they feel like they're too skinny. In fact, men are more likely than women to consider themselves underweight and focus on getting more muscle tone.
If you've been hitting the gym day after day and still don't have those defined arms you're after, you need to learn how to gain muscle the right way. There's a lot of factors that go into building muscle.
Even if you are getting your workout right, you might not be taking in the right nutrients or supplements that aid in building muscle.
Read on for all you need to know about gaining muscle.
4 Tips on How to Gain Muscle
Gaining muscle doesn't come easy. We'll show you how to gain muscle faster by incorporating the following tips into your regime:
Eat to Gain
Want to know how to gain muscle?
It starts in the kitchen.
You can do everything right in the gym, but if you're not getting enough calories you won't see any muscle gain. Food is equally as important as working out. To gain muscle, you need to be taking in a higher amount of carbohydrates and calories.
But eating more calories doesn't mean eating whatever food is in sight. What you eat is just as important. A diet high in junk food will gain you unwanted fat instead of attractive muscle.
When it comes to your diet, timing is just as important as the quality of nutrients you're taking in. You need to eat nutrient-dense carbs around your workouts and avoid those starchy carbs when you're inactive. This type of eating routine, with the inclusion of high amounts of protein, will keep you healthy and give you more energy to carry you past your workouts and throughout your day.
Eat about 300-600 calories for a high-carb meal before your workout. Include carbs such as sweet potatoes, oatmeal, brown rice or quinoa. Eat another meal like this after your workout to gain muscle even quicker.
Gaining muscle requires taking in higher amounts of protein. A good goal to reach for is to take in one gram of protein per pound of body weight every day. Get your protein from sources like chicken and lean meats, beans and nuts and protein powders.
Split up your protein intake to 20-25-gram portions throughout the day. Always consume protein before and after your workouts.
It may seem like you're eating a lot of food, and that can be hard to do sometimes. Protein shakes are a great way to get a lot of calories without feeling like you're stuffing yourself.
Mix Up Your Weight-Lifting Routine
Want to know how to gain muscle?
You need to be working out the right way.
Anyone who wants to gain muscle needs to be lifting weights. When you consistently stress your muscles, they grow and get bigger to accommodate for the stress you continue to put on them.
You don't even have to do that many weight-lifting exercises to start gaining muscle. As long as you're using a heavy weight that is challenging to you, you'll activate your muscle fibers and stimulate muscle growth with just a few exercises.
Get a personal trainer or workout with a buddy to have someone that holds you accountable in lifting heavy weights. Having someone there is also safer when you're lifting heavy. Aim to use a weight that will exhaust your muscles by the end of a set.
In addition to following a weight-lifting routine, keep in mind to mix up your workout once in a while. Try changing things up after three or four weeks to stress your muscles in different ways.
It's also important to mix things up in your daily workout to challenge your muscles. Incorporate strategies such as explosions, bouncing, supersets and negatives to see better results in muscle gain.
How to Gain Muscle with Supplements
Supplements are great to pair with your eating and exercise routines to enhance your muscle gaining ability. You should be able to get plenty of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals from the food you eat, but supplements help when you're constantly burning calories but trying to gain muscle.
As mentioned before, protein is significant in building muscle mass. It's important to choose a good protein powder that you can digest well.
Other supplements to consider include amino acids, creatine, canitine, citruline and beta-alanine. A testosterone booster is also extremely effective for putting on muscle mass.
Supplements do not act as a substitute for nutrition and exercise, but they're meant to be taken in addition to a good diet and workout routine to enhance your muscle-gaining results.
See Our Top 3 Testosterone Boosters For 2024
How to Gain Muscle with Rest and Sleep
When you're stressing your body so often, sleep is incredibly important. Getting enough sleep allows for proper growth hormone release. Sleep is your body's way of recovering from the stress of a workout.
Plus, all that extra food you're eating? You're more likely to store it as fat if you're not getting adequate sleep. Sleeping well allows you to build more muscle and store less fat. Aim to get seven to nine hours of sleep each night.
In addition, stretch and massage your muscles during your rest period to enhance recovery between workouts. Use a foam roller to roll out your sore muscles and increase blood flow to those areas.
As you can see, there is a lot that goes into gaining muscle. All of these components must be used together in order to see effective muscle gains.
You can eat well and exercise right, but if you're not sleeping enough you won't see any changes. Likewise, you can be taking the right supplements, sleeping and exercising, but you still need enough real food and extra calories to build muscle.
Remember to implement all four of these tips, and those skinny arms will be transformed into the bulging guns you've always wanted.
To learn more about gaining muscle, check out our exercise guides and supplement reviews for the best information on developing the body you desire.
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