Many thin or skinny guys/girls start out in the gym in the hopes of gaining some size and achieving that ideal physique. Sound like you? Though, you train and train but you only see slight differences. You seem to get more ripped but the size that you need just doesn’t seem to happen.
I too started like that. I was very thin and got into the gym and picked up a bit of size, but not as much as I thought I should. I thought all I needed to do was be training in the gym and the size would come. I focused a lot on structuring my gym workouts with too little emphasis on the aspects outside of the gym. Little did I know there was much more involved…
When wanting to put on quality weight (muscle mostly) there are a few basic fundamentals you need to know. You may be surprised how ‘common’ and straight forward some of these are, but they are the basics that work, and not some magic formula that is kept secret.
1. Eat more
You need to eat, A LOT.
You may think that you eat a lot, but you probably don’t. So many times people say that they cannot gain size, and that they eat a lot. But when asked about their diet, they have no set structure and no direction when it comes to calories. You cannot gain size if you do not eat enough and beyond your baseline.
2. Train intensely and ‘heavyish’
Your training sessions need to be intense with short breaks between sets, and with great focus on the muscle(s) you want to work.
You do not need to go so heavy that you can only do 1 or 2 reps, but keep the weights heavy enough to challenge yourself between 6 and 12 reps.
3. Train weak parts more often
Let’s say you have very skinny legs compared to the rest of your body, and you want to get them in proportion to everything else. A good technique is to then add a second leg training session per week. Sometimes they need an extra push to spark some growth.
4. Rest is important to
When you have that goal physique in mind, you can become so disciplined that your whole life gets consumed by it. While it may be difficult to achieve perfect balance in life when chasing after a goal, you shouldn’t always let it affect every aspect of life. You shouldn’t always think more is better. You need to take a day or two off from the gym,even if not every week, every now and again your body and mind needs it to recover.
5. Live a little
A word of advice, don’t become consumed by the lifestyle. On social media nowadays within the fitness and bodybuilding space, there are so many motivational pictures and quotes, some are great, but sometimes they can be extreme.
Some may insinuate shutting out the world and focusing only on your physique, eat, sleep, train, repeat kind of message. There is a lot of life to be lived out there, even if you really love the gym, there are many other training techniques and types to experience and try, many places to see and people to meet.
Do not become so closed minded and only stick to your same meal routine and workout routine. If you want to eat out occasionally, then eat out. The only time you really need to be absolutely strict to the T is 1. If you are preparing for a competition, or 2. If you have a high body fat percentage and you are wanting to lose a lot of weight.
