Follow these tips to pack muscle onto your body. The muscle gain phase is known as the bulking phase. Bulking VS Cutting.

Eat Every 3 Hours

It is generally thought that a daily caloric intake of about 15 times your bodyweight is your maintenance diet. (This is based on the Harris-Benedict equation calculated for a lightly active adult male. Read about the Harris Benedict equation here.) So, if you weigh 150 pounds, your maintenance diet would be about 2,250  calories per day (150 x 15 = 2,250). To gain weight you must increase your calories from your maintenance intake. To start, most people will want to increase their daily caloric intake to 20-24 times their bodyweight. I highly recommend that hardgainers, or ectomorphs, start with a daily calorie intake of 24 times their bodyweight in pounds.

20-24 X Bodyweight in pounds = Daily Caloric Intake for Muscle Gain

If you have significant body fat, you may want to start at 16 – 18 times your weight (or, first do a training program geared toward losing body fat).

It is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to know exactly how your diet is affecting your physique. To know this, you must be properly tracking your weight gain progress. FitDay.com is a great free way to track your nutrients.  This doesn't just mean that you are weighing yourself, but also using body tape measurements and body fat percentages to determine the direction your body is moving. This will allow you to quickly make the appropriate adjustments.

You now have a starting point for the amount of calories to consume and the ratio those calories should be split between protein, carbohydrates and fat within your diet to gain weight. To put your diet into action it will be necessary to do some simple calculations to determine how many calories and grams of each nutrient you will need to consume. For specific foods to eat for muscle gain, read the diet to build muscle.

With Muscle Gaining Secrets, you will receive a planned program that will tell you exactly what exercises to perform in the gym and what foods to eat to ensure size and muscle gains. Jason Ferrugia does an excellent job in laying out exactly what you need to do to get from skinny to muscular in no time.

First, to find the right amount of calories for each nutrient, you will need to multiply the decimal equivalent of each nutrient's ratio percentage by your daily caloric intake goal.

(Daily Caloric Intake Goal)(Nutrient ratio %) =
daily caloric intake from nutrient.

For example, lets say you have decided to start your diet to gain weight with a daily caloric intake goal of 3,000 calories and a nutrient ratio percentage of 30-40-30. Your calculations would be:

Protein	3,000 x 30%(.30) = 900 calories from protein
Carbohydrates	3,000 x 40%(.40) = 1,200 calories from carbs
Fat	3,000 x 30%(.30) = 900 calories from fat

Now you know how many calories to consume from each nutrient. To find the grams necessary for each of these nutrients, refer to the nutrient pages where you learned how many calories were in each gram of each nutrient…

Macronutrients	Calories Per Gram
Protein	4 calories
Carbohydrates	4 calories
Fat	9 calories

Divide the number of calories needed for each nutrient by that nutrient's caloric content per gram.

(Calories for each nutrient) / (Nutrient's calories per gram) =
Grams from nutrient daily

For the previous example, perform the calculations as follows:

Protein	900 / 4 = 225 grams per day
Carbohydrates	1,200 / 4 = 300 grams per day
Fat	900 / 9 = 100 grams per day

Now, you know exactly how many grams of each of the macronutrients you should shoot for every day. You won't be able to hit these goals exactly, you just want to try and come as close as possible.

 

Weight Gainers will help you get those extra calories that you need to Get Big Fast!

 

Get 8 Hours of Sleep

You do NOT get bigger while working out. Your muscles do not grow in the gym – they only grow when you are resting!

Weight training is needed only to stimulate growth. After that, your body needs rest and food to build muscle. And hardgainers need more rest and food than others. Read the diet to build muscle.

Since your muscles only grow while you are resting, you should definitely get the doctor-recommended 8 hours of sleep per night. Come as close to 8 hours of sleep a night as possible. Try a Sleep Support Supplement if you have trouble sleeping.

 

Work with Free Weights, Not Machines

The best way to gain muscle mass quickly is to use free weights. You must focus on compound free-weight training, and lift heavy weights.  "Heavy" means getting a low number of repititons per set; aim for 6-8 reps or less per set.  You should progressively increase the weight  you lift by small increments on each exercise at each workout. Read the muscle building workout routine.

The use of free weights stimulates the largest amount of muscle fibers.  Your body responds to this stimulus by increasing your muscle mass.

Most machines are a waste of time for hardgainers.  Machines limit your development because they help to support the weight.

On the other hand, free weights make you support the weight along the entire path of the movement, which helps to stimulate more muscle fibers while also strengthening smaller and/or weaker muscles.

If your smaller supporting muscles are weak, your larger muscles won't grow. To build size and strength quickly, pro bodybuilders and professional athletes don't use machines — they use free weights almost exclusively!

 

Free Weights Are King with No Nonsense Muscle Building!

 

The Post Workout Shake is a MUST-DO!

BodyTech Shaker Bottle

Strength training and weight lifting break down muscle, burn calories and make you sweat. You need nutrients post-workout for muscle recovery & rehydration. Post-workout shakes can take care of all of that. Why Drink Post Workout Shakes? Shakes are food in liquid form and therefore are digested faster and more easily than solid foods. It is important to consume protein and carbohydrates IMMEDIATELY following a weight training session in order to give your muscles those nutrients that they need right away when they are most receptive to them.

Immediately following a workout is the MOST IMPORTANT TIME to get nutrients, protein, carbs and insulin, into your muscles and into your bloodstream so that your muscles can receive the glycogen (muscle energy) that they desperately need.  Post-workout is the time that the muscles will absorb nutrients like a sponge because you have just depleted the glycogen stores so drastically with your workout. So, consume your post-workout shake as soon as possible at the completion of your weight training workout, and surely well within what is called the "golden hour".  I like to refer to this window of opportunity as the "golden half hour".

Ingredients for Post Workout Shakes. You want protein for muscle recovery, carbs for energy, and milk/water for rehydration.

• Whey. Get 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight daily. Divide your protein intake evenly among your daily meals.
• Oats. Quick oats work best.  They are more finely ground  than rolled oats and therefore are easier to ingest and digest. Oats are the best source of healthy carbs in a diet.
• Milk. Helps weight gain if you’re skinny. Stick to whole milk if you have a high metabolism or you have a lot of weight to gain.  If you wish, you may use fat-free skim milk.  Remember that you cannot lose fat and gain muscle at the same time.  Choose a phase, cutting or bulking, and stick to it.
• Fruit. Full of vitamins & minerals. Bananas, raisins, strawberries, etc.

Oats and Whey are fundamental elements of an athlete's diet. Oats are naturally low in sugar and supply slow-burning complex carbohydrates and hunger-filling dietary fiber. Whey proteins are readily digested and provide considerable amounts of essential amino acids (EAAs) especially the three branched chain amino acids (BCAAs). Optimum Nutrition Natural 100% Oats & Whey combines the benefits of these nutritional powerhouses in a smooth, drinkable shake that's quick to prepare and equally easy to clean up after.

Dextrose & Maltodextrin: Even though dextrose and maltodextrin each have a higher Glycemic Index (GI) than oats, GI is irrelevant because other ingredients in the shake influence the total GI; whey protein will spike insulin.

Oats contain vitamins, minerals and fiber. Dextrose/maltodextrin do not. Eat well pre-workout so you have nutrients available when your muscles need them. For pre-workout, I recommend a milk and oats shake (50 grams of oats and 12 oz of milk for me) for pre-workout nutrition.

How to Make Post-Workout Shakes

1. Get Your Container. Fill your shaker bottle or with 16 oz of milk (for a 150 pound person.)
2. Add Whey & Oats. For protein, I recommend Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey Protein. It tastes great and it doesn't clump. Or, you can get Natural Brand Oats & Whey with the benefit of having oats & whey in one convenient source.

   Add milk, whey, quick oats to your shake in a carbs to protein ratio of 2 to 1.  Use FitDay.com to calculate the nutrients in your shake based on the quantities of the foods you are adding.  For example, I weigh 155 pounds and my post-workout shake has 16 oz of milk, 2 scoops of whey protein, and 50 grams of quick oats.  That amounts to 90g of carbs, 45 grams of protein, and 15 grams of fat.  

3. Shake Your Bottle. Make sure that your shaker bottle doesn’t leak. Close the shaker bottle tightly & shake it hard.

Use the 3 a.m. "Night Shake" Shake Routine

As a hardgainer, I need to take in a high number of calories each and every day to maintain and to gain weight.  I add to this calorie count by setting my alarm for halfway through my sleep period, which is 3 a.m. for me.  When the alarm sounds, I drink a "night shake" that consists of milk, whey protein, and frozen strawberries. 

Drink Water!

Drink 1 Gallon of Water Per Day! The best thing to drink is water, and a lot of it. Your body needs it desperately to perform well amidst the incredible strain you are placing on it with your workouts. Water is crucial even for those who don't workout because your bodily functions (blood circulation, breathing, perspiration, digestion, etc) demand it greatly.

Drink at least .66 oz of water per pound of bodyweight every day.  A gallon of water a day is a good mark for most people, bigger people will need more. Water will excel your body in all performances. Hydration is king! Read the importance of water. Split your water intake up over the course of the day. Buy a Brita water pitcher – you definitely don't want to be drinking tainted tap water or expensive bottle water.

Adam Harper Lost 24 Pounds of Fat and Gained 19 Pounds of Muscle!
	Thanks to Muscle Gaining Secrets, Adam Harper was able to completely transform his physique with life's natural gold – muscle! Isn't it time for you to do the same? Read All About Muscle Gaining Secrets