How To Build Muscle Quickly - Part One
If you are reading this you are likely one of those rare individuals who wants to put on weight (rare in itself) but can't seem to do it no matter how much you try. You are not alone. Skinny guys who work out with weights are a common sight at gyms, and many of them have simply come to the conclusion that they "can't" put on weight, that they have tried "everything", and that they are just destined to remain skinny the rest of their lives.
This is no different than the more common overweight fellow (or woman) who claims they just can't lose weight no matter what they try, that they are just going to have to accept that being fat is their destiny.
The genetic argument has become very common nowadays: It's not your fault, it's your genes. But there is a simple ratio that works for either weight gain or weight loss:
CALORIES INGESTED : CALORIES BURNED.
No matter what your genetics, no matter what your body type, this formula explains weight gain and weight loss. If you ingest more calories than you burn, you gain weight. If you ingest fewer calories than you burn, you lose weight. Simple.
Have you ever seen a photo of men rescued from a Japanese Prisoner-of-War camp? See any fat guys? There are none because the body cannot store fat when it is not getting enough calories to compensate for the calories burned. Once all the stored fat is gone the body will begin breaking down the protein in muscle to burn as calories next.
Conversely, I once met a man who was on the final leg of an around-the-world bicycle trip. This man had logged thousands of miles on his bike. He literally rode his bike all day long, everyday, for more than two years. Yet, I would describe this man as chubby. He had at least 20 to 30 extra pounds on him. He ate A LOT of power bars everyday, in addition to his meals.
Genetics DO play a role, however. Genetics determines how QUICKLY the body responds to either extra or insufficient calories ingested. There are indeed different body types, and this will affect how your body responds to exercise as well. The key is to understand your body, and then act accordingly for the goal you are trying to reach. For skinny guys who want to put on weight, the formula is:
CALORIES INGESTED > CALORIES BURNED.
The best way to do this is to start eating A LOT of good food. That means, feel free to stuff your face with oatmeal, rice, potatoes, steak, chicken, eggs, milk, cottage cheese, nuts, raisins, fruit, etc. Don't eat a bunch of junk food, like soda, chips, french fries, nachos, ice cream, etc. These high fat/ high sugar foods do contain a HUGE amount of calories, but they tend to make the body sluggish and limp, instead of energized, and will kill your motivation for working out. Thus you will simply gain a lot of fat, and no muscle.
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Gaining Muscle Vs. Gaining Fat
In order to make sure you are gaining muscle and not just getting fat, you must convert the extra calories into muscle. The body stores extra calories as fat, which is easily converted back to calories that can be burned when the energy is needed. But muscle can also be converted to calories, there just needs to be a greater requirement to do so.
Think of it this way: storing fat is like putting your food in the refrigerator; when you are hungry you just have to take a few steps, open the door and start eating. Storing calories in muscle is more like putting food down in the basement cellar. Still accesible, but now you have to work harder to get it.
If you are trying to get muscle mass, you do not want any of this muscle to get used up for calories. So you must always make sure there is plenty of what the body needs right where it needs it. That means once you have gotten used to eating a lot more in order to gain the extra weight, you have to keep right on eating that much in order to maintain the weight. You will have to monitor your weight and food intake a lot, to know what the correct balance is. Make 'Food Awareness' part of your training.
Once you are ingesting plenty of the right kinds of calories, the next step is training your muscles.