How to Gain Muscle Fast for Skinny Guys with 5 Best Tips
By TOI Staff
January 4, 2023
Update on : September 8, 2023
So you’ve been hitting the gym to get rid of that skinny label but can’t see any progress? Perhaps you have been eating what seems to be the right meals and lifting weights 7 days a week but still can’t seem to meet your muscle weight gain goals? You’re at the right place.
Here, we provide tips on how to gain muscle fast for skinny guys looking to improve their physique and overall appearance. Whether it’s for health reasons or you just want to look good in a tight shirt, this article has the necessary information to help you achieve your dream body easily. Check it out!
How to Gain Muscle Fast for Skinny Guys: 5 Quick & Easy Tips
Gaining muscle can be an uphill task for most skinny guys, but if you apply the right techniques, you can be able to see results faster. According to Midss, here is what you need to do to maintain a healthy weight and pack on quality muscle mass:
1. Set a Goal
First things first; know what you want to achieve and when. Don’t start muscle building without a plan and hope things will work out themselves. They won’t if you don’t know exactly what you want to achieve. Setting a realistic, achievable goal will help you stay motivated for your cause and achieve better results.
Begin with small, actionable goals. 0.25 to 0.5 pounds of muscle gain a week, for instance, would be a healthy, realistic goal. Also, don’t forget to celebrate achieved milestones. You’ll be pushed to keep going by it.
2. Boost Your Diet with More Protein and Carbs
Protein and carbohydrates are essential for muscle building. Considering that protein is what makes most of your body, a higher intake means more muscle mass. Similarly, upping your carbs or calorie intake provides your body with sufficient glycogen (energy) to perform its activities so it doesn’t have to break down the muscle tissue for energy.
As a general rule, aim for 1 gram of protein for 1 pound of your current body weight each day. For example, if you weigh 160 pounds, consume 160 grams. Protein-packed foods like salmon, eggs, chicken breast, shrimp, and low-fat Greek yogurt and bodybuilding supplements such as protein powder are great for muscle growth. Combined with rice, oats, pasta, potatoes, and other starchy carbs, you’ll be on the right track to bulking up.
Make sure to eat/snack regularly, preferably every 2-3 hours. Again, this will supply more calories to your body and keep it from using your muscle tissue as a source of energy.
3. Lift Weights
Weight training exercises are a fantastic way to boost muscle growth. They add stress to your muscles, causing them to adapt and grow stronger.
Aim to train about 4 days every week. For best results, consider creating a strength training schedule with isolation exercises that focus on a specific muscle group every day. For instance, on day 1, focus on your chest and triceps, target your back and biceps on day 2, work your legs and shoulders on day 3, and do a whole-body workout to work for multiple muscle groups on day 4. Have rest days between your workout days to give your muscles time to recover. Taking whey protein after an intense workout can help speed up muscle repair.
4. Do Not Overdo Cardio
Cardio offers plenty of health benefits to your body. However, when it comes to gaining muscle, too much of it can actually hurt your goal. Performing cardio for too long, too intensely, or too frequently increases the possibility that your body will start breaking down protein and muscle for energy, which could inhibit your gains.
90 minutes of cardio workout every week is ideal. You can divide this into 30-minute sessions or distribute it evenly throughout the week as you deem fit. Also, do not do cardio before weight training, as it will use up too much energy and fatigue your muscles before the lifting.
5. Get Enough Sleep
When you sleep enough, your muscles repair and recover faster. It is also during your sleep that your body secretes more amino acids and growth hormone, enabling your muscles to increase in size and get stronger over time. That’s why you need at least 7 hours of sleep daily.
Not sleeping enough, especially after high-intensity training may lower the production of this hormone, making your body catabolic. This means that, instead of building muscle, your body will be breaking down and losing muscle.
Muscle Building Foods for Skinny guys
As we mentioned, to build muscle, your diet must be high in protein and carbohydrates. Make sure to eat these nutrient-dense foods to provide your body with enough calories to build quality muscle.
- Eggs
- Nuts and seeds
- Fish
- Steak
- Rice
- Greek yogurt
- Almond milk
- Ground beef
- Oats
- Bananas
- Potatoes
- Peanut butter
- Olive oil
While it can be tempting to eat junk foods, keep in mind that the majority of these will only cause you to gain weight. You will bulk up, for sure, but your body will be carrying more unhealthy fats than healthy fats and muscle, which can put your health at risk in the long run.
Conclusion
By giving your body the right healthy food, performing the right exercises, and getting the right amount of sleep, you will soon be able to drop that skinny name tag and pick up a label you’re more proud of. Just don’t be too hard on yourself; set a realistic goal for the muscle weight you want to achieve within a given period of time and consistently work toward it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Eating a healthy diet and lifting weights regularly, you should be able to gain between 1 and 2 pounds of muscle every month. But this doesn’t mean you can’t build more muscle; you’re just not going to put on 10 pounds in a week, so start by having realistic expectations.
When you’re just getting started with muscle building, do not over-exert. Aim for 3 to 4 days of progressive weight training every week, with rest days in between to allow your muscles enough time to repair.
Skinny people should lift heavy weights to see results. Because their bodies are already adapted to light weights, continued lifting of such weights will not give them the body they are looking for quickly. The only way to gain muscle faster is to get into a program that incorporates heavy lifting.
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