Back when I was 16 years old I weighed a little over 9 stone and was as skinny as a long thin rake.
As a result I had self confidence issues with my poor size and strength, both on and off the sports field.
I decided that it was time to make a change and in the years that followed spend four to five nights a week down the gym pressing weights in a seemingly impossible ambition to put on some muscle mass.
At the end of the two years training, here's what I gained: nothing.
At the time, I was so demoralised and started to believe that my poor size could be attributed to poor genetics from my parents.
Little did I know that I was simply doing it all wrong.
If I had known at the age of 16 what I know now, I could have saved myself a huge amount of time.
Given that I haven't perfected the art of time travel and can't go back to rectify my mistakes, I have decided to do the next best thing: Educate you! This article is five key points to successfully putting on muscle mass to your frame.
If done correctly, great life changing results can be achieved in as little as 8 weeks.
1) Eat more calories than you use.
The most important point if you are looking to gain weight is that you must eat more calories than you consume.
This doesn't mean scoffing your face full of cakes, but it does mean lots of good healthy proteins and carbohydrates.
Eat small to medium sized meals around 5-7 times a day.
2) Make sure compound exercises are the main part of your routine When down the gym, don't be one of these people that does barbell curls in the squat rack.
This will not help you bulk up! You need anabolic compound movements such as the squat, deadlift and bench press to really put your body under stress and force it to adapt by building new muscle tissue.
3) Have a post workout shake Having spent an hour down the gym your body is crying out for nutrients.
You should therefore consume a high protein, high simple carbohydrate mixture to kickstart your body's anabolism.
I'd recommend around 50g whey protein with 50g simple sugars such as dextrose.
4) Get enough rest At night make sure that you are sleeping at least 6-7 hours, sometimes up to 8 is necessary.
Your body repairs the damage to the muscle outside of the gym; YES, that's right, you grow outside of the gym! Work hard in the squat racks, eat plenty and rest.
You'll grow.
5)Progress Weights In order to keep giving your body new stresses you need to attempt to increase the weight on the bar each week.
If that's not possible, it means that you're not a beginner and you'll need to look at some kind of periodisation routine.
Nevertheless, in either situation, your ultimate aim is to add more weight to the bar, giving your muscle increased and progressive trauma so that it is Forced to adapt! Summary At a very high level, these basic points helped me to pack on 28lbs in 3 months.
If you follow my advice, there's absolutely no reason why you can't do the same; thousands already have!
As a result I had self confidence issues with my poor size and strength, both on and off the sports field.
I decided that it was time to make a change and in the years that followed spend four to five nights a week down the gym pressing weights in a seemingly impossible ambition to put on some muscle mass.
At the end of the two years training, here's what I gained: nothing.
At the time, I was so demoralised and started to believe that my poor size could be attributed to poor genetics from my parents.
Little did I know that I was simply doing it all wrong.
If I had known at the age of 16 what I know now, I could have saved myself a huge amount of time.
Given that I haven't perfected the art of time travel and can't go back to rectify my mistakes, I have decided to do the next best thing: Educate you! This article is five key points to successfully putting on muscle mass to your frame.
If done correctly, great life changing results can be achieved in as little as 8 weeks.
1) Eat more calories than you use.
The most important point if you are looking to gain weight is that you must eat more calories than you consume.
This doesn't mean scoffing your face full of cakes, but it does mean lots of good healthy proteins and carbohydrates.
Eat small to medium sized meals around 5-7 times a day.
2) Make sure compound exercises are the main part of your routine When down the gym, don't be one of these people that does barbell curls in the squat rack.
This will not help you bulk up! You need anabolic compound movements such as the squat, deadlift and bench press to really put your body under stress and force it to adapt by building new muscle tissue.
3) Have a post workout shake Having spent an hour down the gym your body is crying out for nutrients.
You should therefore consume a high protein, high simple carbohydrate mixture to kickstart your body's anabolism.
I'd recommend around 50g whey protein with 50g simple sugars such as dextrose.
4) Get enough rest At night make sure that you are sleeping at least 6-7 hours, sometimes up to 8 is necessary.
Your body repairs the damage to the muscle outside of the gym; YES, that's right, you grow outside of the gym! Work hard in the squat racks, eat plenty and rest.
You'll grow.
5)Progress Weights In order to keep giving your body new stresses you need to attempt to increase the weight on the bar each week.
If that's not possible, it means that you're not a beginner and you'll need to look at some kind of periodisation routine.
Nevertheless, in either situation, your ultimate aim is to add more weight to the bar, giving your muscle increased and progressive trauma so that it is Forced to adapt! Summary At a very high level, these basic points helped me to pack on 28lbs in 3 months.
If you follow my advice, there's absolutely no reason why you can't do the same; thousands already have!
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