How to gain weight for a skinny guy: general recommendations

Ways to get pumped up

First you need to make a firm decision to pump up. Remember, shabby is not a death sentence . This is a stage of development. After a year of training, you will no longer be one. Of course, it will be more difficult for a skinny guy to gain weight. However, do not rush to get upset. You can gain weight and achieve your goal. The main thing for this is to follow some rules:

1. Perform only basic exercises.
2. Do 6–8 repetitions in each approach.
3. Eat properly. If you are thin, you need to eat a lot.

Basic exercises include:

1. Barbell deadlift.
2. Bench press.
3. Squats.

For a beginner, three will be enough

workouts per week. That is, for each workout you should have one basic exercise.

Before you start working on gaining weight, you need to experimentally determine your working weight. This is a weight at which you can do 6 to 8 repetitions. The first week of training will take you to determine your working weights.

After that, start working. Perform 2-3 warm-up approaches and four working approaches for each exercise. In warm-up sets, you work with light weights and do high reps (around 20). In working approaches you need to do 6-8 repetitions.

The main condition for muscle growth is increasing working weights. If you can do 10 or more repetitions, that's a sign that it's time to increase the weight.

In the first 3 months of training, only these exercises will be enough. Your workouts will be quite short - up to 40-50 minutes. This is fine. Beginners should never overload themselves.

After 3 months, when you gain some experience in training, you can also include the following exercises in your training program:

1. Wide grip pull-ups on the bar.
2. Dips.
3. Standing barbell press up.

Each of these exercises must be added to the appropriate muscle group. That is, when deadlifting, we work with the pulling muscles. Therefore, after this exercise you should do pull-ups.

After the bench press, you can do overhead presses and dips. And after squats with a barbell, you can do an auxiliary exercise for the leg muscles. The principle here is the same: four working sets of 6–8 repetitions.

If you do more than 8 pull-ups and dips, use extra weight. In gyms there are special devices that help you hang a weight plate from the barbell to your belt.

Workouts for an ectomorph

Training programs for ectomorphs to gain muscle mass should be presented in a two-day version. That is, exercises are done twice a week.

How often to exercise

So, a two-day training is suitable for ectomorphs. Three times a week may be too often. The exercises should be selected exclusively heavy, no additions for the first time. We produce testosterone with heavy weights.

Focus on basic exercises

The first classes for ectomorphs cannot begin with maximum load. Firstly, you don’t yet know which weights are difficult for you to work with and which ones are not. Secondly, you have not yet developed the correct technique.

So you will have to spend a couple of months mastering the technique of basic exercises and a smooth approach to your “failure” weights.

In each approach you need to do 4-6 repetitions. The more repetitions you do, the more calories you burn. Forget about light exercise. Only the base!

Cardio

Mass gain training programs for men, even ectomorphs, should include cardio. Lack of cardio is very bad.

But spend 5-7 minutes running or cycling. You can interval 1 time maximum to accelerate your heart rate. Then just stretch your joints. Approach working weights smoothly, gradually, through intermediate weights.

Working weight

You do basic exercises for 4-6 repetitions. It is logical that the weights will be those with which you will struggle to do the last reps. These are big weights, believe me.

If you reach a so-called plateau, be patient. Just practice to the best of your ability. Over time, you will be able to lift more, or your external results will change in some way. A good way to get out of a plateau is to add one repetition to each set, doing 3 reps with a little more weight than your working ones. If this does not help, increase the amount of protein in your diet, try special supplements (BCAA, creatine).

A plateau does not occur in the first months of training, keep this in mind. If your results improve in the second or third month, just give your body a rest. If your weight has stopped growing for several months, reconsider your diet and physical activity.

Sample workout plan for skinny guys

Training should be done three times a week. Rest between workouts - 1 day. A sample training program plan looks like this:

Monday:

1. Deadlift: 4 sets of 6-8 reps.
2. Pull-ups: 4 sets of 6-8 reps.

Wednesday:

1. Bench press: 4 sets of 6–8 reps.
2. Standing barbell press: 4 sets of 8–10 reps.
3. Dips: 4 sets of 8-10 reps.

Friday:

1. Barbell squats: 4 sets of 6–8 reps.
2. Any exercise you wish for the leg muscles: 4 sets of 8–10 reps.

Since you are a thin man, there is no need to constantly work on your abs. In your situation, it will be enough to perform 2 sets of crunches for each workout.

Chris Hemsworth's diet

Another Hollywood actor, known to us from the film Thor dilogy, where he played the main role. What kind of diet did he have?

1. 8-10 egg whites + oatmeal with 1% milk + yogurt + whey protein.
2. 100 g quinoa + yogurt + fruit + protein shake.
3. Vegetables + 300 g chicken breast.
4. 300 g chicken breast with cheese.
5. Protein cocktail.
6. 300 g steak + vegetables.
7. Casein cocktail.

In addition, he also took multivitamins, creatine and L-carnitine throughout the day. This is a fairly powerful diet with a strong dose of protein in it, and therefore it is ideal for gaining muscle mass. It is worth noting that it is much better to follow it if you have a mesomorphic body type. How to quickly gain weight for a skinny person? Try this diet.

Gaining weight for a man at home

At the initial stages, you can gain weight at home. But this is only in the first year of classes. As your body becomes much stronger, you will have to further increase the load, which is impossible to do at home.

For example, if you are a very thin man and cannot do pull-ups and push-ups, then you first need to master these exercises. At first, you will be able to do a very small number of repetitions. That is, your approach will be considered working. This means it will bring results.

You can also practice on the horizontal bar and parallel bars. After all, they are on every playground. Your first goal will be to master pull-ups, push-ups and parallel bars. When you can do more than 10 repetitions, you will have to use additional weight. The following items can be loaded into the backpack:

1. Books.
2. Water bottles.
3. Bottles with sand.
4. Stones.
5. Pancakes from dumbbells or barbells.

While performing the exercises, you need to wear this backpack on your back. The principle is the same as in the gym: four working sets of 6–8 repetitions.

Gradually increase the weight so that there is at least some result. To train your legs, do single-leg squats. There is no way to increase the weight here, so do it as many times as possible.

In the first few months, you will grow considerably in strength, and home workouts will no longer bring you the desired results. Therefore, after the first year of training, you will have to go to the gym.

Fat burning home workout with your body

How to burn fat and boost endorphin levels with a simple three-set home workout.

This home workout for the whole body will greatly speed up your metabolism and stimulate the release of endorphin - the hormone of joy and pleasure.

Here you can forget about dumbbells and weights, since here they are completely optional. To effectively burn calories, you don't need anything other than your own body.

This workout breaks down six different movements into upper and lower body exercises. Both categories have three exercises that are performed at once, one after the other, as one big set. We perform the first “triple set” three times, resting only when necessary, and then proceed to the second large set and also perform it three times.

Your goal should be a slight burning sensation and fatigue in your muscles, as well as an increase in your heart rate. As a result, the maximum amount of fat will be burned and more endorphins will be released. This process will continue even after the end of the workout.

1A) Jump squats, 15 reps without rest

Adding a jump makes the regular squat not only a good muscle-building movement, but also an excellent cardio exercise for burning fat. Keeping your back straight, squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor and your glutes are level with your knees (A), then jump up (B). We land softly and proceed to the next repetition.

1B) Squat jumping jacks, 20 reps without rest

This exercise is simple, but at the same time very intense. By doing it, you will become more agile and lose excess weight faster. First we do a wide-legged squat (A). Now we bring our legs together as quickly as possible (B), and then immediately raise them back to a wide position. Expect your legs to be very sore by the end of the 20th rep.

1C) Crab walk, 30 seconds, 30 seconds rest

This exercise is not easy. To maintain muscle balance here you will have to work very hard. First, we sit on the floor, keeping our hands behind our backs and our legs in front of us. Now lift your hips (A) and move forward (B). After half a minute of performing this exercise, we rest for 30 seconds, after which we again proceed to the first exercise - squats with jumps.

2A) Push-ups with clap, 10 repetitions without rest

This improved version of the classic exercise will leave you tired. From a push-up position, lower your chest until it almost touches the floor (A). Then we push off, but unlike a regular push-up, we lift both hands off the floor, do a clap (B), and then immediately proceed to the next repetition. If you clap your hands while your hands are in the air, the effect of the exercise will be even better.

2B) Shadowboxing, 30 seconds without rest

To get in good physical shape, you don’t have to become a professional boxer - you just need to imitate the fighting technique. To perform this exercise, we take a fighting position. Making slight bends in different directions and sometimes squatting a little, we perform lateral and direct blows with our fists. The type of strikes is entirely up to you, but remember - try to make the exercise as intense as possible, and therefore effective.

A little about nutrition

Gaining muscle mass for thin people is a very labor-intensive process . When you work out in the gym, you will shed rivers of sweat. If you don't get tired, it means you're training with little weight, or you're lying to yourself.

But you shouldn’t limit yourself to just exercises. If you don't eat and rest properly, exercise will have little to no effect. An incorrect lifestyle will reduce the effectiveness of the exercises performed, and training may be harmful to you.

So, you need to eat right. Let's start with the foods that you should avoid forever:

1. Alcohol.
2. Smoking.
3. Sweet carbonated drinks.
4. Products from fast food cafes.
5. Sweet products.
6. Products containing large amounts of oil.
7. It is advisable to drink tea or coffee without sugar.

Why can't you eat these foods? After all, people who are far from sports constantly feed on them. Firstly, these products contribute to the deposition of excess fat. Secondly, they reduce the level of the main male hormone in the body - testosterone. It is this that stimulates muscle growth, as well as an increase in potency. Therefore, if you want to build a beautiful and powerful body, you will have to stop consuming the above products.

Now let's move on to the foods that need to be eaten to achieve our goal:

1. All types of meat.
2. Fish.
3. Vegetables and fruits.
4. Various cereals.
5. Chicken and quail eggs.
6. Cheeses and dairy products.
7. Nuts and dried fruits.

Naturally, you don’t need to eat all these foods interspersed. It is necessary to create a proper nutrition plan. At certain times of the day you need to eat certain foods. If your body is very thin, then you will have to eat 6 times a day. In this case, the portions will not be small, but the same as for your usual meal.

You need to eat more carbohydrates in the morning. Now we are talking about long-term carbohydrates. These include cereals, vegetables and fruits. The ideal breakfast option is a bowl of oatmeal along with berries or bananas. Don't forget about protein. Oatmeal contains a decent amount of protein, so if you don't have it, you can have scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast. Again, you should remember that you need to fry these scrambled eggs in a special frying pan that does not require vegetable oil.

For lunch you should eat approximately the same amount of protein and carbohydrates. The best option is 250 grams of meat with rice or buckwheat. You can also add a sandwich with bread and cheese to lunch.

In the evening you need to eat as much protein as possible. It could be fish or lean poultry. Red meat is best eaten for lunch. You need to add vegetables to fish or poultry. Eating only protein is quite hard on the stomach. Therefore, vegetables are needed to help the stomach digest meat faster.

In between main meals, you can nibble nuts, or eat chocolate and fruit. You can also drink a milk or protein shake.

If you want to gain muscle mass as quickly as possible, sometimes you will have to eat at night. There is no need to eat meat or other heavy foods at night. And also, you don’t need to consume long-term carbohydrates, because this will not allow you to get a good night’s sleep. It's best to drink a protein shake at night. They are sold in sports nutrition stores. Believe me, 50 grams of protein at night will not be superfluous for gaining muscle mass.

General advice is to try to eat as much food as possible that increases testosterone levels in the body. This will speed up the process of gaining muscle mass .

Some aspects of gaining weight

There are quite a lot of secrets to gaining weight for skinny guys. This is both the right training program for gaining muscle mass, and biological rhythms, and a way of life.

Remember, it’s not so easy for a skinny guy to gain weight, but it’s possible. Some people grow muscles faster, others slower. It’s difficult to put everyone on the same level here. See for yourself how many nuances there are in this matter.

Weight and doping

A common reason for refusing to work in the gym is lack of results. Guys come to the gym for the sake of muscles, they train for a month, two, three. Every day they look at themselves in the mirror, strain their muscles, but everything is in vain. As a result, willpower fails and the guys give up training.

And it's not just about body structure. Bodybuilding is a slow thing, muscles grow by leaps and bounds in one case - if you take doping. In this case, of course, you will get the result only for the duration of the course, after which everything will return back (the so-called rollback). Well, you will cause harm to the body, this is a fact - after all, you use medications without prescription.

No matter what the agitators of the steroid world say, this topic is absolutely unnecessary for those who do not intend to become the next bodybuilding champion. You probably know that professional sports and health are incompatible concepts.

We take into account genetics

So, back to how to gain weight for a skinny guy. And here we are faced with interesting nuances. It turns out that not every skinny guy has a hard time gaining weight. Sometimes, if you improve your diet and exercise regularly, progress goes quite well. But basically, of course, a person, as a whole, was thin and remains so, it’s just that the muscles acquire relief and the proportions improve.

The nature and speed of metabolism are programmed at the gene level. If the metabolism is fast, then all the calories received from food are burned and do not go into the mass. A significant part of the population lives with this. But most of this part are quite happy with their appearance, since fat does not interfere with the appearance of a sporty figure. Ectomorphs have just such a metabolism.

Others have a slower metabolism. They go on diets and still gain extra pounds. Perhaps endomorphs sometimes even envy thin people. The status of the endocrine system is important. If there are malfunctions in it, a person can gain fat very quickly.

Age and rate of weight gain

Another factor that affects body weight is age. In the end, it all comes down to metabolism again, because it has different speeds in different age groups.

For example: you didn’t restrict yourself in diet and didn’t gain weight until you were 30, and then you notice that fat begins to accumulate around your lower back. You cut yourself a little on calories, but the fat continues to haunt you. As a result, you have to limit yourself greatly in order to stop gaining weight. This is a typical example of metabolism slowing down with age. For girls, this slowdown occurs after 25 years, for men - after 30 (on average, of course, no one has canceled the individual criterion).

So you may not have to show off your beautiful figure for a long time. The years will take their toll. Even ectomorphs after 30 years notice the appearance of fat deposits. They still have thin arms, legs, narrow shoulders, but their stomach risks turning into a small ball.

Common mistakes

Many novice bodybuilders want to gain weight very quickly. And for this reason, they chase more weight, not realizing that this can only do harm. You need to increase weight according to your feelings . Only if you feel that this weight has become light for you. The desire for progress is commendable. Moreover, it is very important for a man. But don't rush ahead. Staying healthy is much more important than pleasing your ego.

Neglecting warm-up is the second dangerous mistake. It is also caused by the desire to get quick results. Very important advice for men - there are no quick results in any business. And bodybuilding is no exception. If you want to achieve results, work and don’t quit. And also take all necessary actions in order not to harm your body.

It is a mistake to believe that only exercise will help you get better. Without proper nutrition, nothing will work. At best, you will grow slowly. Do you need it? You want to achieve results faster. If so, please eat right!

The stupidest mistake is made due to belief in one myth. It is that after training it is useful to drink beer. Supposedly this causes breasts to grow. Yes, it's really growing. This is due to the effects of the female hormone contained in beer. But it is not the pectoral muscles that grow here, but the so-called female breasts. This is not at all what we need.

Why are men thin?

There are a huge number of reasons for thinness in men. This may be a disorder in the diet or a symptom of one of the serious diseases (tuberculosis, pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract, endocrine system, and others). In such cases, changes in the body occur in a short period of time. However, some males suffer from thinness throughout their lives. This is perhaps the most common case, the reason for which is a genetic predisposition.

Pathological thinness

Pathological thinness is a clear manifestation of metabolic or other processes in the body. Such thinness is a signal about the need to begin prognosis and treatment of any pathologies.

To understand whether you suffer from pathological thinness, you need to calculate your body mass index (which will be discussed later). If the resulting number is below 18 units, your body is susceptible to pathology.

Physiological thinness

Thinness at the physiological level is a manifestation of the genetic characteristics of the body. Naturally thin (lean) men need to follow a special diet; the calorie content of their diet should be at least 2200-2300 kcal in order to start gaining at least something.

Additional recommendations

It is necessary to maintain a sleep schedule. Remember that muscles do not grow during training, but during rest. They recover best during sleep. Therefore, if you sleep less than 8 hours a night, you will immediately slow down your progress. The ideal sleep duration for gaining weight is 9–10 hours.

You need to drink plenty of water. The minimum is 35 grams per kilogram of your body. Water cleanses your body of unnecessary substances and also increases the absorption of substances that you eat. In order not to disrupt your diet, you need to drink water half an hour before meals, and half an hour after it.

Add exercises to your training program according to your preferences. If you like a particular exercise, for example, barbell curls. Do it. The main thing is to do it after completing all the basic exercises.

Proper nutrition, healthy sleep, and well-chosen exercises will completely change your body, and therefore your life. If you've thought about getting pumped up, then you're great! Our thoughts are already quite a strong motivator. And if you have already started practicing, then you are already doing very well. After all, the main thing in any business is to take the first step. Move towards your goal and don’t give in to emotions on days of unsuccessful training, and then you will pump up your body and love yourself even more!

Diet No. 2

The following diet is a little richer, and therefore ideal for “pure” ectomorphs, for whom weight gain is very difficult. Gaining muscle mass for skinny guys is always a daunting task, but with systematic training, proper nutrition and minimizing bad habits, they will definitely be able to achieve excellent results.

1. Breakfast. 150 g oatmeal with raisins / omelette of 5 egg whites and 1 yolk + a glass of juice / a cup of coffee.
2. Lunch. Protein cocktail.
3. Dinner. 150 g rice / buckwheat / pasta + steak / chicken breast + vegetables.
4. Second lunch. Soup with pasta, chicken and vegetables + a glass of juice.
5. Dinner. Lean meat/fish/egg whites + vegetables.
6. Before bedtime. Casein cocktail / 250 g cottage cheese.

Is it really necessary to gain weight?

First, each of you should decide for yourself: is it really necessary to gain weight? In their quest for perfection, beginning athletes tend to forget about possible injuries or serious health problems due to incorrect exercise technique. Changes in the usual diet can cause the development of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. Men over 40 and older should pay special attention to this.

But if you are determined and ready to devote a lot of time to studying bodybuilding material, practicing exercises and subsequently serious training, you should carefully read the article and remember the information offered here.

In some cases, men really do not need to change their own weight, since it is normal for their height and age.

How to determine the optimal weight?

There are many formulas to determine the optimal weight, taking into account height, age and gender. For example, Adolphe Quetelet proposed a formula that can be used to calculate body mass index:

Weight: (height*height)

The units of measurement are strictly defined: for weight - kilograms, for height - meters.

But what is body mass index and how can you use it to determine a person’s optimal weight? To connect these two indicators, Adolphe Quetelet developed a table with an exact indication of the characteristics of your particular weight.

But you shouldn’t take methods for calculating your ideal weight as something indisputable. The formulas give an approximate estimate, determined without taking into account the ratio of muscle and fat tissue in the human body. For greater objectivity, you should take measurements in the chest, hips and waist or draw conclusions based on the appearance of the figure.