There is only one way to gain weight, and that is by taking in more calories than you burn. When done with intelligence and attention to exercise, this process will make you more muscular; when done without intelligence and attention to exercise, this process will make you fat. If you’re reading this article, you’re obviously interested in gaining weight and I’m going to operate on the assumption that you aren’t looking to gain weight by getting fat. So, we’ll look at putting on some pounds by building and developing your muscles.

First, let’s do a little bit of math…and yes, you can use a calculator, but you need to write the numbers down! Take your current weight and multiply that by 18. The result will be the total number of calories you should aim for, on a daily basis, to enable your body to build new muscles. Now, take your current weight and multiply it by 1.5. This result will be the approximate amount of protein, in grams, that you need to put into you body daily for muscle growth.

You’ve got your two target numbers, so now you need to do some menu preparation. You don’t have to turn into a rapid calorie counter, but you do need to start paying a lot more attention to the calories and protein in the food you eat.

Now, depending on your point of view and awareness of nutrition, these numbers may be very intimidating to you. You’re probably looking at an intense increase in the amount of food you eat and it may seem impossible to do that.

In fact, it may actually be impossible to do that if you’re only eating three meals a day. The “three meals a day” lifestyle isn’t actually optimum for healthy living and it’s far from optimum for muscle building. As you go about your meal planning, you need to plan on eating five to seven smaller meals a day, instead of three bigger meals. It should also go without saying that you should be planning healthy meals.

All calories are not created equally. Just because the local junk-fast-food joint sells a greasy burger with 800 calories doesn’t mean you should eat three of them a day to reach your calorie goal. Empty and fattening calories, such as those in sweets, junk food, fast food, or soda aren’t going to help you gain healthy weight. Foods which are highly processed or high in sugar and saturated fat should be avoided as well.

Moving from food to exercise, there are some ways to exercise which help you lose weight and some ways which will help you gain weight. While you’re focused on gaining weight, it only makes sense to limit your exercises to those which help you gain weight by building muscles. So this isn’t the time to enroll in an aerobics class.

You should focus on a workout regimen of three or four weekly routines which are short and intense. Stay away from the plethora of machines available to you at the gym and workout using free weights.

Start with a weight that is heavy for you; ignore what everyone else is doing. If ten pounds is heavy for you, then it’s heavy for you and you should use it. To effectively gain weight in the shortest time period possible, you’re looking to stimulate the specific muscle fibers which promote the most muscle growth. This is best done by lifting heavy weights.

You’ll know that some weights are too light just by picking them up but, once you get closer to your limit you’ll need to do some testing. Start by adding five pounds to what you think is heavy enough and try to do a set of ten repetitions. If you get to ten, then on your next set add five more pounds. When you find a weight that you physically can’t get to ten repetitions with, you’ve found your starting weight.

Aim for six or eight repetitions in each set you do and increase either the amount of weight or the number of repetitions every week or two; you want to constantly challenge yourself so that you put on the muscle as fast as possible.

If you want to increase your muscle mass, you need to eat more and work out. Thanks for coming, have a safe drive home!

Alright, so there’s a bit more to it than that. Realistically, however, that is the simple truth. There is no miracle to be purchased at a health food store or off of an infomercial that will build your muscle mass without consistent and intelligent adherence to those two concepts: eat more and work out.

For people who need to lose weight but also want to gain muscle mass, you need to make a choice. The way you eat and the way you work out are very different for both of these objectives. While not impossible to do both at the same time, it is much more effective for most people to focus on one or the other.

We’re going to look at these two concepts individually so that you can actually put them into consistent and intelligent practice.

Working Out
The bad news is that, to achieve maximum gain in your muscle mass building, you’re going to need equipment. The good news, however, is that you don’t need the equipment you’re probably picturing right now.

You’re just not going to build significant amounts of muscle mass without equipment. You can lose weight or tone muscles without much equipment, but for actually and substantially increasing your muscle mass it’s just not going to happen.

We all know that over the last century a dizzying array of machines have been designed to “help” people build muscle mass and stay healthy. The problem most people have is in determining which pieces of equipment are correct for them.

I’ll make it very easy for you. Two simple words: free weights.

Workout machines have been designed to work muscles in a specific way, in a specific range of motion, period. And, for achieving that goal, they are very good at it. However, that’s exceptionally limiting. Most of this equipment has been designed for general use, meaning that it needs to help as many different people achieve as many different goals as possible, because that maximizes profit by appealing to a wider audience.

Free weights, however, allow you to do things machines can’t. With free weights, you can stimulate larger groupings of muscles at once, which is the most effective way to build muscles. Speaking of weight, use a lot of it. For maximum impact, you are going to be working yourself to muscle failure every time, in every set. Muscle failure is defined as the point at which you can no longer properly do another repetition. If you’re looking to build up your muscle mass, working with light weights isn’t going to do it. If you can do more than 15 repetitions before failing, the weight is too light. As you get stronger, you’ll naturally need to increase the amount of weight.

There are six exercises you should focus on at the beginning, all of which are most effectively done with free weights:

Bar Dips for working your shoulders, chest and arms;
Dead Lifts for working your legs, shoulders and back;
Overhead Presses for working your shoulders and triceps;
Bench Presses for working your chest, shoulders, and triceps;
Squats for working your legs and lower back; and
Pull Ups and/or Barbell Rows for working your back and biceps.

While you can certainly move on to more advanced workout regimens, you shouldn’t even begin considering it until you have a solid foundation of these six exercises. In reality, most people don’t need the advanced regimens and would do perfectly well if they did nothing but these six exercises consistently and with ever increasing amounts of weight.

Weight training is a very intense workout and you shouldn’t do it more than 3 or 4 times a week. Your muscles need time to recuperate because it’s during that recuperation that the actual growth takes place. Limit your workouts to 30 – 45 minutes, 3 or 4 times a week and stick to it religiously. You’ll be amazed with the results.

If you want to increase your muscle mass, you need to eat more and work out.

Thanks for coming, have a safe drive home!

Alright, so there’s a bit more to it than that. Realistically, however, that is the simple truth. There is no miracle to be purchased at a health food store or off of an infomercial that will build your muscle mass without consistent and intelligent adherence to those two concepts: eat more and work out.

For people who need to lose weight but also want to gain muscle mass, you need to make a choice. The way you eat and the way you work out are very different for both of these objectives. While not impossible to do both at the same time, it is much more effective for most people to focus on one or the other.

We’re going to look at these two concepts individually so that you can actually put them into that consistent and intelligent practice.

Eat More
You’re not going to get bigger unless you increase the number of calories you put into your body. When it comes to mass, your body works in a very simple manner: if you take in more calories than you burn you will gain weight and if you take in fewer calories than you burn you will lose weight. Ninety percent of the other people in gym are there because of this fact; they’ve just allowed it to run rampant in their life unchecked. You’re not going to do that, you’re going to be intelligent.

Being intelligent about it means that you’re not going to stuff your face with anything and everything you want whenever you want it. Doing that leads to being one of that 90%. You’re going to be taking in greater quantities of proteins, carbohydrates and fats so that your body can utilize them for muscle building. You’re not going to get the proper forms of those nutrients from junk food or fast food (oh, wait, is there a difference?)

One method of determining the number of calories you need to bring into your body for building muscle mass is to multiply your current weight by 18. The number you get on your calculator will probably shock you. It’s going to be a big number. When you’re paying attention to the number of calories you take in every day, this number may seem overwhelming, in fact.

The secret is almost paradoxical: you’ll get to that number by eating less food…but you’re going to be eating it more often. We’ve all been raised with the concept of “three square meals a day,” which isn’t actually the optimum eating schedule for human beings. If you’re trying to lose weight, eating that much food at once is a serious impediment but, if you’re trying to intelligently gain weight, it’s nearly impossible to do it in three sittings a day.

So, you’re going to be eating five to seven smaller meals a day. Work to make certain that each of those meals contains a good mix of nutrients and plenty of protein. Protein is incredibly critical to building muscle mass, as this nutrient is used by your body in the actual act of building new muscles. Fish, chicken, eggs and red meat are excellent protein sources. If you can afford it, you should try to get these from an organic producer because it’s simply better for your overall health.

Finally, in addition to increasing the total amount of calories you take into your body, make sure you drink enough water. In fact, strive to drink more than enough water because your body actually needs more water than you think it does. Water is another critical component to muscle building and you won’t experience maximum gain if you’re not taking in enough water.