Too Skinny? Build Lean Muscle Through Weight Lifting

What do you see when you look in the mirror in the mornings? A skinny body devoid of all muscle? Do you look like a long distance runner that has not had a good meal in a long time? Are you fed up with the laughs at the beach and pool when you take off your shirt? No worry, you can start making a difference today through a simple, but effective weight lifting program. Follow these steps and you will be on your way to a stronger, more muscular body.

First let’s talk about where you are at now. There are many young men who have a difficult time building their muscles. Sometimes it is due to genetics. Sometimes it is a hormone issue. No matter what the challenge is skinny guys must take a different path to building lean muscle mass. These guys must use a somewhat different weight lifting strategy than those who have been blessed with great genes and can build muscle quickly.

You are doing the right thing by doing your homework on weight lifting and how it can help you make the transition from a skinny pushover to a ripped, muscular stud.

Here are the steps for you to follow to develop that lean muscle mass that will have the ladies lining up to be with you. My friend Vince Delmonte calls them the No-Nonsense Steps to Muscle Building.

GET IN AND GET OUT!

Get in the gym do your workout, then get out. Weight lifting burns a huge amount of calories, so as a muscle-challenged young man you need all the calories you can get. You won’t grow lean muscle if you are constantly burning up your calories. Remember Get In and Get Out; no exceptions!

You need your rest, young man. Muscle growth takes place when you are resting, particularly when you are a very skinny person.

We need to get one thing straight. I am not telling you to become a couch potato between workouts. That would be self-defeating to your plan. You cannot keep doing set after set of grueling weight lifting and expect to build muscles that you will be proud to show off on South Beach.

If you are going to put on serious muscle mass you have to have big workouts with heavier weights. You have to be pushing yourself constantly. You are not strength training here; you are body, or more correctly, you are muscle building. You need to be working to your maximum each and every workout, then get out of the gym and get some rest. Let your muscles recover after you have broken them down.

FOCUS ON COMPOUND LIFTS

As a thin man with understated muscles, you do not need to be doing any exercises that isolate specific muscles. You will have plenty of time to work on those exercises once you have packed on some quality muscle.

So focus on doing compound weight lifting exercises like squats, military press, bench press, deadlifts and rows. These will work several muscles at the same time and give you more return on your invested time. Stay away from doing things like bicep curls, tricep kickbacks, leg extensions, chest flys and other exercises that work specific muscles. These isolation exercises take time and burn lots of calories that skinny guys cannot afford to burn.

Build your bulk first, then you will have plenty of mass to chisel into that neatly-defined hunk of a man you want to be. Focus on a full body workout program and steer clear of the five-day split programs. With this plan, you will begin to see new muscle mass developing all over your body in a few months.

LIMIT YOUR CARDIO WORK

What? Limit cardio work?

I know you do not want to become fat, but that is really not something you need to be concerned about with your high-metabolism, skinny body. Cardio burns far too many calories that you need to use to build solid muscle. Doing cardio exercises is not going to help you acomplish your ultimate goal of growing your muscle mass.

It is fine to do some cardio work to maintain your overall fitness, but limit it to a few twenty minute workouts each week. You are not training for a marathon here, so your cardio workouts need to light to moderate in intensity. Use your hard-core intensity in the the weight room only.

By the way, the main problem most overweight people have has nothing to do with their lack of cardio exrecise, but has everything to do with their poor eating habits. So if you eat a healthy, well-balanced diet and become a beast in the weight room you will not have to worry about becoming fat. Muscle, baby, that is the name of game!

GET PLENTY OF REST

So far, you have learned how to get your muscle- building machine going; you know what you need to work on in the gym and you know what to avoid, now you need to rest. Those intense workouts and the proper nutition are going to pay huge dividends, but ONLY if you give your body time to recover.

You have to get lots of quality sleep to allow for your muscles to repair and rebuild themselves. You do not want to do all of that work in the gym and not get the full results you expect. Rest is truly the key to building solid muscle mass. Remember you tear down the muscle in the weight room so it can rebuild itself bigger and better than before.

You do not have to say goodbye to your social life completely, but too much late night drinking and partying will undermine your muscle-building efforts very quickly. Simply put, you need your rest young man, so chill out and go to sleep to wake up with bulging muscles. Okay, it is not that easy, but the rest is an important part of the process.

PROPER TECHNIQUE MATTERS

We have all seen the guys in the gym slinging their barbells up and down, backwards and forwards using the momentum of the weight to get it above his head or to his side. That will not get you anything, but a bad back and deflated mental attitude when the results do not come.

Technique in weightlifting really matters. Having proper form will get you measurable gains faster and help you to avoid injuries. No form; No results! If you are not sure what the proper form for each exercise is you need to find a good weight training book or seek advice from an experienced trainer who can help you.

And that leads me to my final point.

FIND A MENTOR

Going from a skinny kid who gets pushed around a lot to a totally ripped hard-body takes time, effort and focus. You probably are going to need someone to guide you that has been where you are now and has accomplished what you want to do. A mentor can make the process easier and more productive.

When I was a skinny little guy I did not want another skinny cardio geek trying to tell me how to build serious muscle mass. What did he know about muscle building? His body was devoid of muscle from what I could tell.

I found a buff hard-body guy that understood what I was going through and really wanted to help me. My mentor helped me to stay focused and motivated during those days I was trying to avoid working out.

He challenged me and showed me things that I would have never have know without his guidance. A mentor who is an experienced, muscle-building gym rat will save you lots of time and effort in your process to get that ripped body.

Put that skinny, muscle-less body behind you by taking some very simple, but effective steps. Get in the gym, workout hard by doing compound lifts and using proper technique. Limit your cardio work so you do not burn precious calories, then get out of the gym. Rest those hard worked muscles by getting lots of quality sleep. And maximize your results by finding a mentor who has been there and done that.

Following these steps over the next few months will having you looking into the mirror to see a ripped, well-muscled physique looking back at you.

Weight Lifting Rules for Skinny Runts

You wake up in the morning and look in the mirror. Pleased with your appearance? If you more resemble the appearance of a long distance marathon runner than a world class sprinter, don’t worry, you aren’t alone. You just need to start following these weight lifting rules.

There are quite a few guys who simply have trouble packing on the lean muscle mass. Whether their hormonal environment isn’t quite as favourable or genetics was just out to get them at birth, one thing is for sure and that’s that they need to follow a slightly different set of weight lifting methods than those who seem to grow muscle overnight.

Luckily for you, you’re taking the time to do your research about weight lifting so you won’t be destined to a life where it seems like a strong wind might knock you over.

First, one of the key factors that skinny guys need to remember is that they must avoid volume work at all costs.

Rule #1:

Get in the gym and get out! That should be your motto from this day forward. Repeat it. Breathe it. Live it. Weight lifting is a calorie expensive activity and you need all the calories you can get at this point. If you are burning it up in the gym every single day, how do you expect to grow? You won’t.

You grow when you are resting and generally, the skinnier you are, the more rest you are going to need.

Now, that doesn’t mean you should park it on the couch for a few days in between your workouts. It simply means that each weight lifting should not consist of set after set after set. Followed by a rest break to talk to that hot receptionist and then back to another twenty sets.

No, you’re workouts need to consist of ten-twelve or fewer sets where you are pushing yourself to the MAX. There is no room for sissy, light-weight work in your weight lifting program.

Which brings us to Rule #2:

Ditch the isolated exercises. Who needs them? You certainly don’t.

If your workouts normally include bicep curls, followed by tricep kickbacks, followed by leg extensions, followed by chest flys, followed by… you get the picture, you’ve got to change this pronto. Remember, you’ve only got so much time you are allowed to be in the gym for. Don’t you want to get the biggest bang for your buck? Likely you do, so that means focusing on compound lifts only. This includes weight lifting exercises such as squats, bench presses, deadlifts, rows and military presses.

Become friends with those exercises and you will have new muscles in the picture soon enough. Toss the five day split program, get yourself on a good upper/lower or full body workout program and you have found the key to unleashing new muscle mass.

Now onto the next significant point. Cardio.

Rule # 3.

I know, I know, you want to be big, but you don’t want to be fat. Let’s not worry about that at this point, because you and I both know you are a long ways from fat.

Gaining fat weight is going to be more a concept of diet than anything else so as long as you are being smart in the kitchen, you don’t need to perform hours of cardio to remain lean. Cardio is just going to further burn off precious calories that could have gone towards building you new muscle mass. For you, calories are a hot commodity and should not be spent on the treadmill.

If you want to keep up some cardio for general health sake, fine, but limit this to two or three twenty minute sessions per week – TOPS. And make it low to moderate intensity as well. The only place you are to be intense is in the weight room.

This leads to rule #4.

REST! You’ve put in your effort at the gym, fed your body with some good food and now what? Plans to go out partying all night with your buddies? You might want to rethink that. While you definitely want to maintain your social life while trying to gain weight – and you should – it should not come at the sacrifice of sleep.

Sleep is primetime when it comes to your body repairing itself and growing stronger so short-circuit sleep and you are short-circuiting your results. Just don’t do it. Period. It’s that simple.

Get ready for rule #5.

Technique. Ever seen that guy in the gym who is hoisting so much weight on his barbell for barbell curls that it looks like he’s got more momentum going on than the Gravitron at the fair? He’s pretty much working every muscle in his body except his biceps. Not so beneficial. Not only that, but give him two weeks and a hundred bucks says he’s out with back pain.

You must maintain proper form throughout your weight lifting, not only to prevent injuries but also to see the muscular gains you are looking for. If you cheat form, you are only cheating yourself. If you don’t know what proper form is yet, book a session with a trainer or find yourself a spotter who can help you.

And now, bonus rule #6

Find a mentor. You want someone who’s been there, done that. They used to be a skinny bastard just like you and they’ve managed to overcome the curse and now tip the scales and dominate the weight room. This guy will do wonders for your motivational levels. Don’t feel like lifting? Have a good look at his body. You’ll want to pick that weight up after that. Furthermore, he can let you in on some of his tried-and-true secrets that just might be key for you as well.

So to sum up your new approach to your weight lifting sessions – get in, train hard and with proper technique, get out, eat and rest. Repeat this process over a few months without getting distracted or becoming too much of a party animal and you will make this the year you change your dreaded skinny image.