There are entire books written on how to gain weight and build muscle, but I have come across a quick and easy to follow way that will see you bulking up quicker than you could imagine.

If you apply these 3 easy steps to your regular workout routine you will be amazed at the results you will see.

Step 1. Progression

You have to always be pushing yourself to lift more. If you find yourself becoming comfortable at a weight level on one of your workout exercises than add another 5 or 10 kilos onto it. You have to always be trying to do more than you think you can. If it is hard, it means that your muscles are working - and building!

Step 2. Focus

To get the most out of your workout, you have to focus on what you are doing. Turn the tv off, stop chatting with your friends and focus on what you are there to do - workout. You will find that when you concentration is totally on your workout, that it will be easier for you to do more than you thought that you could. Get the most out of each muscle by engaging the most important muscle - your brain!

Step 3. Recovery

You have done the hard yards - working out for 45-60 minutes at your full capacity, resting should be easy right? Not true, a lot of people are so focused on building muscle that they do not take the necessary time needed to fully recover before getting back into the gym again. Training a muscle group once or twice a week is more than enough.

Healthy weight gain will not only increase your energy levels but also your endurance. Gaining weight may also help you build muscle and strength. There are certain food groups that you can eat to gain weight without building up excess body fat.

Here are the top 5 foods groups to gaining weight:

Eggs - Eggs are an excellent source of protein. A recent study has also proven that eggs provide omega-3 essential fatty acids.

Beans & Legumes - Lentils, lima beans, chili beans, bean burritos. These are the best food for building muscle building because they contain the fiber that is necessary in keeping your blood sugar levels low and your energy level high during the day.

Nuts - Nuts contain fibre, vitamin E, vegetable proteins and a heap of anti-oxidents that are essential and beneficial in your well being.

Whole Grain Cereals - Another great source of fiber and nutrients. It is recommended that you regularly eat between five to ten servings of food from the bread and cereal group.

Meats - Meats such as chicken, beef and lamb are an excellent source of protein, and fish is great for your omega-3 and essential fatty acids. With red meats make sure you choose the leaner cuts.

The key when it comes to eating the right foods to gain weight and build muscle is variety. Mix your diet up. Don’t focus on just one of the above food groups, make sure you are eating some of each group everyday - and you are sure to build some bulk!

If Building muscles were easy everyone would be 230lbs of pure muscle. The key to gaining weight by building muscle is time and effort. If you are not willing to take the time, and work extremely hard - you are wasting your time.

If you are willing to make the most of the opportunity that you have and put in the time and effort needed, then stick with me and lets discuss how you can gain weight by building muscle.

There are 3 steps you need to take to build muscle.

Weightlifting

What this includes is your workout routine and the actual exercises themselves. Your workout routine must let your whole body get the best workout it possibly can. There are a heap of different exercises for each muscle group, and what you have to do is do the most effective exercises for each individual muscle for you to gain weight if the quickest possible way.

Your Diet

Your diet is actually just as important as the weightlifting itself. If you are not eating, how can you grow? What you need to do is eat huge and lift huge, to be huge. You should be eating at least 1 gram of protein for each pound of your body weight. That is each day, every day - even when you are not weightlifting.

Protein is what builds your muscles, that makes you gain weight and build muscle. Most people, including myself use protein bars and powders to supplement the protein we are eating in our real food - to make the 1 gram per pound of body weight. You want to gain weight, but pure muscle not fat, so stay away from saturated fats and all junk food, fast food, fried foods, cookies, candy etc.

One last thing, make sure you are eating enough calories!

Everything else

One of the main points here is not to over train. You have to give your body enough time to rest and recover. Consistency is also very important, you need to be following a set routine, it is no point doing this for a week and giving up - it is a lifestyle.

The most important supplement that you can take to gain weight by building muscle is protein shakes. They are basically the only supplement that I have ever used. They are completely safe, unless you are taking a crazy amount like 700grams in a single day. There are no side affects or anything. So why are protein shakes so important? Protein is definately the most important part of your diet when you are working on building muscle and gaining weight, and is the building block of muscle. Without protein you body cannot build muscle.

But cant I get enough protein from my regular diet? Why do I need these extra protein shakes? Of course you can get protein from your regular diet, however we all know that when we are trying to gain weight we need to be eating at least 1 gram of protein for each pound of your body weight. It is extremely hard for you to get this amount of protein from your regular diet.

Do you have time to be eating steak all day long? Of course not, this is why you need to be taking protein shakes. They are quick and easy, just scoop out the powder into your glass and add the liquid of your choice. The average scoop is about 18grams which makes obtaining your daily protein limits much easier to obtain.

I am not saying cut proteins out of your regular diet. Protein shakes are a muscle building supplement, they should be unused in addition to your regular diet - not instead of. The best times to be feeding your body with whey protein is early morning before breakfast, or just after you have completed your workout.

While the majority of people are pursuing a slimmer self, there are some who need to gain weight. Did you know that being underweight could be just as dangerous to your body as being over weight? This diet revolves around you consuming an additional 500 calories each day in addition to your regular intake. Experts agree that 500 is the optimum for weight gain, however if this is not working you may wish to test bumping your additional calorie intake up to 700.

Eating calorie dense but nutritious food is what most doctors agree is required to gain weight in a healthy way.

Here is an example of a daily meal plan on the weight gain diet:

Breakfast:

Granola, chopped nuts, milk, a banana, and juice.

Lunch:

A can of tuna in oil, a tomato, a handful of olives, 1/2 an avocado, mixed salad, and whole grain crackers.

Dinner:

High in complex carbohydrates, lean proteins, and healthy fats. Mid Morning and Afternoon snacks are allowed. Fruit, nuts and whole grain crackers are recommended.

As you are aiming to gain weight, it is beneficial to eat multiple meals of smaller quantities each day, over a few large meals. Eating multiple small meals, when combined with your training schedule encourages your body to use the calories you have eaten to build muscle. The focus of your eating should be on nutritious foods from a variety of food groups and sources. Some might indulge in fatty fast foods in an attempt to gain weight, but this is certainly the wrong path to take if you wish to remain healthy.

In most cases the need to purchase expensive weight gain powders and vitamins is not necessary. As long as you are eating a good well balance diet including more calories than you burn you will gain weight.

I’m sure that in your search for information to gain weight you would have come across some of those ads for weight gain pills. You know the ones that promise to increase your appetite, decrease your metabolism, or somehow magically redirect your weight gain exactly to the places that you want it.

Excellent, so pop a couple of pills before each meal and you’ll soon be exactly where you want to be - no need to train, and you can eat what ever you like. These websites usually have very convincing testimonials, but cite no research or studies. These products will not work as dramatically as suggested in the advertisements, however they can have a positive impact on your weigh gain goal.

If you stop and check the ingredients of the pills, you will find out that they are nearly identical to the average multi vitamin.

What the manufacturers have done is found a new market for their product in the weight gain industry, and just re branded their product as a weight gain supplement - at a heavy markup! The reason they work on some people is because small vitamin deficiencies can have a direct impact on your ability to gain lean muscle weight. If you have decided to employ an intense training program, then the additional stress to your body will create a greater need for nutrients, and a multi-vitamin should be the first thing considered.

Even though something is given the title of a weight gain product, it doesn’t mean that it is going to help you to put on weight. Make sure that you do your research. You will definitely want to look into taking a multi-vitamin, as it will be a great value to you weight gain goals. However your diet and training plan are the most important ingredients to your weight gain plans.

You may think this is a bit of a strange topic to be writing an article on. I mean isn’t everyone trying to lose weight? Sure, all the press talk about is how the world is getting fatter and fatter, but there are a multitude of people putting their hands up and saying - give your fat to me!

Who would want to gain weight?

Just like a fat person looks at himself in the mirror and sees himself as fat, and ugly - a skinny person does exactly the same. He stands at home in his mirror and all he sees is his light frame poking through his skin due to lack of fat/muscle.

‘If only I could gain weight‘

Everyone tells you that they wish they could have your body, or that they wish they could eat as much as you do and not put on weight, but you wish you didn’t. You wish it wasn’t so hard to gain weight - all you want is another 5-10pounds.

How do you gain weight?

The Right Diet

As a person that finds it hard to gain weight, I have to eat more that the regular person to gain weight. But does this mean that I can eat anything - junk food, high sugar, high carbs? No I am talking about a diet consisting of plain natural-healthy food full of calories, proteins, and essential fats.

The first thing you want to do is to get a solid eating plan in place before you look at anything else, and this plan will vary depending on your age, height, sex, weight, and lifestyle. This is why it important to calculate your calorie intake against your specifics.

The Right Training Program

The first thing to do when deciding to start training is to make a good training plan. To gain weight and build muscle the usual routine is 1 day on and 1 day off. So 3 days of gym and two days off to rest your muscles and allow them to rebuild.

There is barely any cardio in the muscle building routine. Usually just 5 minutes warm up on a treadmill then straight onto the weights. The usual gym sessions lasts for about 45minutes. But if you work yourself hard for 30 minutes and reach your limit each training day you will see a huge improvement when it is run in conjunction to the right diet.