How to Gain Weight and Muscle

While most people are looking to lose weight through exercise, there are some individuals who actually want to gain weight through exercise. In some cases this is because they may have a tendency toward low weight or they have recently endured an illness which has left them underweight. In many cases, the tendency toward being too skinny can be directly related to genetic links. The good news; however, is that while it can be a challenge, there are some steps you can take to pick up your weight and muscle through exercise.

Most people who suffer from being underweight, unless there is an eating disorder at work, do so because their metabolism is so much higher than that of the average person. This, of course, is related to your genetic makeup. In order to change that you will need to focus on gaining muscle, but that means you will probably also gain some fat as you. This shouldn’t discourage you; however, because since you’re exercising it won’t be more fat than your body can handle.

The basic idea behind gaining weight and adding muscle to your body involves lifting more weight and consuming more food. This means you will need to change your eating habits and exercise regimen so that you consume more calories than you burn off. Individuals with very high metabolism will really find this to be a challenge, since they naturally burn off calories at a high rate anyway.

A few simple ways you can do this is to focus on adding foods to your diet that are high in calories. Remember that you do not necessarily need to eat more food, just eat foods that are higher in calories than most other foods. Good options include corn, avocados, granola, milk, cheese, yogurt, meat and peanut butter. Milk can be added into your diet in a variety of ways besides just drinking it, although that is good as well. Try using it in sauces and hot cereals, for example.

After you have a handle on how to add more calories into your diet it is important to begin focusing on ways in which you can begin lifting more weight to add muscle to your body. Focus on lifting heavier amounts of weight. This doesn’t mean, of course, to lift weights that are so heavy you injure yourself, but if you are trying to gain weight and muscle, you should lift weights that are sufficiently heavy enough that you can only do about 6 or so reps each. If you can do more than that, the weight is too light. To avoid injury, always make sure you have someone with you to spot. In addition, make sure you give yourself plenty of time to rest and recovery between sets of weights.

 
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