How To Gain Weight Fast For Skinny People

Are you what some people refer to as "skinny buff" and having trouble packing on size? Are you exceptionally strong in the gym but still feel and appear skinny in the mirror and in pictures? Do you find it relatively easy to stay ripped but extremely difficult to gain mass? Can you eat practically anything in sight without barely gaining a pound while some of your peers blow up after eating one bag of potato chips? If you answered "yes" to the questions above, then you are most likely what people technically refer to as an Ectomorph. The term "Hard Gainer" is more commonly used for this body type.

"I work out everyday, I feel strong, but I'm not gaining mass! What am I doing wrong?"

If you're anything like me when I first started to hit the gym, I knew nothing about body types. All I knew is that I wanted to partner with someone who already had experience with weight lifting and thought all I needed to do was mimic their lifestyle. Most of the time, I found myself working out with wrestlers, football athletes, or someone at least 20 pounds heavier than me. The obvious assumption here is that these athletes are usually massive and stronger than the average human being, and knew exactly what steps it would take to gain size. Needless to say, I was wrong. In fact, the people I partnered with knew nothing about body types and were simply consistent with a routine they had been introduced to by participating in high school team sports.

Everyone that shows results doesn't know the science!

However, what they had been doing seemed to work for them without knowing the details and science behind their routine and diet. They had simply been following instructions that were given to them earlier in life. On the other hand, I wasn't seeing the same results even after working out with them for months, but I was able to shred easily. I even became almost as strong as them and people would make jokes about me having "crack head strength" because I didn't look like I could perform the same as someone who appeared to be more massive. While some people were impressed by this, I still felt like I didn't hit my goal and needed to try something different to gain mass. That's when I started to do my own research and learned about the three different body types.

There are 3 different body types.

Knowing the differences in body types will play a huge part in developing a weight gain strategy for yourself. The 3 different body types are Ectomorph, Endomorph, and Mesomorph. While they are distinctly different from each other, some people can genetically be a mixture of Ectomorph/Endomorph or Endomorph/Mesomorph as well. Here are the differences.

Learn your body type and make adjustments.

After learning about the 3 body types, I instantly understood why I wasn't gaining mass and plateau'd when following the routine of my gym partners. They both had high protein diets and strict limits on carb intake. One of my partners barely consumed any carbs at all, but remained massive. When I tried this, over time I felt tight and taxed before my workout even started, and would push through not knowing I was going into a catabolic state, burning away all the muscle I had worked so hard to put on. I repeated this cycle for months before realizing this was not the ideal strategy for me. But then, it all started to make sense. People use to say things like, "It's not fair that you can eat anything and not gain a pound, just one muffin would destroy my physique." That's when I realized that should take advantage of that and consume more carbs.

High Carbohydrate Intake is Key!

After learning this information, I increased my carb intake from about 150 carbs per day to about 400, and I started packing on lean mass right way. I was gaining over 1 pound a week naturally and realized I had been in a deficit the whole time I was training. My body responded extremely well to the increase of carb consumption and I had put on about 20lbs of lean mass in about 3 months.

Till this day, people think I was on steroids or on some extreme supplement stack when in reality, I had just been training hard 6 days a week and eating BIG. Unknowingly, I was on a shred diet prior to this change, forcing myself into a catabolic state where my body would eat itself (muscle in particular). This is just a defense mechanism our bodies use to prevent death and have energy when glucose levels are low (AKA carbs are not available as energy for the body to consume). What are the best carbs? To make clean natural gains, I suggest eating fruits like apples, bananas, kiwi, mangoes, pineapples, oranges, berries, watermelon, and 100% fruit juices. Good weight gaining vegetables are sweet potatoes, potatoes, and squash. My favorite carbohydrate source is dry oats. They are packed with vitamins, nutrients, and have a desirable balance of macronutrients (protein, carbs, and fats) for people wanting to pack on clean mass with a fast metabolism, AKA skinny people.

Prevent Catabolism

The main goal for a hard gainer should be preventing catabolism by consuming a lot of carbs and training with intensity. Its extremely important to keep track of calories going in (calories consumed) to your body vs going out (calories burned) to ensure that your body does not go into a catabolic state. I like to use the 50/30/20 (carbs/fats/protein) ratio for my diet. Many enthusiasts would debate this as being too low for protein, but again this depends on your calorie consumption, body type, and weight.

Track Your Calorie Intake and Calories Burned

A 200lb male needs to consume about 3,000 resting calories to maintain a massive, athletic, strong, and admirable lean physique. If you add a workout regime where 500 calories are burned, then you will need to consume 500 additional calories to prevent from going into a deficit, liquid calories included. Many people skip this step which is why it's important to track your calories in vs. out using a fitness tracker or app. There are plenty of apps available that do a great job at tracking fitness and nutritional goals. The one I like to use is a free app called myfitnesspal. I also use a fitness watch to track the calories burned from the steps taken throughout the day, which is often over looked as well.

Execute!

Not only does knowing this information make hitting your goals easier as a Hard Gainer, it will put you in a condition and create the discipline required to see success as a fitness competitor. This also makes coaching and building personalized diets for clients less difficult. If you are having trouble gaining weight with a fast metabolism, I strongly suggest increasing your carb intake, using a fitness tracker, and training with intensity. If you have been in a deficit, you body will carb load and you should see results quickly following this strategy.

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