Diet and nutrition is the single most important factor in wanting to gain weight. You can do all the weight training you want, but if your are not feeding your body the necessary food and nutrients it requires for maintenance and growth, then it will all be a waste of time, not to mention unhealthy. Knowing what to eat to gain weight is essential for putting on the pounds. In a nutshell, your weight gaining diet should include high protein foods, high carbohydrate foods, and good fats.

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Protein is an important part of any weight gain diet. If you are not getting the necessary daily protein intake from normal foods, drinking protein shakes is a good option and they don’t necessarily have to taste bad!

If you are short on protein to begin with your might be putting your muscles in a catabolic state (where you actually break down muscle tissue). By getting up to an intake recommended for someone who works out consistently and at least at a moderate intensity, the extra protein will help you either maintain or build muscle. I would recommend 1-1.5 times your bodyweight in grams of protein to take in daily. Don’t forget to include the protein already in your regular diet though.

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Now that you are equipped with the right knowledge and know the fundamentals to gaining weight and building muscle, it now becomes important that you have a plan of attack in place which is not detrimental to achieving your weight gain goals. This article will attempt to provide a good beginners guide to weight training, emphasizing the importance of recovery time for muscle growth.

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TIP #1 - GO HEAVY OR GO HOME

I feel strongly that heavy weight training is essential to outstanding drug-free muscle development. Even though you are using good form, and what is considered heavy is determined by the individual, I think most people need to stick to lifting heavy weights to gain their maximum muscle size. I suggest that many young people training in the gym should consider a powerlifting routine for six to eight weeks. Such a program should include power movements like deadlifts, squats, and bench press. Keep in mind that you need to get stronger to get bigger which is fundamental to weight gain.

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On the blog I previously outlined the basic training philosophy which has worked for me. Here are some more advanced training techniques which will put your training workout sessions into overdrive.

Train Heavy. I believe great physiques should have awesome proportions with powerful size and mass. I believe strength training with heavy poundage is vital in developing awesome mass. I always train for strength all year round in all exercises, especially in the basic power movements such as the squat, bench press, and deadlift.

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Someone once said, “It is the little things you do in life that make the big difference.” This principle can apply to creating better training sessions which, over time, will lead to a better physique. This month, I want you to consider a small adjustment in the way you plan your weight training sessions. I believe it is a strategy which can lead to significantly advancing the development of your physique with the aim to gaining weight and muscle.

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Great Black Bean Santa Fe Chicken recipe containing less than 9 grams fat & 30.6 grams protein! Delicious!

You will love all of these weight gain recipes so check back regularly!

Ingredients:

6 Chicken breast halves, boneless, skinless

1 tsp. Ground cumin, divided

1 tsp. Garlic

1 canned black beans, rinsed, drained

1 c. frozen corn

2/3 c. picante sauce

1 c. red bell pepper, diced

2 T. fresh cilantro, chopped

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Myth: Preacher Curls “lengthen” the biceps, filling in the “gap” between the muscle belly and the elbow joint.

The truth is that the preacher curl, or Scott curl as it is often called, is a valuable tool/exercise for developing the biceps. Performed correctly, it can be one of the many exercises that will help your biceps hypertrophy (grow). But as your muscle grows, it gets larger within the shape predetermined by your genetics and congenital structure. Now you may not know what that is going to appear to be, exactly, until you have been working out for a while. But it is not determined by the specific biceps exercise. The shape of the biceps muscle itself is primarily due to the length of the tendon versus the length of the actual muscle bellies. Performing the preacher curl will not shorten the tendon nor lengthen the muscle bellies.

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How many of us have fallen prey to the hope of mystical results from a magical biceps exercise.

Common biceps myths:

“The barbell curl is the number one mass exercise for the biceps.”
The truth is that the biceps haven’t a clue whether you have a barbell, dumbbells, or really heavy Snickers’ candy bars in your hands. Although the barbell curl is a great exercise for most individuals, it offers no more, or no less, opportunity for mass muscle building than any other biceps exercise. Most people assume this because, typically, more total weight can be used on the standing barbell curl than most other curl variations.

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Think back…way back. Back before the words fitness or strength training were even part of your vocabulary. Can you recall the first muscle you ever learned? Chances are it was the biceps…long considered by the general public to be the hallmark of weight lifting, strength, and, should I dare say… even masculinity. The exercise traditionally regarded as the key to biceps size was the barbell curl. This will be the focus of our biomechanical analysis this month.

The biceps is situated on the front of the upper arm and actually has two muscle bellies lying side by side, thus the name. Although the muscle bellies attach at two different points on the shoulder blade, they are joined at the distal ends by a common tendon of insertion. This tendon weaves between the two bones of the forearm and attaches on the back of the radius (outer of the two).

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