Muscle Building For Skinny People 101

 

 If I got a penny for every time I heard the  “I cant get big because of my genetics” excuse I would have enough money to go supplement shopping at GNC and still pay off my University tuition.

 

A huge pet peeve of mine is hearing people with ectomorph body compositions (slim/thin build) complaining about how they just cant seem to put on size no matter how hard they try. Majority of these individuals will blame their lack of success on genetics and fast metabolisms and usually give up the journey because they get disheartened. In this segment I’m going to be talking specifically to those skinny hardgainers that are having a hard time achieving their fitness goals.

First off it’s important to remember that most people working to achieve their ideal physique are not professional bodybuilders or athletes. Most of us don’t have a personal cook to manage our diets or a personal trainer to plan and monitor are workouts. We don't body-build for a living and spend hours a day in the gym and have sponsors to pay for our equipment and supplements. This means in order to be successful you must be your OWN nutritionist and your OWN Personal trainer. Its up to you to educate yourself on dieting and exercising to achieve your fitness goals.

Let me start by saying this to all my skinny people out there, there is NOTHING wrong with your genetics. Although I recognize that your somatotype (body type) undoubtedly plays a factor in how easily you can gain muscle, it is not an excuse. As an Ectomorph (slim/skinny build) you will have to accept that you must work a little herder to put on muscle than everyone else. However If you haven't tried tracking your caloric intake or monitoring your workouts and you just attribute your inability to put on muscle to bad genetics, then you are a noob.

If you’re not putting in 100% of the effort and educating yourself on how to diet to meet your fitness goals and which exercise routines to implement how can you possibly expect to succeed? To those people who think just exercising a few times a week and chugging a protein shake after each workout will help them build muscle are grossly misinformed. Instead of blaming external factors such as genetics, busy schedule's, or other incompetence’s have a look at your diet and exercise routine and start making changes.

In todays Topic I'm going to be sharing 5 principles for my slim/skinny brethren (or sisteren) that they should immediately begin implementing both inside and outside the gym.

(1)      CONSUME A CALORIC SURPLUS

The first principle is the foundation of your success. Regardless of your age, weight, height, your fitness goals will only be achieved once you develop an understanding of the crucial role calories play in helping you achieve your ideal physique.

When you make more money than you spend, your bank account balance is POSITIVE, and the size of your wallet INCREASES.

When you spend more money than you make, your bank account balance becomes NEGATIVE, and the size of your wallet DECREASES.

If you substitute money for calories and your wallet for your physical body, you will get a better understanding of the calories-in vs. calories-out principle.

For skinny people looking to put on mass it is crucial for them to ensure they are eating a SURPLUS of calories, (calories-in are greater than calories-out). By strategically giving your body more calories than it requires for basic survival it will use those extra calories towards building muscle. If you’re a skinny guy looking to get jacked and you’re not consuming a caloric surplus, it will be next to impossible for you to meet your fitness goals.

REMEMBER - you may THINK you’re eating enough, but unless you actually track your caloric intake you will not be able to know whether your body is getting enough calories to help you build muscle.

(2)      INCORPORATING COMPOUND EXERCISES INTO YOUR TRAINING SPLIT

Compound exercises are exercises that involve more than one muscle group. The advantage of performing exercises that require your body to recruit multiple muscles in the movement is the hormonal response achieved by your body. Heavy compound exercises place a high amount of stress on your muscles which helps promote Gh (growth hormones) and Testosterone levels. These Hormones are extremely anabolic and play a crucial role in helping you pack on size.

Also as an Ectomorph you have a naturally fast metabolism. This means your body burns through calories very quickly. With that being said it would be very counterproductive for a hardgainer to spend more than 45 minutes in the gym. Keep in mind exercising increases the amount of calories your body burns. So for those individuals who already have a lightning-fast metabolism keeping your workouts short is important.

Compound exercises should be the foundation of an Ectomorphs weight training program. Since Ectomorph's are required to keep their training sessions to no more than 45 minutes compound exercises are a valuable tool because they work MULTIPLE muscles in a shorter time frame. By implementing compound exercises in their training split hard-gainers will still be able to effectively hit each muscle group in a short amount of time while reaping the hormonal benefits to optimize their body's anabolic environment.   

Examples of some excellent compound exercises include:

·      Squats

·      Dead-lifts

·      Bench-press

·      Military Press

·      Pull ups

·      Dips

·      Lunges

(3)      KEEP CARDIO TO A MINIMUM

Cardio is a skinny person's worst nightmare. If you’re skinny and you’re performing long duration of cardio, STOP. Cardio is a method to help INCREASE caloric expenditure. Ectomorph's generally have a harder time putting on muscle because their body has a tendency to burn through calories quicker than others. In order for us to successfully build muscle we must be consuming a caloric surplus so our body can use those extra calories towards repairing and building muscle. An Ectomorph performing excess cardio would be counterproductive because it would just result in more calories being burned in addition to their already fast metabolisms and make it increasingly difficult to pack on muscle.

Don't get me wrong, cardio is not necessarily bad; however theres a right time and strategy to implementing Cardio in your workouts and if your goals include putting on muscle cardio should be kept to a minimum. With a clean diet and a reasonable caloric surplus fat gains can be kept to a minimum during your muscle building phase. If you’re really worried about putting on fat while trying to bulk schedule 2-3 moderate-intensity cardio sessions per week, preferably separate from your weight lifting sessions. 

(4)      TRACK AND ADJUST

Once you’ve established a workout routine and you have your diet in check its time to start making adjustments biweekly. If you’ve been following your diet and workout routine but still haven’t gained any weight after 2 weeks, simply increase your calorie intake by 200-300 and repeat the process.

It’s also important to track your workouts. What I mean by this is every time you step into the gym you should always be striving to push your limits and beat your personal records. Its best to track your personal records on your heaviest compound lifts such as Bench press, Squats, and Dead-lifts because chances are if you’re maximum weights on these exercises are increasing, your overall performance on all other exercises will increase as well. 

The Progressive Overload principle states that the human body responds and adapts to stress introduced to it by the external environment. By constantly introducing a higher amount of stress to our body it will continuously be forced to adapt to that new stress level and build itself bigger and stronger. If you're able to beat your personal records every week by even 1 more rep or 1 more pound, it means your body IS improving and the gains will keep coming.

(5)      BE PATIENT

This 5^th Principle is the most important. Many people get disheartened and demotivated because of their perceived inability to gain muscles mass. My advice to these individuals is be patient and to not quit. Stop standing in front of the mirror after every training session flexing and looking for results. The results will come but the most important part is to fall in love with the PROCESS.

 Exercising shouldn’t be a “job” or a “chore” or something you just cross off of your to-do list everyday. it should be something you’re passionate about and you genuinely enjoy. Take it one-day at a time, one workout at a time and just focus on progressing and getting better. Focus on beating your personal records, even if that means its just by 1 more rep or one more pound. Slow progress is still progress and I promise you once you get over the results and fall in love with the process the results will come. 

Get out of the habit of blaming genetics or other external factors you have no control over. If you’ve been working out for a while and you still cant seem to put on any size its not because you’re genetically built to not ever put on any muscle Its because you need to educate yourself on your body type and how to diet and exercise correctly. You’ll have to accept that fact that as an ectomorph it takes a little longer to gain that muscle, but keep in mind that there’s a huge benefit for your body type as well. Chances are you will never have to worry about getting fat and when you do put on that muscle your physique will be extremely lean and ripped.

CONCLUSION

 

The bottom line is you have a choice. You can feel temporary relief by justifying your lack of progress as a consequence of "bad genetics" but remember that will NOT give you results. Be patient, fall in love with the process, stay consistent and most importantly don’t give up.

As always feel free to message me for any clarification or advice/questions.

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God bless your gains.