5 Tips to Go From Skinny to Muscle

Many people who are skinny wish that they could build a muscular physique but don't know where to start. In this article we'll look into the biggest reason why people are naturally skinny and how they could achieve their muscular physique.

People are naturally skinny since they have a high Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). The BMR determines how many calories your body needs to consume for basic bodily functions such as digestion and pumping blood around your body. This does not take into account the amount of calories needed for movement. The 5 Tips To Go From Skinny To Muscle are shown below:

1. Eat more. Easier said than done. Hardgainers have a hard time with eating since it requires a lot of preparation and also the difficulty in consuming large amounts of food. One way to combat the problem of consuming large amounts of food is to exercise more at a greater intensity. Your body will require a lot of calories for this type of activity hence signalling your brain to stimulate your appetite.

2. Choose calorie dense foods. Calorie dense foods allow you to get enough calories for muscle growth without having to resort to shoveling large amounts of food into you. Choose high calorie, high carb, high protein and high fat foods. Complex carbs include wholegrain bread, brown rice, oatmeal, potatoes, pasta and legumes. Proteins include chicken, beef, fish, eggs, tuna, full cream milk and cheese. Fats include nuts and beans, olive oil, flaxseed oil and butter. Butter is infact healthy for you in small quantities in that it doesn't clog the arteries since it contains short and medium chain fatty acids.

3. Choose compound exercises. Compound exercises recruit more muscle fibres than do isolation isolation resulting in a greater production of muscle building hormones such as testosterone. Below is a sample list of exercises.

Exercises for the upper body:

Shoulders: Military Press, Hang Clean and Press, Arnold Press
Arms: Chin-Ups, Dips, Push-Ups
Back: Chin-Ups, Pull-Downs, Dead-lifts, Rows
Chest: Push-Ups, Dips, Bench Press

Exercises for the lower body:

Legs and glutes: Barbell Squats, Dead-lifts, Lunges

4. Rest more. Contrary to what most trainers would recommend, resting more is beneficial in that not only will you allow time for your muscles to build it will also allow you to recuperate your Central Nervous System (CNS). The reason why most trainers are plateauing are the results of overtraining and not allowing your body enough rest.

5. Include cardio. Another aspect of training most hardgainers will not use is cardio. Cardio is recommended for cardiovascular health as well as building new blood vessels and capillaries which run alongside your muscles. The more blood vessels and capillaries you build the more nutrients are shuttled into your muscle tissue resulting in faster growth of muscles. The recommended cardio you should use is High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). HIIT is more effective than regular cardio in that it elevates your metabolism allowing you to burn fat throughout the day and not just during the exercise session.

Below is an example HIIT program you can use as part of your training:

1 minute walking, 30 seconds sprinting - set 1
1 minute walking, 30 seconds sprinting - set 2
1 minute walking, 30 seconds sprinting - set 3
1 minute walking, 30 seconds sprinting - set 4
1 minute walking, 30 seconds sprinting - set 5
2 minutes walking, 30 seconds sprinting - set 6

With all this information at hand it may be too much to put into practice. Checkout http://www.skinnytomuscles.com for a complete solution.

John G Baines has been passionate about helping skinny guys and girls achieve their desired physiques since 2008 and has researched extensively in the health and fitness industry.

Receive a FREE report on "20 Things That Will Screw You In The Gym" when you subscribe to my newsletter by visiting http://www.skinnytomuscles.com