Gaining weight is not as easy as some people think it is, especially if you're trying to gain muscle mass and not fat. Adding muscle mass to your frame can help improve sports performance and can also increase your metabolism. There is a specific diet and exercise technique which will help you to gain muscle mass.
Step 1
Exercise using free weights several times each week to build muscle. Lifting weights makes small tears in the muscle, which are repaired and then built up while you sleep. Be sure to lift weights working different parts of the body on different days. For instance, on Mondays do exercises that strengthen your biceps and on Tuesdays do weighted crunches for your abs.
Step 2
Sleep at least eight hours every night. If you don't sleep enough, your body will not be able to build muscle, despite all of the hard work you are putting into strength training.
Step 3
Eat extra calories to build muscle. UCLA's Student Nutrition Awareness Campaign states that you cannot build muscle without eating extra calories. It explains that if you are strength training and you want to gain a pound of muscle each week, you need to eat about 500 extra calories each day. Try adding one or two extra snacks into your daily diet to help you get the extra calories.
Step 4
Add protein to your meals and snacks. The University of Columbia's Go Ask Alice health answering service states that in order to build muscle, you have to eat a lot of protein. It recommends eating from 0.9 to 2 g of protein per kg of body weight every day. Turkey, chicken, fish, eggs, beans, lentils and tofu are good sources of protein.
Step 5
Engage in cardiovascular exercise. Doing too much cardiovascular exercise will decrease your muscle mass, but according to Columbia University's Go Ask Alice health answering service, forgoing cardiovascular exercise altogether is not good for your heart. Aim for 30 to 45 minutes of swimming, jogging, bicycling or using an elliptical trainer two to three times each week.
Things You'll Need
- Free weights
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