How to Gain Muscle Mass Fast - Tips for Beginners and Skinny People

Many skinny guys, mostly hard-gainers, are looking for an answer to a question how to build muscle mass. It is hard for many guys to add muscle mass on their skinny body, mostly because of genetics or probably because they don't follow right diet and training plans. 

Okay, so you've been in a gym couple of times and you saw many big guys and you are starting to lose hope for gaining muscle mass. Or, you maybe never stepped into a gym and you want to learn some tips for gaining muscle mass for skinny guys like you before you start lifting. If you are one of these guys then continue to read these tips for gaining muscle mass for skinny guys.

1. DIET 

The most important thing is that you eat a right amount of healthy foods. If you are a hard-gainer you will have to eat a lot, eat every three hours. Your diet plan should consist of three big meals and at least three snacks. Those snacks won't small as you might think, it is just named snacks because it should be a fast meal that is smaller than those three big meals. 

To gain lean muscle mass you have to be in caloric surplus, which means that you need to consume more calories than you spend. And it has to be like that every day. Warning, that doesn't mean that you have to eat junk foods and a lot of sugars, you are looking to add more muscle mass, not body fat. 

TIP: Eat a lot of protein foods to build muscle, but consume twice more carbs for more muscle gains. Many guys make mistake by focusing only on proteins. Proteins are the most important nutrient for building muscle, but carbs and fats are very important too. Your meals need to contain all three macronutrients, proteins, carbohydrates, and fats.

Check out what foods you should eat to gain muscle mass:

Best Healthy Foods for Muscle Mass Gain

Also, at least one of your meals should be your post-workout protein shake. Give homemade mass gainers a try, they are healthy and high in protein, carbs and fats calories. They will make your muscle mass building easier and faster:

Homemade Protein Shake for Muscle Mass

2. TRAINING

Together with your diet plan, you will also need a good training routine to follow to build lean muscle mass. If you never lifted a weight, I advise you to start working out at home for some time before you start going to gym. Bodyweight exercises are great for beginners to gain some muscle gains and strength before starting to lift heavy weights in the gym. 

Try one of the Bodyweight Workout Programs:

Bodyweight Workout Programs

I also recommend to all beginners to first find a workout to increase their strength and follow that routine for at least one month and after that start making gains with hypertrophy (muscle growth) workout routines. One of the most popular workout programs among bodybuilders is Reg Park's 5x5 Workout that is great for beginning lifters to make some muscle mass and strength gains.

Reg Park's 5x5 Workout Program for Muscle Mass and Strength

Now, if you followed these two training tips you are ready to aim for muscle hypertrophy. Ideal rep range for muscle growth is 8 - 12, and the number of sets doesn't need to be higher than 4. I recommend Full-Body Workout Routines to gain more muscle mass than with Split Routines. Exercises used in full-body workouts are compound movements that are best for building muscle mass and with full-body workouts, you will target all muscle groups which results in more stimulation for muscle growth.

Best Full-Body Workout Routines for Muscle Mass Gain

Focus more on compound exercises and don't waste your time with isolation and machine exercises. You won't go so far with them. Best muscle-building exercises are heavy compound movements like Squats and Bench Press. 

Best Exercises to Build Muscle Mass

5 Best Muscle-Building Exercises

3. Supplementation

The supplements are at the 3rd place after diet and training. You can't build muscle mass by consuming supplements every day but without consuming a right amount of nutrients. But, supplements can be a great addition to your diet plan and support your muscle growth. Don't waste your money on every supplement that is advertised. Most of them are unnecessary and won't help you to build muscle mass.

Top 5 Supplements for Muscle Mass Gain

Other factors

Some of other factors that are important for building muscle mass are quality rest and testosterone production. They are also very related, without quality rest you can't produce enough testosterone levels for building muscle mass. Rest is very important, you are gaining muscles while they recover. So, don't train every day. Training every day is only good for steroid users, they can build muscles all day long. Give yourself a quality rest after a workout and at least one day rest between training days. It is recommended to sleep at least 8 hours every night to let your muscles recover and grow.

Also, boosting your testosterone levels will help your muscles to grow, so check out these tips for naturally boosting testosterone levels:

How to Boost Testosterone Levels to Maximize Muscle Growth

If you try following this guide I promise you that you will see your muscle gains for at least two months. Be very persistent, and don't lose motivation. You want to make a change that will positively affect your life so don't ever give up and there will come a reward after a hard work. Good luck!

The Bodybuilding Guide to Build Muscle Mass Fast

Building muscle mass isn't so easy to achieve and it wouldn't come very fast as you probably think. It is not achievable, not without using steroids. Building lean muscle takes some time and you can't gain 50 pounds of muscle mass in one month, you can only gain body weight like that, and that means mostly body fat. 

First, you have to remember that if you want to build muscle you have to get stronger. To get stronger you have to lift heavier weights in the range of 6 - 10 reps and you will also get bigger. For totally new lifters I advise that they should first start with bodyweight exercises and gain some strength and muscle growth before they start lifting heavy weights. Pull Ups and Dips are very good Muscle Mass Builders, those exercises should always be in your workout routine. 

Also, besides getting stronger, to gain more muscle mass you have to eat more healthy foods every day, you have to consume a lot of proteins, carbs, and fats. For tips on which foods to eat and what amount of calories to eat you can read my other posts:

Check out:

Best Healthy Foods to Gain Muscle Mass

Diet Tips for Lean Muscle Mass

Together with the workout routine and diet plan for muscle growth, supplements can be very helpful for building muscle mass. They are not necessary but will make muscle building easier and faster.

Read more about supplements for muscle building:

Top 5 Supplements for Muscle Mass Gain

Compound exercises which work more muscle groups are best for muscle building. Your muscles won't grow with a workout that is consisted of machine and isolation exercises. You need to boost your testosterone levels and increase muscle growth with hard and heavy loaded workouts. Performing these exercises in the rep range 8 - 12 is the best for muscle hypertrophy.

Read which exercises are the best muscle builders:

Best Muscle Building Exercises

Now, all that you need is good Mass-Building Workout Routine and your muscles will start growing and you will see results after the first month of training. When it comes to muscle building workout routines, you can choose between Full-Body and Body Split workouts. I recommend you to try one of the full-body workout programs if you are a beginner:

Mass-Building Workout Program

One of the most famous workout programs in Bodybuilding is Reg Park's 5x5 Workout Routine. Many bodybuilders like Arnold Schwarzenegger used this workout to gain more muscle mass and strength. It is very recommended for beginners and it is also a full-body workout program:

Reg Park;s 5x5 Workout Program for Muscle Mass and Strength

Now, you have all information about Gaining Muscle Mass, the last tip for you is to be persistent and don't just waste your precious time in the gym. It is better to train one hour hard than two hours of slacking. Muscles won't come so fast, but if it is that easy to build muscle, everyone would do it and it wouldn't be some great thing. Just keep training hard and eat a lot of healthy foods and muscles will come in some time. 

Best Supplements for Mass Gain

Supplements for Muscle Mass Gain

     There is a lot of supplements out there, some are worth buying and some are not. If you want to gain more muscle mass you need to choose the right supplements to include them in your diet plan. There is no need of buying Mass Gainers, I already mentioned that in my previous posts, they are full of sugar and unnecessary. You can try one of Homemade Mass Gainers from my post:

Homemade Gainers for Muscle Mass Gain

Now, I will sort supplements that you can buy to help you to gain more muscle mass according to their importance. You don't need any of these supplements if your nutrition plan is sufficient for you and you make gains, but if you need to gain more muscle mass then buy all or some of these supplements to help you out:

1. Whey Protein

It is the number #1 on my list and I think on many other lists that you can find on web. Whey Protein is very good supplement and if you want to gain muscle mass they you will need a lot of protein and Whey Protein can be very useful. Best time to drink Whey Protein Shake is after workout and you can mix it with your other supplements and carbs for better muscle gains. If you did not bought Whey Protein yet and you don't see any gain well go to supplements store and buy it. You will see the difference. You need Proteins for your muscles to grow and there is no easier way to consume enough protein than making a protein shakes.



2. Creatine

If you want to build strength and muscle mass then you have to buy Creatine. I consider Creatine as type of Natural Steroid. It absolutely shows results in muscle gains and strength and for very short period of time. It is very good for beginners in bodybuilding, it has the strongest effect on those that did not tried creatine before. For me, best creatine is Creatine Monohydrate. It is non-expensive and it is very powerful. Try creatine and see results for a short period.

3. Glutamine

This supplement is very good for your body and for muscle gains.It stimulate muscle growth and boosting your performance in the gym. Glutamine is not as important supplement like Protein and Creatine, but it is very useful for muscle mass.


First, buy yourself a Whey Protein as your first supplement then add Creatine in your post-workout Protein Shakes. If you want more powerful post-workout shake for muscle gain then also add Glutamine and that is everything you will need to make real gains. Don't waste a lot of money for supplements that will not be useful to you.

Homemade Mass Gainers - Gain Muscle Mass Fast

Homemade Mass Gainers

      If you are looking to gain more muscle mass and you need more calories to be in caloric surplus every day then these homemade gainers will help you a lot with it. If you have a good meal plan and you are working out hard you can also add this mass gainer to gain more muscle mass faster and you don't have to care did you consumed enough calories in day or not. Also, this homemade gainers are very better that Mass Gainers in Supplement Stores because those Mass Gainers are full of sugars and it is better to use other sources of carbs for lean muscle mass gain.

    1. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Homemade Mass Gainer

• 20 ounces of milk
• 4 ounces of cream (or an ounce of olive oil and 3 ounces of water)
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoon lecithin granules (as an emulsifier)
• 1/2 cup of protein powder

If "King of Bodybuilding" built his big and aesthetic body with this mass gainer, who say that you can't too? Drink it 1-3 times a day but most important is to drink it after your workout as post-workout meal.

This shake contains a lot of healthy calories, more than 50 grams of protein and it is great for hard-gainers that struggle to get some weight and muscle mass.

   2. Dark Chocolate and Almond Butter Weight Gain Shake

• 16 ounces of Whole Milk
• 2 ounces of Dark Chocolate (Melted)
• 2 tablespoons of Almond Butter
• 1 scoop of Chocolate Protein Powder
• 6 ounces of Oat Meals

This Homemade Mass Gainer contains more than 1000 calories and it is enough for every hard-gainer to drink it after workout. It contains all macro-nutrients that your muscles need to fuel after hard workouts. 

Best Exercises to Build Muscle

BEST EXERCISES TO BUILD MUSCLE

           

     Yeah, you probably know that I am thinking on Compound Exercises, that must be clear. I appreciate them a lot more than Isolation Exercises and in order to Gain Muscle and also Lose Fat, your Workout Program must contain a lot of Compound Workouts.

With those exercises, all old school bodybuilders made their body so muscular and strong. Strength is very important too to achieve your muscle building goals so lift heavy and with not so many reps and you will see results. Along with good Hypertrophy Meal Plan and great Hypertrophy Workout Plan you must see results. 

Don't be afraid of hard workouts, just learn how to do any exercises with perfect form and you won't damage any muscle. Lift heavy and add more weight every training session.

1. Bench Press 

This is my favorite exercise and I always put it as no. 1 in my pushing workouts and my upper body workouts. With Bench Press, you can become more strong and add muscle to your chest primarily and also for your shoulders, triceps, and traps. Muscles that are affected by Bench Press are often most important for most beginners in bodybuilding but you also must give attention to your Upper Back and Lower Back if you want to get the proportional body and also to don't get damaged.

Here is a tutorial on how to do Bench Press correctly and with good form from Buff Dudes YouTube channel:

2. Squat

King of lower body exercises, absolutely. If you want to be big and strong and have the whole body developed you must input Squats in your workout routine. It is good Mass Building exercises, probably the best. What Bench Press is for Upper Body that Squat is for Lower Body. They are both very important.

3. Pull Up / Chin Up

There are many variations of this exercises but the main classification is on Pull Up and Chin Up and the difference between those two is a grip stance, overhand or underhand. Underhand grip, Chin Up, works Biceps significantly more but still is very good for Upper Back. If you can't do many pull ups don't give up, do them on every back workout day in the beginning of training and you will do more and more every time. There is nothing better for big and muscled upper backs and also big biceps than Pull Up or Chin Up.

 Jeff from AthleanX channel on YouTube explain the importance of Pull Ups and Chin Ups for back training and difference between those two. Watch this video and learn to do those two exercises properly and why are they different.

Other important compound exercises:

I consider these three exercises as most important for strong and muscled body and I will just mention some others. But with those three exercises only you can build big muscles and be very fit and strong. Use them separately and also add some weights on the belt or between your legs if you can do many pull ups and chin ups.

Other great Mass Building Compound Exercises are:

• Military Press (Overhead Press)
• Dips (For chest or for triceps, also you can add weights)
• Dead Lifts (Become incredibly strong)
• Rows (Bent-Over Row, T-Bar Row, Machine Rows)
• Pull Down Machine (Great for those that can't do any pull up)
• Lunges

How to gain muscle mass

How to Gain Muscle Mass Fast

     These days everyone are interested to get something fast, how to earn money fast, how to find online job fast, how to gain muscle mass fast and others questions that they would like to know. Well, if you really want to get something fast you must put a lot effort and learn a lot of tips how to do that. You must be sure that you want it so much and you want it now!

There is no pill that can make you muscle for a week. Not exist. Even if you try with steroids, even anabolic steroids effect can't get you pumped and muscled very fast without a lot of effort. Of course, I don't recommend steroids to anyone, just don't try that, don't think about that. The point is, there is no such shortcut or pill to gain more muscle mass without a lot of effort and knowledge about muscle.

But, there are ways to get faster muscle gain results. 

I must mention this, what do you think people got muscled without all these technologies to read tips and machines in gyms? They were working very hard and ate a lot of healthy food and they were muscled and fit. Look at all those bodybuilding legends like Steve Reeves and Reg Park for example. They were natural non-steroids bodybuilders and they lived in the time where there was no machines that really works well for steroids users to get muscled but not too much for naturals. Compound moves are the key for that. Just take a look at Bill Pearl, bodybuilding legend and his aesthetic natural body:

And Bill done a lot of pull ups, squats and bench and military presses. He got very big and strong for not such a long time. He was natural and aesthetic, big but with nice six packs. 

1. You must use a lot of compound exercises in all your workout days and just add some isolation work out, but not too much. 

I wrote a post about workout program for mass so you can take a look:

MASS-BUILDING WORKOUT PROGRAM

2. Aim to get more strength, follow a strength gain program to get stronger for two or three months so after that you can aim for muscle gains. Strength gains programs usually include low number of exercises and reps but with more sets and very heavy weight. Usually about 1-5 reps per 5-6 sets and only with three or four compound exercises.

3. Don't be afraid of hard exercises and heavy weight, learn to do squats, dead lifts and bench presses with great form and nothing bad can't happen to you. You can't break your spine or shoulder, don't worry.

5 BEST MUSCLE-BUILDING EXERCISES

4. When aiming for muscle size you should do 8-12 reps and for about 4 sets and focus on your muscle and try to get a pump. You must feel in your chest the pump when you are doing bench presses or dumbbell presses or flies. If you focus to stretch your muscle when you are lifting barbell or dumbbell up you will feel that you hit your muscle good.

5. Follow a great muscle mass gain diet. As long as you are consuming important nutrients like protein, carbs and fats and you are in caloric surplus you will gain mass. Being in caloric surplus means that you consume more calories than you need to maintain your currently weight. Web is full of calories calculator and you can find a calculator where you will calculate how many calories you need to gain weight and muscle mass. 

Take a look on YouTube video about diet plan for mass:

Tips to Gain Muscle Mass for Four Weeks

Tips to Gain Muscle Mass

(Tips for beginners and hard-gainers)

        If you are reading this blog right now then you are in the same situation I was two years ago. Skinny, unhealthy and not self-confident, at least not totally. I liked my "bonny" body and I had some abs showed too until I was 20 and started realizing that I am not teen anymore and it is not cool to look that skinny in twenties. 

No, that was not me of course. I don't want to show photos of my body when I was skinny, but even I had more mass than this guy. But I saw myself in mirror like this.

After I started thinking about that and others around me told me that I must gain some weight I started to Google it of course. That is my first thing when I don't know anything about something, I type that on Google search and start opening many tabs of blogs that had names "Gain Muscle Mass Fast", "Gain Weight Fast", "Get Big and Strong" and others like those and I went to the gym.


Logically, I gained couple of pounds in first month when I started going to gym. I say logical because all guys, even professional bodybuilders, gained some pounds with first months of training in the gym and following mass gain nutrition. I can guarantee that. Follow any LEAN MUSCLE MASS PLAN from the web and some casual MASS GAIN WORKOUT PROGRAM and you will see your gains for one to two months. For most people it is enough, they can show their bodies on the beach in the summer and they don't want any more gains. But it is not same to everyone, some keep on with it almost whole life just like me for last two years. I am in love with weights and training. I never thought that I would be, that never got my attention before I tried it. Anyway, lets get to these tips and mistakes that most people do when want to gain MUSCLE MASS. Remember, we are looking for MUSCLE MASS not FAT GAIN. Well that would be my first tip for you guys:

1. Train and Eat to Gain Lean Muscle Mass 

That means not to eat too much sugars and junk foods to get weight quickly. That is very easy. Start eating a lot of pizza and ice cream every day and for one month you would be fatty and with big tummy and love handles. You don't want this, believe me. Better stay skinny. Abs are very important for every guy that wants to look handsome and strong. That is why I don't respect new bodybuilders that won all those competitions like Mr. Olympia. Most of the year they look so fatty and just big, not unaesthetic and unattractive. Take a look on the picture and you will see what I mean:

I don't have to say anything more, with this I am finished my first tip. Let's go to another one:

2. Eat a Lot of Healthy Food

You will need macro nutrients and to gain muscle mass you will need more food than you ate before, but as I wrote eat only healthy foods with only some cheat meals from time to time. Consume a lot of protein from foods and supplements like Whey Protein and also a lot of Carbs and Healthy Fats. Don't avoid fats, you need them believe me. Only 100 grams of good fats will fuel you with 900 calories and that would be enough for you for one day, rest of calories eat food with Protein and Carbs. I will write more about how to split those calories in your meals in my other posts but remember this tip.

3. Train Hard - Don't Waste Your Precious Time in Gym

Don't just waste your time by talking to others in gym and resting a lot. You must rest after sets and workouts but don't let yourself rest more than one or two minutes, one between sets and two between workouts. That is enough to keep your muscle pumping whole the time while you train, don't let your body get cold, WARM UP and GO HARD.

4. Rest and Sleep Well

After hard training you will need to rest your muscles. Keep on mind that your muscles grow while they are resting after hard workouts and post-workout meals. You get yourself pumped in the gym, well fed in the kitchen and RESTED IN YOUR BED. Those three rules you must follow to achieve great muscle gains believe me.

5. Lift Heavy and Use Compound Moves

Well those tips that I mentioned are the most important but I must also say that this is very important rule. Don't waste your time isolating your biceps with some light weight, you will see some results in size of your muscle but nothing can compare to Compound Workouts. I will just mention them here and put a video that explains why you need compound moves to get stronger and also gain more muscle:

- Bench Press

- Squats

- Pull Ups/Chin Ups

- Dips

- Dead Lifts

- Rows (Bent-Over, T-Bar Rows)

If you just combine these four exercises that Elliot Hulse mentioned in his video with 6-12 reps per set and about 4 sets you can get great workout program to gain strength and muscle. You will need a lot of strength to gain more lean muscle and with those exercises you will be stronger. Add a few pounds every training session and lift!