Build Muscle On An Ectomorph Frame Follow These Tips

The Right Amount Of Calories So many ectomorphs get this wrong, they think they can follow the same diet plan their buddies in the gym are following and that's why they are not seeing weight gain.

The ectomorph has to eat more per pound of body weight than the average guy. There is some debate on the exact number but this is a good place to start.

You want to use between 20 and 24 calories per pound of body weight. So if you weigh 150 lbs. times 20 equals 3,000 calories a day.

Remember this is just a starting spot, if you are not putting on weight adjust up on your calorie intake.

Now lets take a look at what this means by percentage of the types of calories. Now most people would limit the carbohydrate intake so the diet based on percentages of calories a day would be 45% protein 30% carbs and 25% fat. This is because to much carbohydrates will increase the body fat of your average guy.

The skinny guy has a very high metabolism so cabs are not a big concern. So the percentages for the skinny guy would be 40% protein 40% carbs and 20% fat. This should aid in packing on weight and muscle.

You can always make adjustments to this as you see how your body responds.

If You Are Not Sleeping You Are Not Gaining

Too many weight lifters under estimate the importance of rest and sleep. They put so much concentration on their training, they end up hurting their gains because of lack of rest.

Having a very high metabolic rate the ectomorph has to work hard to put on weight. When you are sleeping your body releases natural growth hormones that help build and repair muscle fibers that get broken down during your workout.

The repair and building of muscle fiber is essential to bodybuilding so if don't sleep you don't gain.

There is also getting to much sleep that can hurt muslce gain. Getting a solid 8-10 hours is sufficient rest to help your gains. Once you start to go over that, then you risk hurting your gains.

The hard-gainerhas to eat several times a day and a lot of calories. When we are sleeping we are not eating. If you sleep to long your body will start needing fuel to survive, remember that fast metabolic rate?

If you sleep to much, that fuel your body needs to burn is going to be muscle and becasuse of your metabolic rate this is going to happen even faster.

To make sure you are always building muscle, you need to be taking in the proper level of calories and getting the right amount of rest.

What Is The Right Workout

Something that happens far too often for ectomorphs is following a workout that just doesn't address the needs of a skinny guy.

The ectomorph will not benefit from a workout you find most bodybuilders doing these days. You can't blame the skinny who is just following the pack.

Their friends are going to the gym and showing gains so the follow along and do the same workout. There buddies are seeing muscle gain week in and week out, and all they are feeling is great disapointment because after months of working out they see no change in themselves.

A lot of ectomorphs will throw in the towel at this point, they simpley believe that it is impossible for them to gain muscle.

They just never realized that they aren't doing the exercises in a way that will have the greatest effect on the skinny guy. For a skinny guy the only routine that will pack on muscle is a full body workout with compound exercies.

This is because you will use multi joints and muscle groups with compound exercises. The squat is a perfect example of a compound exercise. There are several groups of muscle and multiple joints involved

Starting with your ankles and working up, you have your knees and hips, also your core is involved plus major muscle groups like the quads, and back not counting all the minor muscles that come into play.

These are the types of exercises that an skinny guy thrives on. Only when you start doing a full body workout, utilizing compound exercises will see real muscle gain.

When Less is More

What do we mean by less is more? Understanding less is more if you are a skinny guy is crtical to your muscle gains. Because just like the skinny guy who is doing the wrong exercises by following his buddies he is also working out as long as they do.

The issue with this is, the hardgainer has a slight frame that does not stand up to stress. The workout your following could have you in the gym for a couple of hours a day five days a week.

This will do more harm than good on the hardgainer. The length of this type of workout and the amount of time spent in the gym, is only going to cause undo stress on an ectomorphs frame which is to small to handle it.

So that's why for the skinny guy less is more. Your body will thrive on a 45 minute routine doing a full body workout with compound exercises like stated above 3 times a week.

Make sure you take longer breaks between sets than the average. If you have only been resting for 30 seconds between sets while trying to keep up with your buddies you have probably noticed that you can't keep up with the rep level.

Rest longer and make sure you are getting between 7-10 reps on each exercise for 3-4 sets.

Forget about what your friends are doing and don't think of it as some kind of competition. The key here is to recognize your body type, when you tailor your workouts to your body type you will see instant muscle gain.

And isn't that really what you want? The great thing about an ectomorph routine is, it take less time and you still gain muscle while all your friends are living at the gym. Soon they are going to becoming to you for advice on muscle building, how sweet is that?