My Top 10 Tricks To Gain Weight

Hey what’s going on?

Jared here and today I wanted to write about my 10 favorite techniques that you can use to gain weight. I’ve had a lot of feedback from others through personal email and commenting about this topic. Lesson learned and that it’s always important to listen to what people have to say. As one person said “not everyone needs to lose.”

So this is what this blog post is about. I have to say that getting people in shape and helping them drop body fat is cool and a lot of fun, but I also love helping people gain weight and build muscle at the same time. There’s a lot more different training paradigms and dietary techniques you can use and change up to get a desired effect.

Plus, who doesn’t like lifting heavy weights? The amount of joy and empowering emotions that someone get’s when they just did something or lifted a weight that they previously thought was impossible is pretty cool to watch and be a part of. It truly makes my day.

Now what I want to get into is my top 10 techniques that you can use right away to be able to start gaining weight. Each one will either be related to your diet and or your training program. So here we go…

Trick #1:Eat Large Meals

Duhhhh I know what you’re thinking. But a lot of people still do not do this. Instead of that wimpy 6 meal a day regiment that everyone and their mother says you must follow for optimal health (a lot of stuff is coming out saying this is false) eat 3-4 large meals instead. Each meal can have a mixture of protein carbs and fats. And if you worry about excess fat gain, don’t be. Have the majority of your carbs right after your workout if this is the case.

Trick #2: Throw Out The Cardio

The more calories you burn, the more you need to eat to gain weight. It’s that simple. Cardiovascular exercise obviously has it’s place in health, fitness and fat loss. Even when you’re trying to gain weight, it’s great to limit fat gain, but this is not what this article is about. It’s about purely gaining weight. So if this is you, stop doing the cardio.

Trick #3: Load up on healthy fats.

Fat is extremely calorie dense. It has 9 calories per gram as compared to carbs and protein which is 4 calories per gram. A little more than double the energy. Also fat is not as satiating as protein so you can eat more of it without feeling full.

Trick #4: Add olive oil into your protein shakes.

This goes hand in hand with #3. An easy way to bump up  your caloric intake for the day to gain weight is to just add olive oil to your protein shakes through out the day. One table spoon of olive oil is around 120 calories. That’s a lot. Four ounces of chicken is 120 calories so you can see olive oil packs a caloric punch. Add 1-3 tablespoons to your shakes for the extra calories without having to feel full or stuffed.

Trick #5: Move Slow Through Your Workout.

What I mean by this is get rid of all the supersets and circuit training. All you’re going to do is perform one set, rest, do another set, rest, etc…No pairing of exercises and no circuit training at all. You’ll burn less calories this way. Plus your strength endurance will stay elevated for the duration of the workout. The more weight you can lift, the stronger you will get and therefore, the more muscle in the long run you can build.

Trick #6: Only Big Exercises Are Allowed.

Throw out all of the single joint exercises in your routine and replace them with the big multi joint compound exercises. I’m talking about the big boys of the weight room. Squats, dead lifts, bench pressing, pull ups, barbell rows etc…

You’re allowed to perform variations of the above, but that’s it. And don’t be intimidated by these types of exercises. They are so great for not only building lean muscle tissue but for your overall health. They increase bone mineral density, which is very important as you age, especially for women, they increase all the muscle building hormones in your body such as testosterone, growth hormone and insulin like growth factor.

Trick #7: Add In Liquid Meals.

If you have trouble eating a lot of solid food because you just don’t have a large appetite or a small stomach, add in liquid meals throughout the day in the form of shakes. Now I’m not talking about adding a scoop of protein and mixing with water. No, that won’t get you anywhere with this trick. I’m talking about adding a bunch of stuff to that protein mix, blend it up and drink it. For example, you can add in a scoop of protein, 2 cups of coconut milk, a banana, and some berries for a high calorie, great tasting, healthy weight gaining shake. Those ingredients right there will equal around 500 calories all in the form of a liquid meal. This is easier to get down and leaves your stomach much quicker than solid food. Leaving you more hungry.

Trick #8: Perform The German Volume Training Workouts.

This is a program popularized by the old weight lifting teams of Europe that wanted to bump up in a weight class. All you do 10 sets of 10 reps of an exercise.

Here is sample program:

Monday – Chest and Back

Incline Bench Press 10×10

Barbell Rows 10×10

Flat Dumbbell Fly’s 3×12

Pullups 3 x 12

Wedneday: Quads and Hamstrings

Back Squats 10×10

Leg Curls 10×10

Friday: Biceps And Tricpes

Barbell Curls 10×10

Seated Dips 10×10

And that’s pretty much it. Feel free to add in calfs to the program and some abdominal work if need be. The great thing about this is it’s simplicity and it’s extreme effectiveness. Because of the huge amount of targeted volume in one specific area of the muscle from doing just one movement, your body almost over compensates and adapts quite effectively and quickly.

It’s a very popular weight gaining program that has stood the test of time. I highly recommend it.

Trick #9: Always Always Eat Breakfast.

I know in recent blog posts I have been talking about intermittent fasting and my feast and famine diet quite a lot. And that it goes against what I’ve been saying but in all honesty if you struggle to gain weight, then you need to eat breakfast. If you have a fast metabolism, you need a lot of calories. I don’t have a fast metabolism. Remember everyone is different. Load up on breakfast and eat a lot.

Trick #10: Don’t Miss A Meal.

When it comes to gaining weight, there’s a phrase that a lot of hardcore pro bodybuilders live by and that’s “I rather miss a training session then miss a meal.” Seriously, gaining weight is all about diet. It’s about 90% diet and 10% of what you at the gym. Your body needs so many extra calories to build muscle. Remember, it wants to remain at homeostasis. It does not wan to build muscle tissue because then it requires more resources to hold on to that muscle.

You have to force it to build muscle and because of that you cannot afford to skip or miss a meal. If you know you have to be somewhere, then prepare ahead and bring food with you. There are so many options. Buy a box of protein bars and throw some in your bag or car. Gets some of those tuna fish packets that are flavored that you could just pop open and eat. Literally your options are endless.

Well hey I hoped you liked this post. Share it with your friends, tweet it, “Like” it and leave me a comment. Tell me what you think and if you have any other tips, tricks or techniques write about it below.

Ps. If you liked this, then grab your copy of my Blowtorch Belly Fat Video Series. Just click here now.