How To Get Lean And Mean If You’re A Scrawny Bloke. 

The right way to bulking up.

Let’s face it. Not all men aren’t genetically blessed to grow as tall as others.  Now, it’s one thing to be on the short side, but it’s another to be a hardgainer (a fancy term for a “scrawny man”) and who’s also lacking in height.

While there’s almost nothing you can do about your height, but there’s definitely a way for you to build and sculpt a body that shows you’re not one to be, ahem, overlooked and taken lightly. Take notes and make these tips into habits to whip your scrawny ass into fit form.

 

Eat more

You don’t necessarily have to keep on loading up on protein.  Stick to a well-balanced diet even if you decide to get larger meal portions.  This is very important since you’ll be needing a lot more energy to keep up with the training you’ll undergo to get that perfectly lean and mean body.

The objective here is to get your body on a Caloric Surplus level if you want to bulk up, so eat a lot.  At the same time, lift heavier weights to gain more muscle mass.

Keep on lifting more weights, heavier weights.  For your workout, you can go for the same moves as a fit guy (dynamic stretches, planks, burpees, squats, push-ups, lunges, and pull-ups) but you have to ramp up the weights that you work with.

Use a kettlebells.  Kettlebells are very functional and very versatile. They could be used for gaining weight, loosing weight, power building and strength building as well.  We recommend swings, single-leg deadlifts, snatches, and Turkish get-ups using kettlebells.

Heavier weights in short duration if you want to bulk up.  In between sets, you rest a little longer than usual because your muscles need to recover so you could properly perform the next set. 

How heavy should you lift?  Each person has a different baseline on how much they could lift, so here’s a quick and simple guide to figure out the right weight for you: If you could do10 to 12 reps of a weighted exercise in perfect form without breaking a sweat or getting shortness of breath, then you have to lift heavier weights because it is too light.  There has to be effort.  Then if  your set is only 6 reps or below and you cannot do more reps then it means it’s too heavy.  7 to 9 proper reps is a great benchmark for the right amount of weight.

Please take note:  If you are just starting out, aim for proper form first before you ramp up those weights.

As you do the exercises, make sure that your movements are smooth and pain-free.  Go for quality not quantity, mate.  You will get more gains and also prevent serious injury to your body.

Progress

It’s important to make incremental increases in the weights you lift.  To adhere with the same principle above, once you’re comfortably doing 10 to 12 reps with the current weight you’re lifting, you have to progress to a heavier set.  The growth of your muscles will plateau if you use the same weight for too long, you’ll just waste your time and you don’t want that to happen.

If your goal is weight gain, after one to two weeks, you can increase the weight by 5 kilos right away.

Stretch right

Please also observe that you should take stretching very seriously.  Besides doing dynamic stretches  (e.g. The World’s Greatest Stretch, Gorilla Squat variation) before your actual workout, you also have to do static stretches at the end.  Static stretching is the standard where you choose a specific muscle group, like triceps, chest, hamstrings—it helps muscles to relax and cool down.  This stretch routine brings your muscles back to their natural state.

Now, it’s important when you do static stretching, it should last more than 20 counts because your muscles should get enough stretch so they could relax or else they go back to an active state and burn some of your gains.

One more thing:  Start counting once you’ve locked in for the stretch and not while you’re getting into position. No cheating, mate.