Gain Weight Fast - An Ectomorph Workout Guide

If you read around about how to gain weight fast, you'll probably see that a lot of people think it's impossible to gain more than 1/2lb to 1lb in a week as a beginner.  They say the gains also slow down as you gain more weight.  This couldn't be further from the truth - if you know what you're doing.  I'm going to detail some techniques that really worked well for me when blasting through the plateaus and even just starting out.  And don't worry, this isn't going to be another 'do tons of compound lifts and eat a lot' type of article.

Your body is able to adapt fairly quickly to certain routines.  With that in mind, you should always switch up your routine if you want to maximize your gains.  I don't mean alter the days that you do things or anything like that, either.  You will really need to chang everything about your routine every week.  Avoid working the same body parts (especially less used ones) more than once a week, but switch everything else up aside from that.  Did you do a lot of compound lifts one week?  Well, do a ton of isolation ones the next week.  Not only that, but pair triceps with legs instead of with chest for one week.  Working what you feel like working is one of the best techniques for gaining muscle, at least from my experience.  This is probably the most important tip to gain weight fast.

Keep your workouts relatively short and of high intensity.  You should work up a pretty serious sweat and be unable to move when you're done, but your workout shouldn't last anything more than 45 minutes.  If it's taking longer than that, then you're going too long and your body is going to enter a catabolic state, where it'll break down your muscles for energy.

Avoid overpriced supplements.  The only supplement that's worth anything is whey protein and you should only take it directly after a workout.  The benefit of whey protein is that it's already digested so it can be absorbed by your body more quickly and effectively, meaning you can replenish your muscles at a faster rate after working out.  Aside from that, you should get your protein from other sources, like eggs, milk, and peanut butter.  Soy is another great source of protein, although it doesn't taste very good.

If you're really serious about trying to gain weight fast, then you'll need to up your weight every workout.  That doesn't mean you have to drop an additional ten pounds on the bench press every week, but you'll definitely want to add at least 2 pounds to each lift or an additional rep (or half rep).  This'll ensure that your body constantly has to adapt to the strains of weight lifting and that you can get the most benefit from your sessons.