Recently a gym friend prepared a workout plan for me to adjust my lifestyle a little bit so that I can be healthier and fit in the meantime. He is quite an experienced bodybuilder and he saw that I need a helping hand on building muscle and gaining weight. So he came out to me with this plan.

So far I have started for about a week now with my first meal and workout plan. It’s quite detailed with types of workout programs to follow.

Here I would like to share some of the important build muscle tips and keys to grow quality muscle (this plan actually suit me according to my body weight and measurement). My current weight measures at 44kg and aiming for 60kg.

Tips & Keys to Grow Quality Muscle

1. Overview

  • A 4 days workout and you can do the workout at any day of the week, as long as you follow the sequence by rotating them.
  • Do not skip leg day as leg workout is very important to increase testosterone hormone to increase muscle mass at every other muscle group and also boost your daily health.
  • Best hypertrophy (increase muscle mass) is actually training the same muscle group twice a week, around 3-4 days gap. But still up to your schedule.
  • Limit the rest time to be around 1 minute.

2. Periodization

  • Microcycle on every week with different reps range because we do not want the muscle to adapt from previous training.
  • Use lighter weight at high rep range and heavier weight at low rep range.

3. Train to Failure

  • Every single set you will need to fail at the designated rep range by using correct weight or resistance.
  • At the last set which is the 3rd (Microcycle 1-3) or 4th sets (Microcycle 4), include a rest pause or drop set.
  • Rest pause – resting 15 seconds and perform until failure again.
  • Drop set – resting 15 seconds and reduce weight by 10-20% and perform until failure again.

FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS!

Build Muscle GIF
4. Mind Muscle Connection

  • Form is more important over weight and you will need to be very focus on contracting the targeted muscle.
  • Eccentric movement is actually the one to create more muscle tear and resulting bigger and stronger muscle.
  • Focus on Time Under Tension for every reps you perform.

5. Meal Plan

  • Every single meal must consist both carbs and protein.
  • Focus on whole food (opposed of processed food), and try to skip added sugar. Sugar will only add fat, not muscle.
  • As hard gainer, you will need to eat more. For the beginning try to eat more than the designated meal plan, and we will see how later.
  • Try to eat more especially after workout, that’s the most important timing known as feeding windows.
  • Eat more food with protein such as eggs, meat, cheese, milk. You can learn more by tracking macros.
  • Drink a lot of water!

6. Rest and Off Day

  • Sleep at least 8 hours a day. Your muscle actually get destroyed in gym and rebuild when you are sleeping.
  • You can eat according to the meal plan even on the day you do not workout.

Spread into a 4 day workout plan, with each day with different build muscle training of the chest, back, biceps, shoulders, trap, legs etc. I’ll just list down the workout plan below from Day 1 – Day 4.

Day 1
Chest & Triceps

Day 2
Back & Biceps

Day 3
Shoulders and Traps

Day 4
Legs, Calves and Abs

I felt like I need to be more focused on my eating habit and meal plan. Just done some grocery shopping for fruits, oatmeal, milk etc. So now, I have to eat 5 meals a day excluding pre-workout post-workout (whey protein) and bed time (milk). My gym friend recommends me to break down my meals into smaller portions due to my high metabolism. I have to keep eating. -_- This plan will change once I hit the goal.

So for skinny guy with weight below 50kg, these tips above might be able to help you get some ideas on gaining weight and building muscle.

Sorry about the picture & Nicki Minaj, it’s just for illustration purpose only. 😛