What is the quickest way to gain a stone of muscle?

Asking how to gain a stone of muscle quickly is a popular question that is asked regularly by novice bodybuilders. To gain a stone of muscle, assuming you are new to the gym, is actually quite easy. The most important aspects are shown below:

1. Consistency with your diet – eat 6 meals per day, every day
2. Ensuring good hydration – drink 8-10 glasses of water per day
3. Perform high intensity exercise for 50 minutes, three times per week, using multiple joint compound movements only
4. Sleep 8-9 hours per night and rest as much as possible

Mass Gaining Diet

Your diet must contain a high amount of protein, whilst being low sugar and low fat. This means that you need to combine slow releasing carbs, such as potatoes, pasta, rice, wholemeal bread, porridge, etc. with proteins, such as lean meats, fish, eggs, milk, nuts, etc. Each meal should be 3 hours apart, no more, no less and should contain a similar amount of calories. A good rule of thumb for gaining muscle size and weight while training is to consume 20 times your bodyweight (in pounds), in calories every day. If you struggle with your diet, then buy meal replacement supplements, to replace two or three meals per day. If you struggle to consume enough protein, then buy a whey protein shake that you can drink with your meal. Ready to drink supplements that come in cartons that you keep in your fridge can be a handy type of meal replacement for breakfast.

Hydration Requirements for Bodybuilding

Drinking plenty of water is a must for bodybuilding success and there are no excuses for not drinking enough water every day.

High Intensity Mass Gaining Training

Training has to be high intensity to give results. You should select a weight, once warmed up that allows you to complete 6-8 reps. Imagine that the exercise only starts when you can no longer complete a full rep. Now is the time to really try harder to complete more slow, controlled half, then quarter reps, then hold the weight under tension, to get a painful burn for a further 10 seconds say, with maximum effort and good form. This is high intensity training and the results speak for themselves.

The following routine is very basic, but is an ideal training programme for a beginner:

Note: For every exercise, ensure a 60 second rest from putting the weight down to picking it back up, apart from Squats and Deadlifts, where you can rest 2-3 minutes.

How long will it take to Gain a Stone of Muscle?

If you don’t see any small increases in size or strength every 2 weeks, then you are doing something wrong. Assuming the above advice is followed perfectly, gaining a stone of muscle is possible in 6-7 weeks for a 18+ year old male, who is fairly new to bodybuilding.

Using creatine will dramatically increase results, but personally, I would follow the above advice for four weeks first, then use creatine.

If you need any further advice, leave your comments below.