It sounds like a great problem to have, but there are some fortunate (or unfortunate) individuals out there that can seemingly eat everything in sight without gaining weight.   Regardless, it’s still a frustrating experience for anyone looking to pack on muscle.  Having a fast metabolism is nice for losing body fat, but what’s the point of being lean if you have the muscle mass of a young Pee Wee Herman (minus the whole pleasuring himself in the theater thing).

For every problem there is a solution.  You should never let genetics be an excuse for anything, you can ALWAYS improve no matter what.  I came up with simple things ectomorphs usually get wrong when it comes to packing on muscle.

1. You’re Not Tracking or Eating Enough

Here is a typical conversation:

“Sean, I eat so much but I can’t put on weight!”

“How many calories do you eat?”

“I don’t know”

It’s meticulous and monotonous, but it must be done.  If you track your calorie intake it takes all ambiguity out of the equation.  You will now know for sure EXACTLY how many calories, fats, carbs, and protein you are consuming each day.  When you’re on a diet, you underestimate the calories you eat.  When you’re bulking up, you overestimate the calories you eat.  It’s human nature.  Once you start tracking, it’s usually a wake up call of just how little you’re eating.

Six ounces of chicken is about 30 grams of protein.  Do you know what six ounces of cooked chicken looks like?  It’s a ton!  It takes up like half the plate.  If you’re serious about adding muscle, this is just part of the process.  After awhile it will become innate.  You’ll naturally gather your ingredients, pots, pans, utensils, and food scale with every meal.

2. You’re Picking The Wrong Foods

I’m not saying there are magical foods, because there aren’t.  But if you’re looking to bulk up then you need to choose foods you can digest easily.  Bread, rice, peanut butter, ground meat, even some occasional junk food are easy to eat in abundance for most people.  Eating becomes a chore when you do it five times a day for a few months.  You need to find things that go down easy and don’t leave you bloated for hours because before you know it it’ll be time to eat again.  If you’re trying to pack in as many calories as possible, you can’t have your diet revolve around tons of fibrous vegetables.  Of course you need vegetables in a balanced, nutrient-dense diet.  But if you’re trying to cram a cup of broccoli with every meal, it’s just not a sound strategy for long term success.

3. You Need To Go Heavy

I truly believe this sentiment when it comes to working out:

It’s hard to be strong and NOT be big.

The two go hand in hand.  Sure there’s the outlier here and there that can lift a tremendous amount of weight and isn’t all that physically imposing.  But for the most part, most people that perform heavy compound lifts are pretty damn big.  You don’t have to become a competitive powerlifter and try to look like The Mountain, but you should certainly incorporate these lifts into your routine.  Go heavy on everything from time to time; curls, rows, shoulder presses, leg press, etc.  It’s the easiest way to increase the intensity of your workout and overload the muscle.

4. You Need To Increase Your Training Frequency

The bro split only works for so long.  When you enter the intermediate and advanced stages of training then you have to hit each muscle group more than once a week.  Switch to full body routines or push pull training splits so that your hitting the muscle more often.  Make sure you don’t sacrifice total volume in lieu of the higher frequency though.  If you were doing twenty sets of shoulders once a week and you switch to five sets of shoulders three times a week, the total volume is lower.  Volume and intensity are the keys to continued progression and adding mass.

5.  You Train Like a Bitch

I shouldn’t even use the word bitch, because I see a ton of women outworking men in the gym every day.  By bitch I mean you don’t work hard.  You go through the motions, bullshit on your phone, and don’t push yourself.  That works for a little while, but the noob gains stop eventually.  So are you going to push through the plateau or be average?  Look around your gym.  Most people are average aren’t they?  This might be the wake up call you need.  Adding muscle isn’t a privilege, you have to put in the work.