The majority of people that come into my shop all seem to want to know HOW TO GET BIG and it's usually followed by FAST!  Getting big can be very easy but then there is a difference between getting big (fat) and getting big (muscular) and the majority of it will be down to your diet and what you consume on a day to day basis.

If you want to know HOW TO GET BIG then its basic science you have to consume (eat) more calories than you burn each day for an extended period of time, So for example if you burn 2500 calories a day (which the average male will without exercise) then you need to consume upwards of 3000 calories a day obviously the more calories you consume the greater the weight gain will be - Now thats the basic formula on how to get big but as I mentioned earlier it's what you consume thats going to be the difference in the type of gains you will make and also the combination of training & supplementation you undertake.

We are going to cover all bases giving an example diet, training & supplement plan for someone looking at how to get big as fast & effectively as possible building quality muscle mass with minimal amounts of body fat.

Okay the first thing we will look at is an example HOW TO GET BIG diet:

When packing on quality muscle you are going to want a high amounts of protein, complex carbohydrates & healthy fats which will all equate to high overall calories when consumed on a regular basis throughout the day.

Here are some examples of what you may want to pick up on your next how to get big shopping trip you can mix and match and make your own meals with these products:

Proteins:
Chicken, Lean Beef, Eggs, Turkey, Fish, Nuts (Healthy Fats too) & Low Fat Dairy.

Complex Carbohydrates:
Wholegrains, Brown Rice, Sweet Potatoes, Oatmeal (Scottish Porridge Oats)

Simple Carbohydrates:
Bananas, Oranges, Pears, Apples

Fiborous Carbohydates:
Vegetables

Fats:
Flaxseed, Sunflower Seeds, Canola Oil, Olive Oil, Omega 3-6-9s (Fish)

Okay so there is a basic list of products to choose from now lets look at a day in the life of someone looking at how to get big.

We are going to aim to eat a minimum of 4 meals per day but up to 6 if we can, this diet will be without any supplements using only wholefoods, later we will look at the supplements we can include and use to maximise our gains and may become essential if we cant hit our quota of calories per day!

Meal 1
1 cups of Scottish Oats (129 calories, 22g of carbs)
1 cup of skimmed milk (118 calories, 13g of carbs & 9g of protein)
1 banana (105 calories, 27g of carbs)
2 tbs peanut butter (188 calories, 15g of fat)
approx 540 calories

Snack 1
2oz of Almonds unsalted (340 calories, 15g of fat)
1 apple (72 calories, 20g of carbohydrates)
approx 410 calories

Meal 2
1 chicken breast (142 calories, 26g of protein)
1 cup of brown rice (215 calories, 45g of carbs)
1 tbs olive oil  (40 calories, 4.5g of fat)
1 portion mixed veg (80 calories)
approx 480 calories

Snack 2
2oz of Almonds unsalted (340 calories, 15g of fat)
1 Pear (72 calories, 20g of carbohydrates)
approx 410 calories

Meal 3
1 chicken breast (142 calories, 26g of protein)
1 cup of brown rice (215 calories, 45g of carbs)
1 tbs olive oil  (40 calories, 4.5g of fat)
1 portion mixed veg (80 calories)
approx 480 calories

Snack 3
2oz of Almonds unsalted (340 calories, 15g of fat)
1 Orange (72 calories, 20g of carbohydrates)
approx 410 calories

Meal 4
1 Sirloin Steak (310 calories, 31g of protein)
1 cup of sweet potatoe mash (250 calories, 58g of carbs)
1 tbs olive oil  (40 calories, 4.5g of fat)
1 portion mixed veg (80 calories)
approx 680 calories

Meal 5
1 cup of low fat cottage cheese (165 calories, 28g of protein)
approx 165 calories

Totals:
Calories approx 3500
Protein approx 150g
Carbohydrates approx 285g
Fats approx 80g

As you can see it's alot of eating, alot of preperation and possibly a bit heavy on the wallet, this is by no means the ultimate how to get big diet but it gives you an idea of what you need to consume in wholefoods on a daily basis to achieve results! The one mistake people make it by following a diet like this for 4 days of the week but then every other day or a couple days in a row will drop down to a sub standard diet eating less than 2000 calories a day this will only level out the overall calories consumed over the week and prevent you from making sustainable gains so as I always tell my customers 'consistancy is key' it'll take you 3 months of solid training, eating & supplementation to get where you want to be and only 2 weeks of illness or lazyness to be back at square one!

Now let take a look at the how to get big example training program!

Firstly you need to understand wen you are training you are burning calories thus meaning you may need to increase your intake if you are extremely active in work as a builder or window cleaner for example as you will forever be moving around burning more calories then the office guy sat in his chair from 9 till 5 this is why if you are trying to gain weight try and avoid cardio espicially if you are a hard gainer (someone who cannot put on weight for love nor money) otherwise you will struggle to gain 1lb nevermind 1 stone. Weight training is going to be the core of your training lifting heavy to failure with a rep range of around 8-10 doing upto 16 sets on major muscle groups through a combination of exercises (for example 4 exercises on chest 4 sets of 8-10 reps excluding any warmups) The rep range 8-10 is commonly regarded as the best range for hypertrophy (increase of muscle) again this is by no means the ultimate how to get big training program but simply an effective, tried and tested way of doing so everybody responds differently for 90% of my customers this has worked great but like anything you will need to change your routine as your body adapts to the same workout and needs a shock to spark new muscle growth and gains.

Here is an example how to get big training program

Day 1 - Chest
Warm Up Dumbell Flys 3 x 15-20 reps (get the blood into the muscle, stretch the chest and pre-fatigue it)
Incline Bench Press - 5 x 8-10 reps (on the 8,9,10 rep you should be completely exausted struggling to finish the rep if you arent then increase the weight)
Flat Dumbell Press - 5 x 8-10 reps
Machine Chest Press 4 x 8-10 reps
Cable Flys 4 x 8-15 reps

Day 2 - Back
Pullups 50 reps (complete 50 reps any number of sets so if you can only do 5 then 5 x 10, again focus on full range of motion stretching the back out and warming it up properly along with the biceps that will be heavily used in all back exercises)
Deadlifts/Rack Pull - 5 x 8-10 reps
Machine Cable Row - 5 x 8-10 reps
Lat Pulldown - 4 x 8-10 reps
T-Bar Row - 4 x 8-10 reps

Day 3 - OFF REST

Day 4 - Shoulders & Arms
Dumbell Lateral Raises 3 x 10-15 reps (again warm up the deltoids and get some blood into them, do any rotator cuff warm ups you know to prevent injury)
Dumbell Press/Machine Press - 5 x 8-10 reps
Bent Over Dumbell Fly - 5 x 8-10 Reps
Dumbell Front Raises - 4 x 8-10 Reps

EZ Bar Bicep Curls 4 x 8-10 reps
Machine Single Arm Concentration Curls - 4 x 8-10 reps

Dips/Press Down Machine 4 x 8-10 reps
Dumbell Kick Backs 4 x 8-10 reps

Day 5 - Legs
Leg Extension 3 x 10-15 reps (light weight again get the blood in the muscle, the knee moving a bit)
Squats 5 x 8-10 reps
Leg Press Machine 5 x 8-10 reps
Leg Extensions 4 x 8-12 reps
Leg Curls 4 x 8-12 reps
Calves 5 x 25 reps (Calves like forearms require higher reps to stimulate new growth so hammer high reps and heavy weight with these)

Day 6 & 7 are the days you want to be resting, eating and preparing for Day 1 again where you should try to push yourself increase the weigh, increase the intensity (decrease rest between sets without lowering weigh or number of reps) all of these factors will help you pack on serious muscle and size.

Finally lets look at supplements on how to get big! They are exactly what they say and even as a supplement store owner I will never advise someone to rely solely on them but at the same time they do play an important role espicially for those that lead a busy lifestyle or cannot afford to purchase 6 wholefood meals everyday.

If we look back at our how to get big diet plan there are going to be occasions where we simply cannot get to a meal or dont have the time to eat it so this is where a weigh gain supplement will come in handy the choices are endless and if you get caught up into the hype you'll beleive that you can gain 7lb of lean muscle in 7 days but lets be realistic if you can gain 2-3lb of muscle a month you'll be doing great as if you look at 3lbs of steak laid out on a table you'll soon realise its a fair bit of size you've added to your frame! Doing this consistantly for 6 months you'll of soon gained a stone of quality muscle. Anyway if you are looking for a high quality, well formulated weigh gain supplement then look no further then here there are a few types available some are known as 'Lean' gainers which basically means a even breakdown of proteins to carbs (30g protein 30g carbs) these are good for people that can gain weight fairly easily and dont want hundreds of carbs per serving which may cause fat gain, the other options are 'super' mass gainers which provide around 50g of protein to 250g of carbs which is a 1:5 ratio of protein to carbs unlike the 1:1 of the lean products, these are suitable for hard-gainers someone who can eat KFC, McDonalds & Burger King 4 times a day and still stay slim! super mass gainers usually provide well over 1,000 calories in just one serving which is excellent if you need 5000-6000+ calories per day rather than the 3500 as you can throw a couple of these into your day and your well on the way! The 3rd option are 'All in Ones' they are self describing they provide a variety of supplements in 1 formula to gain muscle, size & strength ingredients include protein, carbohydrates (varying levels depending on the brand) creatine, l-glutamine, testosterone boosters, bcaa, zma and hmb all of the ingredients have different roles to play and can be purchased seperately depending on what you are looking to achieve.

Here is a list of the best supplements in each of those categories:

Lean Weight Gainers (perfect for people who can gain weight normally when increase eating)
- Ammutrition Lean Mass MSR
- ISO2 Complete Gainer
- Kinetica Oat Gain

Super Weight Gainers (perfect for people who are known as ectomorphs - struggle to gain any weight no matter how much they eat)
- Inner Armour Hard Mass
- Interactive Nutrition Mammoth 2500
- Sci-MX Mass System

All in Ones (perfect for convienance everything you need in one mix)
- One Stop Xtreme (moderate-super gainer)
- Omni-MX Hardcore (moderate-super gainer)
- Omni-MX (lean gainer)

The other benefit of using a product containing ingredients such as Whey Protein is that the absorption is far quicker than any wholefood so post-workout having a protein/weight gain shake will improve recovery and lean muscle growth as it gets to work building & repairing the muscles you've just destroyed in the gym. They call it the 'window of oppourtunity' and if you do not take advantage of it within 30 minutes of finishing then you could be missing out on some explosive gains.

Other products that are on the how to get big list are tesosterone boosters, pro hormones (over 21's only), creatine and nitric oxides if you follow the links you will find a page explaining each of the them and then a range of the best products available in each of the categories.

Well thats it on the how to get big guide! We've not gone into a huge detailed plan but it'll give you the fundementals you need to get started. Remember if you have any questions we offer free advice on all our products, training & diet so please feel free to use the contact form and send us an e-mail with any questions you may have! If you like our facebook page & sign-up to our newsletter you can stay up to date on new articles, products & special offers.

 

I hope it's all helped and you now know

HOW TO GET BIG