How Skinny Athletes Build Muscle

Skinny athletes can build muscle although many times they are hard-gainers. If you are naturally skinny, you are technically an ectomorph.



Ectomorphs are slim or linear in shape. They often lack muscle tone and sometimes have postural problems of the vertebrae (scoliosis is an example). Therefore, weight training is very important just to begin building an athletic, muscular frame. Because of their high metabolisms, ectomorphs often have to eat more just to maintain weight!

Therein lies the problem for many skinny athletes---they oftentimes don't eat enough to build muscle. Its not uncommon for skinny athletes to need up to 5000 calories a day to build muscle. Remember, you have to maintain a caloric surplus (eat more calories than you burn) to gain weight and build muscle. On the days you workout, you have to eat even more food.

Skinny athletes also need to lift heavy weights to build muscle (full body lifting, 3 days a week). Using supersets are effective for skinny athletes. Lifting with high repetitions is not enough. Recovery time, for muscle repair and rebuilding, is also important for skinny athletes, such as 2 days rest between heavy weightlifting sessions.

Skinny athletes should concentrate on compound strength exercises to build large muscle groups. Squats, deadlift, rows, pullups, bench press and barbell lunges are some examples.

Are you a skinny athlete? There's hope for you to build a strong, athletic body. This will make you a better player.

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Other things being equal, a muscular, powerful athlete will outperform a fat, slower or skinny, weaker athlete. Sports Fitness Hut's Fat Blaster Athletic Power Training System will give you your "lean and mean" athletic machine!

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