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For most skinny guys, trying to figure out how to get a muscular body is often wrought with frustration. No matter how hard they try it always seems like an impossible task to add even just a little muscle mass on to those bones.

If this sounds familiar to you don’t worry. You’ve probably been following the advice of someone who is not skinny and never has been, and so their advice and recommendations are not suited to your body type.

In this article, I’d like to show you the 3 main reasons why you’re struggling to gain muscle mass and what you need to do in your quest of how to get a muscular body.

Poor Diet and Nutrition Plan

I would say that the number one reason why most skinny guys fail to get a muscular body is an inadequate and poorly planned approach to their nutrition and diet. To gain muscle mass quickly you need to be eating a LOT of calories per day.

Yeah, they probably eat loads, much more than their friends, but this is still either a) an insufficient amount, b) lacking nutritional benefit, or c) poorly spaced out throughout the day.

For your daily calorie requirement multiply your current body weight in pounds by 24 – so if you weigh 150 pounds you’ll need 3,600 (150 x 24).

This may seem a lot but it will need to be split between 6 meals spaced 2-3 hours apart.

Your daily diet should consist of 25% proteins, 50% carbohydrates and, 25% fats, and come from healthy sources such as lean meats, beans, pulses, green vegetables, fish and oatmeal. If you want to know how to get a muscular body, then you’ll need to make a solid diet and nutrition plan one of your main priorities.

Performing The Wrong Exercises In The Wrong Way

The second reason many skinny guys fail to get a muscular body is that they are simply following a program that is not designed with the skinny hardgainer in mind. They will typically be performing high numbers of repetitions on their exercises, using machines, and  / or splitting their workouts, focusing on one body part per day.

This is detrimental to the hardgainer like yourself, and you need a workout that focuses on free-weight compound exercises such as squats, bench press and deadlifts to name just a few. These should be encompasses in 3 full-body workouts per week.

The value of this system is that you are able to lift heavier weights with these kinds of exercises, resulting in faster muscle growth and less fatigue. Keeping your workouts short (no longer than an hour also means you’ll spend less time down the gym for better results).

The key is to lift as heavy as possible while stimulating as much muscle fibre as possible.

Spending Too Much Time On Cardio

I’m always surprised at the number of skinny guys who spend a lot of time on cardio exercises while their real goal is to build muscle mass and get a muscular body.

Cardio is great for stamina and endurance, but it’s also a heck of a calorie burner. Great if you want to lose weight, but our goal here is to gain weight, and I’m afraid that cardio exercises will make that process a tad more difficult.

I would advise holding back on the cardio for the next few weeks during your quest of how to get a muscular body. You’ll add muscle bulk much faster, at which point you can always start increasing your cardio work a little to shed off any extra body fat and get truly ripped.