With most of the global population obsessed with weight loss and fat trimming, we often fail to look at the other end of weight management- people who struggle to gain weight. People with a skinny body or fast metabolism can find it extremely difficult to gain weight. They mostly focus on increasing their calorie intake to gain weight. But just like weight loss, healthy weight gain only happens with a balanced combination of healthy diet and exercise to gain weight.
We associate exercise with weight loss. But most of us don’t realize that we can also do exercise to gain weight. Here are a few simple exercises to gain weight.
Read more: Lose weight and gain muscle at the same time
How does exercise help in gaining weight?
Gaining weight can be just as difficult as losing weight. You need to have an exercise routine to gain weight and should follow a diet plan that involves a lot of calories (in a healthy way). The secret behind exercise to gain weight is by building lean muscles.
Muscle growth or hypertrophy refers to an increase in the volume of myofibrils, the proteins that make up muscle cells. Intense anaerobic exercises can trigger the growth of these muscles. The science behind this is that exercising with weights damages muscle fibers. To repair this damage, our body sends white blood cells to the injured muscles to reduce inflammation. Our body also releases cytokines, a special kind of signaling proteins that further stimulates the healing process and triggers the production of muscle stem cells. These muscle stem cells fuse with the existing muscle fibers, thus facilitating muscle repair and growth. This is the science behind gaining weight while working out.
Read more: How to increase your exercise intensity?
Exercises to gain weight: Beginners guide for bulking up.
Push-ups
Target muscles: Arm and shoulder muscles
How to do push-ups exercise to gain weight:
- Lie down on your stomach.
- Put your palms on the ground with your arms out at your sides.
- Push your body up until your arms are fully extended.
- Keep your back and legs straight.
- Slowly lower your body until your nose nearly touches the ground.
- Do 15 reps.
Squats
Target muscles: Leg muscles.
How to do squats exercise to gain weight:
- Stand tall with your back straight and keep your feet a little more than hip-width apart.
- Look straight, keep your back straight and bend your knees.
- Sit down with your body weight on your heels.
- Hold this pose for 3 seconds and get up.
- Repeat the same and do 2 sets of 15 squats.
Bench press
Target muscles: Shoulder, triceps, and chest muscles.
How to do Bench press exercise to gain weight:
- You need a flat bench to lie on and a weighted bar for Bench press.
- Lie on your back on the bench.
- Grab the bar with both hands and extend your arm to take it out of the rack.
- Slowly lower your arms to bring the bar down to your chest.
- Now straighten your arms and raise the bar back toward the rack.
- Repeat as many times as you feel comfortable.
Bench dips
Target muscles: Triceps
How to do Bench dips exercise to gain weight:
- Place a wide and stable bench behind your back, perpendicular to your body.
- Grip the bench firmly with your palms and extend your legs forward.
- Make sure you are bent at the waist and your legs are perpendicular to your torso.
- Push yourself down in that position until your forearms are perpendicular to the floor.
- Now straighten your arms and lift your torso back to the starting position.
- Repeat as many times as you feel comfortable.
Thus, these exercises can help you gain weight and bulk up. The important thing you need to remember is that you need to support your exercise for weight gain with healthy food. Because muscle gain is only possible if your body uses the food you eat to recover your muscles and build new ones.
Read more: 5 ways to make your bodyweight exercise at home harder
