Gaining weight is something most people try not to do. On every corner, in every store, on every magazine cover, and whatever direction you turn, people are obsessed with weight loss. Fat loss, fat loss, fat loss. Even 95% of all fitness related sites on the Internet are geared towards losing fat.

However, there are some people, who struggle their whole lives trying to pack on extra pounds and are underweight. I was one of those people. People, pre-dispositioned to skinniness, are commonly referred to as hard gainers. This is the cool way to label your scrawny frame despite the fact that your body turns into a Number 2 pencil when you wear yellow!

It's not totally your fault you are skinny...

In the skinny guys defence, the reality is that some have been cursed with traits like Lamborghini type metabolisms, giraffe like limbs, and the strength of a senior citizen. These people have to fight with every bone in their body to do something about their small frame and to keep up to their male buddies who seem to grow muscle just by sneezing.

Even though you might think that your genetic deficiencies have sentenced you to a life of frailty and surprised looks when you tell others you lift weights; I am living proof that hard gainers with very muscle-unfriendly genes can fight back against their genetics and gain muscle weight.

Skinny guys must play by a different set of rules.

If you are underweight than your first step to gaining weight is to understand that you must play by a different set up rules. You must think outside the box and give up the excuse of being a hardgainer. It is time to stop listening to all the naysayers who have told you that is impossible to gain weight because of your genetics. It is time to give up the eating habits and workouts that have not delivered the results you have been looking for. Regardless of what you have been lead to believe, you do have the potential to build an impressive physique that turns heads and build a new level of strength that intimidates!

Below I have provided four very practical and straight forward tips that you can apply today. If you have attempted to bulk up and are still on the light side of the scale it is because of one main reason - you are trying to build a house without the cement and wood. You are trying to buy a $50,000 car with only $25,000 in the bank. Both scenarios are literally impossible.

Four tips to growing like a skyscraper!

Let's take a look at the relation to building muscle and calories. Your muscles grow on calories and require more than you are currently eating. If you are underweight and no longer wish to resemble a microphone stand than you must overload your metabolism to ensure growth. Start following these simple steps to gain an extra 10 pounds of muscle weight in the next month guaranteed.

1. Double it up.

One of the most practical steps you can take is by doubling what you are currently eating in the kitchen right now. If you are eating one chicken breast per meal than cook up two. If you are only eating two slices of bread than make it four. If you are eating one handful of nuts than make it two. If you are using only two scoops of protein powder than make it three. Pretty simple? Most likely you are only a few dozen meals short of filling out those underdeveloped body parts. I assume you are already in the kitchen and have the food out. Perhaps finding the time to get in extra meal is your next challenge to overcome but for right now you have to excuse not to shovel down a greater percentage of calories by doubling it up!

2. Live your life around food.

Sure you know that you must eat every 2-3 hours but how well do you execute? Set your clock around or a countdown timer to go off every 2 and hours so that you reinforce the habit of eating literally not a second late for each meal! You should be eating your first meal within 15-30 minutes of waking up - absolutely no later. Dont be surprised if you are not gaining weight if you do not find yourself spending more time preparing food, more time eating food and more time cleaning your kitchen. You should also find yourself spending more time in the grocery store and you should also find that you are budgeting more money on food each week.

3. Use BIG eating equipment.

If you want to bulk than you have to eat like Hulk. Do you think Hulk eats out of small plate, or a small bowel or a small cup? If you are aiming to get BIG, you are going to require large amounts of food most likely close to double of what you are currently eating. So get BIG eating equipment! Get a BIG cup, get a BIG bowel and get a BIG plate. Surround yourself with BIG. Most of the time hard gainers are nothing more than under eaters. If you struggle to complete a meal than a bigger serving on a bigger plate will look small!

4. Never train hungry.

How many times have you waken up, whipped up a protein shake and than headed off to the gym? Or maybe you had a long afternoon and missed a few meals and than attempted a weight training workout after work? I thought this was common sense until a few of my skinny clients confessed that they were showing up for their workouts having only eaten a piece of fruit and some crackers within the last half day. After dropping the 45 pound plate on my foot out of shock they reassured me that they were not hungry. I sometimes screamed back, Yeah, thats because your metabolism is in starvation mode and shut right down you skinny pencil neck.

I understand that training in the morning is the only time for some however I recommend to aim for a minimum of at least three solid meals in your system prior to eating. Would you take your car out on a long trip with a half empty fuel tank? Not unless you want the car to die and push it the rest of the way. So why would you take your body through a grueling training session on a empty stomach?