If you are small, the only reason is because you do not eat enough. 2 years ago I was 180lbs and had weighed 180lbs since I was 18. I'd go to the gym etc yeah, but just couldn't gain much besides definition...My problem, your problem is you don't eat enough.
If you have a high metabolism, you need to eat way more than someone with a slow one. Check out some of the logs on bb.com, those people eat upwards of 4 - 6,000 calories per day when bulking. If you're skinny, do you eat that much per day? If not, up the food intake.
Genetics are only an excuse that small/skinny people use. 90% of your gains are made in the kitchen as they say.
Anyway, back to my story. So, 2 years ago I was 27 and still weighed 180lbs. People had always told me I looked sick because I was so skinny for my height (I'm 6ft 3in tall). I got sick of people asking me if I was allright etc and decided to gain some weight. How did I do it?
1. I stopped doing all cardio. That's right, I didn't run, jog, do the stair-master etc - yes, I still did a fast walking warm up for 5 min before I lifted, but that was it. You'd be surprised at the skinny people I see complaining about no muscle mass, but they top off their weight session with 30 min of hard cardio. You're already skinny, why the hell are you doing cardio?
2. I upped my protein intake to 1.5g/lb of body weight. I weighed 180lbs, so my protein intake was around 270 - 300g/day. I also upped my calorie intake. My goal was to weigh 200lbs, and I figure 20 calories per lb of target weight...So I started eating 4,000 calories/day (20calories/lb*200lbs = 4,000). Eat for what your target weight is, not what you weigh. I can guarantee you that you don't eat anywhere close to enough calories to get big.
3. Lift heavy. I can not stress this enough. Skinny people don't need high reps. Yes, every once in a while, they're good to shock the hell out of your body, but on a daily basis, they're stupid.
4. Training too long. Do you spend more than 1 hour in the gym? If so, that's too much. In and out within 1 hour.
I heard mention of supps and needing to train 5x/week. That's crazy. No supplement besides steroids is going to make you huge. Getting huge takes determination and proper eating. And training 5x/week is crazy too. You don't need more than 3x/week to get big...Especially when starting out.
Lift the major muscle groups. Your beach muscles (biceps/triceps) are great and all, but go nowhere to putting on some pounds. Lift legs, back and calves to gain the most weight. Pick the one area of your body that's the smallest and lift it 2x/week for 4 weeks. After 4 weeks, change to another muscle group.
Anyway, the end of my story is I now weigh between 200 and 205...And have lost about 10lbs from where I was last year due to school. My target weight has increased again, so starting on Monday, I'm going to eat to achieve 225. 225*20calories/lb = 4500 calories/day and about 340g protein/day.
