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If you want to gain weight and bulk up to build muscle strength, then you should work towards a slight calorie surplus, while exercising the muscles you want to build up.

Just as losing weight is a simple calorie in and out balance, so building muscle mass is the same equation. The more energy you take in by the way of food then the more you have to exercise to use it up so as not to put on weight. Those seeking to lose weight use that equation even thought they might not be aware of it. If their calorie intake exceeds that used through exercise, then they will put on weight in the form of fat or glycogen.

However, there is only so much glycogen that the liver will store as an emergency energy supply, and the excess will then be added as body fat. If we look at an alternative scenario, one in which that energy intake is still higher than the energy used in exercise, but that the exercise is taken in the form of some aerobic, but largely anaerobic, exercise in which oxygen is depleted, then the excess calories will not be converted to fat but to muscle fiber.

In anaerobic exercise, there is a depletion of oxygen at the cell level that causes a build up of lactic acid that uses up blood glucose or glycogen (the liver's energy store) and converts it to muscle mass. This is a slightly simplistic explanation, but is basically what happens.

Because the energy in the body that is not used by the normal metabolism is being used instead by the muscles in the anaerobic exercise then the more anaerobic exercise that is used to convert the glucose in the blood to muscle, then the bigger your muscles will get. The blood glucose levels are determined by the amount of fat or carbohydrate that you eat, and that is converted to glucose by the biochemistry of the body.

In the end, it does not matter where the glucose comes from, so a low or a high carbohydrate diet is immaterial: you need glucose to live and glucose comes from the calories you eat. If you eat too many calories by eating Atkins fat, oils or carbohydrates, then you will have an excess of glucose that, once metabolised by the body's insulin, will turn into fat. Insulin turns glucose into energy, and the excess energy is stored as fat.

However, anaerobic exercise creates lactic acid that uses up the excess glucose and turns it into muscle. That is how to add muscle mass the safe and legal way, and it always works because it is natural biochemistry. The secret is to know what exercises to use, and the best high calorie foods to eat, but chocolate cake is allowed, as is ice cream. So are high calorie drinks and supplements.

Anybody can bulk up their muscles by following a simple program. It is neither hard nor does it make you drink high calorie liquids all day. It does work. There are many such programs online, and which you choose is up to you. However, make sure that you feel comfortable with what you are doing since many programs are aimed at professional bodybuilders who already have a high degree of strength, or at people who are already highly fit and can carry out the exercises detailed without great effort.

Although most are not designed for you if you feel that you would like to stop being the seven stone weakling, there are those that are, and they can be found as long as you are careful to ensure that the service provided is suitable for you. That applies to everybody, irrespective of their standard, strength or weight.

If you want to gain weight and build muscle strength; to bulk up and give up that seven stone weakling image, there are several sites online suitable for you. Try it out, and you will find it easier than you thought to be able to walk with your head held high past these other guys that you used to envy.