I recently listened to another expert on body types. I was told once again that skinny ectomorphs find it extremely hard to gain weight. Why? Because they have a fast metabolism. If they ever hope to put on some muscle, they need to eat, eat, eat, and get plenty of carbs. No cardio, and they should stay away from any exercise that burns a lot of calories. In addition, if you are an ecto, make sure to stick with heavy weights and 5 to 8 reps during your weight training workouts. This is typical advice for ectomorphic skinny hardgainers. In the past, I believed the experts, and I still believe them, but I think they are grossly oversimplifying the classification of an ectomorphic skinny hardgainer.
An Incorrect Assumption
It is assumed that skinny ectomorphs have a fast metabolism. I once held this assumption because it seemed to be such a common belief that it was hard to question. It still seems to be a common belief, but I don’t believe it any more. Why? Because I am basically a skinny ectomorphic hardgainer with a slow metabolism, not a fast metabolism, but a slow metabolism. Most people assume that if you have a slow metabolism, you will not be skinny, but it is not uncommon for a person with a light framed skinny body type to be the way they are because of an intolerance for extra calories. Without extra calories, you don’t gain weight, which means that if you are skinny to start with, you will stay skinny. In other words, there are skinny hardgainers who are skinny because they don’t eat much. In most people’s minds, this problem is super simple to fix; you simply start eating more. Unfortunately, it backfires by overloading a digestive system that is terrible at processing food. Undigested food does not help you gain muscle, it just makes you miserable and causes all kinds of digestive problems that undermine healthy weight gain.
Nonsense
The only person whom I have ever heard that had a different view point on how skinny ectomorphs should eat and train is Vince Gironda. I still can’t believe that decades have passed and he is the only one that I know of who has caught on to the problems that some ectomorphs face. Vince trained thousands of people; thousands. His experience with ectomorphs is that they would lose weight when they overate; yes, you read that right, they would lose weight when they ate big meals because it would screw up their digestion to no end. He also thought the common advice that skinny ectomorphs should work each muscle group only once or twice per week was nonsense. Vince thought that ectomorphs should work their whole body every day, five days per week with short workouts that were hard enough to stimulate strength and growth, but not so hard that they caused over-training. I personally tend to believe Vince because after trying all of the stereotypical advice that is commonly advised for ectomorphs, Vince’s advice proved to be better for me than anyone else’s.
The Stereotypical Ectomorph
Before I completely condemn all of the common advice for ectomorphs, it’s hard not to admit that there are many ectomorphs that can eat 5,000 or more calories per day without any digestive problems at all. In spite of eating massive amounts of calories, they will still stay skinny, but this is only one type of skinny ectomorph, and it happens to be the stereotype. This is not true of every ectomorph.
I can’t deny that there are skinny ectomorphs who fit into the common stereotype. These ectos are better off if they do not train each muscle group frequently and they will generally do best when training each muscle group only once or twice per week with high intensity training. There is no denying that some of these ectos will experience phenomenal gains with super high calorie diets and low frequency- high intensity training, but this is only one type of ectomorph, just one.
If you are an ectomorphic skinny guy that hates high calorie diets because you feel like you are going to vomit and explode, then you need to get out there and move every day and keep moving throughout the day. Won’t that burn off too many calories? It only will if you already have a super-fast metabolism, but if you are skinny because you don’t tolerate calories due to a slow metabolism, then you need to exercise a lot, and keep on exercising a lot so that your metabolism speeds up enough to stimulate a healthy appetite. Your tolerance for calories must increase to the point where you can take in more calories than you burn off without experiencing digestive disorders.
All of my best gains in muscle have come when I have stayed active throughout the day and worked my whole body often. The once in a while workout plan while sitting around and stuffing yourself the rest of the time has never worked for my skinny ectomorphic body and is the worst thing I have ever tried times ten to the third power plus 1,000! I’m not against it if it works for you, but if it doesn’t, quit listening to those who insist that it’s the magic formula for all hardgainers and consider that it may not work for everybody. You may even need to try a different strategy that is almost 180 degrees opposite of what you’ve been told.
The Bottom Line and Main Point
The bottom line and the main point that must be understood is that there is not just one single type of skinny ectomorph that is universal to all ectomorphs. There are ectomorphs who have a very fast metabolism. There are ectomorphs who have a fairly normal metabolism, and there are even ectomorphs who don’t eat much because they don’t have the metabolic power to process big meals.
Not All Ectos are Hardgainers, Some are Easy Gainers
There are skinny ectomorphs who are hardgainers. There are skinny ectomorphs who are normal gainers, and there are people who start out as skinny ectomorphs before they lift weights, but they are easy gainers. Stan Efferding started as a skinny ectomorph, but no way is he a hardgainer. He may have started out as an ectomorph, but he has more muscle than just about anyone can hope for regardless of what kind of morph they are. From what I understand, Vince Delmonte, Kevin Lavrone, Steve Michalik, and Mr. Olympia Larry Scott, all started as skinny ectomorphs, but if you ask me, they are the furthest thing from being a hardgainer that I can imagine. Note: click on the names of the bodybuilders listed to see videos that show how skinny these bodybuilders were before they started lifting weights. These are all examples of ectos who are easy gainers when they apply the right type of training and the right diet, but not all ectos are going to find the magic formula that turns them into an easy gainer.
Bottom line is that if you are a skinny ectomorph, you may need different training and a different diet than someone else who is also a skinny ectomorph, and it is possible that your needs are very different from other skinny ectomorphs that you know. If you are a skinny ectomorph, be open minded and try things out. If a training method or diet feels completely wrong to you, then it probably is and you should try something else. I have said enough. Best of training to you.
Recommended Resources
For a series of articles on Individualized training strategies for hardgainers, click the following link:
Hardgainers Part 1: Four Types
Other Resources: