You can find stories all over the internet about hardgainers who started out small and hopelessly skinny. It seemed they had little if any ability to gain muscle. They tried every type of training they knew of in order to get bigger but nothing worked until they found a magic training system that ignited new growth that they never dreamed possible. My personal opinion is that these stories may be real, but they are not representative of true hardgainers. These guys actually become easy gainers when the conditions were right.
Not all hardgainers are going to hit the jackpot by finding a training system that leads to sudden unbelievable growth, but they can still gain with a combination of good training and sufficient time. This is discussed in rest of this article which is part nine of a series of articles on hardgainers. The article is an excerpt taken from the tenth chapter of the book, Individualized Training Strategies For Hardgainers.
Chapter 10
The True Hardgainer
A true hardgainer can make progress, but they should not be surprised if their efforts to make rapid spectacular progress never materialize. A more realistic approach is to utilize training principles that lead to steady long term progress when time, patience, and precise training are applied.
Characteristics in Response to Training
True hardgainers often have common traits that make it hard for them to gain muscle. This was already discussed in the second chapter, but at this point, I believe a quick review of the common characteristics of a hardgainer will help you to make sense out of the training information that follows.
Workload Capacity
A true hardgainer does not have a high workload capacity and needs to avoid training a muscle group past the point of being at full strength.
Tolerance for Intensity
A true hardgainer does not generally tolerate the consistent use of high intensity training (i.e. avoid training to failure). However, hardgainers can generally tolerate the amount of intensity needed to make progress by stopping a set when a steady even rep pace can no longer be maintained.
Personal Recovery Rate
The true hardgainer will not recover well from constant high volume or high intensity training, but they can usually recover adequately when training volume and intensity are adjusted to their personal capacity for strong training, which is discussed in the next chapter.
Growth Activation Period and Retention Period
The muscle growth activation period and retention period after a workout are generally brief in the case of a true hardgainer. Too much time between workouts will cause a true hardgainer to exceed their muscle growth activation period and stop growing. They must workout fairly often (at least three times per week) in order to keep their muscles activated for growth.
Metabolism Types:
The Normal Metabolism
Many hardgainers have a very normal metabolic rate, but find it hard to gain muscle because they are not well endowed in regard to the first four characteristics that were just discussed.
The Fast Metabolism
The true hardgainer with a fast metabolism can and must take in a lot of calories or they won’t gain weight. If they truly have a fast metabolism, they may need 4,000 to 5,000, calories or more per day.
The Slow Metabolism
I believe the skinny hardgainer with a slow metabolism is the most misunderstood hardgainer. Contrary to what many people believe, some skinny hardgainers have a slow metabolism, even though it is often assumed that they are skinny because they have a fast metabolism. The skinny hardgainer with a slow metabolism often has a light frame and is very intolerant to big meals or weight gain diets. They simply don’t process food well enough to want to eat very much, so their overall caloric intake is low, which is why they are skinny.
A hardgainer with a slow metabolism may be perfectly content with eating 1,200 to 1,500 calories a day, or even less. If they stuff themselves full of calories they will become nauseated and suffer all kinds of digestive issues. Plenty of exercise is needed to stimulate their metabolism and their appetite. You may think that a lot of exercise would be counter-productive because it would burn calories and make it impossible to gain weight, but the opposite is true; getting plenty of exercise is the only way they can stimulate their metabolism and appetite enough to tolerate the amount of calories needed to gain weight.
Questions To Ask Yourself
You should ask yourself the following questions to consider whether or not you are true hardgainer.
Do you consistently work out on a regular basis yet fail to grow bigger or stronger from your workouts?
Have you tried hardgainer workouts that were guaranteed to put an end to your days of being a hardgainer, but you experienced little or no gains in strength or muscle size?
If you can answer yes to these questions, chances are good that you are a true hardgainer. True hardgainers are far more common than easy gainers, so don’t feel that you are abnormal if you are a hardgainer. You can still gain muscle, but you will need to learn how to train in a way that corresponds to your physical characteristics, which requires precise training.
Precise Training
Hardgainers can easily over-train by using too much training volume or too much intensity. At the same time, they need to train hard enough to gain muscle, and they need to train often to keep their muscles activated to grow. How can they do this without overtraining? The solution is to train with precision. Precise training can be accomplished through the use of training thresholds, which will be discussed in the next article. Best of Training to you.
Note:
Refer back to the previous seven articles if you want to read the series of chapters from Individual Training Strategies For Hardgainers that are lead up articles to this article.
Hardgainers Part 1: Four Types
Hardgainers Part 2: Physiological Characteristics
Hardgainers Part 3: Conditional Hardgainers
Hardgainers Part 4: Intensity Responsive
Hardgainers Part 5: Volume Responsive
Hardgainers Part 6: Volume Responsive Training
Hardgainers Part 7: 8 x 8 Training For Volume Responsive
Hardgainers Part 8: Misinterpretation Of Rapid Gains
