Hardgainers Guide to Big Muscles
This hardgainers guide to big muscles article is specifically targeted at the person who never seems to be able to make any muscle gains no matter how hard they try or what they do. Growing big muscles to the hardgainer seems like a virtual impossibility but I know from first hand experience that if you put the work in by training smart, eating right and getting plenty of rest you can not only put on muscle, you can put on a truckload of muscle but yes it is going to take some time and a lot of hard work. So if you’ve got the time and don’t mind some hard work, let’s get down to business.
When I started bodybuilding at 17 years of age I had stopped growing in height at just on 6 foot and I weighed 69kg (152 pounds). I started to train hard, heavy and smart since I had a number of top bodybuilders in my circle of friends who gave me advice on the best ways to train and helped teach me the importance of a quality diet and most importantly I learned from the beginning that consistency builds muscle. Consistently eating, training and resting, I just can’t stress enough how important consistency in those three areas are. At 26 I was 118kg (260 pounds) in good shape. Now I am 36 years old and in the best shape of my life at 112kg (245 pounds). So at the same height as I was when I started I have gained and maintained approximately 100 pounds of extra muscle so I know you can go from a hardgainer to an impressive size bodybuilder with consistency and persistence. It hasn’t been smooth sailing all the way let me tell you, I have had numerous injuries over the years but luckily for me none have been serious enough to stop me from training and maintaining a muscular physique.
I am not going to ramble on about everything I have done in the gym over the years or bore you with all the mistakes I made along the way, I am going to get straight to the point and tell you what you need to do to leave your hardgainer days behind and start growing some quality muscle immediately.
The first thing you need to do is start eating and I mean eating bodybuilder style and you can completely forget about the idea of getting fat, that is of no concern right now if you are a hardgainer or in other words you are skinny just like I was when I began. Your main mission first up is to start shoveling food down your throat every chance you get. If you are naturally only a light eater I would suggest beginning your new diet by continuing to eat your usual breakfast, lunch and dinner but from now on you should drink a protein shake with 2 scoops of protein powder, a banana and blend it all together in skim milk in between your 3 normal meals. So this way you will eat 3 meals and drink 3 meals every day. This is a great way to begin. If you can’t afford the protein powder just drink a liter of skim milk with your favorite flavoring like chocolate in between meals. I say skim milk, not full cream milk, as it’s much easier to digest. Full cream milk tends to make you feel a bit lethargic or tired after drinking it. As your body gets used to this amount of solid and liquid food eventually you can eat another solid meal and cut back on one protein shake or if you are up to it you could keep drinking 3 protein shakes and still eat 4 solid meals per day. That would be even better.
The food you want to eat in you daily meals is a good size serving of protein in the form of beef, chicken, fish or eggs plus a good size serving of carbohydrates like rice, pasta or potatoes. Too much bread will tend to make you get fat but if you are the classic hardgainer, bread is ok for you. For breakfast it’s best to start the day off with some fiber, oatmeal or muesli are both great forms of fiber and can be eaten with milk. After the oats I like to eat some eggs or an omlette with toast. The rest of the day I stick with either beef or chicken with each meal but occasionally I will eat canned tuna or some fresh fish. The diet is in no way complicated, it just about eating consistently. If you can get 6 meals in every day you are on the right track to grow muscle. So 3 meals plus 3 protein shakes would be an excellent way to start.
Now comes the training, if you are a hardgainer let me stress from the beginning, training for hardgainers means “less is more”. By this I mean you only need to train 3 times per week and only train each body part once every week. For all the hardgainers out there who are training 5-6-7 hours or more per week in the gym, the reason you are not making any progress is because you are training way too much. Most professional bodybuilders don’t even train that much in the off season when they are bulking up and trying to add strength.
Ideally, hardgainers who want to build muscle fast should limit their time in the gym to no more than 3 x 1 hour weight training sessions per week. I’d separate these workouts into the following.
Monday
Chest
3 sets x 10 reps barbell bench press
3 sets x 10 reps dumbbell incline press
3 sets x 10 reps flat dumbbell flyes
Shoulders
3 sets x 10 reps shoulder press
3 sets x 10 reps dumbbell side laterals
Triceps
3 sets x 10 lying tricep extensions
3 sets x 10 tricep pushdowns
Wednesday
Hamstrings
3 sets x 10 reps stiff legged deadlifts
3 sets x 10 reps lying leg curls
Quadriceps
3 sets x 10 reps seated leg extensions
3 sets x 10 reps squats
3 sets x 10 reps leg presses
Calves
3 sets x 20 reps standing calf raises
Friday
Back
3 sets x 10 reps t-bar rows
3 sets x 10 reps long pulley rows
3 sets x 10 reps wide grip lat pulldowns
Biceps
3 sets x 10 reps standing barbell curls
3 sets x 10 reps seated dumbbell alternate curls
Train for 1 hour on Monday, Wednesday and Friday following the basic routine above. Choose a weight for each exercise that allows you to only just complete the full 10 reps per set. You basically want to be using a weight that for the 8th, 9th and 10th rep it is a real struggle to get the weight up and down. Also it’s very important to keep changing the order of the exercises around each week, so on Monday for chest you might do barbell bench presses first on week one and then on week two you might do the dumbbell presses first and also use different benches each week like use the incline bench one week and the use the flat or decline bench in the following week. It’s difficult to give you numerous alternatives in a written form but if you see a bodybuilder or someone who looks like they know what they are doing, go and ask them for help, that’s what I did in the beginning and nowadays when a beginner asks me for help I’m always happy to help. Bodybuilders might look a bit intimidating sometimes but usually they are good guys, just wait until they have finished their own set before asking them for help and don’t interrupt them whenever they are working.
One more thing I need to mention is make sure you get plenty of rest and at least 8 hours sleep per night. If you follow the 3 day training routine above there is no need to exercise on the other 4 days per week if your primary goal is to gain muscle. If you do want to exercise on the days you are not working out in the gym, I’d suggest taking a 45 minute walk each day but if you exercise much more than that it will be difficult to gain muscle in the beginning since you stimulate your muscles when you’re in the gym but you actually do all your growing while you are resting.
So remember in terms of eating to grow muscle “the more you eat, especially protein and carbohydrates, the quicker you will grow”. However, when it comes to the weight training, “less is more”. Training 3 days per week and hitting each muscle group only once per week is the fastest way to see results, I know it because I’ve done it and if you stick to the basics you will do it to. Good luck, I think it’s time to eat.