Hard gainers are those individuals who train equally hard as other people but somehow fail to make any muscle gains comparable to others. To achieve the big muscle results they seek, hard gainers usually need a lot more than hard training.
Hard gainers need to incorporate many different principles in order to achieve their muscle building ambitions and goals. Many bodybuilders get to discover this through the hard way of personal experience, which results in wasted time, energy and money.
Most aspiring muscle jocks go to the gym believing that there is no such thing as training too often, too much, or too long. They don’t bother to spend a respectable amount of time in constructing an effective training regimen for themselves.
Training on these principles ultimately results in lack of muscle growth… and to counter this problem hard gainers mistakenly put in more training hours at the gym. But in doing so, their results go from bad to worse.
Well it’s a good time to start facing the truth, folks!
In the sport of bodybuilding, effort and effect do not show any evidence of a linear relationship. On the contrary, our bodies are fuel burning entities which are very complex and depend upon delicate balances. Improper and excessive training breaks downs these balances. Simply put, if you burn your energy reserves faster than they get replenished, you’ll deplete the entire mechanism of strength, stamina and ability to recuperate.
If you are a beginner bodybuilder, you MUST get your body conditioned to handle increased levels of stress rather that jump right into the drive to achieve your goals quickly. It is wise for beginners to keep their workout schedule to a maximum of three days per week, training the whole body in each workout and training each muscle group with a maximum of three sets per exercise. Each set should be taken to total failure… not mental failure but physical failure. In other words, don’t quit mentally before your body physically forces you to quit.
Bring variety in the types of exercises employed. If you take up exercise “A” for a muscle group in one workout, then take up exercise “B” for the same muscle group in the next workout.
Split training is suggested for advanced bodybuilders. If your workout schedule is comprised of training four days a week - Monday, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays - separate body parts so that half of the body is worked on Monday and the other half on Tuesday.
As a muscle building addict you need to increase your protein intake with significant amounts than you take up in a normal active life. As soon as you substantially increase your protein consumption, your muscle size will gradually increase.
In fact, if you are a hard gainer then this may be your root problem. As per modern standards you need at least 1.5 to 2 grams of protein per pound of your body weight in order to provide the scenario for muscle mass growth. Unfortunately, most hard gainers don’t even consume fifty percent of this requirement.
Lastly, your training program should emphasize more on the use of free weights over machines. And always be sure that you have warmed up adequately before you start lifting weights for muscle building.
We’ll have more info that hard gainers can use in future posts, so stay tuned gym freaks!
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