Hardgainer Life – How to Get Stronger in the Big Lifts
Oct 16, 2023 mindpumpIf you are a hardgainer, you can find it hard to put on an appreciable amount of muscle. Even if you do, you may find you lose it super quickly. While genetics play a role here, it doesn’t have to be this way. Following the right advice, you can pack on the muscle you want. The key is knowing what steps to follow.
Compound Movements
Whether you are a hardgainer or not, the basics remain the same. If you are focusing on more isolated movements like curls and side raises, and not putting any time towards the big compound movements like squats, deadlifts, overhead press, rows, and pull-ups, then you are spending too much time focused on the wrong things.
There is a time and place for isolated movements. They are just tools to fine tune lagging areas and by no means the staple to packing on muscle. The benefit of compound movements like the ones listed above is that they target many muscle groups within a given exercise. The deadlift for example will hit your low back, glutes, and hamstrings, while also isometrically stimulating the biceps, rear delts, and back. Compare that to a bicep curl which ONLY hits biceps. These movements also allow you to push more weight which allows you to send a stronger stimulus to growing muscle. It will also allow you to work on firing all those muscles together to move lots of weight.
Progressive Overload
Now that you are focusing on the staples, we need to make sure you are progressing week to week. It’s one thing to do the movements, it’s another to not stay stagnant and elicit change. This is done by making sure you are doing one more rep or five more pounds than the week before. If you always use the same weight for the same reps you can’t expect to get bigger. If you aren’t pushing the intensity you can’t expect to grow. Choose a weight that allows you to do a given rep range (let’s say 6-8 reps). When you are doing those reps, make sure to choose a heavy enough weight that by the 8th rep you have maybe 1-2 reps left in the tank. This will ensure you choose the right weight. If you find you could have done way more than the given rep range, then it’s probably not providing enough stimulus. If you went too heavy your form may suffer or you won’t be able to hit the rep range you selected.
Tracking and Frequency
What gets measured gets improved. Keep a log of your workouts so you can make sure you are progressively overloading on a consistent basis. This may not always be five pounds every month but you should see an overall trend heading upward. It will also allow you to see how many weeks of training you can do before you need a break.
You may want to adjust your frequency too. Hitting a full body or push pull routine may allow you to hit each muscle more frequently so that you can send the muscle building signal to that muscle more often. Generally speaking, after 48-72 hours of hitting that muscle, the signal goes back down to baseline. Ultimately over time you have to listen to your body and see how often you need to hit a muscle for the best growth.
Nutrition
Especially for a hardgainer, eating a surplus of calories is important. Hardgainer need more calories than they realize to put on muscle. I’ve seen hardgainers eating upwards of 4000 calories just to gain a pound. That’s a lot! Make sure you are getting 1 gram per pound of body weight to repair muscle. The remainder of the calories can come from carbohydrates and fats.
Priority Recovery and Consistency
Ultimately you need to make sure you are consistent and recovering. We break muscle down in the gym. It’s when we are sleeping that we are growing. Make sure you are getting 8-9 hours of sleep for adequate recovery. Find the frequency that allows you to stimulate your muscles a couple times a week but don’t overdo it. Include rest days in between to allow for extra recovery.
It’s all about consistency. You may not see a drastic amount of muscle in just a couple months but imagine how much muscle you can put on in twelve months.
