Hardgainers: Fact or Fiction?
A four week program that'll change your mind

“I can’t gain muscle, no matter what I do,”  “I lift hard and heavy, but still can’t gain a single pound.”  Through the years, I have heard countless variations of the above from people who claim to have a difficult time gaining muscle mass.  But, is everything as it seems?  Are there some people who are doomed to a small and weak physique, no matter what they do in the gym?  Or, are there other factors at work, things that “Hardgainers” overlook, or perhaps ignore?  Let’s investigate, shall we?

Six months of “Muscle and Fiction” magazine workouts and we still look the same.

The Laws
In the world of exercise science, there are certain laws that pertain to EVERYONE: male, female, short, tall, republican or democrat.  Let’s review:

1. The specific adaptation to imposed demand (SAID) principle.

   This is a fancy way of saying that your body will adapt to whatever you throw at it.  If you lift a heavy weight and struggle with it initially, after a few workouts, the weight will feel lighter. In this case, your body has adapted by getting stronger (through numerous mechanisms that go beyond the scope of this article), because it didn’t want you to get pinned to the ground by the weight.  The SAID principle doesn’t only pertain to resistance training; it applies to any physical activity like running, swimming or knitting.

2. Repeated efforts.

   In order for your body to adapt to your activities, you have to present that stimulus to your body in repeated and consistent efforts.  Lifting heavy weights only once a week, isn’t going to force your body to get stronger.  Also, lifting a weight for only one or two sets isn’t going to get the job done, unless you’re a newbie to weight training (in which case, you couldn’t call yourself a hardgainer.  Remember your body needs multiple presentations of a stimulus to adapt to it.

So, why am I covering this?  Because it’s going to form the foundation of a kick ass program that’s going to jump start your muscle building abilities.

The Facts
Over the years, I have worked with numerous hardgainers, spending countless hours training them, speaking with them about their training history, trying to get an insight as to why they couldn’t grow.  Here are some of the common traits they shared:

1. They train infrequently.

   In order for your muscles to grow, you need to create microtrauma.  Microtrauma (small tears in the muscle fibers) signals the start of the muscle growing process, causing new proteins to come in and repair the damaged fibers, making them bigger and stronger.  Training once or twice a week isn’t going to cut it.  You need to train at least three times a week.

2. They train too frequently.

   Yes, it may seem as if this contradicts fact #1, but allow me to explain.  Some hardgainers, out of desperation, spend every free moment in the gym.  I’ve had a few clients who would train for six days straight without a break!  In this case, they created too much microtrauma, exceeding their body’s healing abilities.  In the long run, this will make you SMALLER.  Remember, you don’t grow at the gym; you grow at home when you’re sleeping, when you’re eating, when you’re sitting on the couch relaxing.  On my program, you’ll train three days a week with at least one day between sessions.

3. They do too much aerobic work.

   Performing too much aerobic activity is bad, bad, bad.  I’m talking, hiring Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton as babysitters bad.  Excessive aerobic activity causes your body to release cortisol.  Cortisol in excessive amounts is bad news; it leads to oxidative damage, premature aging, adrenal fatigue and MUSCLE LOSS.  In men, excess cortisol leads to body fat being stored in the belly.  For additional information on aerobic activity being bad news, read my article “Aerobics will make you FAT.”  If you’re trying to gain muscle, cutting out all cardiovascular activity will aid you in building muscle.  Besides, I don’t know of any fat hardgainers, so the lack of aerobic work won’t hurt you.  You’ll perform NO cardiovascular work on my program.

   

   Aerobics… it does a body good.

4. They train for longer than an hour.

   Why is it that when it comes to building muscle, most men think that more is better?  Training longer than an hour causes your testosterone levels to crash faster than my Dell stock.  Guess what else occurs after the one hour mark?  Your cortisol levels skyrocket!  To keep your testosterone levels high, we’ll keep your workouts under an hour.

5. They perform high reps too frequently.

   I don’t care what you’ve read in your favorite bodybuilding rags, constantly training with high reps (10 reps and above), will keep you stuck in “smallsville.”  In order to grow, you need to perform different rep schemes to fully stimulate all your muscle fibers.  On this program, you will perform low reps (gasp!) to help your body recruit as many muscle fibers as possible.  The more muscle fibers you recruit, the stronger you’ll become.  The stronger you become, the heavier the weights you can lift. 
   The heavier the weights you use, the more microtrauma you create.  The more microtrauma you create (within reason) the bigger your muscles become.  The bigger your muscles become, the more men will bow to you as you walk by…women will blush in your presence and you’ll never have to wait in line again to get into your favorite club.  Happens to me everyday.

6. They train with isolation exercises and machines only.

   Isolation exercises are exercises that only work one joint at a time.  Examples:  dumbbell curls, leg curls, leg extensions, dumbbell flyes and tricep kickbacks.  Relying on these exercises for muscle growth is an exercise in futility.  It’s not going to happen.  Another thing hardgainers have in common is performing machine only workouts.  A few of my hardgainer clients used to perform a few sets on EVERY machine in the gym.  They would start on one machine and work their way down the row until they completed a “circuit.”  Machines, in case you haven’t heard, are a big waste of time.  There…I said it and I feel better for having done so.  Most machines require you to either sit or lay in them.  The moment you do so, your body’s stabilizing muscles no longer have to work, because the machine is “stabilizing” you.  So what?  Well, it means that you will burn less calories, because fewer muscles have to work.  Let’s say you’re on a bench press machine, banging away a few sets.  Since the machine is stabilizing the weight for you, your stabilizing muscles for this exercise, the rotator cuffs, don’t have to activate.  So, you’re allowing your prime mover (the pec) to work without the aid of your rotator cuffs.  Bad news!  Also, machines force your body to work along a pre-determined path, whether it’s good for your joints or not.  On this program, you’ll perform compound lifts: deadlifts, squats, dips, bench presses and shoulder presses.  Not only will you look cool in the gym, but your body will produce greater levels of testosterone while performing them.  Double bonus!

7. They don’t eat enough.

   Do you know what the most anabolic substance in the world is?  Cue Jeopardy music here…please answer in the form of a question.  Sorry, the correct answer is, FOOD.  If you want to grow, you have to eat!  Most hardgainers I know have no clue as to how many calories they consume.  Now, you don’t need to know the exact number of calories you’re ingesting, but you do need a ball park estimate.  At the very least, you need to know how many grams of protein you’re eating.  Remember, you need bricks to build a house and you need protein to build muscle.  A good place to start is by consuming 2 grams of protein for every pound of bodyweight.  Sounds like a lot and it is, but if you want to grow…you know the rest.  Since I’m not a nutritionist, I can’t give you a nutrition program, but I can point you in the right direction…go to www.JohnBerardi.com and visit the articles section of his website.  Under the nutrition heading, read “Massive Eating Reloaded Part 1 and 2.”  Dr. Berardi is a badass.  I’ve worked with him and can honestly say he is the best when it comes to eating for performance, health and looking good naked.  Eat what he tells you and you’ll get hyyuuuuge!

8. They let their egos get in the way.

   On the rare occasion that hardgainers do lift heavy weights, their form usually resembles that of a flounder having a seizure.  They usually bounce the barbell off their chest, use a partial range of motion and perform their reps so fast that they use momentum and not muscular effort to complete reps.  To combat this, we’re going to use a specific tempo when completing reps.  When lifting your weights, regardless of exercises, try to accelerate the weight as quickly as possible.  Be quick, but maintain control at all times.  Lifting quickly will help recruit additional muscle fibers, which will lead to bigger gains in muscle and strength.  When lowering the weights, take three seconds to return the weight to its original position.  This will place maximum tension on your muscle fibers.  As you can probably tell by now, generating tension within a muscle is critical to getting big and strong.

9. They don’t record their progress.

   How do you know where you’re going, if you don’t know where you’ve been?  Hardgainers aren’t the only ones guilty of not keep track of their workouts.  In my experience, 99.9% of gym goers don’t record their efforts either.  What’s there to keep track?  How about the amount of weights used, the number of sets and reps performed, the length of your rest periods and what food you’ve eaten for the day.  Don’t tell me, you’re going to “remember” all that information?  It’s not going to happen.  Write it down!

10. They don’t follow rest periods.
    This is one that almost everyone is guilty of violating, but when properly observed, can help you achieve your goals of getting big.  Next time you’re at the gym, pick a person out of the crowd and watch them perform their workout.  Chances are good that you’ll watch them perform one set, find a buddy to chat with and approximately 5 minutes later, go back and perform another set.  Within an hour, they’ll be lucky to have performed 10 total sets, while spending 30-35 minutes chatting.  And of course they’ll tell all their friends they’ve been lifting weights hard for weeks and have not made any progress, so they must be “hardgainers.”  Do yourself a favor; buy a watch, time your rest periods and skip “Homie” hour and lift!

Being a hardgainer is not so much a result of genetics, as it is a result of inadequate training parameters.  Now that we know where most hardgainers go wrong, we can create a plan that will give us the results we so desperately seek: MUSCLE.

The Workout

This program will require you to hit the gym three times a week, taking at least one day off between workout sessions.  I prefer a Monday, Wednesday and Friday approach, but whatever works for you is fine.

Day 1

A. Barbell squats, shoulder width stance
Week 1: 4 sets x 6 reps   rest 90 seconds between sets
Week 2: 5 sets x 5 reps   rest 90 seconds between sets
Week 3: 5 sets x 4 reps   rest 2 minutes between sets
Week 4: 3 sets x 3 reps   rest 3 minutes between sets

B1) Incline barbell bench press
Rest 90 seconds
B2) Pull ups - for all sets, perform as many reps as possible
Rest 2 minutes

Perform the two exercises as a superset.  Perform the incline bench press, rest 90 seconds and then perform the pull ups and rest 2 minutes.  Repeat the superset for the required number of sets.

Week 1: 4 sets x 6 reps
Week 2: 5 sets x 5 reps
Week 3: 5 sets x 4 reps
Week 4: 3 sets x 3 reps

Day 2

A1) Incline dumbbell row - 3 sets x 15-20 reps
Rest 65 seconds

A2) Decline dumbbell bench press - 3 sets x 15-20 reps
Rest 75 seconds
B1) Trap bar Deadlift - 3 sets x 12-15 reps
Rest 60 seconds

B2) Bulgarian squats - 3 sets x 12-15 reps per leg
Rest 70 seconds

Each week you perform this workout, reduce all your rest periods by five seconds.  By week four, all rest periods should be reduced by a total of twenty seconds.

Day 3

A1) Flat barbell bench press
Rest 70 seconds
A2) Row to pecs
Rest 90 seconds

Week 1: 4 sets x 10 reps
Week 2: 4 sets x 10 reps - reduce rest periods by 10 seconds
Week 3: 5 sets x 8 reps - same rest periods as week 2
Week 4: 3 sets x 8 reps - reduce rest periods by 10 seconds

B1)  Narrow stance barbell squat
Rest 70 seconds
B2) Back extensions
Rest 90 seconds

Week 1: 4 sets x 10 reps
Week 2: 4 sets x 10 reps - reduce rest periods by 10 seconds
Week 3: 5 sets x 8 reps - same rest periods as week 2
Week 4: 3 sets x 8 reps - reduce rest periods by 10 seconds

Wrap up

There you have it - four weeks that’ll have you rethinking your hardgainer status.  Eat right and bust the lock on your wallet and buy a note book to record all your training information.  Respect your rest periods…you’re at the gym for a reason, to get bigger and stronger, not to make friends.  Give this workout your best and you’ll no longer have to buy your clothes in the junior’s section.