Are you a hardgainer?

Too often people tell me right from the bat “Alex I am a hard gainer, I can never pack on muscle but it seems I do add on fat though” or “I am a hard gainer and I have done everything possible to gain weight but I can’t seem to add muscle on me and I eat everything in sight”. Sounds like you? Truth is there are people out there that indeed have a difficulty adding weight. In most cases, from personal experience these are people with very active jobs and active lifestyles. For example, one of my clients who works at an auto shop bought a FitBit Hr and he sent me his caloric output for the day. They were near the 6,000 calories a day. At first I thought it was wrong but even if you give or take a few hundred calories of miscalculation that still left him with an extremely high energy output. I personally wear a FitBit HR and I have never even passed the 4,000 calories burn per day. So someone like that truly has an active job but for most of us “normal” people we don’t burn that many calories.

People say “ I eat everything in sight and still can’t grow”. But do you know your calorie input and output? The same way I tell everyone who’s trying to lose weight to track their macros I tell my clients who are trying to gain weight to do that too. Most think that just training hard and ‘thinking’ they are eating enough will do the job. But if you aren’t tracking your macros and where they are coming from you are most like to never truly know if you are eating enough and it you are actually adding quality calories into your system. Eating pop tarts and burritos all day might not be the solution for you and for many. This is simple laziness and a easy way to add fat. So there’s 5 tips for you the ‘true hardgainer’ to implement into your lifestyle today and start seeing your hard efforts being rewards.

Know thy Calories!

I can’t emphasize this over and over. You MUST know how many calories you are eating and not think you are over eating. Everyone’s metabolism is different so knowing how much you are eating is crucial. Track your macros. I recommend perhaps getting a calorie wristband like a FitBir HR to keep track of your caloric expenture as well. You won’t grow if you are not feeding your body appropriately for your muscle goals. Even though a calorie is a calorie don't be going crazy with adding fast food calories left and right to pack on weight. This isn't a healthy way to go about it.

Focus on the compound movements-

Your workouts should compromise of heavier (never compromise your safety and form though) compound (multi-joint) movements that are going to recruit larger muscle groups. Spending too much time on isolation exercises like concentration curls and triceps extensions for your arms won’t help you too much. Shock the system and incorporate deadlifts, squats, presses, shoulder presses etc…Focus on the compound moves for maximum mass.

Use the right supplementation-

Nutrition will always be the key for anyone trying to gain lean muscle but if you are a student or someone who is always on the run then perhaps adding a weight gainer might not be a bad solution. Usually these weight gainers add on average anywhere between 600-1200 calories. If you aren’t able to eat as much then drinking these calories will be a fast way to ingest them without having to be eating all day. Look into products like Serious Mass, Pro Complex Gainer by Optimum Nutrition or True Mass by BSN. They aren’t products loaded with sugar but better chosen ingredients. Avoid falling under the scames that is the marketing world and buy additional supplements that will promise you lean muscle right away. If you must get another product besides the weight gainer to help you pack weight than add creatine to your regimen. [always consult your doctor before you start a training and supplement regimen]

Rest!-

Your body does not grow in the gym.It grows while you are sleeping or napping. In fact the hormones responsible for growth like testosterone and growth hormone are naturally are their highest while you rest. Try and get at least 6 hours a night minimum of sleep daily. If you can’t get 6hrs then try and get a nap sometime during the day to total your hour of sleep to a minimum of 6. You can’t fully recover and expect to have optimal performance to train hard at the gym without rest.

Be patient-

Your body won’t change over night just because you started doing all of the above 4 points. It takes time to build muscle and you have to truly give it your all daily grind to make the body have to change. Sometimes you aren’t really a hardgainer, perhaps you were not just eating enough. Emphasize those nutrient dense foods to truly pack on the weight on you and perform your best at the gym. Consistency will be the key! I always recommend you try and add weight slowly so you don’t pack too much fat along your journey. After all, gaining fat and having the scale go up is not what you want. You want quality lean muscle.

#hardgainer #weightgain