Hardgaining

C

cian

0
I was reading around a few days ago about body types and one thing in particuler caught my eye about ectomorphs which describes me pretty well.It says they have difficulties gaining fat and muscle and the term they used was 'hardgainer' meaning it's hard for them to gain fat and muscle and having a fast metabolism and burn calories very quickly. This sounds very similar to me as despite the most changes taking place after a month nothing visible has seemed to happen to me and despite a youth spent on junk food and not exercising I never gained an ounce of weight.

I was wondering if someone could reccomend how to work out as a hardgainer.The site did give some advice but the terms didn't make a lot of sense to me, poor novice I am.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Cian
 
Buy "Scrawny to Brawny" man. We can give you all the advice in the world, but you will retain the info much better if you have the book and can reference it whenever you need to.

However, I will say that if you are a hardgainer, you need to eat a TON of good whole food and really gotta push yourself harder in the gym. Most people underestimate their limits in the weight room. The average guy can do 400lbs on a leg press, but most don't try it because "it feels to heavy to lift".
 
Yeah, I've seen that around the forum a lot, sadly I live in Belgium where Englis language books are at a premium so will have to wait a while before I'm back in an english language country to get it and have the funds.
Can you give me any advice in the meantime?
Thanks
 
If you're not gaining weight, you need to eat more. Its that simple.

Protein shakes are going to be a friend for you, because they don't really fill you up, but contain protein and calories which you need. Weightgainer shakes just have added carbs, usually maltodextrin which breaks down into simple sugars.

are you eating 6 times a day already?? Might need to bump to 7 or 8 in order to get enough calories without feeling stuffed.

you might see if Scrawny to Brawny can be bought as an ebook to save you time and money trying to get a printed copy.
 
I've been eating until after I feel full but am actually losing weight, my metabolism just seems to gobble everything I throw at it.I've always been very underweight despite no exercise and an awful diet,not even any fat.
I've been taking a protein shake since July but no use.
 
I know exactly what you mean haha. It took me a good 4 months before i started to see any weight progress. here is my advice, eat rice, spaghetti, drink protein shakes and go to the gym. I eat a lot of fruit, rice, meat, salads, sandwiches, and go to the gym regularly. I have gained only 5-8 pounds in the 4 or 6 months I have been going to the gym.
 
consider weight gainer. it may be a lot of help. tons of calories.
eat a lot of good fats like peanuts, eat your veggies cooked in olive oil, eat tons of good carbs whenever you can. .

eat before bed: carbs, fat AND protein. you can mix some whey and water in a shaker cup and set it on a dresser next to your bed incase you wake up in the middle of the night for a refreshing protein shot.

find healthy ways to add calories. for example, if you start eating an apple, throw in 2 tbs of peanut butter with it. great combo. and who can eat pnut butter without milk? ...and as long as your drinking mmilk it might as well have some whey in it right? and as long as you'r using the blender to make a whey shake, you can't resist adding a bananna to it. lol there ya go.
 
I bought the Scrawny to Brawny book last week and have read the whole thing already. First I must say, I was never aware that there was such thing as an ectomorph and all that. But I started really trying first instead of doing their involved diets and exercises. I've just been eating way more, even if I'm not hungry I'll eat as much as I can. Also I take 2-3 protein shakes a day and I try to eat before I go to bed. I've been lifting heavier weights at the gym than I usually did. It's only been a week but I've kept on about 5 pounds already. So I guess I've always underestimated myself and just assumed I couldn't gain weight because of my high metabolism.

I'd recommend really trying harder before buying the book, because one chapter in there tells you basically how to eat. They say to take what you eat now, and double it, then double it again. But the book is very helpful and I learned a lot from it.
 
Is there any advice I can be given about weight training? Any particuler things I could do with weights like heavier weights/less reps, what exercises to do and so forth?
THanks
 
as a hard gainer you might need more rest. Since hardgainers often are vounurable to stress. So no need to go to faliure all the time.
 
doesnt have to be more rest between workouts. what im saying is that as an ecto you are more likley to overtrain. so not going to faliure, but leaving 1-2 reps "in the hole" could be a good idea.
 
Lets say you do bench press. then you lift until you fail, until someone else has to help you get the weight up or you have to cheat you're form to get it up. Then you have lifted to faliure. its pretty taxing on the body.



read that, its kinda long.

this is the second part.
 
Thanks mate,so I shouldnt train till failure,but leave a few?Does this mean youd reccomend doing less reps etc, as the reps I do at the moment are me training to failure.
 
karky is right on the money. I am a hardgainer and when i lift to failure on squats my body wants to kick me after I am done. Its not so bad with bench presses but its really bad with squats. I try to breath deeply to get all the oxygen i can to my blood and my muscles. Squats don't last very long for me ;(.

If you have not been working out in the past then i would suggest you get your muscles use to strength training. Don't try to workout until failure, cause you will most likely pull something or hurt yourself because your muscles have not been exercised before.

Have you tried drinking 100% complex carbohydrates? If you drink that you body will use the carbs to get energy instead of your food and you might gain some weight.
 
cian said:
Thanks mate,so I shouldnt train till failure,but leave a few?Does this mean youd reccomend doing less reps etc, as the reps I do at the moment are me training to failure.
Click to expand...

you could reduce the weight so that you dont have to go to faliure anymore.
 
If you train until failure you will most likely get to the point of throwing up like me. I have to be really careful when i train because squats can make me run to the bathroom or make me sore HAHA. I am trying to figure out how to not make that happen, but its taking a little longer then i expected.

You will need to record your training weights and such and figure out the next day what muscles is sore and what muscle hurts. Bulking is eating alot of good calories and gaining weight. After you bulk then you cut back and workout frequently.
 
not training to faliure will help you recover. as a hardgainer you have more troubble recovering than someone whos not.
 
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