This hub will go through some tips that you can use to overcome being a hardgainer in the gym. Hardgainers find it hard to put on muscle mass usually due to two main things and these are an extremely fast metabolism and being very active and playing cardio sports regularly. 

There is also the dreaded case of the skinny fatman which is where a skinny person will develop fat in certain area’s where everywhere else appears thin, fat deposits include the thighs, bum and stomach. 

Hardgainer Diet  

For us hard gainers there are many misconceptions about what our diet should look like. A lot of us believe that we should stick to an old school bulking type diet which for many people means you eat whatever you want whenever you feel like it.

 Before you go and do that be warned I have tried this approach and it will just leave you with excess body fat that will need to be trimmed away later on. Which means more cardio which in turn may waste away some of the muscle you worked so hard to put on?  So regarding the diet stick to healthy, foods anything you can grow or kill and s good way to measure how much food you should be consuming is the usual rule of 1 and ½ grams of protein per pound of bodyweight.

The best way I believe is to stick to a consistent diet for a while and monitor your progress and fat gain, if your gaining fat, reduce your calories a bit. Ideally we want to be slightly over maintenance level of calories to induce maximum growth and minimal fat gain.

Hardgainer supplements 

Regarding supplements for a hardgainer , Its best to stick to the basic’s and this includes whey protein, fish oil, and a multivitamin. If you’re starting out you will usually notice great newbie gains which means you don’t really have to rely on supplements to give you that extra kick but if you’ve been training for a while and your gains and strength has come to a stand still, adding creatine to your supplement stack may help you get over a plateau. It has worked for me in the past.

Pre-workout Nutrition

What you eat before your workout needs to be something that gives you the energy and fuel to push through a hard workout. We all know that people wanting to loose weight go for run as soon as they wake on an empty stomach and we want to do the opposite of this.

Some great pre-workout energy sources are

- Maltodextrin    - Dextrose    -Waxy Maize Stach    - Rolled Oats , Blended up to fine powder

It can also be beneficial to ingest some fast digesting protein before workout whey protein concentrate or isolate along with the carbs. The role of carbohydrates and protein is the carbohydrate/sugar source will force the nutrients into the muscles this is why post-workout nutrition should consist of a healthy carb source and around 25 -40 grams of protein.

Oats

Dont underestimate the power of eating Oats for a hardgainer they are a great healthy source of carbohydrates and If your not already taking Oats its a good idea to start taking them and you will feel the difference, like I have.

The best way to take them is to put them in your blender until it forms a fine powder then simply chug it down with your protein shake. The fine oats should just disolve in the water/milk. Some places also sell powdered oats. 

Remember when choosing your protein sources to go for a variety of different sources including chicken, fish, red meat, nuts, beans. Try and mix it up but if your going to stick to two it would be wise to go chicken and fish especially since a recent study on red meat found that people eating a ton of red meat had poor eye site. So thats something to keep in mind just make sure you bulk up in a healthy way so we can continue lifting when were old cogers.

Hardgainer workout The hardgainer workout is not hugely different from a regular gym workout the only difference is usually the amount of sets and reps you do for each body part which will depend on energy and muscle strength.

The most common hardgainer workout people having trouble putting on muscle use are the 5 sets x 5 repetitions method. With this method you can use a heavy amount of weight, but won’t need to have the energy to push out 8 reps with the regular 3 x 8 method. Again the basics apply the best way to put on muscle is to really push yourself 100% and shock your muscles into growth and the best exercises for that are compound exercises ( bench press, deadlift, chinup). You should ignore isolation exercises for now and only use them when you are conditioned to weight lifting.  Some people have the impression that more work is better but muscles need to be shocked gradually you can’t go in and start lifting like a madman, your building a house from the ground up, not from the top floor. Always keep your workout around 1 hour. 

What makes you Grow?

Somtimes its not as simple as just doing a 5x5 workout method, everyone's different and will respond differently a friend of mine is a hardgainer and he put on a lot of muscle and his gym sessions sometimes lasted over 2 hours and this was due to him putting in 100% every set and making sure he had plenty of rest between sets. So the best thing is listen to your body , do you think you've worked hard , are you going to be sore tomorrow if not maybe add something extra to kickstart that muscle growth. 

Most of the information needed can be found on the net but it can be difficult to do it on your own so if you need some help you can the Top Mass Building system or start reading up on forums and talk to the guys who’ve been doing this for years.

 We all know our muscles are in two groups slow twitch and fast twitch muscles, slow twitch muscles are primarily used for endurance exercises where as fast twitch are used for quick bursts of strength used in weightlifting or bodybuilding.

This doesn't mean we want to ignore our slow twitch muscles entirely as this where you start to get guys who look huge when they tense but look skinny in a relaxed state. So remember to mix it up and work both muscle types for example and easy way to work both at the same time when doing a bench press is to push up fast and then bring the bar down slowly and controlled.

This way you slow twitch muscles will be used and you will be putting less stress on your joints aswell as hitting the most possible muscles as you push up with maximum force.

Flexing and Muscle Pump

Now getting a pump at the gym is a great thing , as this means there is plenty of blood going to your muscles with inturn means nurtients are getting there and in the long run your muscles will grow. An important part of getting your muscles to grow is to get them used to holding a bigger size and some guys like to flex after there workouts.

Yea i know its a bit hard to when your skinny and there a huge guys are so just do it in private, its not like your checking yourself out , every now and then its good to get the blood into your muscles get them used to holding a bigger size.

I have heard some funny guys that pretty much flex all day and this is going overboard a friend of mine used to sit in bars with his arms flexed:P he looked like a bit of weirdo but it definitely made him better at posing. The bodybuilders have to pose for up to 10 minutes straight just try doing this and you will feel totally exhausted.