Hardgainer starting from scratch

[Maximum Intensity]

I agree -- that label is thrown around way to much. People think because they aren't gaining 20 pounds of quality muscle each year, then they must be a hardgainer. Damn -- I guess I am a hardgainer then (all these years of waisted training.) Fact of the matter is unless you are doing anabolics, the average person is not going to gain 20 lbs of muscle per year, especially as the years pass. Train hard, eat right, get sleep, and be consistent -- the gains will come. PROPER training, PROPER nutrition, and CONSISTENCY will help you grow. Most, and let me stress the fact that I said most and not all, people blame lack on progress on poor genetics or being a "hardgainer" when in fact is do to failing to follow one of the above.

 

[GenetiKing]

PROPER training, PROPER nutrition, and CONSISTENCY will help you grow.

Agreed.

iwealth,
I hit you up with a response elsewhere.

 

[Welsh power house]

OI!!!!!! all you need to do is eat proper foods, now if you weigh 140 ish, then 260 grams of protein is way too much. You should aim for 1 gram per pound of bodyweight or 1:5 per pound of weight, if you go by the latter then that is 210....260 will just get pissed out of your system.

If you are new to weight training you should cut down the number of exercises you do and the time you spend in the gym, remember, you grow when you rest, you only break down the muscle in the gym, not build it, that is where the nutrition comes in!

For a programme you should do:

deadlifts, squats, bench presses, dips, military presses, straight barbell curls, barbell rows and chins

thats it! forget all isolation exercises, concentrate on the compound basics and try to add 1 or 2 lbs to the bar for each exercise a week. Then go home and eat good food and supplement with a weight gainer like n-large.

Good luck!

 

[Burning Rage]

If you haven't trained with weights before, or in a long while, I recommend doing a preconditioning phase. They are very important when starting. They will prevent injuries. Usually such a phase will only last 4 to 6 weeks. The idea behind this is to not go heavy, but to practice perfect form. Believe me when I say this, if you haven't lifted a weight before, you are going to have a hell of a time balancing when you do your squats. If you do not have perfect form, you cannot train succesfully. You will have to focus a lot of your energy on form. Also, the routine you provided, it is not a bad routine. I suggest a more simple routine. Simple does not refer to "beginner". Start out with one compound movement for each exercise. Focus on geting bigger and stronger on those movements. Here's an example of a preconditioning routine.

Mon/Wed/Fri
Squats
Stiff-Legged Deadlifts
Bench Press
Lat Pulldowns
Bent Over Rows
Shoulder Press
Dumbbell Upright Rows
Calf Raises
Crunches

Some people prefer to do arm work on preconditioning routine. I do, in fact. I recommend doing light, multiple sets of each exercise, do 10-15 reps. Focus on form. Or a good way to get prepare for yourself, is to do the program that you want to do. But only do light sets, and concentrate on form. Then when you feel comfortable start your routine.

For those peope who are too arrogant to understand what a hardgainer is, should learn. iwealth, don't feel bad for taking any heat for saying that you're a hardgainer. A lot of people aren't, so they cannot comprehend how difficult it is to gain weight, or muscle. Don't take it personally. It's pure arrogance. I'm not a hardgainer, but I do know a few. My cousin as been training for 5 years now. His diet is pretty good, he eats around 3600 calories a day, 60% coming from Carbs, 25% protein and 15% from fat. He should be gaining a lot of weight from this kind of diet. He lifts 4 times a week and takes his last set of each exercise to failure. He does about 5-8 sets per body part, depending on how big it is. I think in his 5 year period he has gained no more than 15 pounds of muscle. He's lost some fat. He looks pretty good. He's lean. He doesn't have a lot of muscle mass, but that's do because of genetics. He's 6'3", 175 pounds. When I was cut, I was 5'7", 165 pounds. So overall for my built, I had a more impressive body than he.