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6 Important Progress Making Rules for Hard Gainers
By Charles Poliquin:
Hardgainers are always very frustrated with their lack of progress, but if they were to follow the 6 rules outlined in this article their progress would be accelerated. Here are the 6 rules:
Rule #1. Consistency in meal patterns.
I remember this hard gainer who once told me ""I pigged out last night"". I asked him what did you eat? A whole bowl of peanuts he answered. Whoopdidoo! That is not even food to fill in an hollow tooth. Strive to have six meals feedings a day. Something I have learned from leading Iron Game authority Bill Starr, is that consistency in eating patterns is probably the most important factor after appropriate loading parameters for gaining lean body mass. I have found that squeezing that seventh meal a day vs six meals makes a world of difference in gaining mass. Never go hungry. Even though this is obvious for most individuals, yes, the post-workout shake is considered a meal. The basic rule is skipping meals kills your training progress. Jay Cutler practically eats every hour, so here you go.
In order to achieve consistency in meal intake, you must be disciplined. Most trainees fail to achieve their goals because of simple lack of discipline. Therefore make no excuses and commit to your eating plan. The best to get into the habit of eating regularly is to use the alarm feature on your wrist watch. After every meal, set it for 2.5 hours later, when it rings, it is time to eat again.
Rule #2. Go heavier using micro-loads.
Heavier is a relative term. I have seen Ronnie Coleman use 16 plates on the T-bar row, at that level of strength 25 lbs is a micro-increase, but not for the mere mortal hard gainer. If you can do upright rows with 60 lbs now, you can be sure that once you use 90 lbs in 6 months from now your traps and shoulders will be much thicker.
Use any of the many possible forms of micro-loads to apply the overload principle whether they are record plates or plate mates or different permutations of collars.
Rule #3. Change it up less often.
Hardgainers benefit from longer cycles as they are poor adaptors to the training stimulus. Hardgainers typically need to be on the same program for about 6-8 weeks, while easy gainers like David Boston and Chris Hetherington will change up every 10-14 days. Hence, the Kaizen principle is even more important for the hard gainer than the average trainee.
Rule #4. Use Adaptogens.
Botanical adaptogens such as Ashwaganda, Tulsi, Siberian and American Ginsengs all help to accelerate training progress and maximize the training response. They do so by enhancing androgen production and mitigating cortisol output.
Rule #5. Rest is of paramount importance.
Easy gainers can go to bars, get smashed once a week, skip 2 meals a day and still gain strength and mass on a regular basis. Hard gainers need plenty of rest, starting with quality sleep. Meditation can an excellent tool for them. Don't go and spend 2 weeks of salary to learn meditation (the standard fee charged by a well-known organization) and be assigned a "mantra" specific to you.
There are many great audio-tapes on the market that can teach to you. It is like anything, it just takes some practice, you can meditate as well looking at a flame of a candle as just concentrating on your breathing. Meditation is great for hard gainers because it lowers cortisol and has basically the effect of giving you more hours of sleep in matters of minutes.
Rule #6. Improve your weak areas.
If you have a set of erector spinae that looks like two parallel fettucinis and have the glute development of a snake, you have a lot of potential for weight gain. The quickest way to gain weight is to alternate cycles to improve the deadlifts with cycles to improve the squat. That alone can increase one's bodyweight 15 lbs in 8 weeks.
By following the given above 6 rules, hardgainers should approximate the gains made by the average trainee.
By Charles Poliquin:
Hardgainers are always very frustrated with their lack of progress, but if they were to follow the 6 rules outlined in this article their progress would be accelerated. Here are the 6 rules:
Rule #1. Consistency in meal patterns.
I remember this hard gainer who once told me ""I pigged out last night"". I asked him what did you eat? A whole bowl of peanuts he answered. Whoopdidoo! That is not even food to fill in an hollow tooth. Strive to have six meals feedings a day. Something I have learned from leading Iron Game authority Bill Starr, is that consistency in eating patterns is probably the most important factor after appropriate loading parameters for gaining lean body mass. I have found that squeezing that seventh meal a day vs six meals makes a world of difference in gaining mass. Never go hungry. Even though this is obvious for most individuals, yes, the post-workout shake is considered a meal. The basic rule is skipping meals kills your training progress. Jay Cutler practically eats every hour, so here you go.
In order to achieve consistency in meal intake, you must be disciplined. Most trainees fail to achieve their goals because of simple lack of discipline. Therefore make no excuses and commit to your eating plan. The best to get into the habit of eating regularly is to use the alarm feature on your wrist watch. After every meal, set it for 2.5 hours later, when it rings, it is time to eat again.
Rule #2. Go heavier using micro-loads.
Heavier is a relative term. I have seen Ronnie Coleman use 16 plates on the T-bar row, at that level of strength 25 lbs is a micro-increase, but not for the mere mortal hard gainer. If you can do upright rows with 60 lbs now, you can be sure that once you use 90 lbs in 6 months from now your traps and shoulders will be much thicker.
Use any of the many possible forms of micro-loads to apply the overload principle whether they are record plates or plate mates or different permutations of collars.
Rule #3. Change it up less often.
Hardgainers benefit from longer cycles as they are poor adaptors to the training stimulus. Hardgainers typically need to be on the same program for about 6-8 weeks, while easy gainers like David Boston and Chris Hetherington will change up every 10-14 days. Hence, the Kaizen principle is even more important for the hard gainer than the average trainee.
Rule #4. Use Adaptogens.
Botanical adaptogens such as Ashwaganda, Tulsi, Siberian and American Ginsengs all help to accelerate training progress and maximize the training response. They do so by enhancing androgen production and mitigating cortisol output.
Rule #5. Rest is of paramount importance.
Easy gainers can go to bars, get smashed once a week, skip 2 meals a day and still gain strength and mass on a regular basis. Hard gainers need plenty of rest, starting with quality sleep. Meditation can an excellent tool for them. Don't go and spend 2 weeks of salary to learn meditation (the standard fee charged by a well-known organization) and be assigned a "mantra" specific to you.
There are many great audio-tapes on the market that can teach to you. It is like anything, it just takes some practice, you can meditate as well looking at a flame of a candle as just concentrating on your breathing. Meditation is great for hard gainers because it lowers cortisol and has basically the effect of giving you more hours of sleep in matters of minutes.
Rule #6. Improve your weak areas.
If you have a set of erector spinae that looks like two parallel fettucinis and have the glute development of a snake, you have a lot of potential for weight gain. The quickest way to gain weight is to alternate cycles to improve the deadlifts with cycles to improve the squat. That alone can increase one's bodyweight 15 lbs in 8 weeks.
By following the given above 6 rules, hardgainers should approximate the gains made by the average trainee.
