Tips for Hard Gainers?

[sugashane]

Does anyone have any tips for a hard gainer like me? I've been lifting for a while now and I can't seem to get my arms to grow. Everything else is growing but arms don't seem to want to grow. They've grown a little bit but not much. I work out Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays. On Mondays and Thursday I work my chest, shoulders and arms. On Tuesdays and Fridays I do my legs, back and abs. Does anyone have any advice what I can do get them to grow? I'm always afraid that I'm gonna over work them that might be one reason.

I'm in the same boat as you. What helped me was doing a HIT to avoid burning extra calories. Get in, get out, rest and grow. But with HIT you MUST bust your ass. Force feed yourself and make sure you take in some fats. They have 9 cals/g, compared to 4 cals/g for protein and carbs. Since you have a fast metabolism, you can get away with it. Also take a slow acting protein before bed and another trick I did was set my alarm for the middle of the night. Take another slow acting protein shake to stay anabolic, and get back to sleep. Maybe add some EVOO to your shakes but START SLOW AND SMALL. If not you will be stuck to the toilet all day. Good luck and hope to hear some good news later man.

 

[djeclipse]

I'm in the same boat as you. What helped me was doing a HIT to avoid burning extra calories. Get in, get out, rest and grow. But with HIT you MUST bust your ass. Force feed yourself and make sure you take in some fats. They have 9 cals/g, compared to 4 cals/g for protein and carbs. Since you have a fast metabolism, you can get away with it. Also take a slow acting protein before bed and another trick I did was set my alarm for the middle of the night. Take another slow acting protein shake to stay anabolic, and get back to sleep. Maybe add some EVOO to your shakes but START SLOW AND SMALL. If not you will be stuck to the toilet all day. Good luck and hope to hear some good news later man.

A good night sleep/ proper rest is way more important to muscle growth and over all health then getting in that protein at 4:00am. Just eat protein when you wake up and let your body rest.

 

[dabuffguy]

A good night sleep/ proper rest is way more important to muscle growth and over all health then getting in that protein at 4:00am. Just eat protein when you wake up and let your body rest.

+1 stay asleep. Caein proteins will saty in your blood stream for as long as 12 hours. No need to wake up. In fact your doing yourself worse by waking up purposely and eating.

 

[ceo]

 

[silver_shadow]

back on topic: the suggestion to do alot of curls (and basically most iso exercises) is a bit out of place for a guy who hasn't already built up a base through lots of compound exercises.

and i agree with rob about there being no such thing as a hard gainer. most guys use that as an excuse for their own lack of determination.

 

[silver_shadow]

+1 stay asleep. Caein proteins will saty in your blood stream for as long as 12 hours. No need to wake up. In fact your doing yourself worse by waking up purposely and eating.

alot of old school bodybuilders used to get in some extra cals by doing this. i've tried it and didn't have much problems mainly because i'd down half a gallon of milk when i woke up at 4 in the morning. i just climbed back into bed after taking a leak, shut my eyes and i was asleep. i don't do this anymore because i'm after much slower gains now.

 

[djeclipse]

alot of old school bodybuilders used to get in some extra cals by doing this. i've tried it and didn't have much problems mainly because i'd down half a gallon of milk when i woke up at 4 in the morning. i just climbed back into bed after taking a leak, shut my eyes and i was asleep. i don't do this anymore because i'm after much slower gains now.

When you get up in the middle of the night you're disrupting deep sleep, which is when your body really can relax and repair itself. If you get up and go back to bed, you may fall asleep right away, but you may not be getting back to that deep sleep state of sleep again.

Sleep is more important at night then eating protein at 4:00am. Just make sure you eat enough durring the day and in the AM

 

[dabuffguy]

alot of old school bodybuilders used to get in some extra cals by doing this. i've tried it and didn't have much problems mainly because i'd down half a gallon of milk when i woke up at 4 in the morning. i just climbed back into bed after taking a leak, shut my eyes and i was asleep. i don't do this anymore because i'm after much slower gains now.

If you happen to wake up, go for it. If you purposely set your alarm to disrupt sleep, it isn't worth it.

 

[silver_shadow]

When you get up in the middle of the night you're disrupting deep sleep, which is when your body really can relax and repair itself. If you get up and go back to bed, you may fall asleep right away, but you may not be getting back to that deep sleep state of sleep again.

Sleep is more important at night then eating protein at 4:00am. Just make sure you eat enough durring the day and in the AM

well in theory it would work that way. but i still got good results and i'm not sure that waking up had a very adverse effect. anyway the weird thing is that i THINK i must have gone back into deep sleep...

 

[djeclipse]

well in theory it would work that way. but i still got good results and i'm not sure that waking up had a very adverse effect. anyway the weird thing is that i THINK i must have gone back into deep sleep...

You may very well have been able to go back to deep sleep, some can reach that state much better/ easier then others.