Are You a Hard Gainer?

[quote]Soco wrote:

Tips for Hardgainers

Hardgainers excel on total body training programs (training the primary muscle groups three times per week.) I’ve found that hardgaining individuals really increase strength/size when they train more often. Along with this, hardgainers must eat everything under the sun and really take advantage of post-workout carb/protein ingestion. Finally, hardgainers may be able to train a little closer to failure compared to other body types.
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I completely agree with all of that except “train more often.” That seems totally contray to my experience. I find my “day” of rest is a good 48 hours between muscle groups. Any less than that and I just burn it away.

[quote]DiogenestheCynic wrote:

I completely agree with all of that except “train more often.” That seems totally contrary to my experience. I find my “day” of rest is a good 48 hours between muscle groups. Any less than that and I just burn it away.[/quote]

Personally I find that I can train more often but have to use less volume per muscle group for the best results.

I like a MWF split. similar to Waterbury’s SFM program or others.

I always defined myself as a hard gainer:

Height: 5’9’’ / 175cm
Weight 18: 108lb / 49kg
Weight 33: 168lb / 76kg

Yes, that still makes me very much of a chicken wing, but I have managed to increase my bodyweight by more than 50% through regular training and constant eating. Even got some fat now. :wink:

Could it have been more? You bet. But until I was ~27, I would immediately loose weight massively if I didn’t lift weights and keep my appetite going. 3 weeks off could mean as much as 10lbs less weight. And that was not fun.

It’s just funny that after all those years of training, I am now where most other people start, because they feel too scrawny. :wink:

Makkun