Bulking phase

Guys, I have a friend who wantss to get into the iron game and he has asked me for advice and I need some help. He has never trained seriously before so I am gonna have him do Ian King’s “12 weeks to Super Strength” and “Limping” series. But diet is where I need advice. He wants to bulk so normally I would just give him the Massive Eating guidelines but I’m not sure they will suffice. He is the epitome of a hardgainer: 6’3" and 150 soaking wet and after Thanksgiving dinner. What I would like to know from you guys is have any of you known people with this type of metabolism? And what have they done to gain weight successfully? Thanks and all replies are appreciated.

massive eating is a start, you could also try the “skinny bastards diet.” (i cant remember the link.) make sure he NEVER misses a meal (i never go more than 3 hours without eating, rarely more than 2.5 and im the exact opposite of a hardgainer), and tell him not to be afraid of losing abs.

You don’t like you friend do you? If you did you would give him programs that would re-enforce his success. Start with the Beginner’s Blast from this website. He won’t stay with training if you have him limp through August.
Best of Luck.

He is not ready for any advanced training. His first 3 months or so he needs to learn to perform the exercises right, gradually increase th weight. Specialization routines are NEEDED by relatively few. They are the seasoning on a well balanced dinner menu. There are relatively few trick that worth it. basics. only basics. make him earn the need to try a specialization.

Yeah, me.

I used to be 5’11 135lbs, now I’m pushing 200. All that clean in a little over 4 years. Training: basically, always push myself to lift heavier weights with the main focus on the major lifts, ie…squat, dead, pulls/chins, bench, and variations there of (do lift smart and REST smart though as you can and will overtrain) with ANAL RETENTIVE FORM, I also recomend checking out the “Little Black Book of Training Secrets” (I think that’s the name of the article) Doing that stuff with good form will keep it fresh. Diet wise, start eating 6-7 times a day around 3000 cal total, a day, EVERY DAY (honestly that is most hard gainers problems, they can eat a ton but don’t discipline themselves to do it every day). If he is not gaining weight in a month, up it 500 a day, and keep climbing till he’s gaining 1-2 lbs a week, also keep protein intake at about 30% of total caloric intake (for 3000 cal that’s about 225g protein). Fat is also your friend to keep pushing calories up. Tell him what will happen is he’ll gain 4-6 lbs in a month then stabilize for 2-3 mo. then another 4-6 lbs a month etc…

That’s what worked for me anyway and I put on well about 65 pounds in a little over 4 years, and I’ve used it with several other people in similar situations with great success.