Hardgainers Don't Exist

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
41

[quote]toddthebod wrote:
Someone who eats more than enough and doesn’t gain muscle is a hard gainer.[/quote]

This is false because many people never even give themselves enough time to make progress in terms of muscle gain. I am sure most are the type who see any fat gain and then start dieting down again before they have given their bodies a chance to adapt.

There are few people who could lift HARD in the gym and eat enough to grow for YEARS but who will only gain body fat. That doesn’t even make sense, unless again, they have some sort of disease.

They may gain more fat than someone else at the same number of calories, but that is the same argument as gaining less muscle than someone else and then assuming you must be some sort of genetic delinquent.

42

[quote]Professor X wrote:
toddthebod wrote:
Someone who eats more than enough and doesn’t gain muscle is a hard gainer.

This is false because many people never even give themselves enough time to make progress in terms of muscle gain. I am sure most are the type who see any fat gain and then start dieting down again before they have given their bodies a chance to adapt.

There are few people who could lift HARD in the gym and eat enough to grow for YEARS but who will only gain body fat. That doesn’t even make sense, unless again, they have some sort of disease.

They may gain more fat than someone else at the same number of calories, but that is the same argument as gaining less muscle than someone else and then assuming you must be some sort of genetic delinquent.
[/quote]

Let me simplify: If you are skinny, you don’t eat enough. Period.

43

[quote]Eleni wrote:
At the end of the day most hardgainers over estimate their calories they way fat people under estimate theirs.[/quote]

I agree with this.

I had a friend that would always complain that he couldn’t gain any weight. I asked him what he was eating. It turned out that he would skip breakfast and sometimes lunch and then eat a large dinner. He thought this was eating a lot. I told him not to skip meals anymore and to eat more if he could. Presto his “problem” was solved.

I think many of the so called hardgainers are similar to my friend in that they think eating one fairly large meal is eating a lot.

44

[quote]toddthebod wrote:
Professor X wrote:
toddthebod wrote:
Someone who eats more than enough and doesn’t gain muscle is a hard gainer.

This is false because many people never even give themselves enough time to make progress in terms of muscle gain. I am sure most are the type who see any fat gain and then start dieting down again before they have given their bodies a chance to adapt.

There are few people who could lift HARD in the gym and eat enough to grow for YEARS but who will only gain body fat. That doesn’t even make sense, unless again, they have some sort of disease.

They may gain more fat than someone else at the same number of calories, but that is the same argument as gaining less muscle than someone else and then assuming you must be some sort of genetic delinquent.

Let me simplify: If you are skinny, you don’t eat enough. Period.[/quote]

This is how I understood it as well.

When I read the ‘hardgainer’ article, I saw hradgainers as having the worst possible genetics. In the sense that when they bulk, they just gain fat, and when they then cut, they lose strength and muscle.

45

[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
Everyone can make gains but not equally.

There are people that are genetically gifted to get huge. I am not one of them. Such is life.[/quote]

I agree.

To the guy who started this thread, I agree with you that the term “hardgainer” does sound dumb even know that I have been using it. It made to sound mystical and to give you a reason to pat yourself on the back.

But there are such things as ectomorph with rocket metabolism, ineffecient metabolisms, and poor genetics. If I was to be a basketball player or a track and feilder it would be great, but in terms of bodybuilding I don’t have the tools like most guys. I think my body looks great it is something to be proud of but it took alot of work, much more than the guys I see who are weaker, workout shitty, eat like crap, drink smoke and do drugs. Quick example and I have many of them

My buddy who I went to Iraq with had about the same lifting experience as me we both started after boot camp. We went to Iraq together his section was out doing patrols and didnt get time to workout over there, I did. After a year I was alot further ahead than him in bodybuilding terms. He was 5’8" 185lbs when we came back, and very athletic looking. I was 6’3" 210. Within a 3 weeks we were back in the gym. My max bench was 385, he managed to get 415. I was only stronger than him in a few things. Maybe he has great genetics but he is a smoker a drinker he goes out at night I go to bed. He made better gains than me naturally than I did on a cycle of PH’s.

Like I said in one post I could be possibly maxed out. I did go from 165-215 in years time so hardgainer maybe not. To go past that, who knows that is more like genetics.

46

[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
Any use of these labels to justify your lack of progress is plain cowardly.
[/quote]

You’ve labeled yourself LankyMofo. You probably should be something different this time next year after that statement.

Being a “hardgainer” should probably be like classifying an economic period as a depression. You can’t accurately label it until it’s over. If you gained noticeable muscle over time then there was a bad period that you fought your way through. You can now say you were a “hardgainer” or whatever you choose and not many will complain. If you never make it, then you weren’t a hardgainer, you were something else entirely. I’d go with “nogainer” in that scenario, or possibly “large vagina”.

Did that analogy make any sense? What is a horse shoe? Are there any horse socks? Is anybody listening to me?

47

[quote]Professor X wrote:
It is also funny how many people claim they need to actively avoid getting “too big”…but these same people all think they have some abnormal inhibition of muscle growth.

That makes no sense at all.[/quote]

I’m pretty sure they make that decision to not get “too big” after realizing they don’t have the drive and dedication to do so, which they in turn call being a “hardgainer”.

48

[quote]laster wrote:
LankyMofo wrote:
Any use of these labels to justify your lack of progress is plain cowardly.

You’ve labeled yourself LankyMofo. You probably should be something different this time next year after that statement.

Being a “hardgainer” should probably be like classifying an economic period as a depression. You can’t accurately label it until it’s over. If you gained noticeable muscle over time then there was a bad period that you fought your way through. You can now say you were a “hardgainer” or whatever you choose and not many will complain. If you never make it, then you weren’t a hardgainer, you were something else entirely. I’d go with “nogainer” in that scenario, or possibly “large vagina”.

Did that analogy make any sense? What is a horse shoe? Are there any horse socks? Is anybody listening to me?
[/quote]

LOLOL, that was pure gold. And yes, I’m currently in the process of becoming unlanky.

49

The problem with hairgainers, is that its hard for them to gain muscle. You know, cos its so easy for me.

50

[quote]MikiB wrote:
The problem with hairgainers, is that its hard for them to gain muscle. You know, cos its so easy for me.[/quote]

I was going to make a joke about hairgainers, but thought better of it.

As for the hardgainers, this stupid label gets applied to anyone who starts out skinny and doesn’t succeed, which is probably quite a lot of guys who get into bodybuilding.

51

The fact is everyone has to start somewhere. If you sit around and complain about where your starting from you will never get to the finish line.

52

im gonna have to say bullshit. doing all the things you listed yoll still go without gaining shit for weight months and months on end, while someone else can put on weight easily. i would consider gaining 1-lb or less a month doing all things correctly, eating enough, lifting enough (weight and intensity) to be a hardgainer.

i know everyone wants to sound all gung-ho about being a hardcore dedicated motherfucker who eats 9.000 calories a day and only does deadlifts, squats, and wrestles bears for cardio but the truth of the matter is that shit takes a fucking long time. obviously theres ways to speed up the process, but even a sped up gain for an ectomorph is still slow as shit.

i dont know if you guys think that by some miracle if you eat 6000 instead 5500 calories a day when youre probaly not even using all 6000 calories to full gorwth potential that youll do something magical.

i think the term slow-gainer and hard-gainer are interchangable. at least i can accept that without drugs the most mass i can put on in a month is a pound or two. i still go to the gym 4 times a week and bust my ass though because i know that even though 2 pounds at max is insignificant its the only way i can put on anything at all. so if i gain 12-24 lbs a year thats still 12-24 lbs a year. i gained 24 lbs from the last time i went to the doctor (went today so thats how i know) and i look dramatically different compared to then.

i dont even know what im talking about anymore, i guess what im trying to say is youre only going to gain a little bit of weight no matter how hard you work and how much you eat, so get used to it.

53

[quote]Fulmen wrote:
LankyMofo wrote:
Professor X wrote:

In fact, if you have only been training for two years or less, labeling yourself much of anything makes no sense at all.

I disagree with that. If you obviously gain weight more easily than otheres, that should be pretty apparent.

If you “gain weight more easily than others”, you have more drive than others. You are more determined than others. You are more motivated than others.

Diet and training isn’t the end all.[/quote]

I gain weight easier than anyone I know. I have the metabolism of a hybernating polar bear. If I wanted to I think I could gain 10-15 lbs in around four weeks. Of course, most of this would be fat. Do I have more motivation than you? More drive?

54

For the love of God, do you have any idea who owns that ass I see in your avatar? I need to know, I want to be friends with it…

(apologies for interrupting the thread)

55

[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
GetSwole wrote:
I so true hardgainers are about as common as the Arnold Elite genetics “easy” gainers.

Its just a fucking bell curve.

Would hardgainer be 2 standard deviations from the mean?[/quote]

No - is there really any difference between the guy who is 2 standard deviations from the mean and another who is 1.95 standard deviations from the mean?

Individual differences in rate of growth are expected, but I’ve always found these labels pretty silly as well.

56

First off, I think the label is stupid. People are always quick to say what they can’t achieve, and the name reflects that. However, there is one person I know that sticks out in my mind when this comes up. He’s 22, 6’2 and 140 pounds. I know he takes in more daily calories than I do. Even when I weighed 240-250 he probably ate more than me. On top of that, he would drink 2000 calorie weight gainers and drink his weight in beer in the same day on weekends and not gain an ounce. To tell him to ‘just eat’ would be cruel.

Regardless, he’s really one of a kind. I hope no self-proclaimed ‘hardgainers’ read this and say, ‘hey sounds like me!’

57

[quote]Professor X wrote:
It is also funny how many people claim they need to actively avoid getting “too big”…but these same people all think they have some abnormal inhibition of muscle growth.

That makes no sense at all.[/quote]

This is one of the things that’s been jist killin me.

Let’s see:

I don’t wanna be huge so I’ve never tried and therefore have no idea whether I can or not, but am convinced I couldn’t even if I did want to so it would be better if I starve myself and don’t lift too hard just in case by some misshapen grotesque accident I wake up huge one day.

I ain’t as think as you stoned I is.

58

This Thread Should Be Renamed To Hardgainers Don’t Exist, But Easygainers Do.

With proper training and diet hardgainers don’t exist. But there are people like my bro who can pick up an orange and add an inch to his bicep while eating PapaJohns Pizza, while I have to follow hardcore training and diet guidelines to add lean mass.

59

[quote]LiveFromThe781 wrote:
im gonna have to say bullshit. doing all the things you listed yoll still go without gaining shit for weight months and months on end, while someone else can put on weight easily. i would consider gaining 1-lb or less a month doing all things correctly, eating enough, lifting enough (weight and intensity) to be a hardgainer.

i know everyone wants to sound all gung-ho about being a hardcore dedicated motherfucker who eats 9.000 calories a day and only does deadlifts, squats, and wrestles bears for cardio but the truth of the matter is that shit takes a fucking long time. obviously theres ways to speed up the process, but even a sped up gain for an ectomorph is still slow as shit.

i dont know if you guys think that by some miracle if you eat 6000 instead 5500 calories a day when youre probaly not even using all 6000 calories to full gorwth potential that youll do something magical.

i think the term slow-gainer and hard-gainer are interchangable. at least i can accept that without drugs the most mass i can put on in a month is a pound or two. i still go to the gym 4 times a week and bust my ass though because i know that even though 2 pounds at max is insignificant its the only way i can put on anything at all. so if i gain 12-24 lbs a year thats still 12-24 lbs a year. i gained 24 lbs from the last time i went to the doctor (went today so thats how i know) and i look dramatically different compared to then.

i dont even know what im talking about anymore, i guess what im trying to say is youre only going to gain a little bit of weight no matter how hard you work and how much you eat, so get used to it.[/quote]

Yeah, I really don’t know what you’re talking about either.

Muscle gain is slow for everyone (barring genetic freaks)! Weight gain is a different story. If you were willing to eat enough anyone could gain weight at a very fast rate.

You think that people are putting on 100+ lbs of muscle in a matter of a couple years? No. It takes a long time to reach your peak. If you were to actually stop and think about it, if it were possible to gain more than 2 lbs a month consistently for the duration of your lifting career, then you’d have people that were well over 400 lbs of solid muscle. Clearly this isn’t the case.

Think about it, let’s say you started lifting at age 15 weighing 150 lbs, and gained only 1 lb of muscle a month. By age 30 you’d be 480 lbs of solid muscle. Even people with Acromeglia (Giantism) often don’t reach that size.

This is one of the reasons why you see so few large and muscular individuals. Because it takes serious, long term dedication to reach that point. Most people give up after a few years and label themselves “hardgainers”, “doomed” never to reach their muscular goals. Of course if they refused to accept this and simply continued to pursue their goals, and modify their approach when needed, they’d probably eventually realize that they in fact can get big and muscular, it just takes a while.

In reality there are quite a few examples of guys who started out skinny and built impressive physiques. They refused to accept the label of a hardgainer and made up their minds that they were going to reach their goals, genetics be damned. They didn’t do it over night though.

60

You’re right, hardgainers do not exist. As Prof X said, if they do exist it is only in the form of some sort of disease. It’s a fact that many people classified themselves as hardgainers when they did not gain from “working out.” I know because i WAS one of them. When i started lifting i was 160 and 3 years later i was still 160. I tell people im a “hardgainer” and that is why i have a hard time gaining. little did i know, it was pure self rationalization. After a period of proper diet and intense training, i find myself nearing 200lb. that just goes to show an example of a person who thought he is a “hardgainer”.