Muscle Building Guide for Hardgainers

For the huge segment of the population fighting the endless battle to maintain or shed pounds, it's difficult to imagine that there are many individuals who have the opposite problem. They have a metabolic engine that consistently burns calories too efficiently, and predisposes them to being unusually thin, or less flatteringly, scrawny. For many of these people, their body profile is imprinted in their genes. They fall into the body profile called ectomorphs. Other thin people have parents and siblings with more robust proportions...so body type isn't always dictated by inheritance alone. A common term to identify both of these groups is hardgainers.

Hardgainers, like the chronically overweight, are seldom happy with their bodies. Hardgainer weight gain can be a difficult, but certainly not impossible task. Methods have been developed that promote both hardgainer weight gain and increases in muscle mass. These methods effectively combine dietary adjustments and weight training regimens that result in a balances accumulation of weight and muscle mass. The following outlines some of the steps that should contribute to hardgainer weight gain.

1. Don' train too much. Yes, you heard correctly...hardgainer weight gain can be impeded by overdoing muscle training. Too much weight training can actually shrink muscle mass. Weight training to develop muscle mass shouldn't be an everyday event. Muscles need a rest to regenerate and grow. Less can be more when it comes to weight training. On muscle training days, train heavily using free weights, not the exercise machines. Also avoid too much cardio training. Cardio training increases metabolic rate and makes hardgainer weight gain even more difficult.

2. Eat more, eat often, and eat right. Hardgainer weight gain can only be achieved when calories consumed exceed calories burned. The hardgainer needs choose the correct type of food to eat, eat them often, and in large quantities if the rigorous weight training is to lead to increases in muscle mass. Eat six or more times a day if possible. Foods high in quality protein like meats, poultry, fish, dairy products, and soy products are the building blocks for muscle tissue. Feel free to indulge in wholesome, but calorie rich, foods such pizza and cheeseburgers. For the sake of your heart, though, limit your intake of saturated fats and transfats. Avoid nutritionally empty junk foods and soft drinks, excess consumption of these leads only to useless accumulation of flab. Drink plenty of water, new muscles need it.

3. Use nutritional supplements wisely. Some people will not be able to eat 6 times a day. Nutritional supplements like meal replacement bars containing essential nutrients can contribute to hardgainer weight gain, and development of muscle mass. Fortified drinks and protein powders are also helpful. Never resort to any type of steroid.