You may already be aware what a hardgainer is. If you are not aware of the term that basically it kind be defined as some one who has immense difficulty putting on weight in the form of fat or muscle! Often this is put down to the fact that that person has a really fast metabolism.
Metabolism or metabolic rate is the speed at which your body burns up calories through the natural reactions in the body. If your metabolism is particularly slow then it will be easier to put on fat tissue as you are not burning up as many calories at rest as someone with a faster metabolism.
For supporting muscle gains we should be trying to creat a surplus amount of calories, this is difficult for hardgainers as they rapaidly use up their calories even at rest. So, what can hardgainers do to counter this? Here is our how to build muscle quickly guide for hardgainers:
1) Keep the cardio workouts to a minimum. Aerobic workouts will clearly consume calories during the exercise but will also increase your metabolic rate so that you continue to burn off calories at a faster speed even when resting. You must avoid this if you are trying to create a surplus amount of calories.
2) Consume enough for two! You must eat lots of calories. To do this, simply try to double the amount of food that you would normally eat at every meal. Use oversized bowls so it is impossible to forget this.
3) Consume 5-7 meals each day. This is critical to build up muscle or even to burn belly fat. Your body can only absorb a certain amount of nutrients at anyone sitting so spreading out the meals is also a good thing and ensures that your body is never waiting for its next meal. Eating 2-3 meals per day is claimed to slow down the bodies metabolism which is true but this doesn’t mean it is something that hardgainers sould do. Why? Because your body may slip into starvation mode and release muscle building inhibiting chemicals.
4) Take supplements. Take advantage of the great and ever increasing amount of protein drinks and meal replacement drinks that are on the market today. These include huge amounts of exactly the ingredients you should be getting. Ideally you should consume them just before and just after your training session when your body will benefit from them the most.
Quit performing exercise movements that are not mult joint exercises like concentration curls, only do compound exercises. Your routine must include: dead lifts, pull ups, squats and bench presses. These will help build the muscle mass that you want in all the correct places on your body in the correct proportions.
6) Reduce the number of sets. Growth can be stimulated in only 40 minute sessions consisting of only 3 sets for each body part and as few as 10 sets a session. More is less for hardgainers! trigger muscle growth in the weight room then get out sharpish to conserve your calories for muscle growth.
7) Drink ample amounts of water. It is necessary for nearly all reactions in the body so this is a real must. Take on board water often.
There we are, give those tips a try. Do not turn around after a couple of weeks and say they don’t work, be persistent and stick with it for a couple of months and see what the results are. Simply try them out and see what happens? I hope you found our how to build muscle up tips useful.