As a hardgainer, you must optimize your weight training, diet, and lifestyle decisions in order to gain muscle. Hardgainers should do the proper workouts at the right volume, eat a daily calorie excess, and meet a daily macronutrient quota. This will offer the necessary stimulation for muscular growth.
- Don’t Workout On An Empty Stomach
Exercising on an empty stomach will cause you to lose muscle mass. Because our bodies go catabolic when they don’t have enough food, they start breaking down muscular tissue. As a hardgainer, this is something you certainly do not want. Never work out first thing in the morning to avoid this. Wait 2 to 3 hours after eating a carbohydrate and protein-rich meal before exercising.
Fats are high in calories, which makes them a lifeline for hardgainers. As a result, as a hardgainer, you can easily sustain a calorie surplus by eating a reasonable quantity of fat on a daily basis. One tablespoon of olive oil, for example, contains 119 calories. As a result, make sure to eat foods that are high in unsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acids.
Because not all protein is created equal, you must consume full protein meals to gain muscle. Only when a protein supply includes all nine necessary amino acids can it be termed complete. Fish, whole eggs, meats, poultry, and dairy are all good sources of complete protein. Plant-based protein sources are often deficient, but they may be made full by mixing diverse meals.
Fermented foods are high in helpful bacteria that support gut health. To enhance your gut health, eat fermented foods including yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha, tempeh, miso, red wine, and fermented veggies. A healthy stomach will aid in the absorption of the correct quantity of nutrients from the food you eat, allowing you to grow weight and muscle mass.
The importance of sleep to your overall health cannot be overstated. It’s much more crucial for hardgainers, or anyone wanting to gain muscle in general, because muscle is built while you sleep. During deep slow wave sleep, which is part of the Non-REM sleep stage, your body produces the majority of growth hormones and testosterone. As a result, getting a lot of good sleep is essential if you want to gain muscle.
Compound workouts, as the adage goes, yield compound results. When you’re a hardgainer, this is especially true.
Compound workouts work several muscle units, whereas isolation exercises work only one muscle area, resulting in more testosterone and growth hormone production. As a result, compound movements give you more bang for your money as a hardgainer.
When it comes to growing muscle as a hardgainer, whole body workouts win hands down over split routines.
For starters, full-body workouts assist you in doing many of the complex maneuvers we described previously.
Second, it guarantees that you don’t overtrain a certain muscle area, which can lead to muscular deterioration.
Third, you are training more frequently but performing less volume each exercise. In a complete body workout routine, for example, instead of training chest on Mondays and then waiting an entire week to do chest again, you hit chest three times a week.
Cardio is beneficial to your health, but not while you’re attempting to bulk up as a hardgainer.
Cardio is defined as any action that significantly raises your heart rate. Walking, jogging, running, skipping, jumping jacks, and other activities come to mind.
If you do a lot of exercise as a hardgainer, you will burn a lot of calories and may wind up in a caloric deficit. Keep in mind that you must always have a calorie surplus in order to gain muscle. As a result, reduce your exercise and other calorie-burning activities.
When it comes to hardgainer training, less is more. Workout no more than three times a week on different days, and keep your workouts under 45 minutes long. After 45 minutes, your body is likely to start breaking down muscles for energy, which is something we don’t want.
Legs and back are two typical muscle areas that hardgainers neglect. This is a huge blunder. The lower body serves as the basis for the upper body, while the rear serves as the foundation for the front. Weak back and leg muscles reduce strength, weaken the core, cause asymmetry in the body, and put you at risk for injury.
Muscle development is a psychological as well as a physiological process. You’ve undoubtedly become accustomed to being a thin guy if you’ve been one for the most of your life. It does, after all, become a part of your psyche. Our minds prefer familiarity and are resistant to change.
Muscle building is similar to shedding an old identity and adopting a new one. Your mind may fight this process by participating in self-destructive behaviors such as procrastination, junk food cravings, or boredom. And it usually starts just about the time you start to notice muscular growth.
Stress and muscular growth don’t mix well. Cortisol levels in the circulation are greater when you are stressed. Cortisol inhibits the body’s regenerative mechanisms, making muscular development difficult. Cortisol also lowers testosterone levels, causing your body to become catabolic.
So make it a point to keep stress at bay by indulging in relaxing and unwinding activities.
