The Hardgainer’s Guide To Building Muscle: Diet and Exercise
Written by Martin Ebner, head personal trainer and sports nutrition specialist at Ebylife.
An Ectomorph is one of the three most common body types. The other two are mesomorph and endomorph. These three "somatypes" have different body structures and metabolic rates. Nutritionists, personal trainers, and even doctors often use these to help design effective, personalized workout routines and nutrition plans. Most people fall roughly into one of the three categories below. However, keep in mind that these are generalizations. Many of us have characteristics of two or even all three somatotypes.
The 3 Male Body Types
Ectomorph
Ectomorphs are long, wiry, and svelte, generally finding it difficult to gain muscle mass. People that belong to this body type are usually skinny, lean, and have a high metabolism. If they have an unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle, ectomorphs can actually experience some weight gain, which unfortunately will most likely manifest as belly fat, leaving their arms and legs on the thinner side. Think fashion models, stereotypical basketball players, and cyclists. Society may put these genetically-blessed individuals up on pedestals, however, some male ectomorphs may not be so thrilled with their narrow-chested frames, and some female ectomorphs may wish for more womanly curves. Brad Pitt and Frank Medrano, Kate Moss, and Cameron Diaz are some famous ectomorphs.
Endomorph
Contrarily, endomorphs tend to have higher levels of body fat, lots of muscle, and gain weight very easily. Think heavyweight boxers and American Football linemen. They're usually heavier and rounder people. They don't have to necessarily be overweight. Russell Crowe, Tom Hardy (picture him as Bane in Batman), Jennifer Lopez and Marilyn Monroe are classic examples of endomorphs.
Mesomorph
I'm not a fan of the X-Men movies but when I see this word, I can't help hearing, "Lock this place down, there's a mesomorph on the loose!" The reality, however, is far less dramatic. Mesomorphs are athletic, solid, and strong. They're generally not overweight or underweight and they can gain or lose weight without too much effort. Hugh Jackman, football (soccer) superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, Madonna, and Janet Jackson are mesomorphs you may have heard of.
Hardgainer
While I'm not a massive fan of the term Hardgainer, it is thrown around the fitness world quite a bit and let's face it, it is accurate. There's also a compassionate side to the word and It sounds a little better than some of the alternatives like ectomorph and skinny, so I will continue to use it for the remainder of this blog.
I find that it is often applied to novices disappointed they didn't transform into Arnold Schwarzenegger in six months. First of all, Arnold is a mesomorph so if you’re attempting to build a physique similar to his, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of work to bulk up and build muscle. And generally, it takes a lot of time. If you think it's harder for you than most, then you may be a Hardgainer. Take a deep breath! Just because it's hard, doesn't mean you can't do it.
If you are training and following a food plan, but you're not experiencing weight gain or noticing much muscle gain (even after six months!), then it's time to change your training program and increase your calorie intake. Your friends and family may be jealous that you get to eat what you like, but one of the "sacrifices" you'll likely need to make is to eat more. Unfortunately, it’s one of the downsides of being a Hardgainer.
Strength Training for Hardgainers
A fit and lean body is an easy goal for Hardgainers. With moderate effort, they can get a visible six-pack relatively easily. Most professional models belong to this somatotype. But when it comes to bulking up, many Hardgainers, out of frustration, either increase the intensity of their workouts with high-volume routines or they train too frequently. In reality, if their caloric intake is not high enough, this may actually lead to weight loss!
My Hardgainer Bulking Tips
Simplify: When a program isn't working, one of the first things you should do is simplify it. Good training doesn't need to be complex. In fact, complex routines often impede muscle growth. After your warm-up, you're going to need to do some compound exercises.
Focus on compound exercises: And get ready to do some heavy lifting. There is no way to avoid lifting harder and heavier if you want to maximize your results. Compound exercises use the larger muscle groups: glutes, lats, traps, quads, and hamstrings. Most of the training should revolve around the big basic moves like squats, bench press, shoulder press, deadlift, clean and jerk, etc. If you’re just starting out, skip the isolation exercises or leave them to the very end of your workouts. As they tend not to provide enough stimulus for muscle growth on their own, they need to be used in conjunction with compound moves.
Besides giving you the best bang for your workout buck, compound exercises cause your body to produce important hormones like testosterone and other anabolic hormones which are important for muscle building. Also, human growth hormone (HGH) is produced immediately after an intense compound-exercise workout. This hormone helps regulate your body's composition. It stimulates the growth of muscle and bone but it also controls metabolism and heart function.
Compound exercises performed with moderate to heavy weights and repetitions in the range of 5-10 will activate multiple joints and the larger muscle groups. I recommend these:
Barbell Squat Press: These work your whole body, especially your core and upper body.
Begin with your back straight, feet shoulder-width apart and barbell at shoulder height.
Keep your midsection tight and look straight ahead.
Bend your knees, and lower your hips down into a squat with your hips slightly lower than your knees.
Press into your heels and stand up.
As you return to standing, press the bar over your head with your arms fully extended and your elbows slightly bent.
End the movement by lowering the barbell back to shoulder height.
Deadlift: Deadlift training produces a lot of muscle activation in your lower body.
Stand with feet hip-width apart.
Engage your core as you bend down to grab the barbell with your knees bent and your butt back.
Keep your back straight and neck neutral.
Drive your feet through the floor and squeeze your glutes to extend your hips and come to a standing position.
Focus on using your glutes and hamstrings, not your back, to lift yourself.
Push your butt back as you gently return the barbell to the floor.
Clean and Jerk: The clean and jerk is a total body movement that stresses nearly every muscle in the body.
Grip the barbell with your feet set hip-width apart and turned slightly out.
The first pull is essentially a deadlift that ends when the barbell passes your knees. Maintain a neutral spine and to keep your core braced.
The second pull is a two-part, cohesive step: As the barbell passes your knees, you drive your hips, pulling the barbell up your body, making sure to stay balanced with your shoulders above the bar. Then you forcefully rotate your elbows underneath and into the front rack position. Use your traps to elevate the barbell higher and pull yourself under it.
As the bar is exploding upward from the hip drive, quickly squat down and catch the barbell across your shoulders in a front rack position. Your elbows should be pointing forward.
From the front rack position, dip your knees down a few inches.
Dip down, drive the bar over your head, and drop into a half squat position as the bar ascends.
Lock your arms out and pause at the bottom of the jerk to stabilize the weight. Hold this position while you get set. Do not stand up until the weight feels balanced. Once you’re stabilized, stand up.
With your arms locked, allow the barbell to fall away from you and to the floor.
Push Press: This exercise not only increases your shoulder and upper-body strength, it also conditions your rotator cuffs.
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and grip the barbell with your elbows pointing forward.
Rest the bar on the front of your shoulders.
Drop down into a shallow squat, centering your weight under the barbell.
Press up through your heels.
Drive the bar directly above your head until your arms are straight.
Lower the bar down to your chest.
Maintain a neutral arch in your spine throughout the move.
Dumbbell Chest Press: This is a great exercise for improving your chest. It is better than the standard barbell bench press as it trains each side in isolation, preventing your stronger side from compensating for your weaker side.
Lie back on a bench holding a dumbbell in each hand just to the sides of your shoulders.
Face your palms forward, towards your feet. (If you have shoulder issues then switch to a neutral grip, where the palms face each other.)
Press the weights above your chest by extending your elbows until your arms are straight. (Don't let them touch.)
Slowly bring the weights back down.
Do these exercises three or four times per week with moderate to heavy weight and make sure you regularly train to failure (the point at which you longer perform repetitions with good form). This concept of progressive overload means that if you aren’t struggling to do the last rep or two, it's time to graduate to heavier weights.
If you still aren’t sure about how to train for your body type, fear not! We've created a fully comprehensive 3-day workout plan to help you get started.
The Ultimate 3-day Bulk-up Workout Plan
Welcome to the ultimate 3-day Full-body bulk-up workout plan for skinny guys.
What’s included in the plan:
✔ A fully comprehensive 3-day workout plan (To be repeated for 8-12 weeks or until you reach your ideal weight and/or results).
✔ 3 Full-body workouts designed for maximum muscle growth (hypertrophy). You will be hitting all of the major muscle groups every workout with a selection of compound and isolation exercises.
✔ A daily sample from our Bulk-up meal plan for skinny guys.
✔ A delicious post-workout smoothie recipe to support your gains.
✔ This workout plan combines perfectly with all of our Bulk-up diet plans (Omnivore, vegetarian, and vegan) for skinny guys.
While this plan is suited for all fitness levels, it’s ideal for men with 12 months or less of strength training experience.
The file is in PDF format and is compatible with all phones, computers, and tablets.
Speaking of Hormones
While insulin is better known for its role in converting glucose to muscular energy, optimal insulin levels are essential when seeking to boost muscle growth. Closely related to insulin and highly anabolic, IGF-1 is a key regulator of muscle growth. And perhaps the most famous bodybuilding hormone of all, testosterone, is also a key player in muscle building. Testosterone increases neurotransmitter levels to the muscle fibers, stimulates HGH (mentioned above) production and increases IGF-1 output. Here’s what to do:
Train briefly and intensely. Short bouts of high-intensity weight training have been proven to boost IGF-1 levels to a far greater extent than longer, slower sessions. Intensive training sessions of around 45 minutes that emphasize compound exercises are best for maximizing testosterone production. The HGH released in response to resistance training is proportional to the intensity generated. Train hard for 40-60 minutes for optimal HGH release.
Stay Lean: Not usually a difficult thing for Hardgainers, but keeping your body fat under 12% for men and 20% for women balances your hormonal system and helps prevent the decrease in testosterone levels.
See also: The 5 Best All-natural Supplements to Boost Testosterone in Men
Time Your Carb Intake: Insulin levels can be boosted by consuming 20-40 g of fast-digesting carbs, such as fruits, early in the morning. Proper timing of carbs is a necessary anabolic measure to ensure optimal glycogen uptake. Eating 30-80 g of fast-digesting carbs within 30 minutes of completing a lifting session helps insulin efficiently perform its muscle-building role and start the healing process.
Way? No, Whey! Consuming 20-30 g of whey protein 30 minutes before training and 20-30 g immediately afterward significantly increases IGF-1 levels. Whey protein also contains all the essential amino acids needed to build muscle. Transparent Labs has a fantastic 100% grass-fed whey protein Isolate for Hardgainers.
See Also: How to Time Protein Intake for Optimal Strength Gains
Up The Fat: Eating 0.5 g of fat per pound of body weight daily increases IGF-1 bioavailability. Consuming healthy fats, like avocados, olive oil, fatty fish, nuts, and lean animal meats, provides the raw materials needed for testosterone production.
Got Milk? Drinking two or three glasses of cow's milk daily significantly elevates circulating IGF-1 levels while boosting IGFB-3, a binding protein that assists IGF-1's role as a muscle builder.
Eat Your Meat: It is very possible to be a vegetarian/vegan bodybuilder, however, vegans typically have 15 percent lower IGF-1 levels compared to their carnivorous counterparts. See related article: The Ripped Vegan
Increase Your Vitamin D: Taking 5,000 to 7,000 IU of vitamin D three times per week significantly raises circulating IGF-1 levels.
Increase Your Vitamin K: Vitamin K improves insulin efficacy.
Supplement with Arginine and Lysine: Taking 3-5 g of each of these immediately before training and right before bedtime elevates HGH.
Supplement with Glutamine: Taking 2-10 g of glutamine immediately after workouts and before bed improves muscle recovery and elevates HGH levels. Transparent Labs offers a great BCAA + Glutamine formula for Hardgainers
Supplement with Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA): This nutrient is essential for aerobic metabolism. ALA is an antioxidant that enhances insulin efficacy.
Eighty-six the drugs: alcohol, cigarettes, and other such drugs increase the risk of excessive cortisol release, a stress hormone that counteracts testosterone production.
Sleep! Seven to nine hours of uninterrupted sleep increases testosterone and boosts HGH production. The strongest wave of HGH occurs within the first hour of sleep, then is then released in small bursts about every 90 minutes.
Related article: How sleep affects Athletic performance
Hardgainer Diet
Photo by Malidate Van
Hardgainers don’t have to count calories. You can usually eat pretty liberally and as much as possible, but this doesn’t mean that you should pig out on junk food! Remember to stick to a healthy diet, containing protein from lean meats, low-fat dairy, eggs and fish as well as complex carbs. You want about half of your calories to come from carbs, the other half should be evenly split between fat and protein.
Related article: Clean Bulking vs Dirty Bulking: Which is best for muscle growth?
Per day you should get about:
Protein: 1 - 1.5 grams per pound of body weight (2.2 - 3.3 grams/kg).
Carbs: 2 - 4 grams per pound of body weight (4.4 - 8.8 grams/kg).
Fat: 0.5 grams per pound of body weight (1.1 grams/kg).
According to the American Council on Exercise, hardgainers should:
Eat every two to four hours.
Add at least 500 calories over maintenance to gain weight or muscle.
Choose warm foods over cold foods for better digestion.
Eat starchy carbohydrates like oats, brown rice, quinoa, sweet potatoes, and potatoes.
Include fruit in your daily food intake, like bananas, mangoes, pineapple, papaya, and peaches.
Opt for veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, beets, and carrots.
Eat nutrient-dense snacks like nuts and seeds, as well as nut butters.
Eat healthy fats avocados, cottage cheese, ice cream, and peanut butter.
Eat lean meats like chicken breast, tenderloin beef, tenderloin pork, and lean fish such as sole, cod, or halibut.
If you’re still scratching your head, fear not. We’ve created the ultimate bulking diet plan for Hargainers.
The Ultimate Bulk-up Diet Plan
Welcome to the ultimate Bulk-Up diet plan for skinny guys.
What’s included in the diet plan:
✔ A fully comprehensive and easy-to-follow 7-day food plan (To be repeated until you reach your ideal weight and/or results).
✔ A carefully calculated calorie surplus, macronutrient split and precise measurements to maximize weight gain and encourage muscle growth for Skinny guys.
✔ 2 Delicious post-workout smoothie recipes to help fuel your gains.
✔ A weekly grocery list and instructions.
✔ A sample workout from our 5-day split bulk-up workout plan for skinny guys.
✔ Combines perfectly with all of our Skinny Guy bulk-up workout plans.
This diet plan is perfect for Ectomorphs and ‘hardgainers’ looking to build muscle and gain weight.
The file is in PDF format and is compatible with all phones, computers, and tablets.
Muscle Building Supplements
While supplements should never replace a healthy and balanced diet, they can be very useful if short on time or to help you reach your health and fitness goals.
Protein shakes: These are great for getting all your protein on a daily basis. You can combine whey, egg, and casein throughout the day. For some protein shake ideas, check out these recipes.
Protein Powder Supplements: There are many protein powders on the market that are another convenient way to be sure you've got all your bases covered. I recommend Tri-protein by Crazy nutrition, it's made with 6 natural, non-GMO proteins that break down in phases for more energy and strength than regular whey, hemp, or soy protein formulas.
Creatine: Add 10 grams of creatine a day to improve strength, increase lean muscle mass, and help the muscles recover more quickly during exercise. This muscular boost helps lifters and bodybuilders achieve bursts of energy, especially during short bouts of high-intensity activities such as weight lifting. I recommend Crazy Nutrition’s CRN-5 creatine. It's made with 5 types of creatine plus electrolytes to help boost energy and support lean muscle mass. The orange and mango flavor is delish!
As mentioned above, if you feel that you're lacking certain vitamins and minerals, you can supplement your diet with: vitamin D, vitamin K, arginine, lysine, glutamine, and alpha lipoic acid (ALA). If in doubt, check with your doctor or nearest healthcare specialist before taking any supplements.
Pre-Workout tips for Hardgainers
Hydrate!
Eat or drink something that is loaded with carbs about 30 to 60 minutes before a workout.
Take 20-30 g of protein 30 minutes before training.
Consider taking 3-5 g of each of arginine and lysine immediately before training.
Always warm up before getting into the heavy stuff.
See also: Creatine: The Good, The Bad, and The Bulked-up
Post Workout Tips for Hardgainers
Hydrate!
Take 50-100 g of fast-digesting carbs within 30 minutes of completing a lifting session.
Consume 25-50 g of protein within 30 minutes after training.
Consider taking 5 g of creatine immediately after training.
Consider 2-10 g of glutamine immediately after training.
Limit cardio
If you are a Hardgainer, I suggest you avoid long cardio sessions. For the time being at least. Unless you're skinny fat, you're already lean enough and too much cardio will only make things worse. Between your lifting sessions, avoid those long, slow cardio sessions. Instead, if you can’t live without it, throw in some short and explosive sprint intervals. This will give you the boost of energy that we love without limiting the amount of muscle you can gain. If you're the type that has a hard time with recovery days, you can throw in a few push-ups and chin-ups, but don't overdo it!
Recovery Days
Recovery days allow your muscles to recuperate but that doesn't mean you have to hit the couch all day! Some light movement sessions or active recovery will improve the circulation between muscles and help you recover faster. Keep in mind how your muscles grow. During training, you're literally tearing them. Going for a nice walk or an easy bike ride will keep nutrients and regenerative biological substances flowing while letting your muscles recover. And when I say "nice," and "easy," I MEAN nice and easy! It's not permission to pound out a ten-mile run or join the Tour de France!!
Related article: Do you need a rest day or are you just being Lazy? Signs and symptoms of overtraining
Stay Hydrated
Exercise causes muscles to become stronger by first breaking them down and then rebuilding them using muscle protein synthesis. This protein synthesis, however, requires that muscles are well hydrated. If you are dehydrated following a workout, the protein synthesis that rebuilds muscles will be slowed and subsequently will delay your recovery from the workout.
Sleep!
If you don't have the time to get proper sleep, then you don't have enough time to bulk up. Your bulking-up lifestyle must include a solid, regular and quality sleep every night. Who better to ask about the connection between bodybuilding and sleep than the folks at Sleep.org? According to them, sleep ensures muscle growth, recovery, and injury prevention. They say that the benefits of sleep are especially important for athletes.
Practice good sleep hygiene: Make sure your room is dark, cool, and free of noise.
Make sure you’ve got the right mattress and pillow.
If possible, limit media and digital devices in bed. This conditions your brain to turn off when you go to bed.
Sleep boosts muscle mass because growth hormones are released during periods of deep sleep.
The hunger-regulating hormones leptin and ghrelin are thrown off by poor sleep, increasing hunger and food intake. While this may not be so horrible when you're trying to bulk up, the timing of your food intake may be thrown off.
Sleep improves muscle coordination. Studies show that proper sleep leads to increased accuracy, faster reaction times and speeds, and improved overall performance.
Key Take Aways for Hardgainers
Focus the majority of your workouts and energy on the big compound exercises like squats, bench press, shoulder press, deadlift, clean and jerk, etc.
Limit or leave isolation exercises to the very end of your workouts.
Lift moderate to heavy weights.
Use the progressive overload principle.
Eat more! More protein, more carbs, more healthy fats.
Plan your pre and post-workout nutrition.
Limit cardio.
Take recovery days seriously.
Hydrate.
Sleep!
