*Full disclosure: I am not a certified trainer nor am I sponsored by anyone or anything. This is the honest account of a man that has been working out for 18 years and doing so as a “natural” lifter.*
This article goes out to all my hardgainers out there who are putting in the blood, sweat, and effort in their workouts and their diets, but who are still, nonetheless, falling short in their pursuit of building muscle. Now take heart, because you do not have to spend your life pounding away chalky tasting mass gainer protein shakes.
This article is especially written to the natural drug-free lifters out there who train without the assistance of anabolic steroids. I myself have been a drug-free lifter ever since I started my weightlifting journey, so I know just what to share. I am confident that if you are willing to put in the work, this advice can work just as well for you.
If you have a hard time gaining/building muscle mass, you may very well be an ectomorph. If you have no clue what that is, it is one of three kinds of somatotypes. Think of it as a body type. Here is visual description of the somatotypes as follows:
I fall under the ectomorph category myself. While I am not that tall, I have naturally small joints so I tend to be on the thin side. Ectomorphs have long thin muscles and because they are predisposed to be thinner, they have a harder time gaining muscle and even body fat.
Endomorphs tend to have naturally larger bones & joints which endows them with a natural strength advantage that comes at the price of generally holding onto higher levels of body fat. You ever have that friend that seems to eat all day long, but they never gain an ounce? That’s ME! But then you have that friend that eats like a rabbit by comparison, but somehow, they put on more weight? That’s an endomorph. The key difference is metabolism, but that is a subject for another post.
Now in the bodybuilding world, a Mesomorph is akin to a genetic lottery winner. These lucky people do not have to pay nearly the same attention to diet as a hardgainer does–they’re naturally muscular. If you bump into someone in the gym who looks super impressive physically, but then you find out they’ve been training only 2 or 3 years, you’re laying eyes on a Mesomorph. To put that into perspective, I have been training for 18 years now. I look how I look because of 18 years of unbridled dedication.
Physically, I now resemble a mesomorph, but that is due to my aggressive working out routines and my careful dietary execution. The second I stop working out any longer than a week I begin losing muscle mass. You can actually blend together somatotypes, so in my case, I’m an ecto/mesomorph.
I do not want to get too off subject here as this article is dedicated to the hardgaining type such as myself. That said, the information is applicable to anyone who wants to get themselves in better condition. Knowing your proper body type (somatotype) is a great way to get you pointed in the right direction.
Now that we have the preliminaries out of the way, let’s talk muscle gains! I will break this down into three key things you must do to maximize your ability to put on solid slabs of muscle. I could make this list a lot longer but I prefer to keep it simple before diving too deep down the mass gain rabbit hole. Here are my 3 rules as follows:
- Limit Your Cardio
- Train Like A Bodybuilder
- Eat, Eat, & Eat Some More
Stop running. Literally. Every calorie you consume needs to be devoted to muscle protein synthesis which is a fancy way of saying mass gains. If you are naturally thin/lean, and you are trying to build muscle, but you are also doing cardio multiple days a week, you will FAIL! You will be angry, mad, frustrated, or perhaps all three, because if anything, you may actually lose size, weight, strength or all three!
It is very simple. A stronger muscle is a larger muscle. While it can be done if you are a mesomorph, if you are a hardgainer ectomorph, it is very hard to gain strength and i.e. muscle mass, if you are doing cardio. If you absolutely must do cardio, limit it to no more than 3 twenty minute sessions a week. Any more than that and you will curtail your desired muscle gain.
I understand why a lot of men and women do this. While we want more muscle, we have this fear of getting fat or losing our six-pack abs, so we do all this aggressive cardio. The problem with that approach is you never give your body a chance to put on solid muscle because you’re burning through the calories and nutrients it needs to grow. Muscle building is a process. If you are doing too much cardio as a hardgainer, you absolutely will interrupt that process and will find yourself stagnated looking flat and deflated year after year.
You cannot put on muscle mass while doing copious amounts of cardio so stop it!
There is a bewildering assortment of equipment in the gym. We can all agree on that. So I will simplify things by stating free weights are absolutely critical when it comes to mass gain. Machines, resistance bands, medicine balls, yoga mats, etc…. they all have their place in your workout routine.
But if all you care about is adding as much muscle as you can as quickly as you can, stick with free weights–barbells and dumbbells make this possible. For years, I went entire workouts with nothing but free weights. Only recently have I decided to add more machines and cable resistance to the mix. Even so, free weights are still the priority.
Whether you want to gain weight or lose weight or add muscle or get yourself “ripped,” for beach season, the routine does not really change–stick with the free weights. Keep them in your bodybuilding or body sculpting routine year-round. As you know already, get yourself checked out by a doctor before you begin any new routine, in particular, if you have some questionable health conditions. Now, if you are healthy and have no pre-existing health problems or conditions, I encourage you to focus on a few key mass movements above all others. I will break it down by muscle groups as follows:
Chest: Barbell & Dumbbell Flat Bench Presses, Barbell & Dumbbell Incline Bench Presses
Shoulders: Standing or seated Military Presses with a Barbell & Dumbbells (Press either to the front or behind the head. Personally, I only do presses to the front now after years of doing them behind the head.)
Legs: Barbell Squats. (If you cannot do squats, get on that Leg Press Machine.)
Back: Pullups, Chinups, Deadlifts, Bent Over Barbell Rows and Dumbbell Rows. (If you cannot do Pullups or Chinups, the Lat Pulldown is a great substitute.)
Arms: For your Biceps, Dumbbell and Barbell Biceps Curls. For your Triceps, which make up 2/3 of the muscle in your arms, Bar Dips are THE mass gainer for your Triceps.
In future articles, I will go into more detail and breakdown the benefits of each movement in-depth. This is just to get you started, because you really do not need an overly complicated routine in order to have fantastic results. I have had entire leg day workouts where all I did was Barbell Squats. Trust me. Even if you have been training for years, 10 sets of 10 reps at “just” 135 pounds of weight will have your legs on fire. Your legs will be annihilated and probably will not need any further stimulation.
You must be in a calorie surplus when looking to add muscle mass. In other words, you have to spend your days taking in more calories than your body can burn. This is how you put weight on. Not only that, but you need fuel for these explosive workouts you will be doing. If you are doing the work in the gym, you will be hungry. You should not have to force the food down.
This being the case, keep your protein levels high. That is the main ingredient for protein synthesis. Also, pay attention to carbs and keep them on the high side, as they are the primary source of fuel for you in and out the gym. While you can snack and even use weight gain shakes, I would not rely on these two methods.
Eating cart full amounts of cake, cookies, and ice cream will put weight on you, but NOT the kind of weight you are looking to put on. Remember–we want to put on muscle, NOT fat. Quality over quantity. Whole food meals are your go-to here.
Every four to five hours I advise having a whole food meal with a good portion of protein and carbs. I believe in a high protein meat source, carbs, and some vegetables on the side. They all have their purpose. Vegetables, while not as fun to eat as steak and potatoes, are absolutely essential for regulating important processes in your body, such as digestion. Don’t neglect your veggies!
In terms of when to eat and how often, if you happen to be hungry and cannot wait, then by all means, EAT! The only time I would advise not eating is when you aren’t hungry. If you eat when you aren’t hungry, you are adding to that calorie surplus for muscle growth, but you also add the risk of putting on unnecessary body fat whenever you do this excessively.
Over time, learn to pay attention to the mirror–that will tell you how far to take it. How your clothes “fit” you are another great indicator–in particular the waistline. If your clothes are getting too tight around the waist, back off on the calories and number of meals, although, I do not suspect that will be too much of a problem for the ectomorphs out there. The key is not to be moving up multiple pants sizes–by all means slow down on the eating at that point. I will not go into tracking calories and carbs and the like at this time. The main priority is getting you on a schedule where you are eating a meal every couple of hours. We can work on fine-tuning things later.
One last thing–as a natural drug-free steroid free lifter–give this time!
You MUST be patient. You are not going to put on 10 or 20 pounds of muscle in a month. You will see progress though. Whenever I start any new program, I like to give it 2-3 months minimum. In that time, expect to see some strength and size gains and some newfound pep in your step.
Limit your cardio. Focus on the mass gaining basic exercises I outlined. And eat a surplus of whole food while keeping excess snacking to a minimum. Remember, you want to gain quality weight in the form of muscle as opposed to excess body fat.
Stay tuned for much more to follow in this blog. In the meantime, I’ll see you at the gym!
–Daniel Cousin
