The ‘HARD GAINER’ is typically thin with low levels of muscle as well as body fat.  . They usually have a very high metabolism and you have trouble putting on weight. One of the main downfalls of ‘hard gainers’ is they train to much. Your body is expending a lot of calories throughout the day with such a high metabolism that when you exercise we need to try and limit the amount of calories we burn. Otherwise your body will never have a sufficient amount of surplus calories to help you build muscle and gain weight. Also looking at nutrition we will attempt to slow the metabolism down at certain points throughout the day to help to create those surplus calories and promote lean muscle growth and weight gain.
 
Training

‘Less is more’ we want to work harder not longer. When training we are trying to stimulate the muscle fibres to grow by placing them under stress and resistance. This is done by recruiting the muscle fibres against the heaviest weight possible. You will be strongest at the beginning of your workout when you are fresh so this is the perfect time to really stimulate and recruit maximum muscle fibres to promote muscle growth. The longer the session continues and the more fatigued you get you can no longer lift with the same intensity and load making your training inefficient and also expending vital calories needed for growth.
 
Nutrition

Using food we can attempt to slow down the metabolism and reduce the amount of calories burnt by the thermal affect of the body so that there are more calories available for growth and repair.  By increasing portion sizes we give the body more to digest and help to slow down the metabolism. The optimum times for this are breakfast, post workout and before bed. Breakfast is the must important meal of the day, after being asleep for approximately 8 hours without food our bodies need nutrients. Having a substantial breakfast consisting of protein, complex carbohydrates and good fats will give the body all the essential foods it needs and the enough to digest it will you will start the day as you mean to go on, with a slightly slower metabolism e.g. 75g Porridge oats (cooked with water/milk), Whey Protein or scrambled egg whites .
 
During exercise the metabolism will have increased greatly so immediately after it is important to get in some protein, complex carbohydrates and fats e.g. Weight Gain Shake containing at least 30g Protein, 50g Carbohydrates.
 
When you sleep is when you are most anabolic so it is important that we supply our bodies with nutrients throughout the night to help with growth and repair. Once again a serving of protein, complex carbohydrates and fats will help to slow the metabolism down during sleep and allow the nutrients to be digested slowly throughout the whole night and allow calories to be used by the body rather than being digested within the first few hours of sleep. It is important that you eat approx 45mins-1 hour before going to bed, if you eat to close to sleep the bodies blood supply will be directed more towards digestion and not to the rest of the body to promote growth and repair. This time should allow enough food to have been digested that the body will have the started to transport nutrients and a greater blood supply around the body.
(Also read my ‘Core Nutrition’ Article)

Training guidelines for Hard Gainers
 
Start  with a 5 minute warm-up and to raise the heart rate before training.
 
Train 3 sets of each exercise;
 
Complete 6 to 10 reps, increasing the weight and decreasing reps (called pyramiding) with each set.
 
Lift weights heavy enough to reach near-failure within the prescribed rep range.
 
You must make progress each session. This may be more reps or more weight, you must constantly be increasing the stress and load placed on the muscle fibres in order for them to grow.
 
Rest 60-90 seconds between sets, depending on the body part being trained. Take more time for larger muscle
groups like legs, chest and back.
 
‘Time is Muscle’, your muscles also respond to high intensity so work hard get in, get it done and get out!
 
Train each muscle group only once a week.
 
Get plenty of sleep and rest between workouts.
 
Limit vigorous activities outside of training sessions that burn lots of calories, or reduce your cardio sessions.
 
TRAINING ROUTINE                                                                          
 
Day 1
Back                                       Biceps                        
1) Pull-ups/ Latpulldown          1) Standing EZ Bar curl                                                                     
2) Bent Over Row                   2) Seated Dumbbell hammer curl           
3) Single Arm Dumbbell row    3) Preacher curls        
   
Day 2
Legs                                        Calves
1) Squats /Leg press                1) Standing Calf Raise
2) Walking Lunges
3) Leg Extensions
4) Hamstring Curls
 
Day 3
Rest
 
Day 4
Chest                                      Triceps                                              
1) Bench Press                      1) Dips/ Bench Dips              
2) Incline Dumbbell Press       2) Skull Crushers – Dumbbell/ Barbell                          
3) Dumbbell Fly’s                   3) Rope Tricep Extensions                                                                                         
 
Day 5
Shoulders                                                                              
1) Dumbbell Shoulder Press                                      
2) Dumbbell Lateral Raise                                                                      
3) Barbell Front Raise
                                   
Day 6 & 7
Rest

Ben Lauder-Dykes
Specialist Trainer and Nutritional Advisor
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
www.bfittraining.co.uk