Hardgainers Guide – Advice For Hardgainers

This is a complete hardgainers guide – advice for hardgainers who have a hard time gaining muscle, are skinny, are skinny-fat, have a fast metabolism, etc. As I add new informative posts that can help hard gainers — I’ll add them to this guide.

“Am I a Hardgainer?”

I think it’s important to stop think of yourself as a hardgainer, if you’re going to make any process. Why? Because your mental attitude is one of the most important keys to success in achieving any goal.

So if you keep referring to yourself as a hardgainer, someone who has a hard time making gains, then you’re really feeding your subconscious mind an affirmation daily that says “I am skinny, I am weak, it is hard for me to gain muscle or get the body I want. It’s all very hard for me”.

Now do you think you’ll make more process thinking this way… or… empowering yourself and keeping yourself motivated with more positive, goal-oriented thinking?

Instead of referring to yourself as a hardgainer, think instead: “I’m skinny now, but I’m training hard and it’s going to get easier and easier to gain muscle. Even Arnold Schwarzenneger was 6 feet tall and 150lbs of scrawniness when he started lifting weights, but he got big and strong with each workout just like I’m getting stronger and bigger each workout”.

Do you see the difference?

This is very important. In fact, I recommend you pick up a copy of the New Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz and Dan Kennedy so you completely understand the effect that your self-image has on your success. Dr. Maltz correctly points out that your brain is like a powerful guided missile (a cybernetic missile) that sends you rocketing towards the goals and reality you feed it.

Result? Garbage in your brain, garbage out. Focus instead on your goals, see yourself bigger than you already are (Arnold used to imagine his biceps as small mountains on his arms!) and stay focused and positive. Read my article on Goal Setting to get yourself started.

The 3 Pillars of Progress For Hardgainers

When it comes right down to it, if you’re skinny and having a little trouble gaining weight, or skinny-fat, or whatever your needs are NOT different than anyone else who wants to build muscle.

Nope. We are all human. BUT… you need to pay attention that you’re doing it RIGHT. See where most guys go wrong is they’re really good about one or two parts of the equation, like say training and sleep… but they chronically neglect nutrition (eating a lot).

I use the words “pillars” because it makes you think they’re holding something up — and they are — they’re holding up your progress and without all three of them there, the whole thing comes crashing down. So here’s the 3 Pillars of Progress for hardgainers:

• Train Hard
• Eat Hard
• Sleep Hard

That’s really all there is to it. It’s the same process that’s been used for 100’s of years to get guys muscular and strong — you just need to make sure you’re doing it all correctly because you’re a “hardgainer”

Train Hard

See Strength Training 101 for an overview of strength training and why you should be doing it, what it is, etc.Then you should read the article 7 Reasons Why You Should Do Full Body Workouts.

Then you should check out the full article on the Hardgainer Workout for more specific information for you.

Eat Hard

You gotta eat and you gotta eat a lot. Most guys get the training part down ok. They go, get excited about lifting weights and do a good job in the gym… but totally blow it when they get home.

Read  How to eat to build muscle and lose fat to get a little basic nutrition information. Then you need to read why milk is a hardgainers best friend by looking over the  Diet For Building Muscle – Add This Food Now article.

Another good one to read is What’s A Good Diet To Gain Muscle? , Muscle Growth Diet?, and finally get some more specific advice with the Hardgainer Diet article.

Sleep Hard

This is another important part of the formula. You need to rest. You need to sleep well yes, but especially in the beginning when you’re trying to build a lot of muscle you don’t want to be doing a lot of other activities when you’re not at the gym.

You can’t afford to burn the calories! So this is your excuse to be lazy, to sit around and read books, blogs (like this one of course!) and watch Star Wars or whatever.

The article  This is the “secret” to building muscle fast (the one you’ve never heard) might help you in this respect. But basically you just need to cut out any other sports or activities you’re doing as much as possible when you’re not at the gym.

So there you go, follow this advice for hardgainers – Hardgainers guide, pay attention to the 3 pillars and you’ll start growing like a weed in no time!