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Hard gainers, what to do with them........?
Fri, 01/26/2007 - 6:13pm — Charles Izzo
Ok, to set things straight, I'm sure anyone who has been able to gain well in their day knows the simplicity of making size or strength gains. You make a plan that will make you meet your goal, visualize yourself reaching that goal, and you just do it! Sure, you may hit bumps in the road, but only the dedicated athlete will get around that. It is in my opinion that there is no such
thing as a hard gainer by physical means. Instead it's a mental thing. Hard gainers do sissy workouts, don't eat enough, and have a never ending list of excuses as to why they aren't making gains and why others do.
So I really want to know. Since a true hard gainer is so stubborn that they will never listen. What do you say to them? And especially if that person is your friend?
The thing is, I can't think of any nice way to tell someone like why they are skinny twigs. There is no possible way. I know when I was a teen ager me and my workout friends used to make fun of each other and it worked to try to encourage each other to do better than the other. But I'm pretty sure I grew out of that a long time ago. I like the way all the lifters on these boards are when we just support each other and give a pat on the back when a new PR is set.
So what do you do? Do you just laugh to yourself and be thankful that it isn't you?
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Re: Hard gainers, what to do with them........?
So I really want to know. Since a true hard gainer is so stubborn that they will never listen. What do you say to them? And especially if that person is your friend?
The thing is, I can't think of any nice way to tell someone like that why they are skinny twigs. There is no possible way. I know when I was a teen ager me and my workout friends used to make fun of each other and it worked to try to encourage each other to do better than the other. But I'm pretty sure I grew out of that a long time ago. I like the way all the lifters on these boards are when we just support each other and give a pat on the back when a new PR is set.
So what do you do? Do you just laugh to yourself and be thankful that it isn't you?
Well ... the thing is... there ARE REAL hard gainers! They are people who high levels of slow twitch muscle fibers which do not allow themselves for high levels of hypertrophy!
These people can lift properly and yes, they will gain mass but it will not be substantial when compared to the general population.
Where I WILL agree is that many so called hardgainers are one of the following: undertrainers (in intensity), overtrainers (in duration), or undereaters. So if such a person is your friend, work with them on proper training scheduling and intensity AND proper eating. Get them functioning properly in an encouraging way - if they grow/get stronger...great! If not, they just might be a hardgainer.
That said, people - true hardgainers - are not like this. People tell them they are just undereating, but when they increase the caloric intake beyond a given point, they just get fat (just like all of us would if we ate calories in excess)!
Re: Hard gainers, what to do with them........?
Truth is you just have to shoot them. You'll be doing them a favor. Or perhaps get them involved with stamp collecting.
Seriously though, a lot of hardgainers will not only eat crappy but they'll also do some kind of crappy workout routine like HIT and then blame it on their poor genetics. These guys need to get on a 5000+ calorie a day diet consisting of real food and not some bogus crash weight gain supplement. And they need to train smarter. It's funny but the more I eat and the more I workout the better my genetics become.
Hard gainers, what to do with them........?
I consider myself a hard gainer, mostly red fiber for sure. genetics, i have legs the size of a marathon runner. but it doesn't deter me, the thing i found out is i have to lift at 90%1rm more often to pack on the size, BB didn't cut it for me so i switched to PL and that is where i gained the size.
I believe Todd Wilson has an article out for hardgainers, i think it's on diesel crew. a good read.
Hard gainers, what to do with them........?
If you're gaining size on very low reps then you may be more fast twitch than you realize.
Hard gainers, what to do with them........?
#Well ... the thing is... there ARE REAL hard gainers! They are people who high levels of slow twitch muscle fibers which do not allow themselves for high levels of hypertrophy!
These people can lift properly and yes, they will gain mass but it will not be substantial when compared to the general population.#
To blame things on genetics is way over rated. It's just an other excuse. Everyone I know who trained hard and ate good always made gains regardless of their genetic limitations. Show me someone who actually put in an honest effort to work hard with olympic squats and deadlifts (who doesn't have some sort of disease limiting them to make gains) and got nothing out of it. If you can do that I'll make the statue of liberty disappear! Real hard gainers get their workouts out of cheesy magazines, do quarter squats with 100 lbs, negatives on the bench press, wrist curls, and eat only 1 meal per day. Then they wonder why they get no where, blame others success on juice and say they don't know anything just because they juice, and they blame their own failure on high metabolism.
#Where I WILL agree is that many so called hardgainers are one of the following: undertrainers (in intensity), overtrainers (in duration), or undereaters. So if such a person is your friend, work with them on proper training scheduling and intensity AND proper eating. Get them functioning properly in an encouraging way - if they grow/get stronger...great! If not, they just might be a hardgainer.#
That's the thing. There is no doubt in my mind that they will gain if they actually listen and put in the effort. If they had a half a set of brains in their head they would actually listen to people who have done before them.
I actually know someone like this. And the sad part about it is he is an engineer so you would think he would be smart enough to look in the right
places. And the truth is, I tried to aim him in the right direction and he just doesn't listen and has an excuse for everything such as, all of the big guys got to where they are just because they worked for harder and longer and they took more steroids, so that means they don't know anything. Mean while you have all these bigger guys in the gym such as myself, but we don't know jack. I'm almost to the point where I want to laugh at this guy while he's doing his quarter squats with 95 lbs and tell him he's never going to make any gains. Maybe then he will get mad and start hitting the weights hard just to show me I'm wrong. I figure if you do it that way, maybe they will either work harder and do good or just give up. And if they are the type of person to give up then maybe they have no reason to be in the gym any ways.
Hard gainers, what to do with them........?
http://www.dieselcrew.com/articles/HardGainertodd.pdf
This is that article for hardgainers by Todd.
You could be right Doc M, , but after training for 25 years and trying different methods, even got certified as a trainer thru doc's organization just to see if i was doing things right, i think i'm at my genetic max, but i don't stop, i keep plugging away.
Hard gainers, what to do with them........?
#I consider myself a hard gainer, mostly red fiber for sure. genetics, i have legs the size of a marathon runner. but it doesn't deter me, the thing i found out is i have to lift at 90%1rm more often to pack on the size, BB didn't cut it for me so i switched to PL and that is where i gained the size.
I believe Todd Wilson has an article out for hardgainers, i think it's on diesel crew. a good read.#
That's what I mean man. I wouldn't consider you are hard gainer by any means. Not in my book. You found a way! You make gains!
Hard gainers, what to do with them........?
#You could be right Doc M, , but after training for 25 years and trying different methods, even got certified as a trainer thru doc's organization just to see if i was doing things right, i think i'm at my genetic max, but i don't stop, i keep plugging away.#
I find that believable. I actually find it a bit harder to make gains than when I
was younger, but 'm still progressing! I'm sure if you simply keep trying to improve on your personal best PRs you will continue to gain. That is something I understand you can keep gaining as you get older with powerlifting. Of course there probably has to be a limit in age some where when your body becomes too old and begins to break down.
Hard gainers, what to do with them........?
eat more train smarter.
Hard gainers, what to do with them........?
Most are not "hard gainers" but rather, they just have a shallow learning curve. Something is usually missing. It is either in the nutrition department, or workout density, intensity, frequency, or volume.
TNT
Hard gainers, what to do with them........?
Confucius says, "Eat lots of good food, train hard, and watch genetics improve."
Hard gainers, what to do with them........?
One step further, "eat and train smarter". It's not just about eating more any more than it is just about lifting more weight.
Hard gainers, what to do with them........?
More time under max tension!!!!!!!!!!!
Save this thread in the archives, will yoa, moderators? Thanks...