3 Reasons You’re Still Skinny – Building Muscle for Hardgainers
3 Biggest Skinny Guy Mistakes You're Making. Click Here to Avoid Them!
As a naturally scrawny guy who had struggled with the inability to put on size for the majority of my life, I know how painful it can be to train your ass off and eat like the worlds food supply is going to disappear only to step on the scale, week after week, and realize that you have not grown at all. There have been times in my life where I thought it was virtually impossible for me to put on any weight (fat or muscle) no matter how accurate I was with my training and/or diet. I had soon realized that the things I THOUGHT I was doing correctly were actually the exact reasons I was stuck in the same, pathetic, 115 lbs soak and wet bony body.
So what is my point here?
My point is this…I know your pain and I know your struggle. I know how hurtful it is to be too embarrassed to wear tank tops. I know how embarrassing it can be to weigh the same amount as your girlfriend. And I certainly know how disappointing it is to bust your ass, day in and day out, only to step on the scale or look in the mirror and realize that nothing is working.
With that being said, I want to share 3 muscle building mistakes that were keeping me skinny. These are common mistakes that most of you are probably making right now. These are some of the same mistakes that I made before I packed on 27 lbs of lean, rock hard muscle, in just 12 short weeks.
#1 Reason you’re Still Skinny – “Too many chefs in the kitchen”
After being frustrated for so long, I started to do lots of research on how to build muscle for skinny guys. I soon came to realize that a million different people were saying a million different things. And as if that weren’t bad enough, these million different opinions all contradicted the next. The crazy part was that everyone who was giving the information was in great shape so they must know what they’re talking about, right?
That‘s right! Problem is, every time we read something more appealing to us than the previous trend, we want to try it.
How you’re going to grow #1
What we must know is this…each and every workout you read about (for the more part) all work and produce amazing results. However, if we continue to question everyone’s theories based off of what we learned last week, we will never give any program an honest shot. Instead, we will continue to mix and match theories and continue to follow programs based on 10 different approaches. The only way you are going to get the results you want is to PICK A DAMN PROGRAM and stick to it. Don’t question it, don’t tweak it, and don’t mix logic, just do it!
It is also very important that you base your program on your current goals. Most programs are NOT “1 size fits all”. Find a program that was created for your specific body type and/or for your specific goals.
Building Muscle for Skinny Guys <== Click here
#2 Reason you’re Still Skinny – Train More, Grow More
If you have been training 5 days per week for the last 4 weeks and have not seen any results, common sense would say that you aren’t training hard or long enough. This leads to you spend more time in the gym and training 6 days a week instead of 5. However, if you haven’t already found out the hard way, this can easily become a recipe for destruction. Not only will you NOT grow, but you may even end up smaller than you started.
Most guys assume that muscle is created inside the gym while were lifting heavy weights. Problem is, muscle is actually created in the time that we are at home resting, eating, and sleeping. So although common sense would drive us to want to spend more time in the gym, science proves otherwise.
How you’re going to grow #2
If you are currently training 5-6 days a week, drop it down to 3-4 days instead. This will allow your body to get an adequate amount of rest in order to recover and build new muscle. Train every other day instead of back to back and concentrate on big compound lifts that target more than one muscle group at a time. This will help take advantage of anabolic hormones that are essential to building muscle mass quickly.
Hardgainer Workout Week: Example
Monday: Chest & Biceps
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: Back & Triceps
Thursday: Rest
Friday: Shoulders & Hamstrings
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Quads & Abs
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Chest & Biceps
And so on and so forth…
#3 Reason you’re Still Skinny – Not Having a Clear Goal
Another huge mistake I constantly made was not having a clear goal. If anyone asked me what my goal was, I’d say “I want to put on size”. Not only did this create unrealistic expectations, but there was absolutely no deadline to hold me accountable for making progress.
How you’re going to grow #3
When I finally packed on 27 lbs of muscle in 12 weeks, it was because I said “I want to build 21 lbs of lean mass by March 21st”. Having a clear goal allowed me to stick to a program because I knew I had a deadline. I also shared my goal with my close friends to make sure they held me accountable. Knowing that every week or so I was going to get questioned about my progress made me that much more motivated to stay on track.
From Skinny to Muscular – Begin the Journey
As they say “ain’t nothing to it but to do it”.
- Pick an approach or a strategy that fits you and stick to it. For the given amount of time, simply pretend that this is the only information or strategy that exists.
- Less is more…Without rest we cannot grow, period.
- Set a realistic goal with a specific deadline. Make sure to tell people about it in order to create some accountability for yourself.
3 Advanced Tips for Skinny Guys <== Click here
April 1st, 2012 at 4:47 am
Great job. Just so I have a realistic benchmark
1)What is the duration between the 2 pics?
2) How much have all your lifts improved in that period?
April 23rd, 2012 at 7:47 pm
Just curious,
My workouts usually last only 20-30 minutes, but I rest only 30-45 seconds between each set. I do 4 sets, and all the compound exercises, i still do reps between 10-15 and 6-8, is this ok? I feel the burn, but i dont know if im not doing enough i see people there for like an hour or so…
April 23rd, 2012 at 8:00 pm
It is not about how much time you spend in the gym, but how you spend that time in the gym. 20-30 minutes sounds a little short, however…it just depends on what you are doing. I would keep the rests at about 40 seconds and if you are training full body, stick to big compound exercises and make sure to hit every group. If you are doing 4 sets total, that is much too little. If you are doing 4 sets per muscle group in a full body routine, that should be fine.
August 1st, 2012 at 10:01 pm
Hi Alain I have read your book on mass in a flash and all of the info I found in it was great I just wanted to ask you one thing, you see I go to the gym four days and week then I usually play football for today’s during the week as well and since I’m an ectomorph I know I may not be resting enough, but is it ok for me to be doing this or should I not play football at all and rest and just train in the gym?
August 1st, 2012 at 10:39 pm
It is totally fine to play football, bro. Just remember, more physical activity means you’ll need more calories to ensure you are in a surplus. So don’t stop playing football, just calculate your calories accordingly.
August 2nd, 2012 at 10:44 am
Just another question. Before I play football about 15 mins before or so should I take a pre workout shake just in case my body starts burning my muscles for energy or should I just stock up on carb before I play?