Gaining Mass

This is for all fitness buffs who are trying to gain muscle mass. and since i advocate a drug-free weight training especially hardgainers. Hardgainers are defined as persons having difficulty in gaining mass with high volume training (more than 3 times/wk training, more than 2x training of body part per wk). If your not genetically gifted to respond high volume training or don't do steroids then you are a hardgainer. Dont worry, you belong to a large group (60-90%). For hardgainers who value every bit of muscle mass here goes...

1.)Weight Train - focus on compound exercises squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press, rows involve the most muscle in each exercise. Forget isolation exercise. If you want to get big then recruit more muscles in each exercise. Train in heavy, low repetitions. Heavy means that your capable of lifting the load in 6-12 reps. If you can lift it more than 12 the load is light, additional weight is necessary.

2.)Observe perfect form - exercises train target muscles only in perfect form. This is also necessary to avoid injury

3.)Train no more than thrice weekly- hardgainers need more rest than training days.

4.)Sleep - at least 8 hrs. Muscle grows while you REST(i.e sleep) NOT IN THE GYM.

5.)Progressive Poundage- to put the muscle in a state of shock it must be subjected to consistent stress to stimulate growth. Either increasing weights or reps enables the muscle to adjust. Muscle growth is necessary for the body to cope up with increasing weight. Our body has the abilty to adapt to "stressors" and maintaining the same workout will not encourage growth.

6.)Eat more often - small but frequent meals sustains the body nourishment all day. The body can also assimilate a certain number calories each meal. To grow the body must acquire more calories than it can burn. Quality food consisting of complex carbs and protein in greater percentage (than fat) to avoid excess fat in growing as much as possible. Protein ( in grams) intake must be equivalent to pounds of your lean body weight each day for muscle growth and repair.

That's it. Train Hard and Smart and be BIG!!.

You can check out this Hardgainer's FAQ