leaving the hardgainer mentality

[kennya]

It is possible for those of us who are ectomorphic hardgainers to improve training performance, volume and/or frequency. This is done through increasing your work capacity, slowly and intelligently. I'm a true ectomorphic/hardgainer with poor sleep/cns issues, etc. my whole life. I consistently trained 2 days/week, stuart mcrobert philosphies, etc. i never really considered the possibility of ever increasing volume or frequency. I continually "stuck" myself in the mindset of a hardgainer. I have been training with IA for 4 months now, and have greatly increased my strength, muscle,recovery, work capacity,etc. All this with sub-optimal sleep, which is a continual work in progress. My routine is varied but i most often will train 3 days, even 4 days/week, which i never thought possible, all with increased volume.INTELLIGENTLY applied increases in work capacity, properly applied cardio and spot on diet, sleep,etc WILL transform you. Just want to encourage all the hardgainers here that you CAN get where you want to be.

[wrangle]

Word on this- I have been working with IA as well and we are doing very well right now. I am hitting muscles twice weekly and still have made continual strength gains the past 3 months solid.

I am the Xtreme hardgainer so there is hope.

[Ramsey 54]

Awesome guys. Very motivational indeed.

[iron addict]

Kenya is great example. When I wrote his routine he read it, nd during our next call he was very reluctant. He said the ONLY thing he had ever had work were very low volume 2 day McRobert inspired hardgainer routines. I assured him that by regulating the intensity and volume we would do fine. I can't say for certain what he was thinking, but he sounded like he was pretty certai it wouldn't work, as the frequency and workload was much higher than what he had been doing (with mixed/slow results). He has made continual progress since we started. Nothing earth shattering, he is still a hardgainer, but we are working towards making him much less a hardginer, and the results have been very good in both our opinions.

IA

[Dobermann]

Originally Posted by wrangle

Word on this- I have been working with IA as well and we are doing very well right now. I am hitting muscles twice weekly and still have made continual strength gains the past 3 months solid.

I am the Xtreme hardgainer so there is hope.

Thats great wrangle, but I dont understand how you can be an xtreme hardgainer and train each BP 2x a week!? how long did it take you to work upto that type of frequency training?

[wrangle]

Originally Posted by Dobermann

Thats great wrangle, but I dont understand how you can be an xtreme hardgainer and train each BP 2x a week!? how long did it take you to work upto that type of frequency training?

just browing and saw this Dobermann,

Honestly I am not quite sure of the mechanism that allows me to do it but I have now been doin it for 3+ months with poundages increasing every week. I have gained 40lbs on squat and 20lbs on bench, 20lbs on deads and 20lbs on dips and it is still working. A BIG factor is I am doing very low reps and watching the intensity carefully and keepin bout 2 reps shy of total failure. I wierd bro, you cannot go off of my progess or follow my lead. For some reason there will be periods where I will gain consistant and make great gains for a long time then there will be about 3 months where it will just go into the shitter and no matter what I do I wont gain shit. I also am not one of those that can take lifts out and introduce new ones(westsie style) without being like a total beginner starting up on them again. About a year and a half ago I had my squats to where I could do 1 set of 20 reps with 225(not great but for me it was)then I focused on deads for a while and when I went back to squatting I could barly do 185 for 3 reps.

As for why I have been able to hit my muscle groups twice weekly now and still produce strength gains I am not sure. I am sure it has something to do with the sled but not sure of the mechanism.

Mabye IA would be so kind as to explain the mechanism that increased frequency leads to better strength gains than once a week per BP training

[Dobermann]

Great progress on those lifts bro and thanks for posting that! looks like you have shity carry over Im the same if I quit a lift or do a variant when I go back to the lift say bench I lose lbs.In fact if I take time off from a lift like squat I'll lose lbs as well.I think this is due to most starting strength being nuero muscular rather than muscle adaptation.

For the three months when you wont make gains at all, I assume your talking about strength gains? and that your eating enough kcals etc.etc?

[iron addict]

The reason is simple--because intensity is being regulated. He is on a periodized routine AND does not train to failure. Most "hardgainers" can do the same if intensity is regulated.

IA

[Dobermann]

Originally Posted by iron addict

The reason is simple--because intensity is being regulated. He is on a periodized routine AND does not train to failure. Most "hardgainers" can do the same if intensity is regulated.

IA

So most hardgainers could use your 4 day 5x5 then IA?

[iron addict]

The way I have Wrangle's 5 x 5 is very different than my 4 day 5 x 5. It is setup for hardgainers wheras the 4 day 5 x 5 is NOT.

IA