Many hardgainers often give up training as a result of not seeing any gains. This could be a result of several factors such as undereating, overtraining, inadequate rest as well as a whole host of other factors. This article will discuss the 5 foundations to building muscles for hardgainers.
1. The first foundation to building a muscular physique is planning. Many hardgainers head straight to the gym without any planning whatsoever. Planning is crucial to building a muscular physique in that not only will you determine the exact number of sets and reps for maximum muscle growth but also what foods you eat and how much rest you need. Write up your own personal muscle building plan and put it into practice for immediate results.
2. Use proper form when training. Training with poor form will bring about injuries down the line. ALWAYS use proper form with each and every exercise. Not only will you prevent injuries you'll also maximize your muscle building potential. Leave your ego at the gym entrance and lift lighter weights using proper form.
3. Don't overtrain. Many hardgainers who start their muscle building program assume that the more you train the more muscle you'll build. Nothing can be further from the truth, training more than four days a week will eventually lead you to burn out. Your muscles will atrophy from lack of recovery time as well as exhausting your Central Nervous System (CNS). Many hardgainers will also experience a plateau in their training in response to overtraining. To prevent overtraining limit your exercises to compound exercises e.g. bench press, pull-ups, deadlifts and squats and reduce your training to three sessions a week. You should also keep your training sessions under one hour and limit your sets and reps to four sets and twelve reps max.
4. Go to bed early. It's important to go to bed early so that you'll allow your body plenty of time to recover. Reducing the duration of sleep will have a detrimental effect on building muscle since most of your hormones are released during your sleep. As a guide go to bed preferably before 10pm for six to eight hours.
5. Eat balanced meals. It's very important to consume enough food. Most hardgainers undereat thereby limiting their muscular growth. One way to determine whether or not you're eating enough food is to record down on paper what foods you've eaten for the day and by comparing it against hardgainer meal plans found on the Internet. You may surprise yourself by how much you're undereating.
For more great tips to building muscle for hardgainers check out Skinny To Muscles.