The Truth - How To Gain Muscle
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No matter how much we want to gain muscles, the truth is that our bodies will always be trying to do exercises in the most efficient way possible. This is the true regardless if you’re a Hardgainer or not or whatever your fitness goals may be. What does this mean? In order to gain healthy weight and bigger muscles, you have to keep your body guessing. Lifting the same weight with the same amount of reps won’t change your body into a Hardgainer body, because it acclimates to the exercises to perform them with the least amount of effort possible. Your body adapts, and after a little bit of time, the same exercises and the same weight will only maintain the muscles you have and not make you gain muscle.
In order to build bigger muscles faster, you have to challenge them and keep them guessing. If you vary your movements and weights, your body will have no choice but to respond. Your muscles will tear and mend, building bigger muscles in response to the stress. Essentially your body is gaining more muscle so that it’s prepared to deal with the next level of stress. This is how it works for Hardgainers or anybody else lifting weights.
So how do you put on muscle? The best way to build bigger muscles is to increase the weight on the bar and do more reps. But let’s use a specific example in part of a Hardgainer workout routine.
For the sake of illustration, I’m going to use the example of a dumbbell shoulder press.
Let’s say that you complete 11 reps on the first set, then 8 on the following set and 5 on the third set. You do all of this with 50 lbs of weight. When you first started working out with the dumbbell shoulder press, you probably saw results. But continuing your workouts with the same number of reps and the same weight won’t build muscle. Even if you do them for a very long time, you’ll only maintain what you already have. You’re not pushing your body, and it’s adapting with every workout to perform more efficiently. Your muscles have learned how to handle that weight/rep combination, and you’re not forcing them to get any bigger, and you are not gaining muscle.
Think increase when you think muscle growth. Push yourself and add one more rep to that first set. It may seem like a small increase, but your body is going to notice and you will gain muscle. You’re forcing your shoulder muscles to do more, and they’re going to respond. Increasing the weight by five pounds is also going to change your muscles. It’s a different kind of stress, and your body is going to answer the challenge by building bigger muscles to handle the new exercise, for Hardgainers and for everybody else.
Always try to beat last week’s workout! If we use the previous dumbbell shoulder press example, add one rep to every set, giving you a first set of 12 reps, 9 on the second and 6 on the last set. This overload will stress your body into getting bigger muscles to cope with the increased reps. It’s a small increase, but it’s the jolt that your body needs to get stronger. If you’re doing a bodybuilder Hardgainer workout routine and do a 8-12 rep range, add more weight once you hit 12 reps. Start building reps over again with the new weight, and I promise that you’re going to be building muscles fast
Article author
About the Author
My name is Michael Morales. I’m a business manager and the author of the Hardgainer blog – Gainers Blog.
I´m a nice guy with a good fitness. It’s easy to think that I always looked like this, but my fitness level is the result of many years of trying and failing different products and exercises. I started this Hardgainer Workout blog to help other bodybuilders and people interested in building muscle all-naturally.
Save yourself time and money and skip the trial and error of experimenting with every product advertised in a fitness magazine. Instead, sign up for my Hardgainer Workout emails. I’ll deliver tips on the fastest ways to gain muscle. I’ll share with you what works to build muscle all-naturally.
I’m committed to sharing my knowledge of a Hardgainers Diet and Workout, because I have my own fitness goals to accomplish as well.
I was born in 1972 in Denmark and have lived here all my life. I always enjoyed sports and as I entered my teenage years, I began to focus on what I could do with my body and how I could transform it. This passion led to gymnastics, martial arts and free weights training.
I have been working out with weights for years. In the beginning, I tried a lot of stupid things. I’d read an article in a body building magazine and believed that it would make me gain 30 lbs ove
ight. I ate all kinds of (exiting) things, and I used a lot of money on stuff that the fancy magazines promised would do great things to me. They didn’t work, but I persevered and worked out two times a day, six days a week.
I’m grateful that I did all these things, because now I know what works for me and my body. I now have the knowledge of what it takes to transform my body, and I want to share this valuable Hardgainer information and advice with you. Rather than spending years trying the latest fad for building muscle mass, I’ll save you the trial and error by sharing all my Hardgainer expertise about the easiest ways to gain weight and gain muscles, all naturally.
Utilizing all my Hardgainer experience I’ve accomplished the following:
I’m built like a typical Hardgainer, 180 cm in height (5 feet, 9 inches) and my original weight was around 143 lbs – I have a small bone structure, especially my forearms and shins. They’re naturally very thin.
When focused on gaining weight, I gained muscles fast and weighed around 227 lbs. At that point, I was working out with really heavy weights. I also set a goal to develop a six pack.
Even though I had almost no aerobic stamina, and I got winded walking up a flight of stairs, I made the goal to complete a marathon. And I did !
I then began training for an Iro
Man. I couldn’t swim, but I learned how so that I could compete. Six months into training, I had to have an operation and my competition goals had to be set aside for the time being.
Now I’m back working with weights. My weight is around 176 lbs and my new fitness goals look like this:
- Want to gain 11 lbs
- Want to improve my sixpack
- Want to run short distances fast
Check my website regularly for updates regarding my personal fitness journey, exercise ideas and good diet choices .
Join my mailing list, and I’ll share with you all the great tips and advice that will help you gain weight quickly and all-naturally. Skip the headaches of trying fitness fads, and sign up for my Hardgainers Workout and Diet advice. Together we can achieve all our fitness goals and gain healthy weight and muscles and be the best Hardgainers we can be.
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