Next thing up is I suppose you’re going to deny that they’re not all just “Hardgainers”. That’s like Bro blasphemy, LOL.
Also, why I am on my soap box… Dont get me started on some of the social medias gurus who make sure their followers are well indoctrinated on the notion of genetic limitations and what is possible.“natty” I have said this before on here… I swear its nothing more then a marketing safety measure making sure some of their listening base doesnt…
- surpass them and stop paying attention
- Taking advice from other whom might be more developed and accomplished.
rant over…
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Ugh…such a overused term. Hell.…I might as well use it.
Of course, there are individuals that fall into that category.Those who are on the opposite end of the genetic curve. BUT really how many individuals that are seeing zero results… and I do imply zero after a signification period. How much Is it less about genetic potential and more about effort…consistency or just straight out a shit approach in what they are doing?
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I think Hardgainers are like unicorns. I’ve heard of them but never actually seen a real one. Whiny people with no work ethic are pretty common though.
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Yeah… true hardgainers imo arent as common as its made out.
Alright, so I have some thoughts on this.
First and foremost, so nobody jumps down my throat, my favorite quote about hardgainers is the Dave Tate quote, “no such thing as hard gainers, just no brainers”. It’s simple to fix being a hardgainer.
But there seems to be some confusion over the actual definition of hardgainer - and I’m just as confused about it as anyone else.
Here’s how I break it down. There are a lot of people - a LOT of people - who gain weight extraordinarily easily. Some people talk about just ‘looking at food’ and gaining weight, i.e. naturally chubby people. Both people who find it hard to gain weight and people who find it hard NOT to gain weight will have things to overcome on the way to gaining muscle.
But the people who gain weight easily will have an easier time. It’s 10x easier to go from fat to jacked than from skinny to jacked. So when we talk about ‘hardgainer’, they only really have to do one thing - just stuff their faces. I cannot even begin to explain how many times I’ve just been miserable eating and felt like I could vomit, but I had to do it to go from 6’3+ 165 to the 225-ish I am now. But they’re not ‘unicorns’, they’re way, way MORE common than people think. They come on here ALL the time whining that they’re eating a lot and can’t gain weight. They’re not hardgainers because they can’t gain weight despite eating a lot, they’re hardgainers because they’re full of shit and when they feel really full they still haven’t eaten CLOSE to enough.
When I am trying to gain weight, every single day and almost every single meal is a struggle, and I hate it. I can do it, and it’s simple, but it’s fucking HARD. So, despite Dave’s quote that sums up things really nicely for how to fix being a ‘whatever-gainer’, the fact is that ‘hardgainers’, or people who find it HARD to GAIN weight, are super common. We’re confusing HARD and SIMPLE here. Hardgainers are the opposite of Easygainers - some people gain weight easily and some find it hard. It might be SIMPLE to gain weight - i.e. shut up and eat more - but you can’t tell me it’s easy.
TL;DR, “hardgainers” are very common, “COMPLEXgainers” - i.e. the opposite of the simplicity it takes to gain weight, i.e. someone with a medical condition or some mitigating circumstance that requires an extra layer of complexity to gain weight - THOSE are rare.
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I have never been under the understanding that it is a reference to weight in particular, but muscle and/or strength. Usually muscle. As in, they cannot put on muscle no matter what they do. Then you see their actual program (In person is the most entertaining). Some people definitely have trouble gaining weight and seem physically wired to under-eat. This doesn’t explain the skinny fat or the chicken chest that “Can’t gain” muscle. It’s not hard for that guy to get stupid ripped quickly, but how many of them do? We all have different fibre type combinations and other limitations. I have never seen a guy ACTUALLY do everything right and not gain.
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Or even just not ridiculously stupid training will most likely work. Unfortunately, when at the globo gyms, most are not training, they are exercising, and in a stupid way that doesn’t get good results. They don’t progressive overload is the main mistake I see.
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I think the term slow gainer would be better.
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100%.
Basically, when someone identifies as a hardgainer, they’re giving themselves a reason to fail. Maybe gaining is hard for you - no reason to dwell on it, get eating.
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Hard gainer. Like making gains is meant to be easy.
God dam I worked my ass off of lock down. I was doing 20 rep squats at least twice a week and some time 3 times a week for 5 month. And all to add 30kg to the front squat (which was lagging to be honest) and 15 kg to my back squat.
I eat eggs for breakfast every single day. I have done for 5 months. I stopped enjoying it 4 month 3 weeks ago. I HATE eggs. I just do. I used to like the. I like them in February. I now feel sick just thinking about breakfast.
I get that there are “hard gainer” out there. But how many times have you seen this:
“Hi I’m a hard gainer. My training and diet are on point. I do the same work out every day. Bench 3x11, curls 2x6, lateral rises 5x5 (I like to go heavy with these), flies 9x32 and then sit ups till I puke. Then I do a 9 mile run every day to make sure I don’t get fat.
As for food - I eat a lot of protein. 2 eggs for breakfast, 2 glasses of milk for lunch and then a whole chicken breast for dinner. But no carbs as I don’t want to get fat.
I can’t gain weight. I’m stuck at 150lb. I want to build 75lb of pure muscle with out putting on an oz of fat. Not 1.
Cuz I like my abs.”
Sorry - but 90% of hard gainers are just not doing it right.
Again - I’m not saying everyone can be a WSM / IFBB pro. But I’ve never meet person that CAN NOT get a bit bigger and stronger by just working harder and eating a bit better.
EDIT due to rage typing.
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I have said this before… i dont think some have a grasp on the physical demand required to trigger adaptation so the body gets the message to grow or get stronger.
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That’s why it’s called hard gainer and not zero gainer, some people will take way longer to get bigger and stronger and won’t go as far as others. There are even guys who post about all the drugs they are taking and they are still weak and small, even with all the help in the world some people will progress at a slower rate.
Some people say that it’s related to muscle fiber type, those with more fast twitch fibers will make faster progress while those with more slow twitch fibers progress slower. There is probably other stuff that affects it as well, but this makes sense.
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The issue i think you see is you get guys who have the mind set that they are zero gainers
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I often wonder is running forums get the similar level of silly.
“Hi I started running last week. I want to run the marathon at the Olympics. I ran a marathon Monday and done it in 6h 12mins. I felt sick after so didnt eat. I trained again Tuesday and Wednesday. I didn’t eat Thursday as I wanted to keep body weight down ready for another marathon Friday. My time went up to 7h 48mins though. Do you think I need new shoes?”
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Most sprinters have a high percentage of fast twitch fibers (70-80%). However, something like 1-2% of Olympic sprinters have a genetic condition (that is distributed among the population as a whole) that have virtually 0 fast twitch muscle fibers. A higher percent in the general population have this condition, than in sprinting. Many of these are probably considered weak, hard gainers.
You can bet that the sprinters with the genetic condition know what hard work is.
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For clarification we are still talking about the average gym rat or beginner poster on this site arent we? My uptake is slow today…and my gray matter is not firing correctly
Easy now, I resemble that remark.
I believe at one point i told you not to sell yourself short also.
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Me sneaking up on progress…
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