Building Hardgainer Muscle
If you want to go from scrawny to brawny, the plan sounds simple: Lift hard and heavy. Eat more. But, for some guys, like our client John, it’s more complicated.
John was a busy pre-med student tired of feeling skinny and slim. He wanted to add size. And he wanted to feel strong. The challenge is that John is what we call a “hardgainer.” Long and lean, with less than optimal genes for building muscle quickly.
But being a hardgainer isn’t a muscle-building curse. While genetics inevitably do make a difference, your genetics are not preventing you from adding on pounds of muscle. With our help, John layered on 20+ pounds in just over seven months. Throw the excuses out because that’s incredible progress.
How did John finally break through for more growth – and how can you achieve similar results? If you want to transform your body there are two muscle growth breakthroughs you need to know.
We kept John’s training simple. But don’t mistake simple for effective. If you want to build muscle, it comes down to getting stronger and progressively doing more work month after month.
And if muscle-building is the goal, then variety is your friend. This doesn’t mean altering up your workouts every day, but it does mean going through cycles where you rotate your reps and the movements you perform.
In John’s training plan, we alternated between strength-focused plans for one month, emphasizing lower reps and increasing weight each week. Then, the next month, we’d emphasize higher sets and reps, but with moderate weight (instead of max).
A Simple Monthly Training Setup
Month 1 – Lower Reps, Increasing Weight
Week 1:
- Exercise 1 – Squats: 4 sets x 6 reps (70% of your one-rep max)
- Exercise 2 – Bench Press: 4 sets x 6 reps (70% of your one-rep max)
- Exercise 3 – Deadlifts: 4 sets x 6 reps (70% of your one-rep max)
Week 2:
Increase the weight by 5-10 pounds (depending on your strength level) for each exercise compared to Week 1.
- Exercise 1 – Squats: 3-4 sets x 6 reps (75% of your one-rep max)
- Exercise 2 – Bench Press: 3-4 sets x 6 reps (75% of your one-rep max)
- Exercise 3 – Deadlifts: 3-4 sets x 6 reps (75% of your one-rep max)
Weeks 3 and 4 would continue this progression, eventually ending at 85% of your one-rep max.
Month 2 – Higher Sets and Reps, Moderate Weight
Week 1:
- Exercise 1 – Reverse Lunge: 4-5 sets x 10 reps (60% of your one-rep max)
- Exercise 2 – Dumbbell Incline Press: 4-5 sets x 10 reps (60% of your one-rep max)
- Exercise 3 – Prone Leg: 4-5 sets x 10 reps (60% of your one-rep max)
Week 2:
Increase the weight by 5-10 pounds for each exercise compared to Week 1.
- Exercise 1 – Reverse Lunge: 4-5 sets x 10 reps (65% of your one-rep max)
- Exercise 2 – Dumbbell Incline Press: 4-5 sets x 10 reps (65% of your one-rep max)
- Exercise 3 – Prone Leg Curl: 4-5 sets x 10 reps (65% of your one-rep max)
Weeks 3 and 4 would continue this progression, eventually ending at 75% of your one-rep max.
It’s a good reminder that multiple rep ranges can lead to growth, but it’s important to focus on a specific goal and make it easy to see progress. Dramatically changing your workouts each session might seem like a good idea, but not if it makes it hard to track progress and improve in the ways that allow you to pack on muscle.
