Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “hardgainer”
Do you slam a post-workout (PWO) shake within seconds of finishing the final rep of your session OR rush off to eat meal ASAP? Nutrient Timing/PWO shakes certainly divides opinion. Some people fixate on them to the detriment of other ‘bigger’ factors. They think that nailing a post-workout shake is the key to their gains. Others think they are of no …
To maximise muscle growth in a given muscle you need to stimulate and fatigue a wide spectrum of muscle fibres. To achieve this you need to challenge it across its entire contractile range. Picking the big compound lifts is a good starting point, but leaves a little bit of untapped growth potential. You see, doing a full range of motion …
You have been misled. I have been in-part to blame for this deception. Sorry! You see, research has established that training volume is a key driver of hypertrophy. A dose response relationship has been discovered between training volume and hypertrophy. This has led many experts, and little old me, to shout from the rooftops of the benefits of high training …
In previous articles on this blog and on other sites I have discussed the benefits of training volume for hypertrophy. In summary, more is better so long as you do not exceed your capacity to recover. The distribution of this volume is also important. Simply doing a tonne of volume on one day is not going to be as effective …
Ever heard the phrase, “a little bit of knowledge can be dangerous”? This phrase applies to training for hypertrophy. In my experience, many people develop a certain degree of understanding about training for muscle gain. Then, inexplicably they start doing all sorts of things which violate the principles they had learnt. I have done exactly the same thing. I wasted …
My practical advice on this subject is…train whenever you can, to maintain a consistent, progressive training plan. Consistency and adherence are fundamental to the success of the training process. Don’t get hung up on details such as, optimal training times until you have established training as a daily habit. With that general overview out of the way we …
What’s old is often new in the world of strength training and bodybuilding. Methods and techniques gain popularity and then, in time are replaced by the latest and greatest protocols. This process follows a fairly cyclical pattern. One such example, is the recent rise in popularity of blood flow restriction (BFR) training. BFR has been around since the 1966 …
For many years if you wanted to build your body you had to establish what worked via trial and error or rely on hearsay passed down from one generation of meathead to the next. In recent times, however, there has been a lot of scientific research on the mechanisms and training principles of hypertrophy. This increased level of investigation makes …
Are you desperate to build muscle? Have you googled phrases like “the ultimate arm annihilation”, “how to build big legs”, “Arnold’s chest workout?”. In the gym kicking your own butt 5, 6 or even 7 days a week but still struggling to gain muscle? Well, you are looking at the world through a straw. Jumping from one “best” program to …
A quick video guide to help you select the best exercises for hypertrophy based on the key criteria.