Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “hardgainer”
Training to build muscle, it’s simple, right? Well let me ask you a question… How much muscle have you built this year? Happy with your results? Or feel you could have made more progress? If you’re like most gym goers you have probably made some gains, but nowhere near as many as you could have. Want to maximise your results? …
Should you just move the most weight possible from A to B or should you flex and squeeze the weight up and down only focusing on the quality of the contraction rather than the load? You should do both. As ever, the middle ground wins. The problem with the fitness industry (it’s true in all industries actually, but particularly the …
Protein comes from the Greek “Of primary importance”. Protein helps you to recover from your training, it preserves lean tissue when dieting, helps you grow more muscle when bulking, and has the highest effect on satiety of all the macronutrients. With this information you can see that the amount, quality and timing of your protein intake are all key factors to maximize your muscle …
In the past I have written (here & here) and talked (here) about the limitations of a linear progression model for hypertrophy. Just to recap here are my main gripes with it. Firstly, training must be progressively overloading. The principle of progressive overload is what governs effective, hard training. Overload means that training must disrupt homeostasis enough to cause the body …
Wanna make gainz and take name(z)? It’s all about going full beastmode bro. No days off! I’m kidding, of course. Sure, you need to lift heavy and often and keep on top of your nutrition but, constantly beating yourself up in the gym is actually one of the worst things you can do. Planned properly you really can get more …
Week 1 of controlled overreaching. The aim over the next tow weeks is to really push the volume of sessions up to my MRV or even beyond and then take a well earned deload week before blitzing the final 3 weeks before Xmas. I will incorporate techniques such as drop sets and upper sets to boost the volume without extending …
More of the same this week. Nudging the volume up. A few more reps or a bit more weight on most exercises. I also added 1 set per bodypart to almost all sessions. Feeling good and will push the volume up a little more next week and see how I respond. My bodyweight is steadily climbing up. Gained just over …
Building the volume up… Last week saw me move to 5 days a week. The split was as follows: Mon – Upper Tues – Lower Wed – Shoulders & Arms Thurs – Lower Fri – Upper Monday and Tuesday were the two heavier days. The additional session on Wednesday allows me to hit my shoulder and arms a third time …
So after a couple of weeks off then a couple of low volume training it is time to gradually turn up the volume. This block of training is quite heavily influenced by Eric Helms & Layne Norton. Anyone familiar with their stuff will recognise some simialrities with the Intermediate & PHAT progs they have put out. Here is how week 1 …
Pectoralis Major is made up of two parts. The sternocostal head (lower chest) and the clavicular head (upper chest). The sternocostal head attaches on the sternum while the clavicular head attaches on the clavicle. Both insert on to the upper arm. The sternocostal head is the largest part and is commonly disproportionately developed in trainees. Pec major adducts the shoulder …