Hardgainers

A lot of strength training purists argue that isolation exercises are useless. If we’re talking about a raw beginner I’d agree. Compound exercises that incorporate the most muscle will always be best. You don’t need anything else at the newbie stage. Later on things change. Isolation exercises can help create balance and prevent injury. They also help build muscle. I tried the “all-big-lifts” programs for years and all I ever got was hurt. And fat. I barely even looked like I lifted. It’s great… continue reading.

I always figured the harder ya work, the better your results. And that works incredibly well with strength training… for about 6-8 weeks. Then you’re fried. Overtrained. Joints are aching. Sleep goes to shit. You’re tired but wired. Anxious. Irritable. In a bad mood. Sex drive drops. Can’t get stronger anymore. Weights feel heavy as f*ck. Why does that always happen? Because the body ain’t designed for that kind of pummeling on a regular basis. No sports practices are conducted with such balls to the wall intensity.  You always leave… continue reading.

You often hear that skinny guys, aka “hardgainers,” should do nothing but the big power lifts. That’s sh*t advice. Most “hardgainers” have pencil necks, pipe cleaner forearms, string bean calves and tiny joints. They’re also tight and immobile. All this is what makes you a “hardgainer.” If being skinny was your only issue but you had big joints and the right structure for big lifts getting jacked would be easy. You could do any of those typical programs and you’d feel great and get huge. But you don’t, so you… continue reading.

Aside from your neck, the muscles that get exposed to the world more than any other are your forearms. So it’s a probably a good idea for them to be jacked, or least look halfway decent. A lot of guys with average to above average genetics will never need to do any direct forearm work and their forearms will grow just fine from presses and pulls. The rest of us won’t be so lucky. It’s funny because the common message preached to skinny hardgainers is to forget isolation training and only focus on compound lifts. This is… continue reading.

I always advise all beginners and hardgainers to concentrate on making linear progress (either by adding more reps or more weight) at each and every workout. Add a rep or a plate and you will make pretty consistent gains for quite a while. This is one of the key components to the Muscle Gaining Secrets program. Eventually, however, you’ll no longer be a beginner or a hardgainer and then the whole game changes. It will become more and more difficult to make linear progress on a consistent basis. This can be hard to accept at first and become quite… continue reading.

Q: Jay, everyone thinks they know how to build muscle mass. But as you and I know, most people never really even get close to their true potential. What is the biggest mistake people make when trying to get big and strong? A: They follow the same old, traditional bodybuilding routine. That means they are training each body part with too much volume, not enough intensity, probably too much intensiveness, and not enough frequency. Just so everyone is on the same page, when I say intensity I am referring to percentage of one rep max. That means that they… continue reading.