The Hardgainer's Guide to Putting on Mass

Say goodbye to weight gain struggles and learn which products you need in your supplement stack to pack on pounds.

A hardgainer is someone who struggles to put on muscle mass despite their efforts in the gym and the kitchen. Hardgainers typically need training and nutrition protocols beyond what the average person may need.

Since their bodies prefer to remain at their current weight, harder training and more food are typically required.

Hardgainers typically have a faster metabolism and higher energy expenditure, making it challenging to create a caloric surplus.

They often have such a high metabolism that it can be a struggle to maintain their body weight, let alone increase the number they see on the scale.

This article will dive into why some people struggle to gain weight and how you should structure your training program and build your supplement stack to make gaining weight simpler. 

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Ectomorphs are typically tall and slim individuals with a lean physique. They often have very little body fat and muscle mass due to their fast metabolism, which burns calories quickly.

Ectomorphs usually find it the hardest to gain weight, whether it be muscle or fat. If you are reading this and genuinely struggling to gain weight, then there is a good chance that you are an ectomorph.

Ectomorphs are usually set up anthropometrically for endurance mashed activities rather than strength and power, which lend themselves to weight gain.

Also Read: How to Prepare for a Marathon?

Mesomorphs are the middle ground of the three body types and often present with an athletic build. They usually have a moderate metabolism and can quickly gain or lose weight based on training and nutrition modifications.

Mesomorphs are often well-suited for strength and power activities. 

Endomorphs are body types that will not have a hard time gaining weight. They're usually rounder and softer in shape and may carry more body fat.

Unlike ectomorphs, they often struggle to lose weight instead of gaining weight. However, the caveat is that they can quickly build muscle mass and strength. 

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The best exercises for gaining weight as a hardgainer will be multi-jointed compound movements. That is, exercises that require multiple muscle groups to perform. These are the type of exercises that can be loaded heavily, which places more tension on the muscles.

Tension is the force your muscles create to resist the force being placed upon them. That said, if you are looking to get bigger and stronger than you should always be looking to increase muscular tension. (Hint: You can do so by working on your form, using the right amount of volume and/or lifting heavier weights).

Since they incorporate the most muscle mass, they can also create the most significant hormonal response to increase strength and lean mass.

In total, there are six movement patterns that you should be training each week if you want to build the most strength and muscle mass to gain weight.

Also Read: The Ultimate Guide to Crossfit Workouts

The squat pattern involves standing with two feet on the ground and hips and knees at full extension. Then, the hips are lowered back and down until the hip crease drops below the knee, then reverse back up to the starting position.

Common squat exercises include the goblet squat, back squat, front squat, and Zercher squat. 

Read more about bodybuilding for beginners. 

Hinging movements challenge the back side of the body. They involve standing in place with a slight knee bend and bowing at the waist until the chest is parallel with the floor.

Common hinge exercises for building muscle mass include deadlifts, the Romanian deadlifts, hip thrusts, and barbell good mornings.

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In the lunge pattern, one leg is typically positioned in front of the body to perform the work. At the same time, the other is extended back for support.

The lunge pattern can be adjusted to emphasize different parts of the leg, such as the glutes or quadriceps. Common lunge exercises for building the leg muscles include walking lunges, split squats, rear foot elevated split squats, and step- ups. 

The push pattern involves using the arms to propel an object away from you. It can take many forms, whether you push yourself up off the ground, push an object off your chest, or push an object directly over your head.

The push pattern is broken into two variations: the horizontal push, which includes exercises such as the bench press, dumbbell bench press, and push- up, and the vertical push, which includes military press, push press, and Arnold press.

Also Read: 27 HIIT Workouts to Build Muscle & Melt Fat

Like the push pattern, the pull pattern is divided into horizontal and vertical categories. In any variation of the pull pattern, you pull an object towards your body.

Horizontal pulling exercises for building muscle mass include bent-over, dumbbell, and cable rows.

Vertical pulling exercises include lat pull-downs, pull ups, and chin ups. 

The core and carry pattern is the final pattern you should incorporate to build muscle mass and gain weight. This pattern can take various forms but will primarily serve to resist the motion of the trunk.

Exercises for this pattern will consist of planks, suitcase carries, farmer walks, and bird- dogs.

Also Read: 4 Landmine Exercises to Make Your Workouts Blow Up!

Having a high- quality protein supplement is a must for any hardgainer. Getting adequate protein daily is critical for providing your muscles with the necessary tools to grow. (1) Especially with the training required to promote muscle mass.

Nitro-Tech protein powder provides everything you need to pack on muscle mass with thirty grams of protein, 3 g of creatine, and 6.6 g of naturally occurring branched chain amino acids (BCAAs). All of these pack a powerful punch for building muscle mass. (1) 

As you now know, hardgainers struggle to pack on muscle mass because their caloric intake is not sufficient enough to outpace their metabolism. Thus, a calorie surplus is not created, and weight gain stalls or reverses.

Mass-Tech can help you overcome this by providing a large number of calories per serving.

Each Mass-Tech serving provides 1,370 calories, 50 g of protein, over 250 g of carbohydrates, and ample amounts of creatine.

Providing you with a convenient and potent way to ingest everything you need to build muscle mass. (2) 

If you are really ready to start bulking up, then Mass-Tech Extreme 2000 is for you. This supplement is the previous two products with the volume dialed way up.

Each serving provides 2,130 calories, 60 g of protein, 460 g carbs, 5 g of creatine, and 21 other vitamins and minerals.

This combination of calories, protein, and sports nutrition can give you a serious edge when it comes to gaining weight.

After consuming a serving for the day, you will be well on your way to getting the calories and protein required to pack on serious mass. 

Creatine is one of the most powerful tools for building muscle mass. It helps to replenish the body's primary energy source, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), so that you can train at higher intensities and volumes each day. (3)

This leads to an impressive increase in muscle growth and weight gain over time.

MuscleTech's Creatine Chews are an extremely convenient way to supplement with creatine monohydrate. Each serving contains 3g of HPLC-tested Creapure® creatine monohydrate, which is arguably the purest form of creatine available.

If you prefer not to add another powdered supplement to your nutritional regimen or enjoy the idea of a tasty sports nutrition snack, Creatine Chews is for you. 

Your hormones are crucial in building muscle mass in response to training. Testosterone is the primary muscle-building hormone in the body for men, but as we age or with poor lifestyle factors, circulating levels of testosterone can decline. (4)

Making it more challenging to build muscle mass. That is why, a testosterone support supplement, such as AlphaTest®, can help support your muscle-building endeavors.

It offers a comprehensive formula including fenugreek extract (standardized to 50% saponins), shilajit (standardized to 50% fulvic acid), boron citrate, and tribulus. All of which were included to help boost testosterone in the body and support you in your quest to pack on size and strength. 

Essential amino acids (EAAs) are the rate-limiting step for muscle protein synthesis and cannot be synthesized by the body. Therefore, they must be consumed in the diet. If these amino acids are not ingested in adequate amounts, it can be more difficult to build muscle and grow.

Supplementing with an amino acid supplement like Platinum 100% EAA+ can help prevent this by providing 7.4 g of EAA per serving, most notably with 3 g of leucine, which is a key driver of muscle protein synthesis. 

The single most important factor in gaining weight is creating a calorie surplus so that the body has enough energy to maintain its basic physiological needs and then enough left over to support muscle mass growth. A good minimum target for hardgainers is a 15% increase in daily calories. 

Consuming enough protein and amino acids is the next most crucial factor in gaining weight and muscle mass. Without protein, the body will not have what it needs to support muscle protein synthesis.

As a general rule of thumb for those training with high intensity and volume, protein targets of 1.4-3.0+ g/kg of body weight will suffice. (1) 

The last piece of the puzzle to weight gain is the actual training you are doing. You want the majority of weight gain to come from muscle mass and not fat. That is where sound high-volume training comes into play.

To promote muscle mass, prioritize multi-joint compound movement patterns and train close to failure to create large amounts of muscle tension and signal muscle growth. 

Gaining weight for hardgainers can be frustrating, and they often feel hopeless. If your body type trends more towards the ectomorph shape, building the muscle mass you desire can be challenging.

Fortunately, it is absolutely possible to build muscle mass, gain weight, and have the physique you want, regardless of your body type. You can start gaining weight in time by setting up a sound nutritional strategy.

Use this article to guide your exercise prescription in the gym. Be sure to pick up the supplements mentioned to help support your nutrition protocol so you can start packing on the pounds! 

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