This article is an excerpt from the book Individual Training Strategies For Hardgainers in which I discuss the concept of a conditional hardgainer. Sometimes I refer to conditional hardgainers as pseudo hardgainers or fake hardgainers because they start out looking like a typical hardgainer who is extremely skinny with very little muscle. They may also start training and fail to gain much muscle, but with the right type of diet and training, boom! they begin to explode with muscle. This is the type of hardgainer that is often featured when someone wants to sell a training system that promises miracle results for people with terrible muscle building genetics. The deceptive part about this is that conditional hardgainers don’t have terrible genetics, they have genetics that respond to a specific type of training. This will be discussed in more detail as you read the next excerpt of chapter 3 and 4 from Individual Training Strategies For Hardgianers.
Chapter 3
Conditional Hardgainers; The Lucky Ones
In order to define a conditional hardgainer, it helps to start by defining an unconditional easy gainer and an unconditional hardgainer. An unconditional easy gainer is someone who finds it easy to gain muscle regardless of the type of training they use. It doesn’t matter if they use a lot of sets, a few sets, high reps, low reps, a high training frequency, or a low training frequency, they are still going to gain a lot of muscle. On the other hand, an unconditional hardgainer will always find it difficult to gain muscle even with ideal training and an excellent diet. It’s not impossible for them to gain muscle, but the gains will rarely come quickly and easily.
While there are unconditional easy gainers and unconditional hardgainers, there is a different type of person which I refer to as a conditional hardgainer. Conditional hardgainers often start out thinking they are hardgainers because they happen to be using a training system that doesn’t work well for their particular physiology. However, if they switch to a type of training that is well suited to their physiology, they suddenly find that they can quickly gain a lot of muscle. This is true of the first two types of hardgainers that will be discussed, which are both conditional hardgainers.
The Conditional Hardgainer With a Fast Metabolism
The first type of conditional hardgainer possesses a fast metabolism and responds extremely well to high intensity training. He doesn’t usually respond well to high volume training because it produces the wrong conditions by speeding up his hyper metabolism too much to gain weight. However, he does respond well to a lot of calories and short high intensity workouts. This type of hardgainer may also be able to gain muscle by hitting each muscle group just once or twice per week.
The Conditional Hardgainer with a Slow Metabolism
The second type of conditional hardgainer possesses a slow metabolism. Low volume training does very little to stimulate his muscles to grow, but high volume training does. High volume training stimulates his metabolism, which is exactly what he needs to activate his appetite and his muscles.
Of all the types of hardgainers, conditional hardgainers are more of the exception and will prove to be the lucky ones if they find the right type of training. The physical characteristics and training needed for these hardgainers will be addressed before discussing more common types of hardgainers.
Chapter 4
The Intensity Responsive Hardgainer With A Fast Metabolism
I think more training programs are designed for the intensity responsive hardgainer with a fast metabolism than any other, but they are only one type of hardgainer. The truth is, they become an easy gainer when they do the right type of training. People love to market stories of this type of hardgainer because they start out looking pathetic and hopelessly skinny. They have tried working out to gain muscle but nothing seemed to work. After much frustration and fruitless effort, they happen to find a magic training system that results in massive muscles in a short amount of time. Some of these stories are real, but they are the exception, not the rule. While their success is dependent upon brief high intensity workouts, they are fortunate to have genetics that allow them to be highly responsive to this type of training.
The physical characteristics of the intensity responsive hardgainer with a fast metabolism can be summed up as follows:
- Workload Capacity
The intensity responsive hardgainer with a fast metabolism may have plenty of energy for high volume training, but high volume training will destroy their gains because it speeds up their hyper metabolism to the point where calories are burned off before they can ever be utilized for muscle growth.
- Tolerance for Intensity
This type of hardgainer can easily tolerate high intensity training and is highly responsive to it.
- Personal Recovery Rate
Recovery often happens quickly, but recovery is not the problem that this type of hardgainer must contend with; the greater problem is a fast metabolism. Quick recovery makes it possible to work out often, but those with a fast metabolism are better off keeping their metabolism under control by working out less often if possible. This depends upon the length of their muscle growth activation period and retention period.
- Growth Activation Period and Retention Period
This type of hardgainer is often blessed with a huge ability in terms of possessing a long growth activation period after a workout. This simply means that their muscles stay turned on to the growth process longer than normal. They don’t need to work out every 48 hours in order to keep their muscles activated for growth. When they train a muscle group, it will stay activated for at least 72 hours after it is trained, and it may retain new growth and strength for up to a week after a workout. This promotes the ability to work each muscle group two or less times per week and still gain muscle. Those with a fast metabolism and a long muscle growth activation period are often better off using a lower training frequency. The lower training frequency keeps their naturally fast metabolism from accelerating completely out of control to the point of no muscle growth. On the other hand, if an intensity responsive individual does not happen to have a long muscle growth activation and retention period, they will need to work out more often and eat more to compensate for doing more workouts.
- Metabolic rate
This type of hardgainer has a very fast metabolism which hypes up to an even faster rate if they engage in high volume or high frequency training. They should not train long, and if possible they should not train often if their goal is to maximize muscle gains. Fortunately, all that’s needed is a moderate amount of high intensity training that is done on an infrequent basis. This keeps their naturally fast metabolism from going out of control and allows their food to be converted into muscle.
Questions to ask yourself
Can you eat 4,000 calories or more per day and still stay very lean without exercise?
Can you consistently perform high intensity workouts for more than a few weeks and continue to grow stronger over the course of several months or longer? If so, you respond well to high intensity training.
When you perform low volume high intensity workouts for a muscle group, can you rest that muscle group for at least 72 hours and still gain strength on a consistent basis? If so, you can use a low training frequency and only need to train each muscle group once or twice per week.
If you don’t know the answers to these questions, you should try low volume, high intensity, low frequency training to see if it works for you. If you have tried this and can honestly answer yes to the questions that are listed above, you may be a conditional hardgainer who has a fast metabolism and is very responsive to high intensity, low frequency training. If so, consider utilizing the workouts that are suggested for this type of hardgainer.
Intensity Responsive with a Slow or Normal Metabolism
It is also possible that you have a slow or a normal metabolism but are still very responsive to low volume, high intensity training. If this is true, the workouts designed for the intensity responsive hardgainer are for you. More will be discussed on specific exercises and workouts for intensity responsive hardgainers in the next article. Best of training to you.
Note:
Refer back to the previous two articles if you want to read the series of chapters from Individual Training Strategies For Hardgainers that are lead up articles to this article.