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Lessons I learned trying to get huge as a hardgainer

heavyhitter

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I wrote this for another board and most of it is pretty simple rudimentary stuff we all know, but ive had lots of pm’s lately from new members asking about how I eat or how I got here so I figured I’d post it here too. Feel free to ignore lol
I started training at the age of 19 due a a serious back injury from a motorcycle race crash. They had me start PT and I found out I enjoyed it. At 6’1”
and 141 pounds I was definitely nothing special to look at. Over the years of trial and error I’ve come to a lot of conclusions and picked up a lot from other people. I I I ate and trained my way up to an all time high of 274 and set several all time powerlifting records a couple of which still stand. Here’s some bullet points.
1. To gain size you’re gonna need to get fat. Now don’t take this the wrong way and think you’ve gotta be a sloppy mess, but as an ecto you need calories and you’re going to have to eat a lot to overcome your fast metabolism. Good news is you’ve got that fast metabolism so when it comes time to cut it’ll be easier for you. If I drop carbs from two meals a day(which still has me at around 4-500 grams a day) I can consistently lose 1 or more pounds of fat a week for awhile before needing to make changes.

2. And one of the most important, don’t eat foods you like, eat foods that like you. You’re gonna need a helluva a lot of food, and there?s no way you’llput it all down if foods are giving you gas, bloating, acid reflux, etc. just because xyz bodybuilder eats it doesn’t mean you should. The only carb I can consistently eat in large quantity is white rice and I eat a shitload of it. 4 cups a day plus an additional 240 grams from cream of rice. White rice digests quickly and this is what you need. You Can’t eat meal 4 if meal 3 is still in your stomach. I digest beef much more efficiently than chicken so I eat as much as I can before my wife starts yelling at me about our grocery bill.

2a. Little bonus tip on rice, Thai sticky rice contains a muuuuch higher amount of amylopectin and less amylose than any other form of white rice. This makes it digest even more quickly than jasmine or basmati.

2b. Picked this up from Stan Efferding, add a little dextrose 1-2 tsp, on top of your rice. This stimulates amylase(carb digesting enzyme) in your mouth and aids in digestion of your rice. It makes it easier to consume more as well.

3. Fat’s your friend. But healthy fat. Grass fed butter, Mac nut oil, coconut oil, olive oil, beef tallow, less lean cuts of meat like ribeye, chuck roast, and chicken thighs are much more calorie dense and allow you to consume more calories without consuming more food.

4. Drink your calories. Adding things like fruit juices and Gatorade to meals makes it easier to fit in more carbs and calories without any additional food volume. Orange and cranberry juice in particular are stimulating to the liver and this can help boost appetite as well.

5. Eat at least one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. More is better for some people, but for me protein is much too satiating and I can’t eat much else if I try to go to 1.5-2 grams. Make up the difference by eating more carbs.

6. Training. Your training should be heavy, focused on progressive overload, and intense, but it should be lower volume. You’ve already got a muscle burning furnace of a metabolism, don?t stole it with too much activity. Dc training is where I built most of my size and I feel the 2 way split is perfect for most hard gainers. Or a push pull legs split.

7. Eat some damn junk food. You need the calories. But refer to rule 2. Try to eat things you know sit well for you. For some reason if I order 3 McDoubles and put all of it on one bun it tastes great, is a shitload of calories, and I digest it easily. A couple pieces if pizza on the other hand sticks with me forever and gives me gas and all kinds of stomach upset.

8. Beef!!! Eat as much of it as you can afford. But it in bulk, grind it up, whatever, but it just works better than other protein sources.

9. There’s a million other things I?m forgetting and I’ll update this post as it goes along, but feel free to ask any questions.

10. Forgot a huge one. Digestive enzymes. These will help you digest more food. You can only process what your can digest. You want a product with protease(preferably more than one kind) amylase, and lipase at the very minimum. Other great things to be in there are papain, lactase, bromelain, ox bile. One of these before larger meal really can help make a difference.

11. Gut health is everything. I have ibs and eating is difficult for me. 10 grams of glutamine first thing in the morning and before bed on an empty stomach goes a long way towards keeping your intestinal tract healthy and avoiding leaky gut syndrome which trust me….will wreak havoc on your body. As your push bodyweight up you’ll also have to push food and finding ways to help your gut is crucial to consume these amounts of food. Eat fermented foods. Saurkraut and kimchi are two of my favorites and I eat so much I make them myself by the gallon. You can also take a probiotic, but getting it from food will always be better
 
Thanks for posting, you definitely have some great tips for hard gainers like myself.
 
Thanks for posting, you definitely have some great tips for hard gainers like myself.
Thanks man, I really appreciate that. Getting big when you don’t naturally have an appetite is tough as hell. There were periods of years where I never once felt a hunger pang. Literally just full to the brim. Part of that is digestive issues and part is just I’m naturally supposed to be a skinnier guy. This is my little brother after 5 years of pretty consistent training with no drugs and not a particularly consistent diet. It took me about 4 years of pounding away just to look this skinny lol. He’s 33 in this photo and I believe about 170
 

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I definitely need to make some changes to diet and training, I have been at a sticking point and need to get past it.

I'm going to take your advise and try a few different things
 
I definitely need to make some changes to diet and training, I have been at a sticking point and need to get past it.

I'm going to take your advise and try a few different things
Ive had to do the same recently. I just can’t consume the volume of protein that i used to. I always followed the 2 grams per pound recommendation from dante from waaaay back in the intense muscle days and it always worked well for this. As I’ve gotten older and as my ibs has worsened I just can’t consume this much protein anymore and still get in any other macros. So within the last 3 weeks I’ve dropped downy to around 1-1.25 grams per pound and upped my carbs to make up the calorie difference and this appears to be working for me. I’m getting hungry for some of my meals and the scale is slowly moving upwards. And if tou have any questions or thoughts moving forward feel free to ask. I’ve been at this for almost twenty years now and I’m an open book about everything I’ve tried. Pretty sure everybody here knows about how I drink nasty chicken shakes every day, but it works for me
 
Solid advices, the problem is that some of us went from being hard gainers to being fat gainers, lol
Yep. This can happen with age. It doesn’t appear I’m going to outgrow my metabolism any time soon though
 
Always wished I was like this when in middle school and in high school. I was always self conscious of my large legs. I’d always wish I had smaller calves and quads to look like everyone else.

As I got into my senior year of high school I began to realize that I was lucky to have these genetics. Since building large legs seems to be hard for a lot of folks. Especially calves. My calves were 18” and my thighs/quads measured 30”. Now they were not peeled and being as hell, but they were solid. Doesn’t take much at all for them to grow either. Again, genetics play a major factor in this for me. Not ideal for clothing trends,,but I’m glad I don’t struggle with bird legs as many folks do.

I imagine it’s gotta be a constant battle in consuming enough calories to grow. I can look at food and put on weight. So I really gotta watch carb/fat intake. If I go too far then I gotta crank up the cardio sessions. And I loathe cardio!!!!! Keep it up my man it’s obviously working for you.

Cage
 
Do you believe insulin is more important for a hardgainer compared to an average guy?
 
Pretty solid general list. I'm sure people with scoff at certain points but that's the nature of a public forum. For me, the thing that made the biggest difference was just consistency and having that be at the forefront even when uncomfortable or bored. I see too many people spin their wheels and waste their time by program hopping, goal changing and just overall too much pivoting from one point to the next. Of course no one wants to hear that because it's not "cool" or trendy but lets face it, it's tried and true. If you want to put on size, keep executing the basic principles and ideologies that science has outlined for us. KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid
 
Do you believe insulin is more important for a hardgainer compared to an average guy?
Depends how you use it. I definitely can put on weight faster with insulin, but I also lean out on it. I definitely feel like it’s helpful for hardgainers though as it makes it easier to eat. I use 10–15 iu r pre workout with my intra shake and I use 5 iu post meal at 2-3 other meals throughout the day
 
Pretty solid general list. I'm sure people with scoff at certain points but that's the nature of a public forum. For me, the thing that made the biggest difference was just consistency and having that be at the forefront even when uncomfortable or bored. I see too many people spin their wheels and waste their time by program hopping, goal changing and just overall too much pivoting from one point to the next. Of course no one wants to hear that because it's not "cool" or trendy but lets face it, it's tried and true. If you want to put on size, keep executing the basic principles and ideologies that science has outlined for us. KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid
Consistency has definitely been the key for me. I can’t miss meals, I don’t miss training. If I can’t eat my planned meal I make do with something woth at least enough protein and lots of calories. Like two McDoubles on one bun. And I banged away at the dc 2 way split for almost ten years before switching up training because it just flat worked
 
Depends how you use it. I definitely can put on weight faster with insulin, but I also lean out on it. I definitely feel like it’s helpful for hardgainers though as it makes it easier to eat. I use 10–15 iu r pre workout with my intra shake and I use 5 iu post meal at 2-3 other meals throughout the day
Some people use insulin pre meal to make themselves hungry, but I find that makes me start to go hypo and I crave junk and can overeat. Whereas if I use it after it shuttles the nutrients I’ve just ingested and makes it so that by the time my next meal comes around I actually have some room in my stomach
 
It’s funny you started this thread. I was just thinking about starting a similar thread for hardgainers after you and I spoke @heavyhitter
 
It’s funny you started this thread. I was just thinking about starting a similar thread for hardgainers after you and I spoke @heavyhitter
Well feel free to add any tips or info you’ve gained as well. We naturally scrawny guys need all the help we can get
 
One more thing….avoid high fodmap(gas producing) foods like broccoli, cauliflower etc. they cause gas and make you full. Most of my veggies are peppers, carrots, and green beans. Because of my ibs I have to avoid high fodmap foods, and I have to avoid fiber at all costs
 
One more thing….avoid high fodmap(gas producing) foods like broccoli, cauliflower etc. they cause gas and make you full. Most of my veggies are peppers, carrots, and green beans. Because of my ibs I have to avoid high fodmap foods, and I have to avoid fiber at all costs
I get fat easy but i have an ultra sensitive stomach, if i eat lentils or broccoli or cabbage i blow up and look pregnant. Had chronic bouts of heartburn and reflux, i blamed a lot of this due to heavy tren use.

Then i actually went through a super stressful time in my life sucidal the works. I ended up in hospital. not because of my thoughts but the stress cause my stomach inflammations. I couldnt eat or drink anything and was 2 days in hospital then 2 weeks at home thowing up and the runs.. Turns out im one of those people that stress hits first thing that goes is my stomach. They had me doing all different tests for bowel cancer ect. Not a fun time.

Tren didnt help but i wasnt running 200mg a week.

My stomach and stress has been really good for 6 months or more now. Been regular with the Glutamine and kind foods to me.

Did a little test... found two vials of a blend which actually has legit doses 100mg test prop, 100mg tren ace, 100mg mast p. been running ,3ml ed for one vial and not one issue not even tren rage i use to get, no ai usage.

I put it down to glutamine, probiotic, ashwagandha and obviously eating the right foods. Never thought i would run tren again. But after this last vial im out and to old for that shit now.


Bit off tangent sorry but started off with the foods... lol
 
I get fat easy but i have an ultra sensitive stomach, if i eat lentils or broccoli or cabbage i blow up and look pregnant. Had chronic bouts of heartburn and reflux, i blamed a lot of this due to heavy tren use.

Then i actually went through a super stressful time in my life sucidal the works. I ended up in hospital. not because of my thoughts but the stress cause my stomach inflammations. I couldnt eat or drink anything and was 2 days in hospital then 2 weeks at home thowing up and the runs.. Turns out im one of those people that stress hits first thing that goes is my stomach. They had me doing all different tests for bowel cancer ect. Not a fun time.

Tren didnt help but i wasnt running 200mg a week.

My stomach and stress has been really good for 6 months or more now. Been regular with the Glutamine and kind foods to me.

Did a little test... found two vials of a blend which actually has legit doses 100mg test prop, 100mg tren ace, 100mg mast p. been running ,3ml ed for one vial and not one issue not even tren rage i use to get, no ai usage.

I put it down to glutamine, probiotic, ashwagandha and obviously eating the right foods. Never thought i would run tren again. But after this last vial im out and to old for that shit now.


Bit off tangent sorry but started off with the foods... lol
Anxiety is a huge trigger for my ibs. I take Prozac and it does help lessen how badly it effects me. I’m currently doing 10 grams glutamine morning and night on an empty stomach. I eat around a cup a day of either sauerkraut or kimchi that I ferment myself. I also take Saccharomyces boulardii twice daily to help with leaky gut as wel as a probiotic cap with my glutamine in the morning. I have also just recently incorporated a diamine oxidase supplement which blocks histamine reaction in the gut and it does seem to be helping
 

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