The problem for skinny guys is that it is very hard to develop muscle and put on size, that’s why we are called “hardgainers”. Here are some tips for how hardgainers can put on some size.
1. Train three times a week.
Skinny guys can’t handle huge volumes of work because it’s very hard to recover from. A day of rest in between each workout gives you plenty of recovery time. Remember that the number one factor in building muscle is adding weight to the bar. This is very stressful on the CNS. It needs time to recover. The stronger you get, the more rest you are going to need between workouts.
2. Do total body workouts or upper body/lower body splits
Never train individual body parts. Train movements. Growth is better stimulated through compound movements that include a lot of muscle mass.
When just starting out, my experience tells me that it’s best to train total body, three times per week. After appreciable strength gain, you may need to change to upper/lower split. The reason for this is because when you get strong, the amount of weight you need to lift to spur further progress is so great that it exceeds your body’s recovery ability. If I do 3×6 at 235 on the bench press, I can’t repeat that two days later. At this point it actually takes me a little over a week to get that again. The stress of doing 3×6 at 235 exceeded my ability to recover and adapt in a short period of time. Keep in mind that I’m only talking about skinny guys in this situation.
3. Always be striving to set a personal record. Your only goal should be to get stronger. Try to beat your previous best by a rep or by adding a little weight.
4. Eat, eat, and eat some more. I almost feel guilty saying this, considering the amount of poverty and famine in the world, but if you want to grow, you have to eat. I always think about when Chris Rock was talking about how Americans would never eat green meat, but in other countries they’d be thrilled to be eating green meat. The fact that I can eat 4,000 calories a day if I want always reminds me that I have a pretty good life.
My best results ever came from what I described above, and I never actually ate to an extreme. 3×8 on three major movements (e.g., bench, seated row, and squats) and then two assistance movements (more for entertainment and the pump) is still my favorite workout plan and has gotten me feeling better than any other protocol.
If you ever come into the gym and the weight is feeling really light, I’d take it as an opportunity to max out. You’ll usually notice that as you do your warmup sets, the weight is going up more easily than usual. It means that your CNS is fresh. Push yourself hard because you don’t get a ton of those opportunities.
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