Hardgainer: fact or fiction?

You may have been thinking of yourself as a hardgainer because you've had trouble building muscle recently. Is this label really accurate? Just because you're a skinny guy who's having trouble gaining some muscle weight doesn't mean you should label yourself with such a negative title like hardgainer.

If you've spent some considerable time trying to build a more muscular appearance but haven't had much success, you may be tempted to label yourself as a hardgainer. Your colleagues in the gym may have even given this label to you. Is there really such thing as a hardgainer?

The debate between nurture vs. nature has been going on for a long time, and many have gone so far as to blame their entire circumstances on their genetic inheritance or their upbringing. It might be tempting to blame all your failures on genetics. However, before we start to blame our parents for the genes that they passed on to us, we may want to take a minute and examine our actions that have led to failure. Of course every individual has unique abilities and genetic advantages. Certainly some individuals possess greater intelligence than others, and it seems fairly obvious that some trainees have a strong tendency to gain muscle with less effort. Should you give up because of this? I don't think so.

You may have to accept the reality that gaining muscle is not going to be a walk in the park for you, and you probably need to forget about those guys that seem to make progress almost effortlessly. If you're willing to make the commitment to obtain the right knowledge, and if you accept the possibility that you'll need to work a little harder than the next guy, you will be able to make significant gains. You need to take on a challenging program of progressive strength training along with an adequate weight gain diet.

You must change your attitude and believe that you can gain muscle. Believe it or not, your way of thinking can dramatically influence your results in the gym. If you enter a weightlifting program with the idea that you're not going to succeed, you've already limited your results from the very beginning. Every obstacle will seem greater until it appears to be insurmountable. If you start by telling yourself that it can't be done, then your mind will not be able to find creative solutions - hope leads to creativity. So what's the solution? First, drop the title of hardgainer. Then get yourself in a comprehensive muscle building program designed to build massive gains as quickly and naturally as possible.