Being ashamed of your own body is probably one of the worst things to happen to someone. If you are an ectomorph (a hardgainer), dreaming of building a body, it may be even more challenging for you. The majority often takes it as a challenge and in a quest to achieve their dream body, often go overboard. If you are a hardgainer, trying to build some power-packed muscles, you probably have landed on the right page.
Here, we have brought five exclusive muscle building tips for all the hardgainers out there –
- Do Not Overexert Yourself
It is a popular myth that the more frequently you hit the gym, the more powerful your muscles will be. Well, to burst your bubble, training way too frequently can reduce your strength levels by a significant margin. This is due to nervous system fatigue, which starts to break down muscle tissue. Long workout routines were not designed for hardgainers.
- Liquid Nutrition Is For You
A liquid diet is an easy way out for hardgainers. They would not fill you up like solid calories, thus making it easier for you to meet your daily goals. It is recommended that in addition to your pre and post gym sessions protein shakes, you gulp down an extra shake per day. Try including as many calorie-dense ingredients and whey protein in this shake as possible. Also, do not compromise on multi-vitamins . Your diet must be rich in all the necessary vitamins, proteins, and minerals in addition to calories.
- Solution Called Sleep
Although it is a bit difficult to digest, a proper sleep schedule can complement the hard work you have been putting in the gym for long to build those muscles. If you are over exerting yourself and hitting the gym before you are fully recovered, it will degrade your body further rather than helping. As opposed to other gymers, hardgainers do not have the usual recovery abilities. Being a hardgainer, if you are not catching enough sleep it is bound to have a negative impact on your progress. A minimum of eight hours of sleep is essential for optimum results. If possible, extend it to nine.
- Some Smart Work
The fact that hardgainers should completely eradicate cardio exercises from their workout schedule is often seen doing the rounds in the fitness world. While the argument holds a fair amount of logic and must be paid attention to, however, you do not need to swear by it. Rather than eliminating it completely from your schedule, you need to improvise it a bit and do it the right way.
Moreover, in addition to building muscles, you need to be overall healthy and need to get the health of your heart covered. Thus, cardio exercises are not a strict NO for you, even if you are a hard gainer. Set cardio to low or moderate intensity for 20-to-30 minutes, for optimal results. Two or three cardio sessions per week are enough for you and will help keep your heart healthy. Additionally, it will boost your recovery time and improve nutrient delivery to muscle cells.
- Be Friends With Fat
Fearing healthy fats can be troublesome for hard gainers. As a hardgainer, you need to be best friends with healthy fats. They are your key to the door of getting some quick results. They are quite dense in calories and completely loaded with muscle-building benefits. Besides, do not compromise on your carbohydrate intake for fats as both are equally important and hold a vital place in the diet chart if you want to get fit into your favorite t-shirt.
For someone trying hard to get rid of obesity, ectomorph body type may be a dream. A small bone size, long limbs, it is rare for ectomorphs to put on weight, thanks to their super-efficient metabolism that burns extra calories in the blink of an eye. However, it gets really tough for them to build muscles. But, as they say, nothing is impossible. With a well-structured, executable plan and some dedication and persistence, they can overcome the challenges and achieve that dream body.
Author Bio
Harold Camaya
She is a blogger who loves to write in different verticals. She co-authored Supercharge Organic Traffic: A popular course focusing on Organic Traffic for Ecommerce.. Her hobbies are travelling and reading novels.
