I remember Tim Feriss telling us how he gained 34 pounds of muscle in 28 days (or something to that effect). Bullshit. Can’t be done. He stuffed his face and artificially pumped cell volume by using nutritional parlor tricks. Have you seen him recently? No way he kept much of that on. Why? Too metabolically expensive and it’s aboring lifestyle. He’d have to stuff his face to the point of discomfort at nearly every meal. So he’s gone back to a size closer to what his genetic optimum would be.

FixedGear, I’m not suggesting that your choice was wrong or that your advice won’t work for most hardgainers. It’s just that for my loyal followers here, things like power-to-weight ratios, functional strength, immune system management, and insulin mitigation probably take precedence. I would hope anyway.

Thanks for this. It makes me rethink the WHY more than the HOW.

I suspect that because that was me. 5′11″ 155 pounds my entire adult life despite 10+ YEARS of lifting weights. I just could NOT GAIN muscle for the life of me.

I finally figured it out. You have to ABSOLUTELY STUFF YOURSELF. To the point that it HURTS. To the point that you slip into a food coma after most meals and take a nap. Don’t be afraid of getting fat. Taking fat off is the easy part…. just follow Mark’s primal blueprint style of eating. The fat will fall right off. But for a hardgainer to grow, you HAVE TO EAT. You have to STUFF yourself.

Once I finally figured it out, and STUFFED myself 4-6 meals a day, I grew. I went from 155-200 in under a year. I became the strongest I’ve ever been in my life at age 34. Deadlift went from sets at 175 to sets at 245.

It’s NOT form. It’s NOT effort. It’s NOT even lifting to failure. During that entire run from 155 pounds to 200 pounds I never lifted to failure. I stopped one rep shy. Lifting harder is NOT the problem. YOU HAVE TO EAT.

To that end…. I was unable to eat enough following a healthy, natural diet. Because your natural “I’m full” mechanism kicks in when it’s suppossed to on a diet of natural foods. So what I had to do for the one year bulk cycle is START with natural foods and then when I was full, switch to junk. Chicken and Brown rice until I’m full, then a big-mac. Or a couple slices of pizza.

You will have to make that sacrifice and allow crap into your diet for the length of your bulk cycle. And you will have to sacrifice your flat stomach and get fat. Once you hit your bulk goal, switch to all natural foods, keep those calories UP, keep lifting, and AVOID CARDIO AT ALL COSTS. The fat will come right off just by switching the diet to natural foods (which will also by default lower your overall calories). Go back to eating until you are full, not stuffed and the fat will fall off. I’m telling you from EXPERIENCE as a former 155 pound skinny guy, this is the ONLY way to do it. EAT, EAT, EAT.

A few other pointers before you start…

-Take a good look at your diet, and fix it.
-Workout within the 8-12 rep range without going overboard on the sets.
-Gradually increase the amount of weight lifted or resistance week after week.
-Allow two days for recovery before working the same muscle grouping again.
-Do not workout more than five days a week, three being preferred.

I know all this seems like alot, but I didn’t come here to give you the easy way out…