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In case you’re not familiar with the term hardgainer, it simply means skinny body type.  If you are a hardgainer, there are a few things you must know if you really want to put on some lean muscle mass.  Genetically, it is harder for hardgainers to build muscle than others.  By putting in a little more effort, their goal can and will definitely be achieved.

I have seen and met many hardgainers over the years who seem to think that they can just start gaining their desired muscle mass by just joining the gym and start working out. Don’t get me wrong, as a hardgainer you will put on a little weight by just working out, but trust me, it won’t be much.  Your body type won’t allow you to do that if you don’t push yourself hader than others.

In order for hardgainers to put on good weight, they have to start eating like beasts.  They have to eat lots of food that are high on protein, like chicken breasts and egg whites.  Depending on your body weight, your calories intake should be between 3000-3500 daily.

Don’t forget, it is also very important to eat the right types of food (healthy).

The other thing that will help you out also, is the amount of sleep you’re getting at night.  Sleep is very important for any one whose desire is to build muscle mass (especially hard gainers), at least eight hours every night.  There are also things you should eat more of (fish, chicken breast,steak) and things you slould eat less of (fried food, junk food).

If you don’t feel like you can achieve this on your own, you’re welcome to send us an email with your questions, suggestions and we’ll be more than happy to help.  That’s what we’re here for.  A personal trainer wouldn’t be a bad idea either, at least for a couple of months.

SKINNY LEGS?  NOT A GOOD LOOK!!

Have you ever asked yourself why so many muscular guys always wear long pants even when it’s nice and sunny out?  Wonder no more, here is the answer; It’s because they’re so busy working on their upper body parts, they completely forget about their legs and calves workouts.

All of the guys that I started training with used to follow the same workout routines.  Among those routines, we always used to reserve a day or two out of the week to hit our legs hard.  We used to make fun of so many big guys with skinny and funny looking legs that we did everything so we never fall into their category.

DON’T FORGET ABOUT YOUR LEGS AND CALVES WORKOUT!

Back in college, some friends and I used to participate in majority of the annual school’s fashion shows.  Since we all attended the same school at the time, the show’s organizer would normally ask each of us whether or not we wanted to be part of the show so we can live it up a little.  Every year, we looked forward for those dates so we can show our stuffs since we weren’t professional body builders.  The biggest guy out of all of us used to always be part of majority of the scenes except for the bathing suit one, which most of the students used to look forward to see.  Some people used to beg him to be part of that particular scene but he always used to blame it on his shyness (Yeah, right!).  You know what his problem was (lol)? If you guess skinny, tiny legs, YOU GUESSED RIGHT.  During our training, we always used to ask him to be part of the “big legs workout program” (lol).  That was just a little name we came up with for motivation, and it worked for us.

He always used to refuse and said he had a bad knee, but we all knew it was because he hated it.  We changed the routine from heavy to light weights and from free weights to regular exercise machines, but that didn’t work.  I have bad knees and I don’t like legs’ workout, but I didn’t want to look like my friend and I hope you don’t either (HA HA).  I also hope he never gets to read this because I promised never to write about this story, but I felt you too can learn from his mistakes and not fall into the skinny legs’ category.  If he ever reads this, I’ll apologize and explain to him how I think many can learn from his story, he’ll understand; I hope.

LEGS AND CALVES… THEY DO EXIST!

My friend learned the hard way that training your lower body parts, like your legs and calves is as important as training your upper body parts like your chest and arms.  In fact, if you really want big legs, you have to train them harder than your other body parts because they take much longer to show.  If you have bad knees like me, you should go easy on the heavy weights, do high rep leg workout, and do less squatting and use the legs’ machines more often.   You can even do some leg workouts without weights if you prefer.  All those leg workout routines work for both men and women.  I personally do not enjoy leg workouts, but I do it anyway because it is more important than some of you may think.  Big guys, skinny legs, not a good look; Trust me. I see it a lot at the gym, on the streets, on the beach, you name the place, they’re there. 

I have no doubt that some of you know some great leg workout routines.  If so, feel free to share with the rest of us by using the space below and post comments and suggestions.  I think your comments will help us achieve our goals much more quickly and efficiently.  I’ll be more than happy to post all of your comments.  We all can use a little advice sometimes.

Muscle definition breakthrough!

Summertime is around the corner here in New York City. What does that mean to most of us who spent the whole winter time bulking up? The answer is quite simple. It simply means that it is time to shed some pounds and focus more on getting some muscle definitions.

What are we doing wrong?

Many people whom I have met at the gym over the years of my training,  repeatedly do the exact same thing every year. Every time they feel like it is time to start working on muscle tone definitions, they change their workout routines by lifting lighter weights and do more exercise sets and repetitions in order to look more defined. This routine is only a fraction of the many ways to build muscle definition. Many people always tend to forget that their calories intake must be reduced and also change the type of supplements they were using while they were bulking up. For instance, the amount of your carbohydrates intake must be reduced and the amount of protein must be increased.  I enjoy lifting heavy weights and getting big, but I am now training for muscle definition.  For a while I used to think and do what others are doing until I decided to do more than just changing my workout routines.  If you are the type who enjoys food like me, this won’t be an easy task but it can be done.  One thing I start doing is leaving healthy snacks around the house- preferably cut up fresh fruits and quaker oat meal bars.  I also buy fresh seasoned chicken breasts, leave them in my fridge and use my Xpress Redi Set almost everyday to prepare at least a couple of them (great source of protein).  Once you get yourself into the habit of healthy eating, everything else will easily fall into place, trust me..

What’s stopping you from getting definition of lean muscle mass?

Let me share something with you that some of you may or may not already know. The number one reason your muscle doesn’t show through like it really should is because you have a high body fat percentage. You must reduce your body fat by burning off all the excess fat you can. Are you shocked? I hope not, cause this is the absolute true. In fact, it has been tested and proven that people who lower their calories and do more cardio look a lot more defined than others who don’t. It doesn’t matter how much you exercise or how long you spend at the gym, if you don’t follow the proper procedure, you will not build muscle definition. At the end of every article, I always encourage people to add comments or suggestions. I simply feel that will make our journey very interesting and a lot more rewarding. If you would like to post comments or suggestions about this article, please feel free to do so at the provided space. Until next time, be good to yourself.

We all start off working out really excited and determined. You buy all the right foods and start eating right. You’re going to the gym consistently day in and day out. You have every intention of continuing this for the rest of your life, right?  But then something happens; You miss a day at the gym because you had something else that popped up last minute. You decided to go to McDonald’s for a quick bite because you had to stay late at the office the night before and didn’t have time to eat something healthy. Okay so you tell yourself “I’ll make up for these mess ups by going to the gym an extra day or putting in an extra hour”. But the problem is you never do. These little mess ups here and there now become a habit and you’ve found everyway to distract yourself from going to the gym. Does this sound familiar? Well that’s exactly what used to happen to me. 

DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE

Before I signed up for my gym menbership I went to Paragon Sports and bought sneakers, gloves, safety belts and a few workout gears.  I won’t tell you how much I spent there, but let’s just say, I wish I were that salesperson..lol.  After I spent all that money, you know I was ready and couldn’t wait to get to the gym.  As you might already know, I was going training hard for the first few weeks before I started slacking off. Since I was so determined to get big, it took a long time before I started missing a couple of days here and there.

TRANING ROOM DISTRACTIONS

Shortly after, I started missing a few days, then a couple of weeks and so forth.  Distraction comes in many shapes and forms; you may get distracted by friends, family, hobbies that are not workout related, Televisions, business, finances, mental distraction,  stress, workplace distractions. Etc…

Every time I get distracted by anything for a long period of time and stop working out, it is extremely hard for me to get back to the gym and I know that some of you can relate.  Besides fighting distractions on the streets, I also had to fight distractions at the gym.  There was a group of guys at my gym, who used to cause major distractions to my workout.  You know the type who does more talking than working out.  I used to try to make it to the gym either before or after they finish their workout, but because of my schedule, that didn’t workout for me.  So, I had to find different ways to keep myself as far away from them as possible.  I started to use the treadmills a lot more often because I was able to watch TV while running and it also kept me away from the noise.  I was looking for ways to avoid distractions by trying different methods.  Finally, I decided to get myself an IPOD.   Like everything else, I had to get used to it for the first week.  After that, I was home free. I was able to workout distractions and noise free.

WHAT WORKS FOR YOU?

Keep in mind no matter how committed and focused you are, you will get distracted one way or another.  You must find ways to stay focused both outside and inside of the gym.  Outside of the gym, I used to think about all the great compliments that I got from friends and family to avoid distractions and stay focused.  Inside, I used my IPOD to listen to my own songs rather than listen to those boring ones they always play at my gym.  Those two things worked for me then and still are working now.  I know at least one of you has great ways to avoid distractions that may work better than mines.  Feel free to share your experience and your personal ways to avoid distractions with the rest of us in the space below.  I’ll be sure to discuss as many tips as possible in future post.