After a strength foundation, a hardgainer should be aiming to improve his/her work capacity. The work capacity is the ability to workout with heavier poundages and weights longer and harder at a higher intensity. By harder, this involves using more exercises and/or increasing the amount of days you work out in a week or training cycle, or increasing the frequency of workouts.
Increasing work capacity is a primary way to improve your recovery which also gives you a more functional body in the long term. Once you improve your recovery abilities, you can switch to more high volume and/or high frequency workouts. Further, it improves both your aerobic and anaerobic capacity. Training each muscle group more often allows for more growth phases out of the year. This leads to faster progress and greater gains in strength and muscle mass.
You Can Train More Often than You Think- Overreaching
Some gurus will tell you that your recovery ability as a hardgainer is limited since you had the short end of the stick in the genes department at birth, but I strongly disagree. I've seen guys and girls who can barely train each muscle once a week to training as often as three times a week (with some modified intensity) once they mixed in some progression and frequency schemes/changes to improving work capacity.
Yes, you can program your body for a higher level of performance as long as you provide new challenges and increasing stresses. It depends on how you organize and structure your volume, intensity, and frequency of training.
In other words, you're able to train your muscles more often than you realize. A hardgainer with improved work capacity is able to train each major muscle group at least twice a week with multiple sets of 6-12 reps with 2 or more compound exercises for each muscle or movement patterns without overtraining or running the risk of overtraining.
The key is in structured overreaching. Starting out with low volume and intensity (intensity with respect to weight or a percentage of your 1 RM for a given lift), you ramp it up over the course of a training cycle, let's say 3-4 weeks, and then back off with reduced volume again so as to let the body recover and catch up to the training stimulus. This is what strength coaches call "overreaching" and is rooted in the fact the dual factor theory of exercise, as opposed to the single factor theory of overcompensation.
So essentially, you're able to train harder and push further than you're used to for a short amount of time, then back off and let the body recover.
But why is an improved work capacity important, especially to hardgainers?
Because it contributes to your body being able to handle more weight with more exercises. The result is more tension placed on the musculature.
More tension = higher muscle fiber recruitment= more microtrauma = more growth phases with the increased frequency = more muscle growth.
More Growth Phases
Let's say you're only able to train each muscle group once a week in a 6 month period. You have trained a total of 24 times for each muscle group which comes out to 24 growth phases. But if you adapted to a high frequency workout and you can only do so if you have the conditioning and work capacity to keep up with high frequency workouts, you can structure your program to train each muscle group twice a week directly in 6 months, give you 48 growth phases, twice the amount of chances to build muscle and grow.
Now some trainers will say that you could easily overtrain working each muscle too often. But that's the whole point of improving work capacity. Your goal is to build up to being able to work out more often with heavier weights without entering overtraining mode. You're overreaching, not overtraining.
Further, you'll be developing different strength qualities as you build that strength foundation and work on improving your work capacity. Each workout will focus on different aspects of strength: strength endurance, basic absolute strength, speed/explosive strength. You will be using a variety of rep/set ranges. Your training will not get stale.
There are 5 basic ways in which you can improve work capacity,
- 1) 3 day/week full body workouts with more sets
- 2) 4 day/week horizontal push, horizontal pull scheme
- 3) 4 day/week double upper/lower body workouts
- 4) split routines training 4-6 days, splitting body part or movement patterns and working them on different days
- 5) GPP- short general physical preparedness circuits
3 day/week full body workouts with more sets
Training your entire body three days every week with a higher set/rep scheme has to do with increasing the frequency of each muscle group worked. The traditional recommendation for a hardgainer is to do 2-3 sets of 8-12 reps for one compound movement when starting out. That's a total of 16-36 reps per workout for one compound muscle group. You can throw in more sets but manipulate the volume and intensity by reversing the set/rep scheme.
For example,
- 8 sets of 3
- 12 sets of 2
- 6 sets of 4
- 5 sets of 5
- 9 sets of 4
- 7 sets of 4
- 10 sets of 3
The above schemes range from 24-36 reps utilizing more sets but with reduced reps. This is still in the volume range of what a hardgainer can handle. However, the amount of weight you can handle will be higher because the repetition range is reduced, which allows for higher intensities (intensity with respect to weight). For progression, you can apply various progressive overload methods. An effective method is repetition progression.
Take 10 sets of 3 for example. Week one will start out with 10x3 (sets x reps). For week 2, add an extra rep to every other set. On week 3, add the extra rep on all sets to make it 10x4. And continue on until you get 10x5. Increase the weight by 2-5% once you get all 10 sets of 5 for the compound movements. If you have more than 6 months of serious, hard, and consistent training, you can swap the typical 3x 12 set/rep scheme for any of the above with your 3-day a week workouts.
4 day horizontal push, horizontal pull, vertical push, vertical pull scheme
You can also increase the frequency of training sessions by splitting the body into movement patterns of horizontal push, horizontal pull, vertical push, and vertical pulling days. You also include quad dominant and hip dominant days into any one of the movement patterns. Each movement pattern represents the major muscle group and corresponding compound exercise that best works that muscle.
The push muscles are the chest, triceps, and shoulders. The horizontal pushing movements include any compound or isolation lift that involves the body in a horizontal position: bench press, dumbbell press, dumbbell fly, lying tricep extension/skullcrusher. The vertical pushing movements involves the body in a upright/vertical: standing db shoulder press, military press, overhead tricep extension, dips.
The pull muscles are the back and biceps. The horizontal pulling movements include any compound lift that involves the body: barbell bent-over row, dumbbell row, bench row, sitting db curl, concentration curl. The vertical pulling movements involves the body standing upright/vertical position: deadlift, pullups/chinups, lat pulldown, upright row, barbell/db curl, high incline db curl, hammer curl.
Quad dominant (squats) and hip dominant (deadlift) days can be assigned to either of the 4 days as preferred. I like to put quad dominant day on vertical pushing day and hip dominant day on vertical pull day. It's all up to you and whatever is convenient. Training with movement patterns in this respect ensures that you get a more balanced workout. You can further specialize with isolation exercises since you're not training the whole body in one session. This leaves room for more volume and higher intensities if you choose to use the rep schemes recommended above.
Go with a 2 days on, 1 day off schedule. Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays are training days. Wednesdays and weekends are off days.
4 day/week double upper/lower body workouts
This works in a similar manner to the horizontal and vertical 4-day program except you don't have to separate training sessions into movement patterns. You simply split the body into upper and lower body twice in one week each and train accordingly.
Compared to ABA split I outlined in the previous article, you'll be training the upper body and lower body each twice a week, rather than three times a week, one day extra but you'll incorporate a greater variety of exercises to further tackle the muscles and stimulate them to grow.
I suggest hardgainers only attempt these training schemes of increased frequency and set/reps after 6 + months of hard training with the basic routines outlined in the previous workout section of this hardgainer series.
The first upper body can be a heavy workout. The second upper body session may be a light session. The same goes for the lower body sessions. This gives the intermediate lifter new to increasing frequency workouts or anyone who've been working each muscle group directly only once per week time to adapt and adjust to the workouts. An example upper b ody/lower body 2x routine will look something like this,
Upper Body 1
- standing military press 3x 4-6
- barbell rows 3x 4-6
- flat db bench press 2x 8-10
- weighted chinups 2x 8-10
- weighted crunches 3x 12-15
- plank hold 3x 30 seconds hold
Lower Body 1
- squats 6x 3
- single leg db stiff leg deadlift 6x3
- leg press 2x 8
- standing calf raises 2x 15
Upper Body 2
- flat bench press 4x 8
- db rows 4x 8
- db fly 2 x 15
- barbell shrug 2x 12
- weighted v-up 2x 12
- side prone 2x 45 seconds hold
- back bend/superman 2x 20
Lower Body 2
- front squat 5x5
- lying leg curl 5x5
- db walking lunge 3x 10, each side
- seated calf raise 2x 20
Notice that rep ranges are varied for each upper and lower body session throughout the week. This prevents the body from stagnating quickly if you offer varied loads and, exercise selection, and volume ranges. Use a 2 on, 1 off schedule: Monday and Tuesdays will be workout days, Wednesday as an off day or light cardio day, and Thursday and Friday as the second upper and lower body workout days. Additionally, you can also throw in some isolation exercises in the 8-15 rep ranges to specialize in a certain body part.
More frequent training also increases muscle tonality, giving you the slightly pumped look even if you're relaxed and not flexing (you'll have that "athletic" look so people will realize you actually work out when shirtless (for the guys....and ladies too 
)...talk about an ego boost.
Body Part Split Routines
Body part split routines involve working each major muscle group directly only once per week but more attention can be focused on each muscle per day (since each session focuses on 1-2 muscle groups). You can easily specialize on bringing up weak muscle groups and lagging body parts with split routines. However, it is easy to overdo the volume and do endless unproductive sets of exercises if you're not careful. Intensity, with respect to weight and load, is what builds muscle and strength, not necessarily volume.
Volume is secondary to intensity. When doing 20-30 sets for just once muscle group, you can easily overtrain if you keep it up for weeks without any growth in muscle and strength.
You can structure split routines into 4-6 days schedule. Again, load and volume (rep ranges and sets) can be varied throughout the weeks or for each muscle. Here are some examples of body part splits you can use. I don't recommend attempting body part splits if you're new to strength training. Build that foundation first with upper body/lower body and full body workouts and then after 6 months, you can transition into split workouts.
Split option 1
- day 1: chest, shoulders, triceps
- day 2: back, biceps
- day 3: rest
- day 4: legs
- day 5: accessories: calves, forearms/grip, abdominal
- day 6 and 7 are rest days
Split option 2
- day 1: quads, biceps
- day 2: chest
- day 3: back
- day 4: rest
- day 5: hamstrings, shoulders
- day 6: abdominal, forearm/grip, triceps
- day 7: rest
Split option 3
- day 1: legs
- day 2: back
- day 3: rest
- day 4: chest, shoulders
- day 5: bis, triceps
- day 6: forearm/grip, abdominal
Split option 4
- day 1: chest/back
- day 2: legs
- day 3: rest
- day 4: arms, forearm/grip
- day 5: shoulders
- day 6 and 7 are rest days
GPP- General Physical Preparedness
GPP workouts may also be incorporated to improve your conditioning. This especially applies to athletes and sports-specific conditioning that places heavy focus and demand on the cardiovascular system. To improve aerobic and anaerobic capacity, you can use a series of body weight drills mixed with sports-specific skill activities into a high intensity workout.
To put it simply, GPP is just varied training using light weights/loads, body weight movements, and unconventional equipment like tires, sleds, kettlebells, sandbags, etc. String a series of 5-10 exercises into a circuit with minimal rest in between each exercise, then repeat the circuit several times. You can make the circuits short or long depending on your conditioning and energy levels. They can range any time from 5 minutes to 30 minutes. Do them on rest days or at the end of your strength workouts as a finisher.
When done consistently, GPP workouts improves all aspects of strength: strength endurance, limit strength, explosive strength, and speed strength. You may use body weight movements for high rep sets, weights (dbs, kettlebells, sandbags) for explosive movements and maximal strength training, or use do some running, jumping rope, or biking for cardiovascular endurance.
Here's an example of a light GPP workout utilizing body weight exercises, db movements, and a stationary bike,
- db clean and jerk 5 reps
- burpees 8 reps
- plank hold for 45 seconds
- body weight chinups 8 reps
- hop on stationary bike and do bike for 20 seconds intervals/rest for 60 seconds, repeating 4 times
The above workout is done in a circuit with each exercise done back-to-back with minimal rest. Repeat the entire circuit 3 times (so you'll be doing 20 s intervals for a total of 12 times in the entire session)
Here's another similar routine that uses a density approach,
- bodyweight squats 30 seconds, do as many reps as you can in that time
- elevated pushups (elevated from legs), 30 s, do as many reps as you can in that time
- ring pullups (can be done on any set of rings, I recommend the Elite Rings), 30 s, do as many reps as you can in that time
- weighted v-up 30s, do as many reps as you can in that time
- superman/back bend 30s , do as many reps as you can in that time
Again, you're doing the above routine in circuit format. You'll need to keep track of the 30 seconds time for each exercise. I recommend the GymBoss interval timer. Now, using a variety of movements, you can come up with your own GPP routines for some workout fun. A simple format is to pair upper and lower body- 6 total movements with 1-3 ab movements, 3 circuits with 1 min. rest in between, 15-20 minutes total, sometimes even less to 10 minutes
Here's a very basic body weight only GPP session,
- squats 20 reps
- pushups 20 reps
- walking lunges 12 reps each leg
- chinups 12 reps
- weighted crunches 12 reps
- back bend 20 reps
Now, a full body db drill using GPP template using explosive weighted lifts can look like this,
- db front thrusters 5 reps
- db power clean 5 reps
- db push press 5 reps
- db calf raises 8 reps
Do 4 circuits and rest 1 minute between each circuit.
Here are some articles to check out for more information on GPP,
A word of caution: keep your intensity in check when doing these workouts. You may either do them at the end of your regular strength workouts or on off days but do not go insane and crank out sets and reps for hours on end. I recommend a load of 50-60% of your 1 RM for weighted movements. Keep the number of reps for body weight exercises to 20 or under. Do not go to total positive muscle failure on any movement.
Keep all GPP sessions to under 20 minutes. You're trying to instill some good and somewhat challenging work into your body to build your work capacity and even speed recovery, not totally demolish your muscles. That's left to the main strength workouts during the week.
feedback and monitor to how body responds to increased training load, if too much, scale back and add slowly.
Finally, let's conclude this series with part 4 on muscle building nutrition for the hardgainer.
Train Hard. Train Safely. Train Smart.
- The Hardgainer's Guide to Building Muscle and Strength- part 1
- The Hardgainer's Guide to Building Muscle and Strength- part 2
- The Hardgainer's Guide to Building Muscle and Strength- part 3
- The Hardgainer's Guide to Building Muscle and Strength- part 4
Feel free to email me with any questions or comments at ZQH245@gmail.com or leave a message below.
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