Muscle Gaining Secrets 2.0: Skinny Guy/Hardgainer Niche

From the Desk of Jason Ferruggia
The King of Skinny Guy Transformations

If you’re like me and have always struggled to build muscle and gain weight I’ve got some bad news for you.

Keep training like you are now and you’ll never gain any real size or strength.

If you keep following the advice of your favorite jacked guy or juiced up “Instagram influencer” you’ll stay skinny and weak forever.

That’s because you’re a hardgainer.

A hardgainer is someone who:

  • Is naturally skinny or skinny-fat.
  • Has thin joints and gets injured easily.
  • Has a weak immune system and gets sick often.
  • Is an over thinker, high anxiety, high stress type.
  • Lacks confidence and is often shy and introverted.
  • Has naturally high cortisol levels (the stress hormone).
  • Has low work capacity and difficultly recovering from workouts.

It’s always going to be very difficult for us to build muscle if we keep making these same mistakes over and over again.

So, why are you still skinny and unable to build muscle?

Here are five reasons…

Reason #1: You’re Ignoring the Law of Progressive Overload

To build muscle you have to get stronger.

That is the #1 key principle.

Using the same weights for the same number of reps does absolutely nothing to force your body to adapt.

Without the challenge of more weight or more reps, you’re just spinning your wheels and wasting your time.

The guys who gain the most muscle are the guys who gain the most strength in the RIGHT rep ranges.

If your program doesn’t allow for consistent strength gains on a regular basis you’ll never build any serious muscle.

Reason #2: You’re Not Training With Optimal Frequency

The more frequently you can train a muscle (while still recovering and getting stronger) the faster you’ll grow.

Most bodybuilding programs have you training each muscle once a week.

That’s too little. Gains will come at a snails pace or not at all.

But most “hardgainer” programs and “functional fitness” workouts have you training each muscle group way too much.

That leads to more muscle damage and joint stress than you can recover from. So you get nowhere but injured.

Reason #3: You’re Doing Too Many Sets & Reps

Forget about copying the workouts of your favorite pro bodybuilder or Crossfit competitor.

The total weekly training volume they use will kill the steroid free, skinny guy who wants to build muscle.

There’s absolutely no reason to be doing numerous sets and exercises for every bodypart.

The goal is to get in the gym and hit it hard for just 30-40 minutes with the least amount of sets needed.

You have to do slightly more than you did last time (either more weight or more reps), stimulate the muscle growthprocess and get out.

Reason #4: You’re Using the Wrong Exercises

The usual advice for skinny guys is to do nothing but bench press, squat and deadlift.

That’s awful advice and usually just leads to frustration and injury.

Equally as bad is trying some trendy stuff like Olympic lifting, and endless circuits of high rep box jumps, burpees and kipping chin ups.

All of those exercises suck for hardgainers trying to build muscle.

You need joint-friendly,  compound exercises, executed in a very precise manner to maximize gains while reducing the strain and injury risk imposed upon your body.

Reason #5: You Don’t Have a Proven Plan

Most people who struggle to make gains just go into the gym and wing it.

They do something different every time and make it up on the fly.

That’s a surefire way to make zero progress.

To make gains you have to have a plan.

Ideally, one that has been battle tested by thousands of other guys just like you… with a long track record of successful transformations.

You have to stick to that program and track everything you’re doing each and every week.

Then you go in the following week and beat what you did previously.

That’s how you simplify the muscle building progress and make gains like clockwork.