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By Andy Mikulka
I was always wondering why my friends were getting bigger in the gym while my muscles did not respond to training as much as I would expect. Then I realized that as a skinny hardgainer I will have to do much more than just “train hard” and “lift heavy” – as many of the bodybuilding “gurus” and magazines would advice. After a bit of research about ectomorph body type I realized there are many genetic challenges hardgainers have to overcome in order to be able to build muscle.
One of the reasons why hardgainers struggle with “getting bigger” is a higher ratio of type one muscle fibers in hardgainer’s body. In general, there are several types of muscle fiber in our body, but the two that we deal with the most are type one and type two muscle fibers. Type one muscle fibers are your endurance related fibers (e.g. marathon runners have a higher ratio of type one muscle fibers). At the other hand, type two muscle fibers are the ones you get your power from, these are explosive power type fibers. The way hardgainers should target these two muscle groups is completely different than what a “normal” bodybuilding program would suggest!
Other reason for very slow (if any) muscle growth is the fact that hardgainers are biologically challenged when it comes to neuro-muscular communication, which results into poor muscular response and slower muscle building process. In other words, when you’re working out and lifting weights, your type two muscle fibers are much harder to target. Research has shown that only 20 to 30 percent of them are actually hit by your heavy lifting training! That is why the “lift heavy approach” does not really work for hardgainers.
So what advice would I give to skinny guys that do not want to be disappointed seeing all their hard work gone to waste?
One way to overcome the hardgainer’s training challenge with targeting type II muscle fibers is to gradually increase your body’s neuro-muscular communication throughout your workouts by using a “Rest Pause” format. This format is used in many different variations. The aproach I am going to show you might be a bit controversial but it is definitely worth trying because it can greatly magnify your bodybuilding results:
– Pick up a weight that is about 50% of your one-rep max
– Perform 5 repetitions and then rack the weight
– Wait 10 seconds
– Perform another 5 repetitions and rack the weight again
– Wait 10 seconds
– Perform another 5 reps & so on…
By gradually increasing overall workload in your sets with this twisted “Rest-Pause” format, you will slowly activate your Type II muscle fibers. The ten second rest periods will give you just enough time to catch your breath and regenerate energy for the following set. This technique dramatically improves neuro-muscular communication and results in 3 times better muscle growth.
When applied correctly, this “advanced” bodybuilding training technique is actually the HOLY GRAIL for hardgainer training.
Enjoy and lift smart!
Andy Mikulka
About the Author: Bodybuilding workouts for hardgainers must use different weight training approach if you want to build more lean muscle and gain weight fast. Visit my page at HardgainerBodybuildingTips.com & Discover the best diet tricks, training tactics & more hardgainer secrets to build serious muscle!
Source: isnare.com
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