Optimal Training: How To Build Optimal Strength for Hardgainers

Understanding The Hardgainers Mindset

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Hardgainers, listen up! If you’ve been busting your ass in the gym and still not seeing the muscle growth you crave, you might be a hardgainer. These are individuals who struggle to pack on muscle mass and strength despite consistent training and nutrition efforts.

The latest research shows that hardgainers often have a higher metabolic rate, making it tough to consume enough calories to support muscle growth. Plus, they might have a lower muscle protein synthesis rate, which can limit their ability to build muscle.

But don’t throw in the towel just yet. Here’s how you can turn the tide:

1. Increase Caloric Intake: You need to eat like your life depends on it. Focus on high-protein foods to support muscle growth. Think steak, chicken breast, eggs, and quinoa.
2. Resistance Training with Heavier Weights: Push your limits with heavier weights and higher volumes. This will stimulate muscle growth and help you break through those frustrating plateaus.
3. Prioritize Recovery: Overtraining can be a muscle killer. Make sure you’re getting enough rest and incorporating recovery techniques like ice baths to aid muscle recovery and overall well-being.

Related Article: The Ultimate Guide to State Training

Stay committed, stay focused, and remember, building muscle as a hardgainer is a marathon, not a sprint.

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To achieve optimal results, you need a well-structured training program that aligns with your individual needs and goals. Training intensity is crucial for stimulating muscle growth and achieving optimal results. Here are the key principles to keep in mind:

1. Progressive Overload: Gradually increase the weight or resistance in your exercises. This constant challenge is what drives muscle growth.
2. Periodization: Mix up your training program to avoid hitting a plateau and to prevent overtraining. Change your routines, weights, and reps periodically.
3. Specificity: Tailor your training to your specific goals, whether it’s muscle growth, fat loss, or improving your bench press. Focus on exercises that target the muscle groups you want to develop.
4. Consistency: Stick to your training program. Consistency is key to seeing results. Make fitness a part of your everyday life.
5. Recovery: Don’t underestimate the power of rest. Your muscles need time to repair and grow. Incorporate rest days and recovery techniques into your routine.

Incorporating these principles into your training program will help you achieve your fitness goals and improve your overall well-being. And if you’re feeling lost, consider working with a personal trainer.

Remember, effective training is a powerful tool in your fitness arsenal. Use it wisely, stay dedicated, and watch your body transform.

Creating a Personalized Training Program

Creating a personalized training program is the cornerstone of achieving your fitness goals. A one-size-fits-all approach won’t cut it, especially for hardgainers. Here’s how to tailor a program that fits your individual needs and sets you up for success:

1. Define Your Goals: Start by pinpointing what you want to achieve. Are you aiming for fat loss, muscle growth, or overall fitness improvement? Clear goals will guide your training program and keep you focused.
2. Assess Your Current Fitness Level: Take stock of where you are now. Evaluate your strength, endurance, and flexibility. This assessment will help you set realistic goals and track your progress.
3. Choose the Right Exercises: Select exercises that target specific muscle groups and align with your goals. For muscle growth, compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, and the bench press are your best friends. These moves engage multiple muscles, giving you more bang for your buck.
4. Determine Training Frequency and Volume: Decide how often you’ll train each muscle group and the number of sets and reps you’ll perform. Higher volumes and heavier weights are key for stimulating muscle growth, especially for hardgainers.
5. Incorporate Progressive Overload: Gradually increase the weight or resistance over time. This constant challenge is crucial for muscle growth and strength gains.
6. Consider Your Lifestyle: Your training program should fit into your everyday life. Consider your schedule, diet, and other lifestyle factors. A program that’s too demanding or doesn’t align with your lifestyle is hard to stick to.

By following these steps, you’ll create a training program that’s tailored to your needs, helping you achieve your fitness goals more effectively.

Optimal Training Program For Hardgainers

You are going to learn about optimal training, what it is, and more importantly, how to build optimal strength particularly for hardgainers in today’s article.

Training intensity plays a crucial role in achieving the best results, especially for hardgainers. Training frequency is another critical factor, as it determines how often you should work each muscle group to maximize growth.

Now here’s the all important point before I even proceed, because I know that there are fake trainers out there with fake testimonies, I intend to show you that I lead by example and how these training methods, including training with higher volumes, can be seamlessly integrated into your everyday life to maintain your health and fitness journey.

Clientele Achieved Optimal Results

I showed Jason optimal strength training and he lost weight because muscle burns fat. He went through personal training with me.

Related Article: How to Gain Muscle As a Hardgainer

He went through my german volume workouts, and his strength improved as I saw it every time I trained him. His strength gains were also significant, showcasing the effectiveness of the program.

Heck Joshua Schorr covered in tattoos did high intensity interval training.

Again, I’m not some idiotic personal trainer that just makes big promises that you can get abs in less than 6 months!

It’s bullshit, and it will never happen. Go through my HIIT article, you’ll know how long it took me to see results.

You will come across trainers that cheated their way to abs through black market supplements. I am not one of them.

It’s because I found an alternative earlier in my life how to lose weight with optimal training without cheating.

What is Optimal Training?

It’s very simple, it is positive training adaptations. Ever heard of GAS?

No, it’s not the gas in your gut, its general adaptation syndrome.

Here’s what that means, it means you are adapting to the stress that you are applying to your body through physical fitness.

Now this definition of optimal training is courtesy of NESTA…

“The proper form of overload (stress/exercises) importance, but also the proper amount of recovery time between training.”

Optimal training also enhances muscle protein synthesis, which is crucial for muscle growth and recovery.

And here’s why it’s important to know this…

It’s important, because as you know if you’ve read my health and fitness articles, detraining is too much recovery, and overtraining is not enough recovery.

Incorporating recovery programs like ice baths can significantly aid muscle recovery and overall well-being.

What is Optimal Strength Training?

Optimal strength training according to Healthline, “Involves using a load of 80% performing 1 through 8 repetitions.” ​[R]​

Training volume is a crucial factor in resistance training, as it determines the total amount of work done.

And here’s how I’m going to tell you about optimal strength training from what I’ve learned through several bodybuilders and world-wide trainers…

Optimal strength training involves starting from high repetitions with very light weight…

Then you drop the weight as you go and increase the weight as the repetitions decrease, acclimating to heavier weights.

I’m going to give you a FREE chest workout in this article from my program Alpha Body Blueprint. I also encourage you to listen to my podcast in this article.

Optimal Strength Training for Hardgainers

This is essentially push pull legs three day split. I encourage German Volume Training starting out. Because that’s a starting point to gain size fast. This is more advanced than German Volume Training.

Training with higher volumes is associated with increased muscle adaptations, providing insights on optimal training loads and volumes necessary to maximize muscle hypertrophy and strength development.

Here’s what I want to suggest to you brother. Regardless of the FREE chest workout I give you…

The major key point here is your recovery time. You need to set a timer for one minute. 

More importantly, it’s really about how much you eat, so let’s get in to that real quick. Nutrition is important brothers!

Nutrition: Eat Like Your Life Depends on It

Here are some important foods for bulking that I really want you to consume:

• Steak
• Ground Turkey
• Chicken Breast
• Eggs
• Canned Chicken
• Sweet Potatoes
• Brown Rice
• Quinoa

Related Article: 7 Foods That Aid in Weight Loss

Nutrient timing is crucial to ensure that your body gets the right nutrients at the right time for muscle growth.

It is essential to adjust these recommended foods based on individual needs for optimal results.

This is the number one thing you must be focusing on my friend. Without the right foods for bulking, optimal training is great, but you won’t maximize results.

You see, here’s something most people don’t think about, they don’t think about the foods they eat.

And it’s easy to say, “That’s expensive.” Here’s my response to that weak comment…

You know what’s pricey? Paying for the fucking health bills that come in the mail because you cannot control what you put in your fucking mouth!

Overcoming Training Obstacles

Training obstacles are part of the journey, but they don’t have to derail your progress. Here are some strategies to overcome common challenges and keep pushing forward:

1. Consistency is Key: The most important factor in any training program is consistency. Make training a non-negotiable part of your routine. Aim to train at the same time every day or week to build a habit.
2. Seek Support: Don’t go it alone. A training partner or personal trainer can provide motivation, accountability, and guidance. They can help you stay on track and push through tough times.
3. Mix It Up: If you’re feeling bored or stagnant, it’s time to change things up. Incorporate new exercises or switch up your training program. This not only keeps things interesting but also prevents plateaus.
4. Focus on Progress, Not Perfection: It’s easy to get discouraged if you don’t see immediate results. Remember, progress is the goal, not perfection. You do need to lift with proper technique, just don’t expect a perfect looking body.
5. Take Rest Days: Rest is just as important as training. Your muscles need time to recover and grow. Incorporate regular rest days into your training program to prevent overtraining and promote muscle recovery.

By addressing these obstacles head-on, you’ll stay motivated and on track to achieve your fitness goals. Remember, every challenge is an opportunity to grow stronger.

Free Chest Workout for Hardgainers

Here’s what I want you to do my friend, just do this…

Incline Bench – 5 Sets

• Set 1 – 20 Reps
• Set 2 – 15 Reps
• Set 3 – 10 Reps
• Set 4 – 8 Reps
• Set 5 – 8 Reps

Start out light and start increasing as the sets go on. Recovery time is 90 seconds.

Standard BB or DB Bench Press

• Set 1 – 10 to 12 Rep Max
• Set 2 – 8 to 10 Rep Max
• Set 3 – 6 to 8 Rep Max

If this confuses you, understand that you need to choose a weight that falls under the rep range where you fail. 

Not injure yourself, no, you need to feel it in the muscle, that’s what I mean.

Last exercise are parallel bar dips.

Parallel Bar Dips (AMRAP)

• Set 1 – Find Your Maximum Rep You Fail On
• Set 2 – Same strategy as first set

You train till failure my friend. You are hitting your entire chest muscle group. Upper chest muscle group with incline, lower chest muscle group with dips. And of course, classic bench press.

Optimum Nutrition Whey Protein

The latest research supports the importance of protein for muscle recovery and growth, emphasizing its critical role in protein synthesis, which is essential for achieving optimal results.

Optimal training includes the other 23 hours of the day you spend outside of the gym. This is not just something you overlook.

In fact, I encourage you to buy this and make a protein smoothie in your blender, it’s worth the money to get way more jacked.

More importantly, you’ll find that this is how you recover that much more. Protein is fucking key to getting the results you want.

Don’t neglect this as you can and you will get a shit ton of results making a good protein shake.

This is a Marathon Not a Sprint

This is my last and most important point to this entire article my friend. This is a marathon not a sprint.

It takes time to see results. Don’t get frustrated. Be patient. More importantly, make this a life long habit. A long-term commitment to fitness enhances overall well-being, supporting not just physical health but also mental and emotional wellness. 

Training consistency is key to achieving and maintaining these benefits over time.

Without making this a life long habit, you might as well stop. Because fitness is meant to be a lifestyle.

In case you didn’t know, there’s a science behind lifting, and there is also biomechanics which is extremely complex.

But here’s the most important point. You gotta understand that this takes time. People get unrealistic in the time frames they want their goals achieved…

And that’s why they fall out and get pissed off on why they aren’t seeing results.

The Bottom Line: Optimal Training

There’s a lot more to say on how to optimize a strength program for hardgainers, in fact, I’m working on a full exercise program to be released in the near future. However, just understand that this is a good starting point to the right path.

Following a structured training regimen is essential for achieving optimal results.

Don’t neglect getting a good powerful pre-workout because that can and will maximize your results and strength.

I will say this before I ditch out and that is you gotta follow everything in this article, do the free workout on top of what you already do for chest.

The most important part is the nutrition and the protein as it’s the building blocks for your muscles. I’m telling you, don’t ignore it.

The last point I want to make is optimal training requires you sacrifice the foods you love to eat that you know are no good for you.

I mean that, if you want maximum results, you gotta stop eating sugary crap. Just fucking do it, your fitness goals requires some type of sacrifice.

Fee comfortable to comment down below if you have any questions and send me an email if you have more private questions. See you next time!