Hardgainer: What to do if you are one?

A hardgainer is an athlete who trains in bodybuilding but finds it difficult to build muscle, regardless of how much effort they put in.

If, after training at the gym for a while, working hard, and eating a lot, you notice that you have never managed to build a significant amount of muscle… ever… even while lifting heavy weights, then you are a hardgainer.

There are several things that can cause this condition. For example, you may have become “resistant” to training by training the same way for too long, among other factors.

Therefore, if you are training enough and eating enough to support the growth process but still are not growing, there may be some causes that make you a hardgainer.

A low response to training

Keep in mind that someone who does not respond to training is NOT someone who has recently plateaued.

If you have added 20 kg of muscle over the course of your career and are now having difficulty gaining more, you are not a low responder to training.

You are simply closer to your genetic limit, making it harder to continue building muscle.

Setting that distinction aside, these are some of the possible causes that make you a hardgainer.

• Myostatin overproduction, a protein released by the muscles that limits growth.
• Chronically elevated cortisol levels, which increase muscle breakdown, reduce glycogen resynthesis, and increase myostatin.
• An ACTN3 XX genetic profile, which leads to a higher proportion of slow-twitch fibers (which have less growth potential), a weaker response to training (less mTOR activation), and a longer recovery period.
• Problems clearing adrenaline (slow COMT enzyme), keeping you in “sympathetic” mode, meaning you will burn a lot of energy and find it harder to enter rest/recovery mode.
• Reduced anabolic hormones: testosterone may be part of it, but most of the time it is due to low IGF-1 production by the liver.
• Digestive problems: eating more should help you grow, but if you cannot properly absorb nutrients due to digestive problems, more food may hinder your progress, as it will trigger a stress response.
• Insulin resistance, especially muscle insulin resistance, which makes it more difficult to deliver nutrients to the muscles.

The combination of several of these factors may cause you not to respond to training, making you a hardgainer.

The true hardgainer

If you belong to this group, you may not be able to build much muscle, nor gain much strength.

Normally, if you are an hardgainer, you have a fragile build, recover more slowly from illnesses and injuries, but you will also have difficulty being fast or explosive.

• Although you may often have a low body-fat level, you will look more skeletal than lean, since your muscle tone and definition will be reduced.
• You will have a fragile digestive system.
• You will often be stressed, have more cortisol, and have greater myostatin expression.

Furthermore, as mentioned above, you will have the ACTN3 XX genotype, which gives you more slow-twitch fibers, meaning a poorer response to strength training.

But how should you train, then?

You should focus on the metabolic pathway of muscle growth rather than muscle damage, as the latter occurs mainly with fairly heavy work in exercises where the muscle is stretched under load.

• The metabolic pathway focuses on training zones that lead to lactate accumulation.
• In other words, sets lasting between 40 and 70 seconds, with a controlled lowering and lifting tempo.

Lactate has been shown to increase follistatin, which decreases myostatin, which inhibits muscle growth.

• Stick to three workouts per week, and not on consecutive days.
• Use full-body training, which decreases myostatin more than upper- and lower-body splits.
• Use a moderate training volume: 2–4 sets of 6 exercises per workout.
• Favor higher-repetition sets.

You will respond well to slow eccentrics and a slightly reduced range of motion when using multi-joint movements (to cause less muscle damage).

The diet of a hardgainer

The best dietary strategy you can use if you are a hardgainer is to consume a predominantly high-carbohydrate diet.

That is, once you satisfy your protein needs, most of your energy-yielding nutrients should come from carbohydrates.

This is because you need carbohydrates to reduce sympathetic activity and facilitate digestion, since having a less efficient digestive system makes fats more difficult to process.

The advantages of a hardgainer

You would have the ACTN3 RR genotype, which gives you more fast-twitch fibers, but you are really inefficient at breaking down adrenaline (slow COMT enzyme and perhaps poor methylation), keeping you in sympathetic mode for much longer than most people.

This increases your metabolic rate, making it difficult for you to eat enough food to build a substantial amount of muscle, not to mention that you will be running on full adrenaline, perhaps even unable to sleep well.

However, the combination of a high proportion of fast-twitch fibers and constantly being in an amplified sympathetic state makes you explosive and strong for your size, with incredible muscle tone if you work hard.

The endo-hardgainer

If you are in this hardgainer category, you probably have difficulty building muscle but gain fat easily. A

The characteristics of an endo-hardgainer are:

• Low energy
• Low muscle tone.
• ACTN3 XX genotype, with more slow-twitch fibers and a poorer response to strength training.
• Low insulin sensitivity, which makes it difficult to build muscle and lose fat.
• Low sympathetic activity, either because you do not produce much adrenaline and dopamine or because you break them down very quickly.
• Low T3 levels, which negatively affect energy and your ability to train.

In this scenario, you will find it difficult to stay motivated to go to the gym, which is why you should follow these guidelines:

• Take shorter breaks between sets.
• Train in the lactate zone: 40–70 seconds under tension per set, even if it is very difficult because of your lack of
• Use full-body workouts.
• Place less emphasis on the eccentric phase to achieve as little muscle damage as possible
• Use exercises such as the prowler push, sled drags, farmer’s walks, and other loaded carries.

As for your diet, add more fat, consuming carbohydrates only after training and perhaps a little at night.

This strategy will help you improve insulin sensitivity and increase sympathetic activity, which is achieved with a low-carbohydrate diet, but never “zero-carb.”