Big Beyond Belief - Hardgainer

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From Big Beyond Belief:

The Myth Of The “Hardgainer”

Let us deal with the hardgainer fantasy. In every bodybuilding magazine today you will read articles about the hardgainer, the guy who has a hard time putting on muscle because he has a genetic liability. All this hardgainer talk is merely a scam to get you to buy somebody’s product.

The fact is that maybe one guy in 500 has the genetics to put muscle on easily. The rest of us have to work for our growth. The body does not want to put on muscle. It is an exhaustive physiological process, and 99% of us are hardgainers. It takes work, good diet, discipline, knowledge and a strong, health-conscious attitude to build muscle.

Genetics are just a cop-out. When you look at Tom Platz or Arnold, neither had what would be called “great genetics”, but they went on to be all-time greats. Forget the hardgainer whining and those hard-gainer programs too.

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common myths

1. High-intensity training produces the greatest gains.
2. Constantly changing routines hapazardly or adhering to the muscle confusion theory
maximizes gains.
3. The average workout should last 90 minutes or more.
4. You should only train a body part twice a week for growth.
5. You should only train a body part three times per week for definition.
6. It takes 72 hours for a muscle to recover from a workout.
7. Instinctive training means doing what feels good to you all the time.
8. Overtraining is the chief problem of today’s bodybuilder.

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Overtraining

Overtraining occurs when your body is stressed beyond its ability to recover. If this occurs on a continual basis you will find muscle growth halted. You can even lose some of the growth you previously experienced. At its most severe, overtraining can set you up for injury and illness.
Needless to say, for the bodybuilder with the proper devotion to training, overtraining can be a serious concern. Unfortunately, back in the 1980s overtraining was overdone. It became a rallying cry for a lot of misled bodybuilders. Some bodybuilding gurus began claiming that everyone was overtraining and urged them to cut back on volume. Sure enough, when they cut back they experienced big gains for a short while, but the growth did not last. More on this later.
The fact is that chronic overtraining can be destructive to your progress and health while acute overtraining, or short term overtraining, can be used to your benefit. We will show you how to use these temporary periods of overtraining to your advantage later in this manual.

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Rep range:

The important point to make here is that bodybuilders need not be concerned with muscle fiber typing. While it may be important in power sports, track and field, football or other performance sports, the bodybuilder is not trying to develop muscle for a specific task. It is necessary to get a full spectrum of stress on the muscles for maximum growth.

[TitanCT]

Id also like to add, whether you're goal is gaining mass or cutting, your body fights to maintain a weight its comfortable with. so if its used to being 300lbs its gonna fight you to stay that way, and vice versa if you weigh 130lbs.

[BendtheBar]

I want to mention that this information is from the e-Book "Big Beyond Belief". A lot of the book is really interesting, and like some books, 25% I don't agree with 100%. Still a very interesting read...and far from your average muscle building book.