When I Can't Make it to the Gym....

I try to get in some sort of workout at home anyway, if I can!

So, this Saturday I slept in and didn't make it to the gym. Being that with my current schedule I can only make it to the gym twice a week, I didn't want to miss out completely. So here are some exercises you can do at home without a lot of equipment if you aren't able to get to the gym.

1- Pushups
Use different hand placements for a varied workout.

2- Chair Dips
Grab a chair and do some dips on it!

3- Resistance Curls
My wife has a set of 10 lbs dumbbells. A little light for doing curls. So, to pre-fatigue the muscle, I would hold them in place for as long as I could, then do some regular curls. This made it a lot harder to do the curls and also gave me a bit of a pump even though I was only using 10 lb weights.

4- Crunches
You just need a floor to do these.

The whole point here is that even though I wasn't able to make it to the gym this Saturday, at least I was able to do something. When it comes to motivation and dedication I've found that at least doing something is much better than doing nothing.

Looking for Tips

Being a hard gainer, I'm always on the lookout for tips and advice. And after reading as much as I have, I feel I'm getting better at being able to cut through the crap and the same old same old stuff. So every now and then I read something that actually makes me go "huh, that's interesting...."

So here's the article that I read, check it out sometime and it may make you go "huh" as well.
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1608/is_9_20/ai_n6242981

The interesting things that I took from this was the concept of not doing as much bench but doing dips instead. I sort of disagree with this because everything I've read over the years recommends that the bench is great for building mass. But, I do agree that I need to incorporate more dips into my workout. So really, in the quest to gain muscle, I'm willing to experiment from time to time but I'm also smart enough to not revamp my whole routine based on every article that I read!

The Big Lifts!

One of the biggest mistakes I made early on when I started lifting is that I focused a lot of my time on isolation exercises. Things like preacher curls, flyes, and others that really only target smaller muscles. After doing more reading and studying about what is the best way to gain muscle, I realized that I really was doing things wrong. But even then, it took a while for me to actually start doing those things!

So what are the big lifts that you need to focus on if you're going to gain muscle? Basically, you need to focus on what are usually called multi-joint lifts. The standard big lifts include the bench press (barbell), squats, dead lifts, and others that involve more than one muscle group at a time. Focus your time on these and you're much more likely to gain muscle faster and more effectively than you ever will just doing isolation exercises.

Just to give you an idea on how important this is, lets take a look at Arnold Schwarzenegger's Basic Workout from his book "The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bobybuilding". Here are some of the lifts that he recommends for the basic level (basic bulking):
Chest - Bench Press, Incline Press, Pullovers
Back - Chin ups, Bent Over Barbell Row
Legs - Squats, Lunges

Of course, he also includes in this some curls and other such exercises, but most of your time if you're really trying to put on some mass is with the bigger exercises.

Body Types

If you're a hard gainer, you're most likely an ectomorph body type. Many of you probably already know this, but just in case let's go over what an ectomorph really is.

In the topic of body types, there are 3 basic types: ectomorph, endomorph, mesomorph. A mesomorph is the body type that is more naturally athletic. In high school, the pure mesomorphs were the ones that looked quite a bit older and more mature than everyone else, and they also don't seem to have to work as hard to have a great physique. This is a bit of a misconception, but they do tend to gain muscle a bit easier than most. The endomorph tends to be a bit on the rounder, heavier side. And the ectomorph are your skinny guys. Granted, these are very broad generalizations, but hopefully you get the point.

Most people are not 100% one body type, but rather a mix of different body types. There are some little questionaires you can take online that will help you decide what type you are, but if you're a hard gainer you most likely have quite a bit of ectomorph in you. Here's the good news: just because you might be mostly ectomorphic doesn't mean that you can't gain muscle and build a great body, you'll just have to work at it differently than some of the other body types! And here's the good news: there have been several pro body builders that have also been rather ectomorphic. These include (but are not limited to) Frank Zane, Flex Wheeler, Larry Scott (who considered himself a 98 lb weakling growing up) and Arnold Schwarzenegger himself. So take heart and motivation from guys like this that even ectomorphs can build good muscle!

What is a Hard Gainer?

The point of this blog is to offer comments, tips, and advice for hard gainers to help them to build and gain muscle. So sometimes people wonder, "What is a hard gainer?" Basically, a hard gainer is anyone that seems to have a hard time putting on muscle mass, or even any weight at all. Many people would suggest, and I agree with this, that people should avoid labeling themselves as hard gainers. But, for the purpose of this blog it works so you can decide if the information offered here is really for you. Sometime hard gainers could be considered your ectomorph body types, skinny guys, '98 pound weaklings', and so forth. So if you find that you have a hard time putting on the mass or weight that you'd like to, then I hope that you find this blog to be useful!