What if you can't make it to the gym?

I'm starting to realize more and more that with my current schedule I just don't have much time to really go to the gym. At least not as much as I'd like to. And with some upcoming situations, I may have even less time. So, I need to find some other things I can do at home rather than going to the gym. Here are few ideas that I've come up with but if anyone reads this and has some more ideas I'd appreciate them:

Varied Position Pushups
Pullups (probably on the park equipment near my apartment)
Get a set of around 30lb dumbbells, that would allow for a decent workout for arms and shoulders.
Chair Dips
Lunges
Calves on the stairs.

That's all that I can think of right now. I'm just hoping that I can gain the muscle I'm after by doing more of these kinds of workouts, but I'll still need to find a way to work in some good bench work and squats.

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.

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!