Today, it is often said about the genetic endowment of athletes. Learn how to become big and strong as a hard gainer. Athletes who slowly gain muscle mass are called hard gainers. However, very often the fact of slow mass gain is associated not so much with genetics as with the use of this fact as an excuse. Of course, it will be harder for you to achieve high results, but this is quite realistic. First of all, you need to forget about genetics and focus on drawing up the correct exercise program and the training itself.
If you are not a beginner athlete, then you probably know that in order to make progress, you need to train intensely, but not very often, use mainly basic movements, rest and eat well.
Many athletes do one exercise for each muscle group in one set, and workouts are done twice a week. In this case, the number of repetitions, as a rule, is from 6 to 12. Such training programs can be quite effective for many athletes, provided that the exercises are performed in full accordance with the technique and the number of repetitions is about 20. Today we will talk about the weight gain program for people without genetics in bodybuilding.
Weight gain program for people with weak genetics
This program may well be the best for athletes with average genetic makeup. It uses a triple split scheme according to the old 5x5 system. It also combines heavy sets with low reps and light sets using various methods of increasing intensity (negative reps, strip sets, etc.).
If you decide to use this program, then you have to visit the hall three times during the week. To increase the duration of recovery of the body, you can use the scheme "1-4-2". In practice, it looks like this:
- Monday - 1 lesson;
- Tuesday - rest;
- Wednesday - rest;
- Thursday - 2nd lesson;
- Friday - rest;
- Saturday - rest;
- Sunday - 3rd lesson;
- Monday - rest;
- Tuesday - rest;
- Wednesday is the beginning of a new training cycle.
Now we will consider each lesson in more detail.
1 lesson - back and chest training
This activity will be difficult. Start as always with a ten-minute warm-up, such as using an exercise bike. After that, move on to doing the bench press in the prone position. Do not forget about the warm-up set, in which do 10 to 15 repetitions. Then, after a two minute pause, proceed with the work set. Choose a weight of the sports equipment with which you can perform five repetitions. The set pattern will be as follows: 5-4-3-2-1 repetitions. After each set, increase the weight of the projectile by five kilograms.
The next exercise will be an incline bench press. Here it is advisable for you to prepare five dumbbells with different weights. The heaviest ones will be used in the first set. Each next approach is performed without pauses, but with less working weight.
After this movement, you can rest for about 5 minutes and start performing the barbell row in the direction of the belt or the T-bar row. Use the old 5x5 pattern, increasing the weight with each new set while decreasing the number of repetitions.
Today, this will be the only movement to strengthen your back muscles. After completing it, rest again for five minutes, and perform heavy shrugs with constant weight in the amount of six sets.
2nd lesson - training the muscles of the thigh and lower back
After warming up, start doing squats in the same way that you did deadlifts in the last lesson. After a five minute rest, do half squats. To do this, you will need to adjust the stand so that you can perform only the last 15 centimeters of the amplitude of the entire movement. The exercise is performed in six sets, one repetition in each. The weight should be chosen so that on the last set, you work with 95 percent of your one-rep maximum.
The last movement on this day will be the deadlift. Use whatever weight you can do 10 reps with, but lift the bar 20 times. It is very important that you take at least 2 deep breaths after each repetition.
3 lesson - training arms and shoulders
Remember to warm up. After that, begin to perform exercises for training arms - in the prone position, the grip is narrow, bending the arms with a barbell. The scheme remains unchanged 5x5 with the number of repetitions in them: 5-4-3-2-1. In this case, you need to alternate these movements. To put it simply, after a set of curls, pause for one or two minutes and start doing the bench press.
After that, you should perform a bench press in a standing position from the chest, to work out the deltas. Take a sports equipment from the rack and place it on your chest. Perform four sets of failure, and at the beginning of the movement you can slightly help yourself with your legs. This lesson will be easier compared to the previous ones.
You need to get enough rest between sessions. If you want to achieve great results, then you should not skip workouts. Also, after a long break, you should work in a light mode for a couple of weeks so as not to force the body with powerful loads. Also, if you have been doing very intensively before, then it makes sense to rest for one or two weeks. This will allow the body to recover. Don't forget about nutrition. Eat more protein compounds and complex carbohydrates.
Remember that you can achieve results only by combining three components: training, nutrition and rest. If you break the regime in at least one of these conditions, then it will be very difficult for you to progress. Despite the fact that you do not have unique genetics, if you want, you can achieve your goals.
For more details on how to train for people with weak genetics, see here: