Hardgainer Workout Tips: The Truth About Bodyweight Exercises And Gym Exercises

Hey guys,

Got another awesome question from a fellow hardgainer named Irving.

In today's newsletter I'm going to answer Irving's burning question which reveals the "TRUTH" about home exercises and gym exercises and what you NEED to know about each if you want to build the most amount of muscle in the least amount of time.

So here's the "Killer" question that sparked today's newsletter post:

In this week's newsletter I'm going to be talking about workout intensity.

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yo my dude that was a good video about all of the good foods to eat .. I am 5'8, 126lbs but i want to get up to about 145lbs. Ive been eating a lot of the foods you mentioned, and i been eating like 4 or 5 times a day.

I have also been doin a lot of pushups. do you think the pushups will help in adding muscle or what other excersises should i do ? iight man thx

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First off, let me just say thanks for sending me this great question Irving. And the truth is if I would have found the answer to this question years ago I pretty sure I wouldn't have struggled to see results for YEARS on end.

What I'm about to discuss today maybe the missing link to why you haven't seen the results you've been looking for, so pay close attention.

I remember when I was in high school and I was what my friend called "crack head skinny", yeah it was BAD. And I remember doing A TON of different things  to try to "get big", "bulk up" - you name it.

And one of the things I did was do a "GAZILLION" push ups in the morning and another "GAZILLION" push ups at night thinking that was all I needed to get bigger.

You wanna know how bad it really was???

I even remember lifting gallon jugs of water like dumbbells thinking "as long as I'm lifting something 'kinda' heavy" I'll get big.

WRONG!!!

It was the fact that I was doing workouts like these mixed with my poor high school eating habits that were the true cause of me not seeing the results I wanted.

And Irving, it's great that you're eating 4 - 5 times a day, that means that you "get" the nutrition part of the equation, now lets work on the "workout part" of it.

The Name Of The Game Is INTENSITY

One big misconception that I suffered from and you're probably suffering from is that "as long as the work your muscle to exhaustion (i.e. doing a ton of pushups, etc) you'll get huge".

Yesterday I was talking to a friend of mine and he was telling me about a website that shows you all the different exercises you could do at home to replace gym exercises.

Here's a lesson I learned the hard way:

If you're trying to add a significant amount of muscle and you're a "naturally skinny guy" you're going to need access to a gym or AT LEAST a home gym (i.e. - a BowFlex, etc)

Why?

Because the INTENSITY you get from doing a max set of pushups is WAYYYYY different from a MAX set on a bench press at 150 lbs.

Don't get me wrong, you can add muscle with pushups and other body weight exercises. But if your ultimate goal is to build a significant amount of muscle especially if you want to build it in a short period of time "calisthenics" or "body weight exercises" will only get you so far.

These exercises alone will only get you by in the "beginning".

So if you're just beginning to workout and train and you're following a muscle building diet which it seems like you already are Iriving, you will build muscle doing body weight exercises like pushups, pullups, dips etc.

Over Time These Exercises Won't Be Enough If You Want To Build A Significant Amount Of Muscle

And here's why...

See your body has primarily two types of muscle fibers. Fast twitch muscle fibers and slow twitch muscle fibers. Slow twitch muscle fibers are used for more endurance type exercises like "marathon running for example" and fast twitch muscle fibers are used for strength and power type exercises (like power lifting, and sprinting for example)

Every muscle group in your body (i.e. - your legs, your back, your biceps, your triceps, your shoulders) all consist of BOTH of these muscle fibers.

One key note to keep in mind about these two types of muscle fibers is that your fast twitch (strength and power) muscle fibers have the ability to grow MUCH larger than your slow twitch (endurance) muscle fibers can.

So when you think slow twitch muscles, picture a long distance marathon runner. And when you think fast twitch muscle picture a body builder like Arnold in his prime. Yes the difference in size that each of these muscles can grow are that staggering.

See, when you keep doing pushups or dips and all these other body weight exercises, instead of increasing the weight, which requires more strength and power (fast twitch muscle) to complete the exercise your body will switch and begin using your slow twich (endurance) muscle fibers to complete the exercise.

Why?

Because for endurance type activities your slow twitch muscle fibers are way more efficient. The problem is that your slow twitch muscle fibers even though great for endurance activites lack strength and power. That's where your fast twitch muscle fibers come in.

They can deliver more strength and power when you need it than your slow twitch muscle fibers but they fatigue very easily which is why your body uses your slow twitch muscle fibers for longer more drawn out activities.

So depending on the exercise your body will engage which ever muscle fibers it feels will help it get through the exercise more efficiently.

So when you do pushups or any of these other "home" exercises you're not increasing the weight over time, you're simply training your body to do MORE pushups then last time. Which means over time your pushups will be seen as an endurance activity, which means your body will engage more of your "slow twitch "muscle fibers to complete it.

Compare that to performing a bench press where your goal is to pick a weight that allows you to do no more then 8 reps. Everytime you're able to hit those 8 reps instead of doing more reps (endurance: slow twitch) you add more weight (strength and power: fast twitch) til you hit those 8 reps again and then you repeat the process.

So that's why you NEED access to a gym or a home gym if you want to build the most amount of muscle in the least amount of time. This is especially true if you're a hardgainer or "naturally skinny guy" like myself.

To answer your next question Irving, would make for a rather long blog post. But in short if you want a detailed list of exercises to do to build the MOST amount of muscle in the least amount of time I highly recommend you get my DVD casestudy.

Inside I offer a 2 week workout plan designed to build muscle FAST no matter what your experience level.

If you'd like to ask me a question leave a comment below or shoot me an email at Richard [at] buildmusclechallenge.com and I'll try my best to answer your question ASAP.

Please keep in mind I get TONS of emails and messages, so it may take a while for me to get to your specific question.

Only if you're interested, if you get your DVD Casestudy and Step By Step Action Plan when I release it I'm going to provide you with a 30 min. 1-on-1 coaching session FREE of charge so that I can answer ALL of your *BURNING* questions, see what you're doing wrong and create a game plan for you so you can start seeing results IMMEDIATELY.

If you're interested and would rather hop on the phone with me for a 1-on-1 coaching session rather than wait for me to get to your question via email which takes rather long due to my BUSY schedule then click the link below and sign up for my DVD Casestudy waiting list so you'll be first to know once it's available so you can grab one of the limited spots available.

Click here to sign up for my DVD Waiting List

Don't forget to leave your comment below letting me know what you thought of today's newsletter and if you have any additional questions.

Take care and til next time,

Rich