If you’ve hit the gym long enough, you’ll eventually be faced with a dilemma:
Should you take steroids to increase your muscle building potential?
It’s a questions I’ve wrestled with in the past because I’ve always had a difficult time to put on size as someone with a skinny-fat physique.
Here’s the answer I’ve been able to come up with after given this topic some serious thought:
I’m sure you’ve heard this myth before: does muscle really weight more than fat?
Many people fall victim to this belief thinking that the muscle they gain is much heavier than the fat they have on their body.
Perhaps this is due to you hitting a plateau, stalled at the same weight for several weeks. You begin to think that maybe you’re building muscle while losing fat.
Therefore, since muscle weighs more than fat, it makes sense that the scale is staying the same.
Progress in the gym can be tough. This is especially true if you’re of the skinny-fat type like I’ve always been.
While weight training is the key to transforming your body composition, it isn’t as easy as all these Instagram “naturals” want you to believe (they’re snakes).
Here’s the truth that you must first understand: Progressive Overload is the most important part of any weight lifting program. The routine you choose isn’t nearly as important.
It sounds weird, right? An endomorph hardgainer? Does that even exist?
As a fellow endomorph hardgainer myself, it sucks. Absolutely sucks. I wouldn’t wish this body type on anybody.
But, you got to deal with the hand you’re dealt in life. And life isn’t fair. That’s simply the truth. No amount of whining and blaming God or government or whatever will change this reality.
So you got to suck it up and make the best of what you got. The good news is that you’re not alone here. Like I said, I have the ectomorph hardgainer genetics. I’ll teach you what I’ve learned over the years to help you maximize your muscle building potential.
Do you consider yourself to be skinny fat? Are you going back and forth between a bulk and a cut with hardly any results to show for it?
Have you been trying to build muscle and lose fat for years and years?
Well, that was me! For most of my life, I was the typical skinny-fat. I always weighed around 150-160, but never seemed to put on muscle — just fat.
And when I cut? It was as if all of my years of lifting was for nothing. There wasn’t a lot of muscle underneath my skinny-fat physique.
Other than diet, the most important factor in building muscle and strength is this: Progressive Overload.
The key to progressive overload is to FIRST lay out the goals that you’re working towards.
If your goal is to build muscle and get stronger, then it’s progressive overload that will help you reach these goals.
So how do you know if you are on the right track? How do you know if you’re getting stronger and building muscle?
The process of losing fat or gaining muscle can be a huge commitment that takes time and discipline.
During the process, people look for any source of feedback to ensure their workouts are effective.
Of course, nobody should expect to do 20-some push-ups and see a larger chest, but people often believe that they need a muscle pump in order to have an effective workout.
Makes sense, right? To know your muscles are growing they need to swell up. They should be sore! Is this your line of thinking?
Ah yes, the classic PPL split — which means push, pull and legs. It’s a workout split that you perform throughout the week over a course of 306 days depending on how much you can handle.
What’s a workout split you say?
A workout split is a routine that you follow for a certain number of weeks (usually 8-12) before you switch it up, take a break, try new exercises, and so on.
When done with proper form and an emphasis on progressive overload, the PPL Split is very effective. Like any workout routine, progress is the key. If you aren’t progressing on your lifts, you’ll end up like all the other skinny-fat guys who have been “working out” for years.
When you’ve been around the fitness community for years, you’ll eventually start thinking about little details that you assume to matter.
If you put five “gurus” in the same room, you’ll get five different opinions about the best time to workout.
Some people swear by lifting first thing in the morning on an empty stomach (also called fasted lifting).
Other’s believe that you should lift after a small meal.
Before you kick me in the nuts for hating on full body routines, hear me out:
If your goal is to build muscle and build a strong physique, the full body routine is the least most recommended routine I would ever give to someone.
The reason is simple: spending 3-4 days per week hitting the same muscle groups over and over again doesn’t give your body enough ample time to recover.
Yes, full body routines are very popular for beginners because it makes you feel good about working out.