Liebman - From slight to might: building muscle for the hardgainer

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Cover design by Tom Lau Project and art direction by Lisa Purcell Editorial & Design Cover photographs by Jenn Schmidt Photography Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-0895-2 Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-0897-6 Printed in China CONTENTS SKINNY NO MORE Y ouve probably seen those vintage Charles Atlas ads that show a muscle-bound bully kicking sand into the face of a scrawny guy who is just trying to enjoy a day at the beach with his girlfriend. The poor skinny scarecrow loses the girl, but he finds a book, one that will show him how to build muscles. Do you see yourself in that skinny scarecrow? Skinny, runt, pipsqueak, scrawny, weakling on and on go the labels youve heard all your life. Youre on a lifelong pursuit for acceptanceand to simply fill out a shirt. Outsiders just never understand the burden you bear. As a kid you were ridiculed for your lack of size.

You were likely the first to be picked on physically and the last to be picked for a team. The tables turned as you got older, though. Your peers began to look at you with envy rather than ridicule. Although you are still slight in build and frame, it would seem nearly all of them have ballooned up and no longer bear much resemblance to the muscular and shapely youths they once were. Now they say, Youre so lucky! You can eat whatever you want and not gain weight. Yes, you reply, thats the problem! To the world, you are known as the ectomorph, the hardgainer, but among others of your body type, you call yourself the tireless, the frustrated, the unfulfilled.

And if you are one of the many ectomorphs who want to bulk up, you are, quite simply, the unfinished. The other somatotypes (the mesomorphs and the endomorphs) may think that they envy you, but what they fail to realize is that you suffer an ongoing and most private of wars. A war of seclusion, avoidance, and embarrassment. And yes, while many ectos display somewhat prominent abdominals year-round, the cold, hard truth is you would give nearly anything to rip your shirt off to show off broad shoulders, a wide back, a thick chest, and arms that actually fill out shirts. Or at least a shoulder-width measurement that doesnt run parallel with your waistline. Dare to dream.

Is there an ectomorph out there who hasnt thought about bulking up like the skinny guy does in those Charles Atlas ads? If only real life could imitate art, with you finally fulfilling your hidden muscular potential. You would thwart the bully and leave with the girl in the final frame. Alas, what is the steep price of admission to achieve that reality? Just imagine for an instant that you, the ectomorph, the hardgainer, could truly defy your genetics and achieve your physique dreams. What if from now on, when someone looks your way, the thought skinny is replaced with muscular? What might that reality be worth to you? THE ECTO DILEMMA In high school, I had a friend who was so completely over his ectomorph status and the thought of being relegated to skinny for life that he decided to do something about it. He piled on multiple layers of clothing to give the illusion to othersespecially during gym classthat he was bigger than previously advertised. And with a newly revised diet of high protein and fat intake, progressive weight training and, of course, Father Time, within months the clothing layers (to give the illusion of muscles) were replaced with muscular layers.

Naturally this increase in size came with a price. He was constantly eating and would carry around his gallon of water all day while roaming the hallways going from class to class. Nevertheless, he had, to many sets of eyesincluding mineovercome his ectomorphic limitations. He wanted it bad enough that he defied genetics, taking matters into his own iron-forged hands, and won. Quite an achievementespecially for a young and impressionable kid. But the only impression left was on us, his classmates, who witnessed firsthand that transformation was possible, at any age and for any body type.

At long last, an ecto had made it, had filled out his shirt. At long last, hardgainers had hope! And then, just like that, all of his new gains disappeared. His pumped-up body seemed to deflate, leaving behind the original skinny. Was it all just a dream or a terrible lie? Indeed, he was onto something. It was possible. It could be done.

Now all he had to do was figure how to keep it done. NO MORE FRUSTRATION The pursuit of muscles isnt easy for a hardgainer. Frustration is a constant companion. So much so that many hardgainers decide to switch gears to pursue an endurance sport like marathon running or a triathlon. These are superb training modalities, but the participants are generally not known for their chiseled physiques with full and rippling musculature. Still others take a more drastic and permanent step: they simply give up, pulling themselves from the front lines of hope and change.

I am here to proclaim loudly that there is no need to give up, switch gears, or even curse genetics. The hardgainers mission simply needs to be defined as maximizing genetics. You cannot change the shape of your muscles, but you do have control over their composition, as well as their size. Will you ultimately have 20-inch arms and impressive thighs with more taper than a pyramid? Its possible but most likely not. But will the reflection that stares back at you in the mirror instill a smile instead of a frown? Unequivocally, yes.