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Date d'inscription : 28/05/2005
 | | What Kind of Gainer Are You? by Christian Thibaudeau | |
What Kind of Gainer Are You?
by Christian
Thibaudeau
Most strength coaches will categorize an athlete
or client into one of three classes based on their responsiveness
to training: easy gainer, hard gainer and average gainer. Let's
take a look at each category.
The Easy Gainer: The easy gainers are supposedly
the blessed few who can grow muscle very easily, without even
having to train hard or intelligently most of the time. These
people are characterized by a very high ratio of fast-twitch motor
units which have a greater potential for hypertrophy and are better
suited to respond well to strength training.
Easy gainers also have an average or above
average metabolism, just fast enough to minimize fat accumulation
and maximize protein synthesis and accretion, but not too fast as
to have an excessively high protein turnover rate. (Too high of a
turnover rate makes it hard to gain muscle, unless you consume
around two grams of protein per pound of bodyweight and a
large caloric surplus).
The body type of an easy gainer is either that of
a pure mesomorph (powerful neck, wide shoulders, barrel chest,
small waist, thickly muscled legs) or of a meso-endomorph (same as
a mesomorph but with a wider hip structure and more of a tendency
to gain body fat).
The Hard Gainer: Hard gainers have a very tough time putting on
anything that resembles muscle mass. They're predominantly
slow-twitch, meaning their muscles are composed primarily of
slow-twitch fibers. These fibers, while very well suited to
endurance sports, don't have the hypertrophy potential of their
fast-twitch counterparts. They're also less responsive to typical
strength training protocols.
The second reason why hard gainers have a
difficult time gaining muscle is because of their fast metabolisms.
This is probably due to a high level of thyroid hormone and a very
efficient T4 to T3 conversion capacity. As a result, the typical
hard gainer will have a super high daily energy expenditure and
protein turnover rate. This is good if you want to be really lean,
but extremely bad if you want to be huge!
The mega caloric expenditure requires a very high
protein intake (at least two grams per pound of bodyweight) and a
calorie intake that would give a stomach ache to a Silverback
gorilla. Furthermore, because of the high protein turnover rate,
protein needs to be consumed very frequently if any mass is going
to be gained. Hard gainers are normally ectomorphs: long and thin
limbs, narrow waists, long necks, small wrists, and narrow
shoulders and hips.
The Average Gainer: This category basically
includes 70-80% of the population. They're of a mixed fiber type
(approximately the same proportion of fast-twitch and slow-twitch
fibers) and their metabolisms are normally average, or even below
average.
There isn't a typical body structure for the
average gainer; they come in all shapes and sizes. Normally,
average gainers should be able to slowly add muscle mass with
consistent training and diet.
The Wimp Factor: I'd like to make a point: a
lot of people train like wimps, are afraid of hard work, and eat
less than your average hummingbird. These guys (or gals) make no
progress in the gym and they immediately assume that they're "hard
gainers."
Most of these people are actually average gainers
who just aren't willing to put forth the effort required in the gym
and at the kitchen table to stimulate progress. They use the hard
gainer tag as a copout.
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