It’s an old myth that you have to get fat and bulky in order to gain mass when weightlifting, even if you’re a hardgainer (if you “can eat six burritos a week and still lose a pound lol” like a guy in a recent Digg comment, you’re probably a hard gainer).

I’ve found several resources for working out all based on BodyBuilding.com to help gain mass, and I thought I’d share them here, even though it seems to be somewhat offtopic for ThinkBlog (it’s not!—thinkers have to take care of their bodies in order to, well, think!).

First off, “Gain 10 Pounds in 30 Days.” Now, realistically, that’s going to be a lot of water and probably fat as well, but much lean muscle mass too—but you have to follow the instructions to the letter every day, and this strikes me as something that one would do if s/he had absolutely nothing else to do: no job to work around, no school, nothing.

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“A Simplified Anabolic* Burst Mass Gaining Program” is the one I’m following presently. It’ll help you gain about two pounds of lean mass in a month without any creatine** loading, which is more significant than it sounds (especially in light of the previous article).

You have to be prepared to work out five or six days a week, though, and to feel utterly destroyed physically. You really feel like you’ve earned the rest, I’ll certainly give it that. No more complaining about the simple stuff! Comes with printable training logs per day. From the article (emphasis mine):

Typically, many male bodybuilders adhere to the old school “bulk up and train down” philosophy when trying to add mass. Unfortunately, this results in a gain of a significant amount of unwanted fat which only makes it harder to maintain the lean mass when dieting down because there is so much fat to lose.

Here is a simplified, general program designed to help increase lean mass and strength, while minimizing any gains of fat. I have tested it on myself and others, and it works remarkably well and actually fits in quite well with social life as an added bonus.

Advanced: “Hardcore 6-Day Training for Mass.” You’re considered a beginner in weightlifting till you’ve been doing it at least a year; I’m going to give the prior program at least six months before attempting this, but if you want to shatter yourself to rebuild even stronger, this would be the ticket.

It’s a three-day split that targets specific muscle groups twice a week (the optimal rate so as not to overtrain). If you go this route, though, be sure to take extra supplementation to support growth—otherwise, when your body is fatigued it will eat its own muscle for nutrients! (See “catabolism” below.)

Finally, how to stretch and flex for optimal growth. The human body is designed to be able to be exceedingly flexible and mobile even with enormous mass, but most weight lifters dismiss stretching as some Yoga-Esque nonsense for women (or just as enormously inconvenient or whatever).

This is a definitive, quick guide to stretching everything from your neck to your abs and then some. I’ve seen guys with twenty-four-inch guns more flexible in the arms than I am just because I’m bad about neglecting this very thing.

* “Anabolic” comes from “anabolism,” the state of the body when it is in rebuilding mode. When your body is efficiently converting amino acids—the building blocks of protein—into lean muscle mass, your body has entered an “anabolic” stage;

if you aren’t getting enough food or are nutrient-deficient or just haven’t used your muscles lately, your body is entering “catabolism,” which is simply the opposite—your muscles are being broken down for essential energy components so basic body functions can still take place.

You can be in a catabolic state even if you’re eating a lot: for instance, so much of a large French fry order is unusable by the body except as fat storage, it does nothing to replenish your vitamins and minerals.

Creatine has taken the bodybuilding and muscle-training world by storm since 1992. It is naturally produced by the body, but your body can benefit enormously from creatine. Traditionally sold in monohydrate form, this kind of creatine needs insulin to “turn” the molecule in a sense so it can enter cells; lately “ester” forms have been researched and refined that do not require insulin.

This is vastly advantageous since creatine monohydrate is often mixed in powdered supplements with a very great deal of sugar so as to spike the body’s insulin production—but with an average of around 75g of sugars per dose, monohydrate mixes of creatine are diabetic cocktail to all but the extremely disciplined lifter.

I personally recommend BSN Cellmass and N.O.-Xplode for creatine ester supplementation (0g sugar, but beware of the aspartame if you’re phenylketonuria or react with agitation from this chemical sweetener!).

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