Ectomorph Schmectomorph: Building Muscle Mass

Ectomorphs, like myself, are commonly referred to as "hard gainers" when it comes to gaining muscle mass (hypertrophy). They look thin no matter what they eat or how often they work out. The smallness of the forearms and calves are a good indication.

Ectomorphs are much more sensitive to too much stress during weight training and that is certainly not good for muscle growth. There is an extremely fine line where Ectomorphs will hit minimal essential strain versus over-trained.

1. Warming up. Do it.
• A minimum of 10 minutes of full body warm-up is absolutely necessary.
• Warm up the muscles that will be worked before you start your sets. You should feel slightly winded after a proper warm up.
• Rest for a couple of minutes after your warm up, then begin your workout.

2. Compound sets: Everybody loves ‘em.
• The level of stress that your muscles and joints can handle is low. When doing a compound set for hypertrophy you should be looking at a 10-12 range for the first exercise and then a “burnout” exercise to pair it with. An example set would be; 12 upright rows with 60 pounds, fatiguing at 12, immediately followed by a bent-arm lateral raise with 5 pounds. This will pump those muscles full of burn and will earn you excellent results. If you have to pause for one or two seconds to take an extra breath and crank out a few more reps just stop at the breath and rest for your next set.
• Keep your sets at three maximum for compound sets. Remember you are doing compound sets so you are doing six sets total for each muscle group.
• You will need 1.5 times the normal amount of rest for a hypertrophy workout. This would put you between one full minute and one minute thirty seconds between each set.
• Whatever muscle group you train that day should be paired with the major synergist. For example, if you are working out your chest, work your triceps on the same day.

3. Frequency.
• Work out four to five days per week and take the weekends off.
• One muscle group once per week for the first three months while your body develops neurologically and physically. I know it’s strange to hear that but trust me; Ectomorphs need the extra recovery time.
• Change your exercises every week. There are numerous exercises for each muscle group and you should have no trouble going three weeks for most muscle groups without ever doing the same exact exercise.
• Keep you entire workout around 45 minutes, excluding the warm up and cool down. If you go longer your body will start going catabolic and, well, that’s the opposite of muscle growth.

4. Eating.
• You should be consuming at least 2500 calories per week more than you would eat without an exercise program.
• Eat frequently throughout the day and eat a lot.
• Eat something without carbohydrates before bed to help your body keep from going into starvation mode for as long as possible.
• DO NOT SKIP BREAKFAST, EVER. Eat something as soon as you wake up. I can’t emphasize this enough.
• Try to eat nutrient dense foods rather than calorie dense foods.
• Eat something with carbohydrates IMMEDIATELY after your work out. You can get your protein when you get home.
• Stop drinking alcohol, period. It wrecks your sleep, dehydrates your body and wrecks your testosterone production.
• Supplements are not necessary with good nutrition. They should be used mostly for convenience immediately after a workout and before bed.

5. Sleep.
• You will need no less than seven to nine hours of restful sleep every night.
• Try to work out after you wake up when your testosterone is at its highest.

CRAVING

Pack the kids, go to the grocery store, and go buy those wonderful children of yours some cookies. Buy yourself some cookies. Buy your neighbors some cookies. Run through the streets, handing out cookies to everyone you see. They want them, I promise, and you’ll be performing a service to your community.

I’ve tried to skip the snack isle when I did my grocery shopping. I’ve tried setting limits on how many cookies per day I would allow myself. It never worked. When I did finally get my hands on some cookies, chips or whatever, I absolutely gorged myself on them.

What I have found is that if I have a ready supply, I never crave them because they’re always there. If I have a package of cookies lurking somewhere in my kitchen it’s comfort alone knowing that I can have them whenever I want them and it doesn’t have to be now.

It isn’t about some kind of magical willpower, it’s about knowing that I can have my cookie(s) any time I want and finding that I don’t even want them every day.

-Matt