Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Hardgainer Battle...Vince vs. Jay

If you want more muscle building info, check out this discussion between Jason Ferruggia  and Vince DelMonte

Two former skinny guys showing you how it's done, hardgainer style.

Jason: Vince, like me, you were a skinny kid growing up and a stereotypical hardgainer. How much trial and error did you have to go through to come up with a formula that works for guys like us?

Vince:
To be honest, I lucked out and found myself a 'savior."  I met this natural level bodybuilder (at my church of all places) who basically took me under his wing and became my coach right before I decided to transform my body.  

This guy was a tank!  225 and 5% body fat all year round and I believe he was in his late 40's.  He started giving me these "old school" workout tips and techniques and programs and before I knew it, I gained 41 lbs of lean muscle in six months.

Over the past 5 years, I've finessed the program by working in the trenches as a trainer - with sometimes 40-50 clients at a time and found how to tailor the program to virtually anybody - teenagers, young gals, beginners, older fellows, moms... anybody.

Building muscle is really not that complicated.  There are only a few universal principles that need to be applied consistently, over time, for muscle growth.  As long as these "ingredients" are in place, there is no reason anyone should spend years going through trial and error.  

Don't get me wrong, some individuals have unique situations that require some tweaking but for the most part, building muscle is very simple in theory but difficult in "doing!"  

Jason: What do think made the biggest difference? Are there a few things that you discovered that really made a huge impact on your training?

Vince:
Four things for now:

1. Truly "high intense" workouts.  The first time I learned how this principle works, I ended up in the bathroom puking worse than a first year keg party.  Most guys are just not giving their muscles a reason to change.  The wor kout are too easy for their body's so the body laughs back at them and says, "Nice try..."  

2. Infrequent workouts.  If you are training more intensely, will it take longer or shorter to recover?  Longer!  So the key is to find the optimal number of days in between workouts to allow for recovery and adaptation to occur.

3. Progression.  When I started to make a conscious effort to "out do" my previous workouts performance with either a extra pound or extra rep.  The best way to measure your bodybuilding progress is by using the standard of strength.  

4. Consistency.  It's critical you stay dedicated and consistent all year round to maintain motivation and see results.  
**********

These guys will help you build muscle,

CB
PS - I'm using Jay's program to build muscle...up 15 pounds in 12 weeks.

Click HERE for a picture of my progress

Jay and Vince both recommend less volume, so take a look at your program and see if you are doing too much.

PPS - Wanna skip the muscle building and go straight to bodyweight training?

Get the TT bodyweight 500 here

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