How often should hard gainners go to the gym?

What kind of program are you doing?

You are not a 'hardgainer'. You need to eat your TDEE + 500 calories, CONSISTENTLY. Weight your food every day, track calories every day, and do this for months (it takes 3 months for ~10lbs of gain). If you go over TDEE+500 calories, the gains will become fat as you can only build so much muscle at once.

If you are not gaining weight after a few weeks, increase your calorie amount by +100 and re-assess next week. Repeat until you are gaining 1lb per week. Don't go past 1lb per week (too much fat increase instead of muscle0. Remember, slow and steady wins this race.

As for routine, a full body program 3 days a week is great for beginners to lifting. Ice Cream Fitness 5x5 comes to mind, along with Starting Strength and Strong Lifts.

Hey guys! I lift too, feel free to add me.
I personally go 5-6 times a week
Chest, tri
Shoulders
Back, bi
Legs
Chest( again)
Arms( again)

I've read it across many sources as a rule of thumb for people looking to gain. Had limited success with it previously but like op I haven't long been back on calorie surplus streak so it's difficult to understand how effective it is especially when I'm dubious about some of the workout plans I'm using.
What formula would you suggest as alternative MichelleLei1?

MichelleLei1 wrote: »

benc2448 wrote: »

I'm in the same boat. Aiming for 3,000 calories atm though I am 150 pound M age 25 so it should be 150x15+500= 2,750. Could quite easily eat 4,000 calories I think, but would struggle to maintain decent macro percentages and would be worried about piling on too much.

Exactly where did you get this formula from? The formula itself is overly simplistic, and not accurate for everyone. For instance if I followed this exact formula I'd gain about 2lbs a week.

OP you're not a hardgainer if you are only eating 3,000 calories. To put this in perspective when I was 5'4'' 108 lbs, I ate around 2,500 calories and still only put on 10lbs in 6 months.

As a hardgainer myself, I didn't start putting on weight until I actually sat down and constructed a proper diet. I know a lot of people will say that they eat a lot, but unfortunately they aren't eating enough. It's more than just lifting.

I doubt you'll be able to eat 3500 to 4000 calories per day right off the bat, but over time it will become a daily occurrence as you expend more energy during your workouts. Start small with 2 to 300 calories above your normal intake and increase those each week by 100 to 200 more calories. At least that's what worked for me. Everyone is different so that method may not be beneficial to you.

majolap wrote: »

I've been eating 3000 calories for the past week and haven't gained (I know it is early). I have bee going to h gym 5 times a week, is this too often. On bodybuilder.com one advise was to go three times a week for hard gainers. How often would you recommend?

3000 calories is probably not enough for you to gain. I'm almost 42 and have a desk job and I maintain right around 3000 calories.

Also, a week isn't enough time to know if your calories are right or not...this isn't going to happen overnight.

pbryd wrote: »

HamsterManV2 wrote: »

As for routine, a full body program 3 days a week is great for beginners to lifting. Ice Cream Fitness 5x5 comes to mind, along with Starting Strength and Strong Lifts.

A full body workout 3x times per week is perfect because it lets you practice all the lifts you need 3x times per week.

I don't feel 5 rep sets are ideal tho, an 8-12 rep range for 3 sets would be my personal recommendation.

It is 5 reps because the weight is increased every session. No novice will be repping high weight for long if they do 3 sets of 8-12 reps. 5 reps is the perfect balance between strength and size - and once they get the strength up, hypertrophy will follow more easily. i.e. who gets more gains? Guy1 who reps out 20lbs or Guy2 who reps out 40lbs? Increasing the strength early on will pay dividends to hypertrophy down the road.

That's why its normally recommended that AFTER the ICF/SL/SS programs, you can switch to a more hypertrophy oriented program with 8-12 rep sets.