I just posted a page about creating a calorie surplus — Read about it here —

Calorie Supplementation: The Answer for Hardgainers

Fellow hardgainers, you and I both know that you’ve tried every food supplement, powder, pill, capsule, and liquid on the planet that claims to build muscle and pack on the pounds.

I know I have. You know what? Most of them don’t work. I mean, they work on mesomorphs, guys who can put on a pound of solid muscle just by doing a set of chins and eating a steak.

But for us, it’s different. We have very fast metabolisms, and in many cases, we’re built like marathon runners rather than Mixed Martial Artists.

We choke down hundreds — if not thousands — of dollars’s worth of weight-gain powders every year. Mostly to no avail.

I just got a hold of a book called Homemade Supplement Secrets. It shows you the supplements that work and that don’t work for putting muscle on hardgainers. Plus, it shows you how to make the supplements that DO work, right in your own home using readily-available ingredients!

All at a fraction of the store-bought price. How sweet is that?

Read my full review of Homemade Supplement Secrets here.

The latest edition of the Hardgainer’s Blog Carnival has been posted over at Muscle-Build.com. Check it out.

Also, if you purchase Hardgainer Project X from my affiliate link, I’ll give you a FREE copy of Hardgainer Manifesto (a $20 value). Just email me with your ClickBank receipt, and I’ll send it off to you within 24 hours. (Sorry, I’m actually not at a computer with access to email right now, else I’d send it right away.)

One of my favorite “muscle gurus,” Jeff Anderson, just released his latest project called Hardgainer Project X. This program was designed from the ground up as a comprehensive training and nutrition course especially for the hardgainer. This is NOT a re-hashed “old school” system that was changed a bit just to make it new.

No. HPX is far superior to anything on the market in terms of effectively training and teaching the hardgainer about how to break through zero gains and into rocking, rippling, and ripped muscle.

I wrote a review over at Muscle-Build all about it.

Made for skinny guys. And girls.

I know what it feels like to train, eat, and sleep with zero progress. You try everything, yet nothing works. But you know what?

It all boils down to something. Odds are, you are not immune from the laws of the universe, one of which is the following:

If you eat more calories than you burn, you MUST gain weight.

It’s just that simple. Now, I’m not saying whether the weight you gain will be fat or muscle, just that if you aren’t gaining weight, you aren’t eating enough. Period.

Or, alternatively, you’re doing too much exercise (you’re burning too many calories). One of the things hardgainers have – that they don’t want – is a fast metabolism. So, one thing you’ll want to explore is slowing down your metabolism. This is easier said than done.

It’s mostly mental, however. Just relax. Calm down. Don’t worry. Life is good. Meditate. If you find yourself tapping your toes, stop. If you find your leg twitching while watching the tube, STOP (I hate that)!

But the bottom line really is to eat more. Eat stuff that makes you hungry an hour later, like white rice (essentially, high glycemic foods, food that causes a rapid rise in blood sugar and an outpouring of insulin). Of course, don’t consume “empty calories” like soda and flavored water. Rather, stick with white rice, fruit juice, pastas, and bread.

Eat something like that with every meal. And make sure you’re taking in enough protein. What is enough? At least one and one-half grams per pound of bodyweight (remember to adjust your intake as your weight increases).

Don’t just eat 3 meals, either. You want your blood flush with the building blocks of protein, amino acids. Constantly keep your belly full by eating every 2-3 hours, all day long. You can facilitate all this food intake by mixing up a weight gain shake in the morning and carrying it around with you all day, taking sips every 15-20 minutes.

Rest assured, eating this much and this often is difficult. But it’s necessary.

And know that I share your pain. Overweight folks think it’s hard to cut calories. I think it’s even harder to eat when you’re not hungry! It’s really not natural.

Eat more. Train less. Relax.

In short, become a bear.

If you want to learn more about how to bulk up, gain weight, and get the best and biggest body of your life, check out Hardgainer’s Manifesto.