You’re choosing healthy foods, you’re exercising, you’ve cut out your late-night cookie habit, but the number on the scale isn’t budging. Sound familiar? This diet head-scratcher happens to the best of us.

This one is tough to swallow, but I have to say it: Even healthy food contains calories. Choosing nutritious foods is smart, but just because they’re good for you doesn’t mean you can eat unlimited amounts and continue losing weight. A dinner of salad, salmon, and whole-grain pasta is certainly healthy, but don’t discount the numbers. A 6-oz. salmon fillet with two cups of whole-grain pasta clocks in at about 700 calories; a salad of lettuce and tomatoes with a tablespoon each olive oil and vinegar brings the total to well over 800 calories. Weight loss is primarily a numbers game: calories in versus calories out. So choose nutritious foods, but count those calories and be mindful of “food fakers” with a health halo.

Overcompensating for Exercise

Pat yourself on the back for fitting in a lunchtime run, but don’t consider it a free eating pass. It’s easy to miscalculate how many calories you’re actually burning. Your gym may promise that you’ll burn 500 calories with an hour of spinning but every person is different. You might burn just 300 calories.

For the most accurate info, wear an activity monitor that tracks calorie burn. And remember, if you reward yourself with a treat equal in calories to the calories you burned, it’s as if you never burned any calories at all.

Not Counting Condiments and Other Extras

A single tablespoon of ketchup on your eggs or burger adds around 20 calories (and most likely you’re using more than one tablespoon. An ounce of half & half (the kind you splash in your coffee) has about 40 calories and 3.5 grams of fat. A tablespoon of mayo adds 90 calories and 10 grams of fat to your sandwich. Even if you’re being super careful about your choices, it’s easy to forget about the little extras.

These items aren’t off-limits, but they definitely “count,” and the numbers add up. So keep track of everything you eat and sip. Ignorance is not bliss! Now that you know to count ’em, check out these 15 condiments with 15 calories or less.

Dining Out, Even if You Are Counting the Calories

Complete Training Program built for Hard Gainers who want to gain mass and keep it!

With size comes power, self-esteem and respect from others. But, what if you’re genetically cursed? What if the genes you got mean that you’ll never gain mass like the big guys?

Fear not! While it’s true that there’s a hard-wired genetic component that, if you do nothing beyond your normal existence, you’ll stay small. But there are countless examples of guys out there who we’re small but changed everything and became huge. This is the principle of phenotypes versus genotypes.

SIZE MATTERS AND DON’T LET ANYONE TELL YOU ANY DIFFERENT!

Genotypes are how, if you do nothing different, you’re doomed to be small and stay that way! Phenotypes on the other hand is where the promise of mass gaining future can come true for you. In a very small nutshell, genotype is your genetic code and phenotype is the physical expression of a combination of your genotype and environmental factors. In essence, if you change the forces that your genetics react to, you can literally change how your inherited DNA is expressed.

In this article we’ve laid out key tips on how to create the change that your genetics react to; this will not happen overnight and you must commit yourself to maintaining the increased calories, increased quality of the calories (i.e. superior protein sources) and progressively more intense training.

Training for Mass

Big bodies are the result of big weights being moved in the gym. You have to attempt to be stronger each week, whether it’s increasing the weight or the reps. Handling more weight on all your exercises or doing the same weight but increasing the reps are great indicators that you are gaining more muscle and you’re well on your way to being one with the masses!

It is important that you keep the weight heavy and the sets shorter. Your goal is to continuously expose your genotype (your DNA) to heavy weight for relatively short bursts. As you get used to the weight, progressively increase that weight. You will always need to be forcing your body to adapt to and overcome new levels of resistance (weight).

Eating for Mass

If your a hard gainer, as in you have a very difficult time putting on mass and keeping it on, you have to realize that your genetics predispose you to degrading any muscle that you put on. To prevent this, you have to dramatically increase the amount you eat per meal and you have to increase the frequency of the meals. Hard gainers who have successfully gained mass eat between 5 and 7 meals per day and aim to have their calorie intake at 4,000 to 5,000 calories per day with their protein intake at 2 or more grams of protein per pound of bodyweight per day (if you’re 150 lbs. aim for 300 g of protein).

This sounds tough, and it is. Your body will fight you every step of the way. But that’s how you know that you’re doing the right thing. If it was easy, you would already be huge, right?!

What if I Get Fat?

I hear this all the time. Guys who are smaller than they want to be are worried about getting a belly. Don’t worry! Here’s why. When you up your calories (of high-quality food – NOT ICE CREAM!) your body receives the signal of abundant food and your metabolism along with dozens of other metabolic processes kick into high gear.

In addition, with the consistent increased level of resistance training, you are forcing your body to repair and grow muscle tissue rapidly. This is something that only happens when you are eating tons of food on a regular basis. Your body cannot simultaneously put on solid muscle mass when you are in a caloric deficit (i.e. not eating enough).

Mass-Building Workout

Day 1: Chest/Shoulders/Triceps

• Flat Bench Press/Incline Bench Press: 5 sets of each exercise, pyramiding up in weight and going as low as 4-6 reps on your final two sets.

Flat Bench Press:                              5 Sets                                    8 Reps (4 to 6 on Sets 4 and 5)

Incline Bench Press:                         5 Sets                                    8 Reps (4 to 6 on Sets 4 and 5)

*Take as long as 2-3 minutes rest in between your final two sets, so that you can attack the weight with full intensity and energy.

**Push the weight until it literally can’t move anymore to achieve complete muscle failure.

***Pyramiding: Increase the weight up to set 3 (your max) and declining in sets 4 and 5.

• Lateral Raises/Upright Rows: 4 sets of each with the first set being a warm-up set, and then moving into your working sets where you should aim to achieve muscle failure at around the 8-rep mark.

Lateral Raises:                   4 Sets                                    8 Reps

Upright Rows:                    4 Sets                                    8 Reps

*Try using dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells and even plates to perform these exercises for variety.
**Remember your elbows must be higher than your wrists at the top of each of these movements.

• Triceps Dips/Skull Crushers: 4-5 sets of each exercise, pyramiding up in weight and keeping in the 8-10 rep range on your final two working sets.

Triceps Dips:                       4 to 5 Sets                           8 to 10 Reps

Skull Crushers:                   4 to 5 Sets                           8 to 10 Reps

*Keep your elbows from flaring out to the sides, so all the stress is on your triceps.
**Pyramiding: Increase the weight up to set 3 (your max) and declining in sets 4 and 5.

Day 2: Rest

Day 3: Quads/Hamstrings/Calves

• Squats/Leg Presses: 5 sets of each, pyramiding up in weight and then doing a drop set for your final two working sets. Start with a weight you can handle for only about 4-6 reps then perform a triple drop set by dropping the weight by about 50 pounds for 3 consecutive sets.

Squats:                                 3 Sets                    4 to 6 Reps

Squats:                                2 Drop Sets         Drop 50 LBS for 4 reps x3

Leg Presses:                       5 Sets                    4 to 6 Reps

Leg Presses:                       2 Drop Sets         Drop 50 LBS for 4 reps x3

*Wear a belt and even use knee wraps to handle the heavy weight, and place the emphasis on the working muscle rather than the knee joint.
**If you don’t feel ill after doing the last two sets, you didn’t go hard enough!
***Pyramiding: Increase the weight up to set 3 (your max) and move to Drop Sets in Sets 4 and 5.

• Stiff-Legged Deadlifts: 4-5 sets pyramiding up in weight and going no lower than 10 reps on your final two working sets.

Stiff-Legged Deadlifts:                   4 to 5 Sets                           10 Reps

*Wear a belt to help keep your back supported and your midsection in check.
**Perform the exercise on a platform so that it allows your range of motion to go past your feet for an extreme stretch to your hams and glutes.
***Pyramiding: Increase the weight up to set 3 (your max) and declining in sets 4 and 5.

• Standing Calf Raises: 4-5 sets, with set one being a high rep warm-up set of around 50-100 reps, then go straight to a weight where you can get 10 reps at best for 3-4 working sets.

Standing Calf Raises:                       High-Rep Warm-Up Set                 50 to 100 Reps

Standing Calf Raises:                       3 to 4 Sets                                           10 Reps

*The calves are used all day when you walk and need a stimulus they’re not used to, which is heavy, heavy weight.
**Be sure to use a full range of motion and avoid bouncing on the balls of your feet, hold the stretch and the contraction for a 2 count.

Day 4: Rest

Day 5: Back/Traps/Biceps

• Wide Grip Chins/Barbell Rows/Deadlifts: 4-5 sets of each going to failure on your chin-up sets and pyramiding up in weight for the barbell rows and deadlifts, going as low as 6-8 reps.

Wide Grip Chins:                               4 to 5 Sets                                           6 to 8 Reps

Barbell Rows:                                    4 to 5 Sets                                           6 to 8 Reps

Deadlifts:                                           4 to 5 Sets                                           6 to 8 Reps

*Think of your hands as hooks and grip the barbell with your finger tips to take the biceps out of the movement.
**Focus on the mind-muscle connection with your back muscles, as it’s hard for many to get the right feeling in their backs. It might have something to do with not being able to physically see the muscle working.
**Pyramiding: Increase the weight up to set 3 (your max) and declining in sets 4 and 5.

• Barbell Shrugs: 4-5 sets pyramiding up in weight and going as low as 6-8 reps on your working sets.

Barbell Shrugs:                                                  4 to 5 Sets                                           6 to 8 Reps

*Shrug up and down with no rolling of the shoulders to avoid injury.
**Use wrist straps to help with your grip so you can handle extreme weights during this exercise.
***Pyramiding: Increase the weight up to set 3 (your max) and declining in sets 4 and 5.

• Straight Barbell Curls/Dumbbell Hammer Curls: 4-5 sets of each pyramiding up in weight and going as low as 6-8 reps on your working sets.

Straight Barbell Curls:                                   4 to 5 Sets                                           6 to 8 Reps

Dumbbell Hammer Curls:                             4 to 5 Sets                                           6 to 8 Reps

*Focus on using correct form and then use a little cheating to move the weight on your final reps to get as much from your biceps as you can.
**Pyramiding: Increase the weight up to set 3 (your max) and declining in sets 4 and 5.

Days 6 & 7: Rest

After you have completed this rotation, it’s time to do it all over again, but this time try using heavier weights or performing more reps on all your sets. A good tip would be to keep a training journal to chronicle the weights you used, so you’re not guessing and short-changing yourself and your gains.

Mass-Gaining Supplements

To build massive amounts of muscle, you have to eat massive amounts of food and supplements with the appropriate products to back up your efforts.

Keeping the levels of protein and calories high enough with the right frequency isn’t easy. What a lot of successful mass gainers have done is take a Mass Gainer like QUICKMASS. It quickly and easily adds 1010 calories in just 4 scoops (for this program we recommend taking 1 serving in the morning and 1 serving post-workout), complete with 60 grams of high-quality protein!

Your can also try stacking HVOL (optional), AMINOCORE, CVOL (Powder or Capsule), CARBION+, VITASTACK and GLUTAMINE (optional) for unbelievable gains in size and strength. Combining these products will not only give you the boost you need to hit the weights hard, it also has all the ingredients needed for repair and growth of new muscle tissue.

IF YOU’RE A HARD GAINER, THERE’S STILL HOPE.

Being large and in charge is not for the faint-at-heart and only the hardcore will take mass to new levels. If you’re a hard gainer, there’s still hope. You have to be consistent and persevere, even if gains are slow. If you tend to put on mass fairly easily, be careful of the type of mass you are putting on. Remember, you can’t flex fat, and quality before quantity counts when you are a bodybuilder looking to get huge.

Conclusion

Train smart, supplement accordingly and enjoy stretching the sleeves of your shirt and having to shop for a whole new wardrobe!