So called “hard gainers”; those trainees who struggle to gain body weight no matter how much food they shovel down their necks, often look for a weight gainer supplement to consume to increase the number of calories digested to induce weight gain. As with any supplement, a weight gainer should not be seen as a sole solution to your weight gain goals, real wholesome foods should always be favoured over supplement pills and powders. Weight gainer supplements should be seen as an additional and optional dietary item which can be added to supplement the overall diet plan.
Supplementing with a weight gainer
A base diet should be consumed which is geared towards the goal of increasing body mass. Such a diet will typically contain naturally highly caloric foods, with a high quantity of food consumed throughout the day. This dietary approach should be followed before any thought of supplementing with a weight gainer, or other supplement product. Following such a diet will often bring about desirable results for the majority of trainees, without the need of any supplements apart from maybe a post workout protein source (usually whey) and possibly creatine.
If lots of wholesome foods are being consumed yet little weight gain is experienced a weight gainer may be worthwhile to increase overall calorie intake. Care should be taken to choose a weight gainer which has quality of ingredients which will support quality weight gain, instead of fat gain.
What to look for
Hard gainers would possibly be more tolerable to maltodextrin as a carbohydrate source for a weight gainer supplement, due to their slow metabolism. Lower GI sources, such as refined oats or barley are available in some weight gainers, and may be better suited for some trainees who do not have a super quick metabolism. The protein sources will typically a blend of whey concentrate and another source, such as micellar casein or egg. A blend is suitable for a weight gainer, although it may not be possible to find out the ratio of the various sources.
Some weight gainers state a massive quantity of calories per serving, anywhere up to 1000 kcals! Such products should be taken with caution, and it may be a concern how such a supplement manages to pack so many calories within a serving, possibly with the use of low quality filler ingredients. A quality weight gainer may contain between 350-500kcals per serving, with a selection of quality ingredients.
Below are a handful of products which often receive decent feedback from various users on forums:
- Boditronics Mass Attack
- Reflex Instant Mass
- BSN True Mass
- Muscletech Mass Tech
- Prolab N-Large2