Some Sort of Gainer

Since psychologist William Sheldon defined general categories for body types in the mid-20th century, much has been made of how much ease or difficulty a given person has in gaining muscle mass. A fair bit of it is watered down enough to be more or less nonsense. By the definition you usually find, otherwise divorced from the categories as a concept, most people are "hard gainers" even though that properly applies only to the delicate-framed ectomorphs. Or so go the category descriptions. Though my bones are quite dense and quite large, in high school I was a long, skinny thing who lifted for most of a year to add 10# of muscle, and on a frame my size, that was an almost invisible change. Apparently there are exceptions to the general rule.

So here I am, trying to reverse years of neglect and prevent the dangers of extending that period of carelessness. While fat does shed rather more slowly than I might want, I find myself getting visibly improved muscle tone and shape only 1 month after a shift from infrequent machine use to regular free weights.

I find myself worried not that I am a hard gainer but rather that I could have easily had an outstanding physique for years if I had only pulled my self-discipline together.