Every term in one place. Search for the word, jump by letter or switch to the pillar view. Each term belongs to exactly one of the six pillars of the Knowledge Base, so you see where it sits in the system, not just what it means. Useful whether you call yourself a hardgainer or a hard gainer.
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The maximum weight for exactly one repetition, your absolute strength benchmark.
The universal energy carrier of your cells, no ATP, no muscle contraction.
The energy your body burns at complete rest, the foundation of your TDEE.
Adenosine antagonist with proven performance benefits, dose and timing are key.
Your internal clock governs sleep, hormones and training performance on a 24-hour cycle.
Controlled caloric surplus with high nutrient density, quality over quantity.
The stress hormone affects energy balance, sleep and recovery, the dose makes the poison.
The most researched supplement, boosts ATP resynthesis, strength and cell hydration.
Planned recovery week for fatigue reduction, strategic, not lazy.
Protein quality scoring systems based on amino acid availability and digestibility.
Uncontrolled caloric surplus regardless of nutrient quality, high fat gain risk.
Delayed muscle pain after eccentric loading, not a marker of workout quality.
Energy expenditure from intentional training, distinct from NEAT and TEF.
Body type with a narrow frame and fast metabolism, the classic hardgainer phenotype.
Which exercises deliver maximum stimulus with minimal fatigue, SFR in practice.
Strategies for better digestibility and tolerance, so more calories actually get absorbed.
The hunger hormone signals your brain when it is time to eat.
Insulin's antagonist, mobilizes glycogen and fatty acids when blood sugar drops.
Stored glucose in muscles and liver, your primary energy tank during training.
Somatotropin promotes tissue growth and recovery, released primarily during deep sleep.
The HGPN nutrition system, macros, timing and strategy specifically for hardgainers.
People with high NEAT and low appetite who systematically struggle to gain weight.
Muscle growth through adaptation to mechanical tension, the core goal of your training.
Insulin-like growth factor that drives muscle building and recovery via the GH-IGF axis.
Storage hormone for glucose and nutrients, the key to nutrient partitioning.
Objective load in percent of 1RM against subjective exertion via RPE and RIR, two different metrics.
Training volume without growth stimulus, generates only fatigue, no adaptation.
Controlled surplus of 200 to 400 kcal, the balance between muscle gain and fat control.
Satiety hormone from adipose tissue, regulates appetite and energy balance long-term.
The minimum leucine level required to fully activate muscle protein synthesis.
The calorie amount at which your weight stays stable, your energy equilibrium point.
The volume threshold at which your muscle growth is maximized.
The primary hypertrophy driver, force on the muscle under controlled stretch.
Sleep hormone released in darkness, regulates your circadian rhythm.
Secondary hypertrophy mechanism through metabolite accumulation during training.
The totality of all biochemical processes in your body, far more than fast or slow.
System overview of BMR, NEAT, EAT and TEF, the foundation of your entire energy balance.
The minimum volume at which a measurable growth stimulus occurs at all.
Protein breakdown in muscle, the catabolic side of the protein balance.
Protein synthesis in muscle, the anabolic side you want to maximize.
The volume ceiling beyond which recovery can no longer keep up.
Mechanical tissue damage and the repeated bout effect that makes you more resilient.
Acute cell swelling from metabolites, feels great but is not a growth marker.
The volume sufficient to maintain existing muscle mass during a break.
Your body's built-in growth brake, limits muscle building as a safety mechanism.
Energy expenditure from daily activity, often above average in hardgainers.
Catecholamines activate the sympathetic nervous system for fight-or-flight responses.
Systematic increase of training load, the engine for long-term growth.
Macronutrient made of amino acids, building material for muscle with timing and quality.
How far you execute an exercise, critical for stimulus, technique and injury prevention.
Your weekly rate of gain, the compass for a controlled building phase.
Rep ranges from 5 to 30 can trigger hypertrophy, proximity to failure decides.
Repetitions in reserve before failure, governs intensity and fatigue management.
Subjective effort scale from 1 to 10, a tool for autoregulation in training.
Set structure affects stimulus and fatigue profile, choose based on your training level.
Ratio of growth stimulus to fatigue, determines exercise efficiency.
The timing framework for optimal training frequency, stimulus, recovery, adaptation.
Your total daily energy expenditure from BMR, NEAT, EAT and TEF.
Form breakdown against total failure, where you should end the set.
Energy cost of digestion, protein-rich food has the highest TEF.
The speed of each repetition phase, affects time under tension and SFR.
Primary anabolic hormone, drives muscle building, recovery and motivation.
Regulate basal metabolic rate and heat production, the key to metabolic pace.
How often per week you train a muscle group, influences volume distribution and SRA.
System overview from MEV to Deload, your framework for volume and fatigue management.
Warm-up sets progressively increase load and prepare joints and nervous system.
Stimulus, volume, progression. Pillar page: Training for hardgainers
Surplus, density, distribution. Pillar page: Nutrition for hardgainers
Sleep, SRA, deload. Pillar page: Recovery for hardgainers
Metabolism, hormones, appetite. Pillar page: Physiology for hardgainers
Baseline, tracking, iteration. Pillar page: System for hardgainers
Identity, consistency, patience. Pillar page: Mindset for hardgainers
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Two views on the same 66 terms. Alphabetical for fast access when you already know the term. By pillar when you are working your way into a topic. The pillars are exactly the six from the Knowledge Base, and every term has exactly one home.
Every term is assigned to exactly one of the six pillars, its primary pillar. It still gets linked from several pages, because deload for example matters in training, in recovery and in the system. The assignment tells you where a term lives, not where it appears.
The search filters in real time across term, description and stored synonyms. You can combine several words, for example neat energy expenditure. You can also click the topic chips inside the cards to filter directly. Escape clears the search.
The star marks system articles. Those are overview pieces that tie several individual terms into one framework, currently the Metabolism System and the Training Volume and Fatigue System. Reading those makes the individual terms click faster.
On all six pillar pages of the Knowledge Base as term clusters, in the Hardgainer Guide, in the Calorie Calculator, in the Workout Plan Generator and in Myth Busting.
Yes, at hardgainerperformance.com/glossar/. The German version carries the same terms with the same pillar assignment.
Continuously. New terms are added as soon as new articles, tools or myth-busting episodes go live. Existing entries are revised when the research changes.
