Weight lifting program for hard gainers

[Eason]

I've attached a general copy of a program I worked on for a while today. It's an undulating periodization program for ectomorphs who find it hard to gain mass. Of course, eating a lot of food is extremely important, but this program will help. Basically, you work out 3 days a week for 2 weeks, like M/W/F, doing 2 exercises per muscle group and never repeating the same exercise twice in a week. The 3rd week, you do 4 days a week using a M/T R/F upper/lower split. Each week, you increase the weight you are repping by 5-10% as you lower the reps and raise the rest time. The 4th week would be another cycle of the program starting with 10 reps at a slightly increased weight than previously done in week 1. Each 4th week, you would update the spreadsheet to reflect the amount of weight you went up for your 1st week cycle.

Sounds complicated, but take a look and figure it out. You can ask me questions about the program in this thread.

btw, the weights already in the spreadsheet are the weights the client I designed the program for does, they're not a starting point or suggestion- you need to figure that out on your own

http://oregonstate.edu/~blackd/My workout.xls

If you have any questions, please view this power point presentation which contains more specifics: http://oregonstate.edu/~blackd/Resis...%20Revised.ppt

 

[MetroStyles]

Sounds reasonable / in-line with what I have seen work with hardgainers in the past. Has this been tested on clients?

 

[Eason]

It has, and it's going to be tested on me starting next monday.

 

[yerfdog]

Thanks for posting this. It looks very useful.

I will save this for when I have convenient access to a non-ridiculously crowded (campus) gym that makes it impossible to complete a specific set workout in a reasonable time.

 

[Matt]

*disclaimer...im really dumb* what do all the numbers mean? ie...the ones in red below.... Lat pulldown/Back/105/2/10/110.25/115.5/___/115.76/127.05

 

[whacked]

Originally Posted by m@T

*disclaimer...im really dumb*

what do all the numbers mean?

ie...the ones in red below....

Lat pulldown/Back/105/2/10/110.25/115.5/___/115.76/127.05

Unless I'm mistaken, the numbers in red are the recommended weights to be used for each 10-reps set(2 in total for each exercise). Since you're suppose to up the weight 5-10% every week, the non-rounded number is just a guideline, it's okay to can give or take a few lbs to work w/ available weights.

But seriously, the rec'x weights are definitely on the low side; are your clients mostly women or something?

Too circuit-training-ish and not nearly enough olympic lifts, especially for someone looking to gain. Just not my thing, I guess.

 

[Eason]

The numbers on the right are the recommended weights (based on the weights you enter in the main week 1 column) for week 2 and week 3.

I recognize that it's missing compound movements, but I just didn't think of where/how to put them in given the nature of the program. I love power cleans/push presses and various free-motion machine things I've come up with, and I think I will do those in the 3rd week with the upper/lower split, since it's a higher weight/lower rep week anyway. The key is not doing too many reps per muscle group, and since I was tight on time I didn't want to rack my brain and figure out exactly how many sets each muscle group was getting when I'm thinking about the kinesiology of all the compound exercises I do.

 

[Handlethevibe]

Originally Posted by Eason

It's an undulating periodization program for ectomorphs who find it hard to gain mass.

I wish I was an ectomorph.

 

[Eason]

Well specifically, I get fat easilly if I stop working out, and build muscle very slowly when I do work out. It isn't ideal. The only thing I got is definition and strength.

 

[interman]

Looks like a nice enough selection of lifts, but I'm really not a fan of 2x10. Yes, I know scientists have said that for upper body 1-2 sets should be enough, and 10 reps are fine for hypertrophy, but my body responds much better to more volume - more, heavier sets. Oh, and (weighted / assisted) chins / pull-ups are manlier than lat pulldown.

 

[Eason]

The thing about 2x10 that makes it work is that you have 1 minute rest. When I was doing 3x10 or 4x8, I wasn't getting sore partially because I was waiting too long in between sets. It's the end of my first week on this program and it's ******* hard, only takes about 45 minutes to get through but I have to push myself to finish. Very sore today.

 

[quevola]

So always looking to mix it up, I started this program yesterday. I must say that I like the fact that I was able to run through it in about 40 minutes. I also like the fact that I'll be only doing resistance exercises 3-days per week. I think I'll do 30-45 minutes of cardio and some abs work on the in between days.

Thanks for sharing Eason and I'll keep updating my progress.

 

[Eason]

Cool, let me know how it goes, especially from week 3 to week 4.

 

[Eason]

update: recent, corrected copy of this workout is at http://oregonstate.edu/~blackd/My workout.xls

 

[cpmac7]

hey i had a question about your lifting program, if i were to take whey protein while doing this program would that increase the weight gain or increase the metabolism making the weight gain go down? thanks