Help me 'beef up' my routine!

[kink]

Hey.

So currently I'm 6'1", 165ish (just clipped up to 167 the other day, woo woo!). I've gained about 10 pounds of lean weight in 4 months, while decresing my body fat (I'm at like 7-10% BF). I want to get bigger, however.

I'm a hard gainer. I eat a lot everyday, and am slowly gaining. I play a lot of sports for the cardio and whatnot...

I go the gym three times a week. I like to do full body workouts opposed to upper/lower body alternates, and try to do mainly compound excercises. So this is what a normal workout is:

warm-up on bike
5x5 dumbell bench press
Ab/core work
3x10 squats
3xMax Pull ups
3xMax Chin ups
4x6 Shoulder Press
4x6 Tricep Things (where you lift it over your head)
2xMax Push ups

These are also intertwined so I'm not just doing one by itself with a full rest inbetween. I think this is giving me a good foundation of muscle, but I'm sure it could be improved to maxime gains. Any help?

[Vapor]

You could mix things up by switching DB press to barbell press, change 3x10 squats to 10x3, change the pullup rep ranges, change shoulder presses from bb to db or vice versa, etc. I would dump your tricep extensions for close grip bench press.

With the much heavier squats you may want to split things up rather than doing everything on one day. I would also dump the warmup.

Googling "5 x 5 workouts" might be helpful as well.

[The Legend]

deadlift variations work just about everything, have a try

[angelo25]

do workouts that work your whole body like dead lifts, power cleans, hand cleans, bench press, squats, and push jerks.

[spade_of_aces]

To maximize size gains, you need to stimulate as much of your fast twitch fibers as possible in a given workout, and you need a decently high volume (25-50 reps per bodypart per session). 5x5, 10x3, 4x6-8 are all great rep schemes. Also, pushing muscle groups past failure is a great way to increase fast twitch fiber recruitment. Try 'drop sets,' where you perform a 6RM, then drop half the weight and do 12 reps, then drop half the weight again and do 24 more reps, all as quickly as possible. You have it right with compound exercises, and the suggestion for olympic lifts is a great way to go to recruit more muscles into one lift.
Also, consider 'specializing' body part workouts by doing a heavy compound movement (say bench press) then doing isolation movements to further stimulate the targeted area (dumbbell flyes or cable crossovers).
And finally, one of the hardest concepts for most people to get is the importance of rest in a hypertrophy program. As Americans we're used to a "work more, get more results" mentality, which sadly does not apply to getting big. Your muscles need time to recover and repair after a heavy workout, and this is where the majority of growth takes place, so give yourself at least a day, if not 2 before working the same muscle group.

[The Legend]

Originally Posted by spade_of_aces

To maximize size gains,

you need to eat more whatever training you do won't work unless you are in a surplus

[Wrathchild]

dude I am the same way; eat LOTS of beef and chicken, make sure you are eating 35-4000 calories a day, with 150-200g protein every day; also, you will gain most of your weight from carbs, so 300-350g carbs a day and 100-120 g fat a day will probably net you a lb a week. if it is too fast/slow, you can always add/reduce carbs and fat. Also, one thing I have noticed is that 10x3 with compound workouts is the best; you dont even need isolation exercises such as bi curls, lat raises, etc.

Deadlifts and their variations
Bench press (dumbell, inc, dec)
squats
cleans
pullups
chinups
arnold presses
pushups
double crunches

these are pretty much the only work outs you need; just eat enough and give your muscles time to rest after workouts and you will be seeing gains in no time.

[BrianB]

Find a program that focuses on getting progressively stronger. a 5x5 would probably be perfect for you based on your experience.

You say you want to get bigger well then you are going to have to eat and have a solid diet that you follow consistently. What does your current diet look like? and what are you thinking about for getting bigger?

[triggerman]

Originally Posted by angelo25

do workouts that work your whole body like dead lifts, power cleans, hand cleans, bench press, squats, and push jerks.

that's it.
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[TuEng]

I agree with what a lot of the other people have posted here. I'm also a hard gainer like you. Here's an example workout for me in a week:

Day 1: Chest
Flat bench 4x8 - alternate times between bar and dumbell, sometimes pyramid too
Incline 4x8 - alternate too, but in opposite times from the flat (so if i do dumbells on flat bench, i'll do bar on incline, and vice versa)
Dips 3x15
Flies 3x10

Day 2: Biceps
Wide grip barbell curl - 4x8
dumbell hammer curl - 4x8
preacher inner grip - 2x8
preacher outer grip - 2x8
reverse grip preacher inner - 4x8

Day 3: Shoulders and traps
Military press - 4x8 (alternate between bar and dumbells)
barbell upright row - 4x8
dumbell front raise - 2x8
dumbell lateral raise - 2x8
and throw some internal and external rotator cuff exercises

Day 4: Legs
Squat 4x8
Leg press - 4x8
Barbell lunges - 4x8
calf machine - 4 x 25

Day 5: Triceps
decline extensions w/ barbell 4x8 (also called skull crushers on decline bench)
overhead extensions w/ dumbell, 4x8
rope pulldown, 4x8
kickbacks, 2x8
dips, 2x20

Day 6: back
usually start with 2 sets of burn out pull-ups
close grip pull-down, 2x8
cable rows, 4x8
t-bar, 4x8
lower back machine for lower back.

I normally change things up a little every work out, change an exercise, pyramid, do a burn out, etc. I went from 145 to 165 my last semester of college with this routine, well from January til now. I didn't take supplements, but I would recommend eating a lot of chicken and fish. I went on a mostly red meat diet, lots of burgers and steaks and gained a little more fat than I should have. Good luck with your work outs, I hope that helped!