Hello everybody,

I need some help putting together a good weight lifting routine for some serious bulking. I'm 5'7 and started at 130lbs a year and a half ago. I hit the gym and ate like a beast and shot up to 165 in 7-8 months. I realize now that my routine was terrible back then. I rarely did squats, I never did deadlifts, I did more isolation than compound movements, I worked out irregularily, yada yada yada. The only reason I gained the weight was because I force fed myself food every couple hours. I did not eat clean though -- 1000cal Hungry Man Lasagnas and trans-fat filled canned chile come to mind. I think I got lucky, I gained fat but maybe not as much as I could have. I was around 165lbs and 13% BF at my highest. Not too bad, but a very long way off from ripped. By virtue of not eating as much food and working out poorly only twice a week, I slowly dropped to about 155lbs, probably 60% fat loss, 40% muscle loss. Then I decided to purposely lose weight and am now 145lbs with probably 9% body fat.

I want to lose a couple more pounds of fat in the coming few weeks, then I want to hit the gym hard and gain back the muscle I lost - and then some. This time I'm determined to do it clean - no more frozen food, only healthy choices. The low-cal diet I'm on now is driving me crazy. I can't wait to start lifting heavy and eating big again. Does this look like a suitable work out routine for one looking to add size and weight?

Sunday (Chest, Triceps, Shoulders)

Flat Bench Press x4
Close-Grip Bench Press x3
Incline Bench Press x2
Decline Bench Press x2
Seated Dumbbell Presses x3
Dips x3
Push-ups x1

Tuesday (Lower Body)

Squats x4
Good Mornings x3
Leg Presses x3
Calf Raises x3

Thursday (Back, Biceps)

Deadlifts x4
Bent Over Rows x3
One-Arm Rows x3
Seated Incline Dumbbell Curls x3
Pull-ups x3
Chin-ups x3

Every set is performed with reps ranging from 5-10 (I hear this is best for maximum size gains). I plan on taking this very seriously this time. I hope muscle memory is for real, that would really help me out. Anyways, what do you guys think?

P.S. I plan on bulking for 6 months before trying another cut. I plan on changing my routine once over 4-6 weeks to avoid muscle adaptation - another thing I knew nothing about the first time around!

Sunday is just overkill. Try this instead:

Push Press or Military Press 5x5
Bench press or Incline Bench press 5x5
Dumbbell Bench Press 2x8
Tricep Pushdowns/skull crushers 3x10
Rotator cuff work or lateral raises 3x8
Core work- Abs/ obliques; etc do a circuit or 3x15 for any exercise

The Lowerbody day needs work also. You have to kill those legs.

Full Squats- 5x5
Straight Leg Deadlift- 5x5
Leg Press- 3x10
Hamcurls- 3x10
Calve Raises- 3x8

Thanks for the reply. I switched it up a bit; my routine now looks like this:

Sunday (Back, Biceps)

Deadlifts x4
Bent Over Rows x2
One-Arm Rows x1
Barbell Shrugs x3
Chin-ups x3
Wide-Grip Pull-ups x2
Barbell Curls x1
Preacher Curls x1

Tuesday (Lower Body)

Full Squats x4
Good Mornings x3
Single Leg Split Squats x3
Leg Presses x3
Calf Raises x2

Thursday (Chest, Triceps, Shoulders)

Flat Bench Press x4
Close-Grip Bench Press x3
Incline Bench Press x1
Upright Row x1
Rear-Delt Row x1
Military Press x1
Dumbbell Fly x2
Incline Dumbbell Fly x1
Triceps Dip x1
Chest Dip x1
Push-ups x1

What do you think? Should I decrese the amount of exercises and just do more sets per exercise, or does this look good?

Yes........