So ya im 22 years old, athletic in good shape and im trying to gain weight. I have a diet of mainly protein and lots of calories. I eat about 4-6 meals a day and workout Mon-Fri. I was just wondering if im on the right track and what lifting I should be doing during workouts. Should I also take Whey after workouts? And what is a good routine? Does this look good or bad? Thanks in advance for all the help.

Monday: shoulders and chest
Tuesday: Legs
Wed: Back and Shoulders
Thurs: Chest and Arms
Fri: Legs

Looks like you are on the right track. Taking in more calories than your maintenance level is key to gaining weight. Keep your protein intake high and eat as clean as possible to minimize excess fat and to make sure most of the added weight is in the form of muscle.

Your workout split looks pretty good, except I would eliminate one of your leg days so you are working each body part once per week directly. To stimulate the most muscle growth, the key is to lift heavy weight in the 4-6 rep or 6-8 rep range. I have experienced the best results by alternating between these two ranges every few weeks once you start hitting plateaus.

Remember, intensity and progressive overload is key! Always try to add weight or get an extra rep or two each workout. In order to grow, you must force your muscles to work harder than they are conditioned to.

Jeff David NASM-CPT
www.xifitness.com

You're hitting shoulders Weds and Thurs back to back. I'd like to actually see your exercise selection and your sets/reps set up.

Legs are the cornerstone to muscle growth.

I was going to say that and the whole muscle groups don't take a week to recover and then the whole frequency thing but decided not to.

When training at a high intensity (80-90% 1RM) as suggested with sufficient volume (6-9 sets for most body parts) there is plenty of research and studies showing that most individuals need about a week for their muscles to recover. Using heavy weights not only stress the muscles significantly, but it takes a heavy toll on the nervous system. Muscle growth takes during recovery with proper nutrition and rest after it has been stimulated.

This obviously isn't the only way to train to get results. Hitting each muscle group more than once a week can also be effective if structured in a routine that uses the right combination of higher reps and volume.

Jeff David, NASM-CPT
www.xifitness.com

Can you elaborate on this higher reps thing?

Routines using higher rep sets (less intensity) require less recovery than those using heavier loads, so the muscle can be effectively worked more than once per week.

So you're saying that a routine of say 5-6 sets of 2-5 reps shouldnt be done more then once per week?

For instance lower day do above, an upper body day do above, repeat for a schedule of M, T, Th, F.

Thats what I got as well

A lower body/upper body split can be done twice a week if the volume is lower than the routine originally suggested of each body part 1x per week. For example, the 1x per week would work large muscles as legs and back say 9 sets. The 2x per week as you mention would work these muscles 5 sets each workout. So the total weekly volume is similar per muscle.

The UB/LB split can be effective for some, but I have found most trainees are better able to focus and keep a higher intensity by working a couple muscle groups per workout splitting the entire body over 4 days instead of 2 days.


Jeff David, NASM-CPT
www.xifitness.com

It's really hard to talk book numbers when it comes to actual people. Trainees have done great outside of study numbers: the Bill Starr 5X5, Westside routine, DC training, Smolov squat routine, etc

For instance, let's take your Westside set up where you work up to a 3-5RM or some heavy singles and doubles. You're working possibly in the 6 or 7 set range. Then you do some single leg work. This easily exceeds the 9 sets per week. Then you come back 4 days later and hit some dynamic work for 8 sets of 2 reps and then follow it up with some single leg work.

Or Bill Starr's 5X5 in which you squat/deadlift 3 times a week for 5 sets of 5. That far exceeds the 9 sets per week protocol. Yet, trainess progress well and start bringing up their work capacity. Thusly why deload weeks are built in.

There's nothing wrong with book learning (I very much encourage this), but I think it's important that we step outside of the books. It's important not to get paralyzed and become a walking study or book and think that that's that.

So would a 4 day split include a day for arms?

So should I switch Thurs (chest and arms) and Fri (legs)??? And for Cardio I do about 15 min on treadmill M W F and 5 min warm up on T TH. Thanks for the help, everyone is damn helpful.

Switch what?

JD still awaiting your response to the above.