A Simple But Effective Mass Building Routine For Hard Gainers

Question

Hey Blake,

Im 17 years old and I love working out!

I have one problem though. I never can start a program because im always trying to perfect it! Just so you know, im 130 lbs, I’m constantly eating good foods such as eggs, meat, vegetables, fruits, and dairy products! I am a slow gainer. However, that’s not my problem.

I really need you( and I picked you because you’re a pro and have been at it for 20 years!), to make me the perfect schedule for weight training.

I would like it to include about 8 to 10 exercises per session and break it up for about 4 to 5 days a week. I would like it to cover every muscle from my traps to my calves, including forearms, which I see that some people ignore. I need to put on mass because I have a small frame.

If you don’t mind, please make sure that you put enough emphasis on the biceps, triceps, forearms, and chest(but don’t leave out the others: I want a relative balance!), well, thanks a lot for your time and effort Blake!

email me ASAP

- Robby

Answer

Hi Robby,

Thanks for the email.

I’m going to be honest with you.

You don’t need a fancy weight training routine to put on quality muscle mass. In fact, you need quite the opposite.

Remember this little bit of advice - Keep it simple, train hard and heavy, eat quality nutrients, get plenty of rest, and you’ll build a lot of muscle mass. No secret.

You want to know what you need?

Compound exercises - Plain and simple. You need to live and breath squats, you need pull hard and heavy weight with dead lifts and barbell bent over rows, you need give it everything you have in the bench press and barbell shoulder press.

You understand what I’m saying? You need to work extremely hard in the gym, every minute you step foot on the floor. No talking with your buddies about the upcoming weekend or screwing about. Your sole focus each time you set foot in the gym is to improve upon your last workout. If you did 8 repetitions with 125 pounds last workout, you want to do 8 repetitions with 135 pounds this workout or 12 repetitions with 125 pounds. Remember, improve, improve and improve some more.

You don’t need 8 to 10 exercise per session, you need 1 maybe 2 exercises per body part. It’s not the quantity of exercises you do, it’s all about the quality.

You want to see what a truly mass building routine looks like? Take a look:

Day one:

Bench press: 4 x 6 - 8 repetitions
Incline dumbbell press: 4 x 8 repetitions
Standing barbell curls: 4 x 8 repetitions
Seated alternate dumbbell curs: 3 x 8 repetitions

Day two:

Day three:

Day four:

Day five:

Dead lift: 5 x 8 repetitions
Barbell bent rows: 4 x 8 repetitions
Standing barbell curls: 4 x 8 repetitions
Seated alternate curls: 3 x 8 repetitions

Days six and seven:

Rest

This is a plain and simple mass building routine. It’s simple and effective. I promise you this. If you can do exactly what I’ve outline above and get stronger in each exercise with each passing workout, you’ll start gaining weight and muscle mass after a month of training. Give yourself a 15 week weight training cycle. The first week you start, bring a pencil and paper and record all of your weight. Remember, the first week is to gauge what kind of weight your going to be using. From there, you need to slowly starting adding more weight with each passing workout.

This is how it’s done. Forget about forearms because you don’t need them at this stage. Develop your wrist power with dead lifts and bent rows first. Concentrate of getting strong first and start building your foundation. Your not going to build muscle doing 12 sets of wrist cable curls.

At 130 pounds, you don’t have a foundation yet. Your young and full of piss and vinegar so use that ambition and energy to power up your compound exercises.

Here’s what you should be eating: 3,000 calories per day. Anything less and your not going to be gaining the weight you want. I’m not going to get into the nutrition side of things here but you can read about mass nutrition here.

Also, get 8 hours of sleep each and every night.

If you can do what I’ve laid out above, your going to get big and strong after 3 months of weight training.

All the best,

Blake