I would recommend increasing your threshold repetitions per set unless you want a lot of orthopaedic surgery later in life. I know, because I did that routine for years and paid with four shoulder surgeries and a few back injuries. I used personal trainers who were experienced in weight lifting and body building. Yes, I still train after over 20 years of lifting. I love it.
I recommend the following, for weight gain, which appears to be what you want.
1. one gram protein per pound of body weight, per day, minimum.
2. take a tablespoon of either fish oil or flax seed oil every day. Twice that dose would be good too.
3. eat every 2.5 hours.
4. Use protein shakes for in between solid food meals. If you consume 3-5 small meals you can get in 2-3 protein shakes too.
5. Eat small meals, not big ones. Spread out your food consumption so your body is not working overtime to digest everything and you can even out your blood glucose levels to feed muscles and mind throughout the day. Do not consume energy drinks or other foods containing processed carbohydrates. Minimize consumption of sucrose or other easily digested carbohydrates, as these cause a spike in blood glucose followed by a depression in blood glucose, which results in mental and physical fatigue.
6. drink at least 96 oz of water a day. More if possible.
7. get adequate rest between workouts and take 1-2 days off a week. Spread out body parts to once or maybe twice a week at most.
8. A split routine always works best for me. Legs and back, chest + biceps, etc.
9. Try using a weight gain protein powder to supplement your meals. Two very good tasting and very tested and proven products are made by Champion Nutrition: Metabolol II (Orange cream flavor is my favorite) and Heavyweight Gainer (get the chocolate, you won't be disappointed). Mix these with a good whey blend, pure egg white or casein protein powder for more protein.
10. Carry portable food. You can bring beef jerky or certain other dried meats, but watch out for the sodium content, this will cause you to retain water and look smooth. You can boil small potatoes, for example, with some parsely and carry those, or use something else like Pro Max energy/protein bars (Black Forest Cake is my favorite, it tastes great). These are the best tasting bars out there in my opinion. Stay away from cheap or unknown brands. Another trustworthy brand is EAS.
11. Do not mix a protein shake and let it sit. If you cannot drink it right away, get a mixing bottle and put the powder in it, and mix right before consumption.
12. Consume fresh fruit and vegetables. The fiber is a dietary must and will help get rid of water from your body and lower your cholesterol.
13. If you want fast results, use a lifting partner. A personal trainer can be helpful but you don't need to use one, and all of them in my opinion cannot safely train anyone who has latent medical issues (such as cardio vascular issues or orthopaedic problems). They simply are not qualified, regardless of what they tell you, to determine safe exercises for you if you have medical issues. They can only tell you what not to do.
14. Make time to stretch. Properly. If you don't you will have chronic injuries. Do not stretch an injured muscle any further than is comfortable. A small amount of pain may be acceptable but if you stretch beyond that even if the muscle is not injured, you risk causing additional injury.
15. If you get injured and it affects daily functioning for more than two weeks, go see a doctor, ask for a referral to a physical therapist, ask the therapist to prescribe home exercises for you to do to rehabilitate the injured area. Save the handouts they give you, in a notebook, and use them the rest of your life for that body part. No need to try to do self discovery on this stuff.
16. Keep a daily training journal, keep track of what you do, how many times, how much weight, how many reps, and any other notations you want. This is the ONLY way to track your progress and make sure you do not advance too much on your weights. Set realistic goals to increase weights and do not let your manhood determine how much weight you put on the machine or barbell. Use your set goals and your journal.
17. Find a place where you can order this stuff for a good price so you can stay well stocked because you will go through a lot of it. I use Nutrition Discounters out of Villa Park, IL.
http://www.nutritiondiscounters.com. I have been a satisfied customer of theirs for over 15 years. They sell everything you need. Two other places I have used are: musclesurf.com and bodybuilding.com.
18. Two good books are: Gold's Gym Book of Bodybuilding, by Ken Sprague and Bill Reynolds, and Bill Pearl's
Keys to the Inner Universe. Arnold's
Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding is a good third book, but he modeled what he did after what Bill Pearl did, so buy Bill's book first. I have some other books, but these are the ones I have used the most.
Hope this helps. May you have many years of happy lifting. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif
