Program For Weight Gain by Paul Cantanzaro

Credit to www.ptonthenet.com

It is difficult to give a truly individualized approach with such limited information, but I do have some suggestions that should help. Before we dive into the training component, let’s quickly review other factors that are crucial to your client’s success.

Nutrition – It goes without saying that in order to gain weight, you must consume more calories than you expend. From experience, I have found that hard-gainers need at least seven meals a day (eight is preferable), consumed every two to two and a half hours to put on weight. Anything less than seven meals, and they will not make any considerable progress. Of course, it is difficult to consume that many solid meals every day. That is where liquid nutrition comes in handy. In fact, alternating between solid and liquid meals will help maintain stable blood sugar levels and stimulate appetite.

Supplementation – For those seeking size, try branched-chain amino acids (20 to 40 grams) during your workout; creatine (five to 10 grams), colostrum (five to 30 grams), whey protein isolate (40 to 60 grams) and high glycemic carbs (as much as 200 grams) post workout. Take digestive enzymes with your meals and liver tablets between meals. Yes, you read that last one right! Dr. Eric Serrano considers liver one of his biggest secrets for weight gain. However, you need to take as many as eight to 12 tablets between meals for maximum effect. Do that during the day, and you should have at least two more pounds of muscle quick just from this tip alone!

Lifestyle – Those who live a more regimented lifestyle will achieve greater success. If your client smokes, takes drugs, drinks alcohol and stays out late partying, he’ll have a hard time putting on any appreciable mass. For example, marijuana and alcohol are known to suppress testosterone levels, which will hamper any anabolic response. Sleep is also crucial. To improve quality of sleep, one should go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. To increase the quantity, encourage a short nap when possible. Ideally, naps should be taken approximately eight hours upon awakening and should be for no longer than 45 to 60 minutes since you do not want to enter REM stage, which will adversely affect your sleep that night.

Training – Obviously, aerobic work is not recommended for this client. Furthermore, any recreational activity such as skiing, ball hockey, martial arts, etc. should be limited when trying to increase muscle mass. You indicate that your client is very strong. Most trainers will use typical hypertrophy parameters to encourage size gains with all their clients (usually three to four sets of eight to 12 reps on just about every exercise for just about every program). This is a big mistake! Eventually, you will need to inject intensity into their routine to prompt muscle mass increases. Take advantage of your client’s strength and tap into high-threshold motor units by performing many sets of low repetitions with heavy weights. Remember, these fast-twitch fibers have a greater propensity for size gains. The key is to perform a sufficient time under tension using such high loads, and the way to accomplish that is with many sets.

Here is a great program to encourage both size and strength gains.

Intensification Phase

Day 1 – Chest & Back
A1) Incline Barbell Press
  6 x 7,5,3,7,5,3 @ 50X0*, 120 secs.
increase load on second wave
A2) Sternum Chin-Ups
  6 x 7,5,3,7,5,3 @ 50X0, 120 secs.
increase load on second wave
B1) Decline Db Press
  4 x 6-8 @ 4010, 90 secs.
B2) One-Arm Cable Row
  4 x 6-8 @ 4010, 90 secs.

Day 2 – Legs
A) Snatch Deadlift
  9 x 3,2,1,3,2,1,3,2,1 @ 32X0, 180 secs.
increase load on second and third wave
B1) Front Squat
  5 x 4-6 @ 5010, 120 secs.
B2) Standing Leg Curls
  5 x 4-6 @ 5010, 120 secs.

Day 3 - Off

Day 4 – Arms
A1) Preacher EZ-Bar Reverse Curl
  6 x 7,5,3,7,5,3 @ 50X0, 120 secs.
increase load on second wave
A2) Parallel-Bar Dips
  6 x 7,5,3,7,5,3 @ 50X0, 120 secs.
increase load on second wave
B1) Seated Hammer Curl
  4 x 6-8 @ 4010, 90 secs.
B2) Decline Db Rotary Triceps Extension
  4 x 6-8 @ 4010, 90 secs.

Day 5 – Off

*Note: Tempo refers to the speed of movement and is represented by a four-digit number: eccentric (negative) contraction - isometric (pause between negative and positive) contraction - concentric (positive) contraction - isometric (pause between positive and negative) contraction. For example, a tempo of 3-1-2-0 means to lower the weight for a count of 3, pause for a count of 1, raise the weight for a count of 2, and do not pause before starting the next repetition. An "X" designation denotes eXplosive, meaning to lift the weight as fast as possible.

Follow this intensification phase with an accumulation/extensive phase where a greater volume of work is performed. Charles Poliquin's German Volume Training (GVT), Rob Thoburn's "The Standard" program and Vince Gironda’s famous 8x8 routine are all excellent options, but I would favor a routine that uses greater loads for your client. Enter George Turner's Huge Program. Below is a modified version that should work quite well for your client and will complement the routine I outlined above. Believe me, this one’s a killer!

Accumulation Phase

Day 1 – Chest & Back
A1) Bench Press
   10 x 10 @ 4020, 90 secs.
  drop 10 pounds every 2 sets
A2) Wide-Grip Pull-Ups
   10 x 10 @ 4020, 90 secs.
decrease load every 2 sets

Day 2 – Legs
A1) Full Squats
   6 x 10 @ 4020, 90 secs.
A2) Lying Leg Curls
   6 x 8 @ 4010, 90 secs.
B) Standing Calf Raise
   10 x 10 @ 2010, 30 secs.
decrease load every 2 sets
C) Bent-Knee Deadlifts
   6 x 6 @ 3110, 150 secs.
pyramid weight (add weight each set)

Day 3 – Off

Day 4 – Delts & Arms
A) Seated Db Press
   8 x 10 @ 4020, 120 secs.
B1) Seated Db Curls
   8 x 8 @ 4010, 60 secs.
B2) Lying EZ-Bar Triceps Extensions
   8 x 12 @ 3010, 60 secs.

Day 5 – Off

Each routine consists of five-day cycles to be performed six times for a total of 30 days each.

You will notice the following:

Both routines are lacking direct abdominal work. Not to worry since the abdominals will be heavily recruited as stabilizers when performing exercises such as pull ups, squats, dips, deadlifts, etc.
The intensification phase seems to be missing exercises for the deltoids, forearms and calves; however, these have all been taken into consideration. The delts, for example, are stressed quite heavily on days one and four between all the presses, chin ups, rows and dips. The same applies to the forearms, especially when you add deadlifts and direct upper arm work. And finally, EMG analysis by Bompa shows that the standing leg curl (80 percent IEMG max) actually recruits the gastrocnemius more than the standing two-leg calf raise (68 percent).
Use repetition maximum (RM) loads in both routines. During the intensification phase, your client may actually get stronger on the second wave (due to a phenomenon termed post-activation), and thus, he should use greater loads. During the accumulation phase, using RM loads will cause fatigue, and it is not uncommon to lose a rep or two each set. To accommodate this, decrease the load every second set so the bench press may look like this:

As you can see, the load has been dropped by 10 pounds every other set, but you may need to adjust this depending on your client’s needs. If performance drops by three or more reps from one set to the next, then terminate this exercise for the day since he has cleared what’s considered the “critical limit threshold.” Continuing on at this point would be counterproductive.

In the future, when time permits, consider implementing a double or even triple split routine where your client trains multiple times a day. There are certain procedures to follow to ensure adequate recovery, but we’ll discuss those another time. For now, these suggestions should easily put 10 pounds of muscle or more on your client in no time.