okay, I reckon I am a hardgainer. I lift heavy, eat a shit load of food, and I am still lean, skinny and weak. I am humble enough to admit I am doing something wrong so any advice would be appreciated.
last year I realised that I didnt have much to show for years of lifting weights. So I embarked upon Rippetoe’s starting strength 5x5 programme;
my body weight increased; 80kg-85k
my lifts increased by
squats 60kg-100kg (5RM)
bench 60kg-90kg (5RM)
deadlift 120kg-160kg (5RM)
However, I was not ramping my weight adequately so I was doing close to 5x5 straight sets and I severly overtrained. My lifts not only stalled but started decreasing.
Then I went travelling for 4 months and had no access to gym, and was spending a lot of time surfing. my bodyweight dropped down to below 80KG again and my lifting numbers nose dived
So I am starting Rippetoe’s starting strength again but I am tweaking it and combining it with kettlebells. (I will be keeping a log on here and I will provide a link to it on here once I have set it uo). I am to get back up to 85 but without overtraining and ideally hit 90kg in about 6 months time. I also want to squat 1.5xBW (120kg) and deadlift 2.5xBW (200), bench 1.25xBW (100KG)
my plan is as followsl;
Monday
OHS (3x5) warm up
Squats (3x5)
Bench Press (5x5)
cable rows (5x5)
Dips (3x6)
Tuesday (16kg kettlebell circuit)
TGU x3
clean & Press x5
press ups x10
Renegade Rowsx5
snatchesx10
(3 rounds)
Wednesday
Front Squats 5x5 (light)
SOHP 5x5
Deadlifts 1x5
Pull Ups
Bicep Curls
Friday
3x5 squats
3x5 bench
3x5 cable rows
Saturday (kettlbells)
10 minutes RKC (as many snatches as I can do in 10 minuts)
Sunday Off
okay, so to avoid training I am switching to 3x5 on heavy squat days. I am sticking to to 5x5 for upperbody work becaause I dont find it as taxing. I will be doing straight sets and aiming to add weight each friday with a linear progression.
Once stall I will switch to Chad Waterbury’s TBT for a few weeks and keep the weight light, then return to Starting Strength and reset a few weeks weight increases.
Here is what I eat on an average day
breakfast (6:00AM) 4xeggs, 2xtoast, musli, glass of milk
Lunch 1 (10:00AM) tuna sandwhich, apple
Lunch 2 (1:00PM) usually tabbaware left overs from night before (normally including 100g steak or chicken)
Lunch 3 (4:30PM) tuna sandwhich, banana
Evening meal 1 (7:00PM) normally stiry fry, fajita’s, steak & veg
weekends I normally tend to eat out. I dont drink very much alcohol, very rarely get drunk.
I am in Queensland so I drink plenty of water daily (4xlitres a day)
I get 7-8 hours sleep per night on average.
So, what does this routine look like? Am I missing anything, anything I should change?