**Disclaimer**
I have no formal training, nor a degree in exercise science or personal training, or anything like that. My father is a family practice physician for over 25 years now, and he was a hard-gainer in his youth. He's 54 years old now and still in better shape than I am. I post this only from personal experience, experimentation, and things my father taught me. I've been hard-gaining on and off for about three years now, and have been working out and weightlifting on and off in general for eight years now.
Below is the post I made with my workout routines. It's formatted horribly right now, I will try to update it ASAP.
Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions.
I actually have two different regiments I do, so I'll list both.
Here is the first one, that I've been doing on and off for years. You do three different routines over the week, and you can do it 3 to 6 days per week, depending how you feel.
I'll break it down to the three routines. Every exercise I do 3 sets of 10 repetitions. For even quicker bulk, try doing higher weight with only 8 reps per set.
Routine 1: Push (chest, triceps, shoulders)
(I alternate between dumbells and flat bar every month for these exercises. Flat bar lets you do more weight, dumbells take more control and balance, so they work your muscles in different ways)
Bench Press
Incline Bench
Press Decline
Bench Press (optional)
Military Press
Nosebreakers
Routine 2: Pull (back and biceps) I use a lat machine for most of this. If you don't have access to one, a pull-up bar will work, though you'll likely be starting at fewer than ten reps. I don't really know the official names of many of these, so I'll just describe them as succinctly as possible.
Wide grip (shoulder width, maybe a bit wider), palms away from you, pull the bar behind your head.
Narrow grip (about one foot between your hands), palms facing you, pulling the bar under your chin.
Rows (I usually do four sets of these, alternating each set between a wide and narrow grip). Sit upright, pull the bar to your chest. Don't cheat and use your body weight to help lift. If you don't have a lat machine, you can use dumbells, lean over where your torso is parallel with the ground, and pull the dumbell up, almost like pulling the cord on a lawn mower. Apparently you can also do this with a barbell, but I've never tried).
Curls (dumbells or curl bar or machine, I switch whenever I feel like it, they all work the biceps)
Routine 3: Legs and Core
Squats or Leg Press. I prefer Leg Press, as it doesn't strain your back, but not everyone has access to a leg press machine.
hamstring curls (reverse lunges if you don't have access to a hamstring curl machine)
leg extensions (normal lunges if you don't have access to a leg extension machine)
calf raises
and for abs/core, I just do Ab Ripper X. It's 15 minutes, and you won't finish it the first time, just try and do as much of each exercise as you can. Warning, you will feel like someone ran over your torso with a car the few days after your first day doing this.
So those are the 3 routines. I have two different weekly schedules with them that alternate.
Week 1: (3 day per week workout just make sure you do each routine once)
5 or 6 day per week workout:
Monday: Routine 1
Tuesday: Routine 2
Wednesday: Routine 3
Thursday: Routine 1
Friday: Routine 2
Saturday: (optional) Routine 3
Week 2: (3 day per week workout just make sure you do each routine once)
5 or 6 day per week workout:
Monday: Routine 3
Tuesday: Routine 1
Wednesday: Routine 3
Thursday: Routine 2
Friday: Routine 3
And that's my main workout. Obviously, you can replace certain exercises with other ones that work the same muscles. Those are just my go-to exercises whenever starting. If you're interested in learning some alternatives, or don't know exactly what some of them are, let me know and I can explain further or guide you to some instructional sites.
Another VITAL part of gaining weight is your diet.
I supplemented my diet with creatine, though some people have concerns over how creatine may affect your health, so research it and see if it's something you're comfortable using. I have noticed no negative affects, but that's just my own experience.
Rgardless of creatine, you must consume lots of protein if you want to gain weight. The two best protein supplements I have found are EAS Myoplex and Muscle Milk, as these contain whey, soy, and casein proteins, not just whey. You also may be interested in investing in a jar or two of mass gainer, though that shit is expensive, and you have to eat/drink a ton of it. A huge jug of it is a whopping 12 servings for $40+ dollars, so I usually avoid it, but it does help gain mass fast if you're doing the exercise.
I usually mix my protein with milk and peanut butter. Peanut butter is a really good source of protein.
Lastly, I made a habit of changing my snack foods. Peanut butter, olives, beans, most nuts and seeds, dairy and eggs are all high in protein and are good for meals and snacks.
I never had much of an appetite, but exercise helped stimulate it some, and eating higher protein snacks and meals helped, and especially the protein shakes. If I wasn't hungry but knew I should eat, I'd just chug a shake real quick. It's not a good substitute for real food, but it keeps your body from burning your muscles for energy. Now I have a pretty healthy appetite.
So lastly, I will write the new regiment I've been doing. It's the same routie monday, wednesday, and friday, and I usually just run and do ab ripper on tuesday thrusday. This regiment I only do 1 set of 10 reps. If you can get all 10, you need to move up weight.
Squats
Leg Extensions
Leg Curls
Lying Pullover
Military Press
Rows
Bench press
Curls
Nosebreakers/Triceps
Pull-ups
Dips
Calf Raises
Abs (if you don't do ab ripper on tues/thursday)
Anyway, I've probably written enough. Hope this helps. Feel free to ask if you have questions about any of this, I know it's a lot. Just stay motivated, the hardest part is getting started, and you always feel better after you finish.
