Advice in building my routine

[abarg]

Hi everyone, I am hoping to get some advice on tweaking my my routine. I am a 28 year-old male, I am 6'1, and I weigh 150-155 lbs. I am toned and have no excess fat. My goal, as you can imagine, is to put on a bit of mass!

I do weights about 3-4 times per week, usually for fairly short periods of time. Lately I have been focussing on the so-called "compound lifts". Here is what I would typically do in an "ideal" workout:

Squats 3-5 sets; max weight 225 lbs
OR Dead lifts 3-5 sets; max weight 155 lbs

Flat bench (free weights) 3-5 sets; max weight 155 lbs
OR Incline Press 3 sets
OR flat dumbell press OR incline dumbell press

Chin-ups 3 sets; natural body weight
(vary grips from day to day)

Dips 3 sets; natural body weight

"Skullcrusher" tricep extensions 3 sets; 45-55 lbs
Bent-over row 3 sets; 75-85 lbs
OR cable row

Dumbell military press 3 sets; 35 lbs each arm
OR free weight military press

I will sometimes mix in a few lunges (w/ bar on shoulders) or leg press.

I also like to do some ball workout and/or abs exercises.

So far I've been pretty happy with this routine. But I've reached a plateau in a lot of things. Especially bench, I can't seem to break 155, no matter how hard I work - in fact on bad days I don't even get to 155. That's when I came up with the idea of switching it up and doing dumbell press or incline press, but it's been at least 4 months since I've increased my flat bench.

Similarly, in chin-ups I've been unable to increase my reps for months.

I would like to weight about 160-165, and I am hoping I can achieve this by the end of 2005! Is that realistic?

Any tips on how to achieve this would be highly appreciated!

Andrew

 

[Adler1983]

Andrew:

There are several things you could try to break a plateau. Drop sets, in which you complete a set of an exercise, then immediately and without rest, drop the weight and pump out a few more reps. You could also try super sets, in which you complete two exercises back to back with no rest. Supersets work best when done with opposing muscle groups (IE: Benchpress/Bentover row; Bicep Curls/Dips; Pullups/Overhead Press). Also; play with the number of sets, rep counts, exercise order. All of these are good ways to break out of a plateau.

Another factor you may want to consider is diet. Are you consuming enough calories and protein in a day for your body to add lean mass? You weight about 155 right now, shoot for that amount of protein (155grams) per day. Lifting is only one part of adding muscle; be sure to eat 6 small meals a day that are centered around quality lean proteins and if you eat carbs be sure they are complex carbs.