Workout, Supplement and Meal Plan

@wils, first thing you need to pick up is a high protein muscle gainer, I recommend Dymatize Elite Mass. A lot of gainers are loaded with sugar, Elite Mass is not, it's the best weight gainer I've used. I'm a hardgainer myself so I can relate.

The second thing, what's your diet like? How many meals are you eating a day? How many calories are you consuming?

I have a great workout plan for you I can email you.

Sounds good. PM'ing you.

wisdom, absolutely. I will PM both you and @wils later.

Yeah, I bought my bottle of the Oxyelite Pro right before the banned. I still have it unopened after I read all those reviews. Not helping much on anything but it still has some side effects. It is just sitting in my office today....

devastitis, wow... I will try it next summer during my cutting then. thanks.

So guys, I'm not sure what everyone's goal is here but I am a hardgainer so my goal has always been to add lean, quality mass to my body. I hover around 6-8% body fat depending on the time of year and gaining quality muscle is always a challenge for my ecto/mesomorph body type. I've been working out in one way or another for about 20 years now and recently came to a point where I hit a plateu. The workout I'm doing now has really pushed me over that plateu and I've gained 10 lbs of lean mass at this point.

The workout I am doing is the Arnold Blueprint for Mass;

www.bodybuilding.com/fun/arnold-schwarzenegger-blueprint-trainer-day-1.html

Now, some may think this workout is just a marketing ploy between Arnold and bodybuilding.com to sell Arnolds new line of supplements made by Muscle Pharm. Well you know what, who cares if it is because TRUST ME, this routine works.

The name of the game with this routine is muscle
confusion and extreme intensity. You will also employ the techniques of the stripping method, the 1-10 method, the max out method, and supersets. If you consider yourself a beginner or intermediate weight lifter I would not attempt this routine. This is a very intense and hardcore routine that quite simply will drain you, my workout partner could not complete the routine so now I do it alone.

This is an 8 week routine divided into two phases
with phase one being weeks 1-4 and phase two being weeks 5-8. It's a 6 day on, one day off split
where you will hit every body part twice a week.

HERE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THIS ROUTINE; YOU WILL ONLY REST 45 SECONDS BETWEEN EVERY SET.

You must stick to this key detail, 45 second rest periods for everything...even on leg day. It is intense, your heart will be racing, you will be dripping sweat and leg days are absolutely brutal. BUT YOU MUST STICK TO THIS. The first
time I did 8 sets of squats witn only 45 seconds between sets, then jumped to six sets of deadlifts
with 45 seconds rest I thought I was going to vomit.

This means you might be using a lighter weight for certain exercises, or maybe all of them, because of the short rest periods...so what, you will gain mass this way. Your muscles dont know what 35 or 235 lbs means, your muscles just know resistance and intensity and you will have both cranked to the max between all of the supersets you'll be doing and the 45 second rest periods.

The most important thing to do if you stick to this workout is EAT QUALITY WHOLE FOODS HIGH IN PROTEIN. just like @winterland touched on, you
must feed your body, especially on this routine. If you dont your body will break down and you will likely actually lose muscle. I always have fruits and veggies in my diet as well. YOU MUST EAT WELL, YOU MUST. I eat six to eight meals a day and consume about 3,200-3,500 calories per day.

As for supplements I use a mass/weight gainer protein powder that will have about 600-1,000 calories per shake depending on the brand. My favorite is Dymatize Elite Mass. I also take a multivitamin, a preworkout drink, an intra workout amino acid drink, a post workout shake, and a Casein protein shake before bed. If anybody wants more detail on my supps I can go in to it later.

Anyways, sorry for the long winded post. The link I posted is the link to day one of the routine. There is a drop down menu at the top of the page you click on to go to each day.

Sorry if I bored you guys with the novel . I'd be happy to answer more questions if you have any.

Thanks for sharing, Winterland. I need some serious focus this winter to bulk up on my muscle. Maybe it is more psychological but I feel it is getting harder to do after I hit 40. Btw, what kind of pre-workout that you are using? You can see I am sucker for supplement....

Ummm.. need to talk to my CEO at home about it. 5 days is possible. I hate leg day anyway.

Ha... then I need to talk to the CFO at home then.... shoot, same person.

My routine timing works out well as I get up early to get my 8 year old on the school bus.
I eat a small breakfast. 2 eggs whites 1 yoke and whole wheat toast. I go back to bed for a couple hours, wake up and take a 1/2 of an Allmax Nutrition Caffeine tab. They are 200MG. Caffeine is the main ingredient in most all workout powders. It works for me and is very cheap to do it this way. I then go back to sleep for 15 minutes or so. I get to sleep easy. I get up and do my routine.

This is all I take except when cutting or on maintenance, I take Athletic Edge Intrabolic Workout Supplement. Makes up for some of the missing nutrients you would otherwise get eating more food.
I add in NOW Foods Beta Alanine Powder. Another common ingredient in many workout powders.
I have found all the above along with Now Foods creatine, protein powders and Source Naturals Life Force Multiple, No Iron, 180 Tablets to be what most recommend as being worth taking and worth the money to optimize your body for working out.

I get everything from amazon except protein powders and fish oil at Costco. Just watch the specs of protein powders as some have a lot of cholesterol. I listed all the brands as that can be half the battle figuring out which to buy. I am cheap and tried to find good quality for a good price.

As the routine specifies I work out 3 days a week Mon Wed Fri. Approx 1-1.5 hours each.
I also do Krav Maga training once a week as often as I can. A good workout on its own. It can be intense.

There are many good routines out there and as Ickes mentioned it all depends on your goal. I might have to try the Arnold routine if I get bored this winter.

Can you explain to me how Cross fit even works? I've looked at a fee websites and I'm just blank on reading them. I usually stick to the tried and true 3x5 workouts like Rippetoes.

I'm a CrossFit noob. I got in to it to boost my fitness level (Cardio and fat loss) before I branch in to any lifting regiment