Have been training several months now but my progress is minimal. Tried this workout routine(except following the diet) http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/dark_knight_workout.htm

When I did that routine, just lost little weight and muscle mass. I did this routine for a month.

Want a program where I train almost everyday if possible.

Have an another question to. Do you believe in the body type thingy(Ectomorph, Endomorph and Mesomorph). Do you think that maybe I started to do "ectomorph training" that I would see progress faster?

Right know it feels like I am stuck. Feels like everyone else gains muscle faster then I am. I cant figure it out what I am doing wrong.

Hi man,

there are several "mistakes" in your routine.

First of all, presented routine is not mass gaining routine. Also having seperate biceps and shoulder day and just one day for leg/back/chest, when this are largest muscle groups is not promising to grow. With having cardio every day, when you rest? All that with having in mind that you are beginner.

Secondly, one month is absolutely too short period to see any obvious changes and progress. When you pick up routine, stick to it for at least few months, especially if you are a beginner. And focus on compound exercises, like squats, deadlift, bench/overhead press, etc. You have to hit and stimulate big muscles to grow big.

Before firstly, diet is crucial!! Diet support your trainings and your regeneration, so take care first for diet, and then for routine.

Write down about your nutrition, your status and your goals. Only then we can offer better support and advices for your journey.

BR, Gregor

okey. nice points you have. Have been trying other types of weight training before. I know one month is to little but I have been training over 8 months with diffrent routine. Before I did my friends workout routine.

Friend routine.

Monday:Breast/tricep stomach

Thuesday: Back/bicep

Wednesday:Legs stomach

Thursday: shoulder

Friday:Breast/tricep

Saturday:back/bicep etc

My old routine:

Mon: Breast/tricep stomach

Thues:Back/bicep

Wed: Rest day or stomach

Thur: Legs/tricep

Fri:Shoulder/bicep

Sat: rest

Sun: startover again.

Goals: athletic body, look little muscular and lean.

Nutrition:

breakfast: eggs and bacon

lunch: usually a protein shake

Dinner: standard Swedish house food.

Before bed: Protein shake sometimes with sandwiches

What do you mean by status?

Pontus,

Gregor is right in his advice. You also need to remember the following points:

1) Diet is 90% of the equation. Getting enough protein, fats, and carbs is critical to gaining muscle and losing fat regardless of how often or how much you lift. Training without proper nutrition is taking two steps forward and two steps back - you gain nothing

2) You grow when you REST not when you are down the gym. Too much exercise causes muscle loss and halts fat loss

3) All muscles (except abs) need at least 48 hours rest between workouts

4) Large muscle groups (chest, back, legs) should be trained with compound exercises when you are first starting out.

5) You need at least 3-6 months to see the results and determine if your routine and diet are working

Based on these points and the data you provided above, in my opinion you are not eating enough food and you are working out too much for a beginner. 4-5 days is enough to produce your desired results. I would work out Mon thru Fri or Mon/Tue/Thu/Fri and take the remaining days off to rest or do some very light cardio like walking. You may want to do a dedicated day for back, chest, and legs, and then one day for shoulders and arms together (4 days) or a day each for back, chest, legs, arms, shoulders (5 days).

We need a more accurate macro count and calorie intake to make any better suggestions. Use the Meal Plan tab on the SHF home page as well as watch the video Scott did on calculating macros to help you obtain this data. This is the most important step before you can tailor a workout regiment to meet your goals.

John

i would like to throw in my 2 cents here, for a beginner... training every day of the week or even 6 days a week is silly, i have been training for years and the only time i trained every day of the week was when i would get 10 hours sleep on a 10000kcal diet and i was miserabe but i needed it, for the MMA and power lifting, you want to gain muscle... you want lean muscle, you want fitness type results, dont go down the road of training every day, for 1 hour a day you need to be physically active, weights cardio whatever, the other 23 hours of that day you need to focus on diet and rest, rest doesnt just mean sleep, you need correct posture you need a perfect routine other wise you will grow muscular imbalances, you should be happy at this point you're not gaining loads of muscle, i wish i was like that as a beginnner i would have learnt much better form, so my advice

1. focus on compounds

2. DO NOT TRAIN SHOULDERS AND ARMS TOGETHER

3. 8 hours minimum a night

4. split your routine into 1 day on 1 day off... each muscle 3 exercises each 1 being heavy the rest being 75-80% of your 1RM to get you in that muscle building mode, basic would be push pull leg...

5. on rest days do no sit around, get out and walk, twice a day if you can for atleast 30 minutes at a time

6. more meals = leaner gains... having 3 big meals is worse than having 6 small, trust me.

7. do not follow a friends routine, look at your friend, do you want to look like your friend or do you want to look like a champion?

8. only take advice from those with experience and the physique to back up their experience

9. at your stage form is crucial, spend time building up that mind to muscle connection, try isolated contractions, meaning try to tense specific muscles individually, your quad your hamstring your glute your bicep tricep rear front lateral delt... all of them try doing it 1 at a time, if you can contract 1 delt head at a time then you have a good mind to muscle connection with that muscle.

10. find music that motivates you or train with a partner, external influences keep the fire burning as well as giving you an ego boost.

11. if you ever see your body gaining fat... eat more fat... eat less carbs

12. dont worry about who is gaining muscle faster than you chances are they have better genetics or a better meal plan, has nothing to do with training, ive come across guys so much bigger than me who cannot lift any where near as much but have better diets and get to sleep for endless amounts of hours, GENETICS but there is a way around genetics its called hard work and time.

13. dont fall for product propaganda ignore mass gainers, plain and simple go for whey or hemp protein and take creatine

14. good luck bro

Thanks for reading and answering. I appreciate you for taking time to answer. Why shouldnt I do shoulders and arms together(sorry for being a pain in the ass^^). Someone told me to do push/pull/legs months ago and I didnt listen because I thought the main problem was my sleep but it wasnt. I want to apologise to the person who told that I should do push pull legs routine.

Do someone have a good push/pull/legs routine?

If someone have suggestion on easy snack please tell^^ really trying my best to change. But I am living at home right now so I will just eat whats on the table at dinner.

My friend must have pretty good genetics then because he looks very muscular. My dad is strong(he doesnt even lift) and I didnt get any genetics from him... what prick ;)

Have you been monitoring your progress from a statistical point of view, photos or just trying to remember how you looked prior to starting lifting?

How is your nutrition? Are you 100% consistent with it?

Havent been writing down anything. But I remember and feel from week to week. This latest routine didnt work. Was little weaker, every week except last week it little progress. I stopped with the cardio(sprained toe? dont know what its called). Have taking photos but its the same.

Havent been tracking my nutrition just trying to eat as healthy as possible.

I'm not fan of following numbers and calculating diet too much, but if you have difficulties with gain/loss, it's a must. From what you wrote about food, you don't eat enough. Maybe you can help your mum with cooking, I'm sure she will be glad for that :)

About routine, guys already gave you good advices. As far as I know John is working with push/pull routine, but I encourage you, to search and assemble your own routine and put it here to comment. You have to learn about that stuff and you also have to believe in your routine. I suggest to workout 4 times a week, if you really want to do more workouts, dedicate 2 days to your abs/core workout.

BR, Gregor

If you are serious about results you need to commit. I'm not one for taking any approach less than optimal when it comes to reaching your goals.

Firstly, you should be taking measurements. I recommend weight every week, body measurements every month and photos every month. You should also be recording your workouts and the weights and reps you lift etc.

You also need to get your nutrition on point. You can't just expect to reach your goals if you don't have your nutrition in check. If I gave you specific numbers etc to follow would it be possible to do this?

I will start weighing every week from now on. Should I measure the whole body or just main parts?

Sure, will do my best.

When I create my own push/pull/legs routine what should I think about, How many exercise per muscle group? How many sets?

Today I did push

3 set on all

Bench press 6-12 reps

Incline bench 6-12

military press(front and behind at the same time) 6-12

Tricep cable pushdown 8-12

Lying tricep curl 8-12

Think of the body typing as more of a genetic predisposition. It isn't something that determines your maximum potential for progress, rather the speed or difficulty with which certain goals will be attained. An 'ectomorph' will have a naturally higher metabolism and thus will have difficulty (in relativity to a non-ectomorph) to gaining weight but that does not exclude the possibility of gaining weight.

Program I am doing:

Push: All 3 sets

Bench press 6-12 reps

Dumbell incline bench press 6-12

Tricep Cable pushdown(To weak to do dips): 10-15

Tricep extension: 10-15

Pull: All 3 set

Deadlift: 3-6 reps

Dumbell Rows: 6-12

Chin ups: As many I can.

Face Pulls: 8-12

Barbell Curls: 8-12

Hammer Curls: 8-12

Legs: All 3 set

Squat: 6-12 reps

Stiff-legged deadlifts: 6-12

Leg extension: 6-12

Lying curls: 6.12

Should I stick to 3 days a week or 4?

Criticism is appreciated!