ExRx.net

Hello all,

I'm coming up to my 1 year mark at regular weight training (applause). My progress seems to have hit the dreaded plateau, and it might be that with my body type and age, there's not much more I can do. I'm in my mid forties, ectomorphic, and train at home with dumbbells and sometimes use a home gym (multi-station cable machine) for seated rows, etc.

I wouldn't mind seeing more hypertrophy (size and definition) for my efforts. My head is starting to swim regarding which workout program is best for me, so I thought I'd solicit everyone's advice and experience.

For the first nine months I used a basic, full body, 8-12 rep, 2 sets per compound excersize routine, M/W/F. For the most part, I followed the guidelines and instructions on this website. About two months ago, I started the HST program, and I don't see any noticeable improvements. I am now wondering if the 5x5 or some other 'system' would work better for me, or if I should simply stay on the program I began with.

TimD, you've given me great advice in the past, so if you're out there, please don't hesitate to fire away on this one. Anyone else with a valid opinion, I'd appreciate your input, too.

Thanks!

I was where you are right now just a few months ago. Your age and body type have nothing to do with this.

I am pretty sure that the problem is that you have been doing hypertrophy oriented rep ranges (8-12) for too long. You need to do a couple of cycles of strength oriented traning, which generally speaking is 1-6 reps. I think 5x5 would be a good choice. Also read up on different powerlifting programs.

Another thing that has be mentioned that anyone who wants hypertrophy needs to eat a ton of calories, and any ectomorph that wants hypertrophy needs to eat even more. It's that simple. If you are not seeing results you need to fogure out exactly how many calories you are eating each day. That means weighing food on kitchen scales and looking up their caloric content etc etc. Yes, it's a paing, but that's the price, and it gets much easier after you do it for a while.

I would recommend starting at 17*body weight. Do that for 2 weeks, measure results (body weight/body fat changes), if you don't see improvement increase intake by 250 calories for the next 2 weeks. I think you get the idea. Get at least 1gr pound of body weight of protein, I presonally go as high as 1.5 gr/pound.

Good luck

Hi Magicdad. I have no idea how I will best George G's post. he is right on the money. My advise would be the same as his. I would cut the carbs, in the form of starch. As to weights, well, what George says, vary it a bit He gave you excellent ideas
Tim