This is an Ectomorph routine. This weight training workout routine is mainly for those men with ectomorph somatotype who want to build muscle (muscle hypertrophy).
Generally thin or ectomorphic men are those who have a difficulty to gain weight either in fat and/or Lean mass (muscle mass), due to genetics, no matter how much they eat, no matter how many protein supplements they ingest, it is difficult for them to increase the body size or body mass no matter if is fat or skeletal muscle mass.
Men who often train hard but do not see decent results (low muscle hypertrophy), so here I will explain how they should train to achieve the goals and increase muscle size.
Why is so special this workout routine and why will allow to gain more weight in your muscles?
This routine is special for Ectomorphs, hose men who can give themselves the "good life" by eating any type of food in large quantities, and still remain thin.
Many people will think that this is some kind of "blessing", but other people think it is the opposite beacuse they want to look "bigger" by gaining some muscle but they are not able to achieve that as easy as other men do.
I have to be clear with this ectomorph routine before I continue that we most really talk about a "high tendency of having ectomorph somatotype components or characteristics" since there is no pure ectomorph guys, this means there is not a man who is 100% ectomorph, but still I will keep mentioning in this article the word ectomorph and not "a man who has a high tendency to the ectomorph side", because well: it is shorter, practical and easier.
I want also to say (and you have to keep it in mind all the time) that only by applying this or another weight training workout routine at the gym or another place, is not going to help your muscles increase in size (hypertrophy), since proper nutrition, a proper rest and healthy lifestyle habits are also essential to achieve this goals and so having a good looking body and also a good health.
Weight training workout routine for ectomorph men for four days
HOW TO PERFORM THE EXERCISES OF THIS WEIGHT TRAINING WORKOUT ROUTINE:
Having already read the information that I explained in the physiological factors or facts, with this routine you will try to stimulate mainly the energy system of the phosphocreatine, you have to perform every exercise with 4 sets each one with a maximum of 8 repetitions (or at least 6 or 7 if your are trying new weights, of course keeping in mind this does not affect the execution technique of every exercise).
If they can do more than 8 repetitions with a good execution in the technique of each exercise, it is because you can still add a little more weight. You should rest between sets and exercises about 2-3 minutes or a maximum of 4 minutes (more or less depending on how you feel and you level of training).
This rest time relatively long is to allow enough time to TPA resynthesis to be able to re-use phosphocreatine, trying to use the less precious muscle glycogen.
Another thing I want to tell you is that you also have to train hard your legs and butt, so this routine is to work also the muscles of this muscles with the same system to reach the same goal (muscle hypertrophy).
Before starting the workout routine you should warm up before by doing some aerobic-moderate cyclic exercise for about 10-15 minutes and keeping heart rate between 60% and 75% of maximum heart rate, whether on the treadmill, bicycle or elliptical.
In addition, for beginners, the first set of the first exercise of each day, they will perform with a very low weight, only stimulating the movement, then rest for about 2 minutes and after that the following set start from one with the almost maximum weights. At the end of the training sessions you must do some stretching exercise to help muscles to recover.
I also want to tell that you will not perform a lot of exercises for a single muscle in a single day, since what you need is to do one or two exercises per muscle each day, and work them to the maximum intensity and not in a extensive way (because this will burn lot of glycogen). So this workout routine is not Strenuous since the entire training session must be in a time range of between 90 and 120 minutes at most, but the resting time between sets and exercises will be decently long.
The training routine with the exercises, sets, reps and time of rest
MONDAY: workout the pectorals, back muscles, biceps and triceps brachii and abs at the end.
First exercise: Barbell Bench Press. As you can see in the image below, until there they must come down. You should not overdo it until the bar touches the chest as it is not necessary and can hurt the glenohumeral joints (of both shoulders), in addition to striking the chest very abruptly.
The important thing is to go down in a controlled way until the barbell reaches the distance shown in the image below, and do the movement of scapular protraction (when the barbell is raised) which is the anatomical movement that directly stimulates the pectoralis minor, and indirectly the pectoralis major. Another thing to keep in mind is to keep your butt all the time "stuck" to the bank and do not strange or exagerated movments with the low back to "take your butt off the bank". This is to avoid injuries to the spine and muscles around this area.
Second exercise: dumbbell row. Good to workout the muscles of the back. Although indirectly also get in action other muscles such as the biceps brachii, for example. Do the 8 repetitions with one arm and immediately make 8 reps with the other arm. Then rest the 2-4 minutes and start again to complete the 3-4 sets. Let the arm go down as far as you can and pull as far as you can. Keep your back all the time still.
Third exercise: Pull over. Do this by trying Not to separate elbows from each other, I mean try to keep them "joined" each other as possible in either of the two phases of this exercise (eccentric and concentric).
Fourth Exercise: lat pull up in la machine. To work back muscles directly.
Fifth Exercise: triceps brachii extension. Keep elbows "joined" to the body in both phases of this exercise (eccentric and concentric). In the initial position, the forearm should always be perpendicular to the arm in all repetitions. Advanced people could make that forearm-arm angle smaller but always keeping arms joined to the body.
Sixth Exercise Exercise: preacher curl for biceps brachii. Try your arms to "go down" as far as you can to stimulate both insertion points of the biceps brachii muscle. Do the eccentric movement in a controlled way and to "pull" (concentric movement) with a good speed (without taking off the elbows of the machine nor standing up of the armchair) to stimulate the concentric phase of the exercise.
Seventh exercise: hammer curl for biceps brachii. Keep the trunk or torso of your body still so you do not make the mistake of balancing to "help" to do the exercise through the action of other muscles, since what you need is to concentrate on the biceps brachii action. Always keep your butt "out", chest out, look ahead, and knees slightly bent and shoulder opening distance. (8 repetitions per arm for a total of one sets. Then rest and do another 2-3 sets more).
Eighth exercise: dumbbell triceps kickback. Do 8 reps with one arm and immediately do 8 reps with the other arm. Then rest 2-3 minutes and do another 2-3 sets. Look very closely at the starting position where the forearm will always be perpendicular to the arm.
Final exercises: you must end up your training session by performing some abs exercises (the traditional exercises or another more complicated that do not involve the action of the arms because you already worked them out with weights) for about 10-15 minutes more or less, then do some stretching excersises for the whole body, or at least for the muscles worked this day.
TUESDAY: This day the workout is focused on the legs and butt muscles, shoulders and forearms.
First exercise: leg extension for the quadriceps muscle.
Second Exercise: femoral biceps curl.
Third exercise: leg press.
Fourth exercise: sit down raises for calves.
Fifth exercise: Military Press with dumbbells.
Sixth exercise: flexion of the deltoids (shoulder) muscle with dumbbells, alternating. Do 16 repetitions, 8 in each arm for each set. Do not move the torso as "swinging" to avoid compromising other muscles and avoiding injuries. Always keep the butt "out", chest out, look ahead, knees slightly bent.
Seventh exercise: Scapular retraction for trapezius muscle.
Eighth exercise: Forearm flexion with barbell. Grip in supination (palm upwards).
Final exercises: you must end up your training session by performing some abs exercises (the traditional exercises or another more complicated that do not involve the action of the arms because you already worked them out with weights) for about 10-15 minutes more or less, then do some stretching excersises for the whole body, or at least for the muscles worked this day.
WEDNESDAY: Total rest of any type of physical exercise. Although you can also try doing cardiovascular exercise at a moderate or aerobic threshold (60%-75% bpm according maximum heart rate) like jogging for about 30-60 minutes and doing some crunches, to see how you feel, to improve cardio capacity, mainly.
THURSDAY: workout the pectorals, back muscles, biceps and triceps brachii and abs at the end.
First exercise: incline dumbbell bench press
Second exercise: Barbell row. Look very well in position so you do not go to injury. Knees slightly bent, butt "outside", chest out.
Third exercise: Dumbbell pullover.
Fourth exercise: Rear pull down.
Fifth exercise: Lying Close-Grip Barbell Triceps extension.
Sixth exercise: Barbell curl bíceps.
Seventh exericse: Overhead Cable Tricep Extension
Eighth exercise: barbell forearm curl.
Final exercises: you must end up your training session by performing some abs exercises (the traditional exercises or another more complicated that do not involve the action of the arms because you already worked them out with weights) for about 10-15 minutes more or less, then do some stretching excersises for the whole body, or at least for the muscles worked this day.
FRIDAY: This day the workout is focused on the legs and butt muscles, shoulders and forearms.
First exercise: rear barbell squat. If you feel you have to do it in Smith machine then go ahead, but try with time to doing it without this machine.
Second Exercise: femoral biceps curl.
Thrid exercise: leg extension for the quadriceps muscle.
Fourth exercise (Optional depending on your training level). barbell deadlift.
Fifth exercise: Stand calves exercise.
Sixth exercise: front barbell military press. You can do it by while being sat if you do not have the level to doing while being stand.
Seventh exercise: shoulders lateral raise with dumbbells.
Eighth exercise: incline shoulders lateral raise with dumbbells.
Ninth exercise: barbell forearm flexion.
Final exercises: you must end up your training session by performing some abs exercises (the traditional exercises or another more complicated that do not involve the action of the arms because you already worked them out with weights) for about 10-15 minutes more or less, then do some stretching excersises for the whole body, or at least for the muscles worked this day.
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY: Total rest of any type of physical exercise. Although you can also try doing cardiovascular exercise at a moderate or aerobic threshold (60%-75% bpm according maximum heart rate) like jogging for about 30-60 minutes and doing some crunches, to see how you feel, to improve cardio capacity, mainly.
IMPORTANT YOU KEEP IN MIND THAT:
The weight training workout routine for ectomorph men exposed here is for those who are not beginners, or men who have some time about two or three months training in the gym in a different way. If you are a beginner or rookie you should first workout the first month only with non external weight full body exercises such as pushups Chest, pull ups, squatting with own body weight, etc., with 3-4 sets of 12-15 repetitions, with rests of 30-90 seconds between sets.
The second month you could start with the exercises exposed in this routine, but with weights between 70-80% of the maximum of your total capacity, or a weight that allows them to execute well the exercises and that allows them to generate some tension, to achieve a good adaptation and a good execution of the technique of each exercise. All this to stimulate strength and sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (and some myofibrillar). Then after these two months of "physical conditioning", you can proceed exposed in this article the way is explained.
Already at the third month, it is possible to do this routine to stimulate myofibrillar hypertrophy, ("widening" contractile proteins of actin and myosin skeletal muscle fibers), avoiding that the energy from glycogen is very compromised.
No one is 100% ectomorph or 100% mesomorphic nor 100% endomorphic. There is always going to be a more predominant side.
If you have any specific doubts or question about this, you can write me in the comments or if you require something more specific you should opt for the payment of a personalized counseling. I have a degree in Physical Education and Sports and a Gym Instructor with emphasis in Physiology and Nutrition.
Ectomorph routine: train hard and rest hard to gain muscle
I must put a lot of emphasis on the right rest (sleeping good amount of hours with good quality and avoiding staying up so late), because many men spend a lot of time watching TV, chatting on the computer or cell phone, going out at night often, drinking liquor exaggeratedly, and returning home to sleep at 3 or 4 in the morning, all these things being quite influential (in a negative way) when it comes to gaining muscle.
The most recommended is to sleep between 8-9 hours and lying down between 10-11 pm (ideally, you should lie down to sleep no later than 9 pm, but I know sometimes this is not possible for different activities you must or have to do). It is also not good to sleep in excess (more than 10 hours) because the fasting period is prolonged, and is counterproductive for muscle tissue and overall health (I mean, you will be not eating food for more than 10 hours).
This "over sleeping period" usually happens beacuse of staying up all night sometimes until the morning which makes your Circadian rhythm goes crazy, so your body need to give a good rest to the nervous system even is you are hungry by low macro and micro nutrients, and sometimes happen that you want to wake up because you are hungry but you feel also to tired and sleepy to get out of bed.
Avoid bad lyfestyle habits, train like a beast, eat like a bigger beast, rest like a baby beast
Consumption of liquor and/or cigarette (or another psychoactive substances) negatively influences the results of your workouts (and of course also the performance during them), no matter how good you feed or rest, as well as these things affect your health and overall wellness. So if you are one of those who have these "vices" or "not good life habits" and you want your workouts to be productive, you should put aside both the cigarette and the liquor.
Men with ectomorph somatotype are not genetically predisposed to store much fat or to develop lean mass as they would like. By genetics, we could say that many might think that they have not been greatly favored.
With this, I want to be clear and say that for the same "not favorable genetics", the results probably will not be super amazing with this weight training workout routine, and the results will not be noticed in a short period of time. But keep in mind I am not saying this for you to lose your motivation, I just want you to face the reality and to know it will be harder but also possible to get good results about gaining muscle and strenght, and that way still remain motivated to achieve those goals (this will also improve your health).
"Life at the gym" requires constant effort and some "sacrifices" to achieve the greatest natural results given by the genetics, to make those genetic limits go as far as possible.
I include the word "natural" because there are many men who prefer to go the easy and "short" way through the injection of artificial anabolic steroids (testosterone produced on laboratories) or also known as ROIDS, which not only provide them with "off-normal" muscle mass gains, but also problems for the health and organs such as the liver, kidneys, heart, problems with mood changes, problems with blood pressure, among many others, soon or later.
The routine you will see below is a relatively "traditional" weight training workout routine, in the sense that it is not based on "modern" or popular workouts now at days such as TRX, insanity or crossfit, among others, since these "popular o modern workouts" require considerable glycogenic expenditure through of the Lactic energy mechanism, in which the muscular glycogen is used a lot to generate energy (triphosphate adenosine or TPA), that is what we would like to avoid (high expenditure of glycogen) or reduce in the routine that I am going to explain.
What an ectomorph guy needs is that in this weight training workout routine the predominant mechanism will be the energy mechanism of phosphocreatine or also known as creatine-phosphocreatine system, in which the main substrate to generate energy (TPA) is the phosphocreatine itself.
BEFORE LOOKING AT THE ROUTINE: you first need read the information that I will explain below, (physiological things to keep in mind) so that you understand the justification of this weight training workout routine. Physiological factors are very important to keep in mind and understand a little how our body works when we perform intense physical exercise, such as weight training.
Physiological things to keep in mind and apply in this workout routine
Weight training is considered high intensity physical exercise, because our body stops using fat as fuel or substrate (well, very trained people could use more fat as "fuel" while exercising compared to a rookie or non trained person), and then our body "switch on" the action of two energy mechanisms or systems in which two main substrates to produce TPA are used: phosphocreatine and glycogen, which are stored in skeletal muscle fibers.
When we eat or drink carbs (carbohydrates) of any kind, we get the glucose which is stored in our body as glycogen in both our skeletal muscles and our liver, and a small part that is always "rolling" through the blood in form of glucose (simple form of glycogen). When these stores (muscle tissue and liver) are full, the glucose remaining out there, has to be stored in the adipose tissue in the form of fat (Triglycerides).
The skeletal muscles of our body are repaired and constructed thanks to the proteins (eggs, beef, chicken, fish, etc.) we consume, which in the digestive process are "broken" or degrade until they are in the simplest form that are the amino acids, to be able to be absorbed and to be able to form the proteins that build and repaire our skeletal muscle tissue.
But, glucose is also very necessary to build muscle because it participates in the synthesis of amino acids. We could see it as if the amino acids were the bricks for the construction of the tissue, and the glucose the cement to fix them.
To consider a physical exercise as "high intensity," we should look at our heart rate when rises above 70-75% of our maximal heart rate, and then we begin to use some of the energy mechanisms already mentioned. If you start with maximum weights, it comes into action the mechanism of phosphocreatine first, which is the one with the greatest energetic power but with shorter action time, since it works for about 10-15 seconds more or less depending or the level training or the person.
After this time, if there is no rest between 3-5 minutes between sets, then the lactic energy system switch on using muscle glycogen to generate energy, which is what we would like to avoid with this routine, or at least reduce the use of muscle glycogen to avoid eventually our body has to use proteins as energy (it happens when glycogen storage is very low or empty).
Some glycogen, and some blood glucose, may also be used during some time during the training session. But with this routine I will mention the point is to reduce the glycogen-glucose so that the body at some point does not have to get to use amino acids as fuel to generate energy, due to lack or low levels of muscle glycogen.
VERY IMPORTANT: The routine that I am going to post is for 4 days. Training two days in a row (Monday and Tuesday, for example), then resting the next one (Wednesday) and again training the next two days. In these days of "rest" (Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday), moderate cardiovascular physical exercises such as jogging, swimming, etc. can be done for about 30-60 minutes more or less is you want to.
Although they can also try to give a total rest these days for example if you observe total rest gives you best recovery than applying some aerobic cardio sessions (60%-75% bpm of maximum heart rate).
I also want to mention that if you are rookie in the "weight training workout life", you should begin by increasing the weights gradually in relation to the weights you are going to start lifting in the exercises exposed in this workout routine. Or, if you already have experience and what you want is to change the way you train because you are not seeing results with previous workout routines applied, then fight against those weights with everything you have got.
