Skinny 54 year old guy, trying to add 10LB muscle
I am 53 years old. 6’4” and 172 lbs. I am definitely too “skinny” and would like to get back to my younger weight of 180-185 but keep my low body fat like I am right now. I’m around 14% I love having super low body fat. I just find it very comfortable & wish to avoid gaining much, if any, body fat along the way. It ALL goes to my chest and hips and I look like a fat middle-aged housewife if I gain so much as 10 lbs of fat. It's ridiculous how it makes me look. So my goal here is 10 lbs of pure muscle with no more than 2LB fat gain. (more or less)
To complicate things just a bit, I have scoliosis. Not debilitating but the advice I get repeatedly from med professionals is to stay away from squats and deadlifts, and focus more on higher rep lighter weight vs. low rep high weight. These exercises that I’m not supposed to do, unfortunately, are the “heavy hitters”. So given that, I’ve come up with a hopeful program. I’d like your input. Am I on the right track given my restrictions? Should I change anything? How is my schedule? Too much rest? Not enough? Whatever comes up I want to hear it. Thank you. I'm a man. You can talk to me like one and I won't pout, haha!
I use free weight dumbbells, a bowflex machine, body weight and just purchased a vertical leg press (cheaper one but I put 120LBS on it so I’m safe until I get stronger).
Highlights:
I focus on the “hypertrophy range” of 8-12 reps and do 3 or 4 sets depending on muscle group
My total workout takes one hour.
I do upper day 1, legs day 2, cardio day 3 and 4, then start over.
I do 4 sets of bench and lat pull downs, but 3 sets of everything else.
I shoot for failure on the LAST set, but sometimes get it on 2d set.
I rest 1-1.5 minutes
In between SOME sets I’ll do some abs/core (not enough to detract from my workout, just enough to get my abs in that day)
UPPER (9-25-19)
Bench with bowflex or pushups 4 sets of 8-12 (current bowflex weight = all 155 ea side or 310)
Flies 1-2 sets of 8-12 on bowflex or laying on big exercise ball (10 lbs. dumbbells)
One Superset hanging leg raises left, center, right (10)
Lat Pulldowns 4 sets of 12-15 (current bowflex weight = all 155 ea side or 310))
One Superset bicycle crunch (35)
Pull ups – I’ll do my max, which is 2-3, then using a bench, jump up into the up position and do 2-3 “negative reps”
Shoulder press 3 x 10-12 (20 lb. dumbbells)
Superset plank
Curls 3 sets of 8-12
Triceps pulldowns or 15LB dumbbell kickbacks 3 sets of 8-12
Row (Bowflex or bent over dumbell)
3 sets of 8-12 (current dbell weight 30LB)
Shoulder shrugs (1-2 sets of 12 with 30 lb. dumbbells. I roll back a little at top)
LOWER
Leg press 2 x 8-12 134LBS
One Superset hanging leg raises left, center, right (10)
Goblet squat with homemade kettlebell 45LB 2 sets of 8-12
Bulgarian Split Squat (body weight only( 2 sets of 12)
**So the 3 above give me 6 sets of basic “squat replacement” exercises
Leg curls 3 x 10-12 using bowflex, hacking the leg extension piece (75LB)
Leg Extensions 2x12 (305, all bowflex weight)
Superset plank (1/30/30/30)
Calf Raises 2 x 25 body weight only
Weighted Glute Bridges 2 x 25
OTHER:
Start day with 20 minute stretch routine with one cheat day per week
Diet: As usual. 4-5 times per day. PPB (primarily plant based) but plenty of protein as well. Do intermittent fasting (18 hour) 1-2 times per week.