some good info in this thread, some bad.

im gonna give you some very simple pointed advice, if you are 150 lbs and having a hard time to gain weight and working out 2.5 hours a day then you are working out too much.

but then again, I know some people that go to the gym for 2 hours and I get more done in my 30~40 minute workouts then them. Get in the gym train hard, take short rest periods between sets and do 15~20 sets per workout on any given muscle group.

Train your legs and your back hard they are the biggest muscles in your body.

and eat! lots of good quality carbs, oatmeal, brown rice, potatoes, granola

good fats, salmon, almonds

and good protein spaced well throughout the day, chicken, fish, eggs, whey protein, lean beef, turkey.

if you are taking over 3000 calories a day and not overtraining (ie 2.5 hours a day) you will gain mass

 

Unless I'm misinterpreting this, your workout makes no sense.

Are you only working your arms and abs? I'm not sure what you mean by aesthetics or "different types of dumbbells".

You really need to visit www.bodybuilding.com and check out some workout plans. If you're not doing back, chest, legs, and shoulders, you need to start. Everybody starts out focusing on arms and abs, but as you get into it you'll see how much a wide back and huge chest contributes to your overall look.

You shouldn't be running on the same day you workout...at least not immediately afterwards. I always run on my off-days for 2 miles and do a quick ab workout then. I used to be anti-cardio, but it got to the point where it seemed to be limiting my workouts as I was out of breath between sets.

There's no need to work your abs 2-3 hours a week. Even girls don't spend that much time on abs and they basically live in that section of the gym. Whether or not you have a 6-pack is determined primarily by your body fat percentage and genetics. You don't need to go crazy with the exercises. Also...squats and similar leg workouts help your stomach section.

Your weightlifting session shouldn't take much more than an hour. After this, you need to focus on getting nutrients in your system. Take a whey protein shake and eat a carb-heavy meal. Breaking down muscle in the gym is fairly easy...rebuilding is the part most people struggle with. Nutrition and rest make a huge difference.

So, change your workout and increase the calories. Try to get 0.7 to 1g of protein per pound of body weight and keep your calories above 3000 per day for a while and see how that works. You need excess calories above your maintenance level to build muscle.

 

I agree, no need for more than 10min. of abs 3-4 times a week,and no need for fancy abs exercises either....the way your abs look is solely based on BF percentage and Genetics.

Aesthetics is simply working the muscles to produce the best looking definition and shape possible, Basically giving people the illusion that your strong because you have this awesome bulging body.

But when your hands meet the iron your weakness shows.Alotta the guys who concentrate solely on aesthetics can't even Squat or Deadlift their own bodyweight,which IMO and many others is the true way to measure strength.

And just to state I'm not dissing you for it, its what you want for your body and I respect that.But its never a bad thing after a 1-2 years of heavy aesthetic training to switch over for some strength training for 6-8 months.

 

I'm a hard gainer also. Every now and then I'll eat 1300 calories a meal (military MRE's). I second the core exercise comment above. You need to hit those real hard (Squats and deadlifts). Make sure your form is good before you start stacking on a lot of plates. You don't want your, potential, bad habits to be the cause of an injury

 

I remember reading in a health article a while back. You're body has the natural ability to produce/gain approximately 1/2 a lb of muscle a week, if you're working out and eating healthy.

Maybe you just need to give yourself more time. You're expecting too much in such a short period of time.

 

I feel your pain I am in the same boat it get hard some time...

 

whats a good way to work out your abs anyway? i keep using those ab machines at the gym right after i run but i'm not gettin any results...

 

5'9" and 135 lbs. it is so hard for me to gain weight....even when i was working out 3x a week in college i couldn't put on more than 5lbs. it's hard for me to lose weight as well (not that i would ever want to).

i've pretty much given up. i think my biggest problem before was not eating enough, but now i don't have the time/will to go to the gym. all i do now is make sure i eat 3 meals a day and play hockey 1-3x/week, so at least i have some definition and am in shape.

 

Sorry, but this is one of the worst workouts for gaining mass I have ever seen. It makes me think you haven't read ANYTHING about how to attack this properly.

You are working all the smallest muscles that will help you gain mass the LEAST, and completely ignoring all the largest, most important muscles.

squats 3x5
deadlifts 3x5
standing overhead press 5x5
bench press 5x5
bent over row 5x5
pullups 5 to failure
dips 5 to failure

fit those each in twice a week, forget everything else, eat more and you'll be golden. Don't do bench and overhead press on the same or consecutive days if possible.

Working out more than an hour probably means youre doing TOO much, or you're not working intensely enough.

 

I do ab crunches on the decline bench 3 sets of 25, and I do 3 sets of 18 leg raises.

No need for fancy ab machine,the shape and size of your abs is determined by genetics.

You will not start to see full definition of your abdominal muscle unless your Body Fat is below 12%....you can do 150,000 crunches a day but unless your diet is in order and your BF is low you will never see the muscles.