Workout for Weight Gain in 2025

I gotta’ lose weight. I keep gaining and gaining and gaining, and not necessarily in a bad way, but too much is too much. A couple of years ago, I injured my right knee, which required surgery. The doctor was encouraging and said that I should try to build as much muscle in my legs as I can to support the joint. That’s just what I’ve been doing ever since, and super consistently, too. I don’t think I missed a single work out last year except for the odd week where I was sick. My regimen is as follows:

Sunday: Off - I do my laundry and my cooking for the week.
Monday: Off - I get off late due to my evening class.
Tuesday:
- 20 to 30 minutes of cardio on an elliptical or ladder treadmill
- 10 to 15 minutes on a Matrix Krankcycle (if you want arms that feel like they might rip through your shirt, do this)
- Core drills (1 minute of Russian twists, flutter kicks, and a horse stance with 55 seconds of rest between exercises)
- Back bend/bridging exercises
- Bulgarian split squats
- Bench press
- Lateral raises
- Grip machine
Wednesday: Off
Thursday:
- 20 to 30 minutes of cardio on an elliptical or ladder treadmill
- Core drills (same routine as on Tuesday)
- Back bend/bridging exercises
- Glute drives
- Hamstring curls
- Dead lift
- Rear delt machine
Friday: Off - After work, I buy my groceries, vacuum my house, and mow my lawn (in the summer).
Saturday:
- 10 minutes of walking to warm up
- 10 to 20 minutes on a Matrix Krankcycle
- Preacher curls
- Bench press
- Grip machine
- Pec fly

I’m very diligent in tracking my reps too. I take a clipboard with a spreadsheet print out to the gym, and I log my sets and reps. The following example shows my process. At one point, I started doing hamstring curls. My sets and reps were as follows:

Set 1: 100 lbs x 10 reps
Set 2: 105 lbs x 8 reps
Set 3: 110 lbs x 6 reps
Set 4: 115 lbs x 4 reps

I’ll do that exercise for 5 weeks. On the sixth week, I’ll increase one set by one rep.

Set 1: 100 lbs x 10 reps
Set 2: 105 lbs x 8 reps
Set 3: 110 lbs x 6 reps
Set 4: 115 lbs x 5 reps

I’ll follow that regimen for another 5 sessions, then increase one set by one rep.

Set 1: 100 lbs x 10 reps
Set 2: 105 lbs x 8 reps
Set 3: 110 lbs x 7 reps
Set 4: 115 lbs x 5 reps

Eventually, I get to a point where I’m doing four sets of 10 reps a piece. After doing that regimen 5 times, start over at 10-8-6-4, but I make the load of my second set that of my first set. So, the above example would become:

Set 1: 105 lbs x 10 reps
Set 2: 110 lbs x 8 reps
Set 3: 115 lbs x 6 reps
Set 4: 120 lbs x 4 reps

The process has been very effective, consistently adding muscle and strength. It’s also very safe; I’m never really pushing my body with a load it cannot handle. When I increase the weight resistance on all sets, I’m starting over at with 10-8-6-4 reps, so my body can reacclimate to the new loads. I sometimes forget which knee I injured, though that could be my memory deteriorating with old age. Unfortunately, a side effect of adding muscle is that I’ve gained weight. I went from a respectable 195lbs to 235lbs+ (I weighed in a 237lbs this morning). The weight just keeps creeping up and up. I would swear that every time I add one repetition, my body weight also goes up. When I start over at a new 10-8-6-4 cycle, I get a double bonus.

How is all this a problem? Well, aside from having to upgrade my pants every so often, my feet now hurt. Apparently, my feet have a payload capacity of 220lbs. My right one especially hurts horribly. Every time I have to get out of a chair, I dread the pins and needles that will shoot through my right arch. To make matters more frustrating, I can only do 8 chin ups. At 210 lbs, I could do 10.

I guess my diet is the problem. I typically eat a breakfast of 3 eggs and two slices of toast. My lunch consists of a ham and turkey sandwich, a granola bar, and 1 - 2 pieces of fruit. For dinner, I eat a single plate of whatever I meal prepped over the weekend. Perhaps I should get rid of the eggs? I’m not sure what I’d replace it with. I can’t do cereal or overnight oats as my body doesn’t process milk very well. I suppose I could do instant oats with water, but that would be a chore to choke down. Maybe just a banana with peanut butter.

I tried to make room for more cardio to burn off more calories, but that’s proven basically impossible. It’s funny how as a teenager and college student, I had all the time in the world to prioritize taking care of my body. Throw in a house with a yard and a never satisfied list of errands and chores, and I got to work in my work outs. I’m a party of one, as well. I have no idea how people with spouses and kids do it.

Speaking of, I’ve decided to change my work out days. Now, I think I’ll do my Thursday and Saturday workouts on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. My weekend mornings to afternoons will be occupied, but those weeknight gym sessions take forever. I’ll usually get there around 7 or 8, and not finish until shortly before the gym closes at 11:00 PM. I get home, eat dinner, unwind, then go to bed between 1 and 2. My sleep schedule is so messed up. I wake up late because I went to bed late, then I’m late to work, so I’ have to stay late to get all my stuff done. Thankfully, my arrival and departure times are not monitored, but I consistently put in more than my 40 hours. This just isn’t working.

Now, I’ll have two workouts on the weekend, and one during the week. Maybe I can split my one weeknight workout into two much shorter ones. At least I’ll have my evenings back. As it stands, I’m usually so late getting home, I wouldn’t have time to do anything else other than eat dinner and get ready for bed if I went to sleep at a reasonable hour. I suppose I’ll have to move my chores and errands to after work. On Mondays, I’ll by my groceries. On Wednesdays, I’ll meal prep. On Thursdays, I’ll vacuum. On Fridays, I’ll mow my lawn (during the summer). That should still leave me some evening time to decompress. I promise to read more and not spend it playing Rocket League or dilly dallying on the internet.