GymNut

Glad to hear you're cleaning up! Congratulations and good luck with everything.

Some things I see with your current program -

6 days a week of lifting is too much for a hard-gainer. By lifting this much, you are burning a lot of calories that would be better put toward muscle building. Ideally, you would switch to only about 4 workouts every 10 days. This gives your body optimal time to recover and rebuild - essential parts to increasing lean body mass. At most I would perform 3 strength sessions a week leaving at least one full day of recovery between workouts. This will also help you to avoid overtraining. This may seem difficult with all the muscles you want to work, but it's pretty simple (see next two paragraphs).

Also, I would switch from the typical body-building style workout you are doing. Sure, it works for them, but they are not hard-gainers. I would recommend total body workouts. This is better for overall health, balance, core stabilization, etc. In addition, by performing a full body workout, you will produce more natural testosterone, speeding your gains.

Focus more on complex movements than on isolation exercises. Rather than doing bicep curls, or tricep extensions, or leg curls, etc., focus on getting the most bang for your buck. Isolation exercises are with certain exceptions an unnecessary evil. Bench press variations also work your triceps, rowing and pull-up variations also work your biceps. Squats, step-ups, Lunges all work hamstrings, quads, and glutes. I've never seen someone with a huge chest and tiny arms. One great thing about the human body is that it always tries to maintain balance (homeostasis). This means once your big muscles (chest, back) begin growing, the smaller muscles (biceps, triceps) will follow suite.

Also, I don't know what your routines consist of, but I would probably also avoid resistance machines for the most part. They eliminate the need for stabilization and lead to a weak core and incorrect muscle firing patterns. (For example during any movement, your spinal stabilizers should contract before any of your extremities move. Sitting wedged in a leg press machine minimizes the need for your core and your legs may contract first. Over time, this leads to being all screwed up!) Free weights are the way to go. In addition to core strengthening, they are more difficult and activate many more muscle fibers because you're not locked in a preset range of motion and you need to stabilize each movement.

For the workout specifics, you might try undulating periodization (fancy term for frequently switching it up). Research has shown this to be superior to most ways of training to increase both size and strength. Here's how it works: You will vary the sets reps and loads you use each workout. You want to stay within the 24-50 rep range for each workout as this is optimal for growth. If you are working out 3 days a week, you would perform 2 sets of 15 reps one day, 3 sets of 10 the next, and 4 sets of 6 the third. Use weight accordingly. You will be lifting a lot heavier on your 4 x 6 day. As you progress, you may move up to 3 x 15, 4 x 10, and 5 x 5. If you are performing different workouts each day, you will want to mix it up so you are doing different sets and reps each time you repeat a workout. By varying your sets, reps, and loads, your body doesn't get accustomed to the workout as quickly and you are able to work on both strength and endurance simultaneously rather than breaking them into different phases. There are definitely other effective methods also, but this is a great place to start.

I don't know how often you switch up your workout, but it is good to change exercises every 4 weeks to avoid plateaus. If doing undulating periodization, you can prolong this to every 6 weeks.

Also, it's important to minimize your cardio. I agree with Naxis that you should do something, but I'd not do anything more than walk. Cardio is a staple for weight loss because it burns a ton of calories - something you don't want!

If you cut down your workouts and keep your diet the same, you should begin to see weight gain. If you are still not seeing any, try adding another 500 calories a day - theoretically you should gain a lb. a week by doing this. If you are still not getting anywhere, you need more calories, plain and simple.

For diet, I agree with Naxis review. The post-workout food is essential. You have about a 30-minute window to replace your glycogen (stored energy) stores and begin the recovery process. Protein shakes are great post-workout because they are easily absorbed.

Keep up the hard work!