I’m curious as to wether or not my strength gains over a little more than a year are typical or acceptable for that matter.
A little background, I’m in my late 20’s, I started lifting seriously in spring of '07, 5’10, 150(starting weight in spring of '07) now sitting at about 170(had been as much as 183 in 2/08), what my body fat % is, I don’t know, never had it checked, though I’m assuming I started at about 13%-16%, and am probably about the same now.
I started using diet and training protocols from Berardi’s “Scrawny to Brawny” , and have used various routines since then, all pretty much focused on big compound movements.
When I started, after a few months of training I decided to see what some of my max numbers were. I had a 175 bench, a 220 squat(maybe to parallel), I didn’t attempt the deadlift. My chin-up was pitifull, I might of been able to do 5 with bodyweight(155), and maybe 1 with a pull-up grip(prone).
Little more than a year later later I feel dissappointed with my strength gains. I feel as though, according to a lot of the info I read that strength should have come a lot easier, and through simple programs at that.
I recently tested my 1rm on those lifts again, as I had been doing over the past year periodically. My bench is up to 205 from 175, my squat is up to 280(atg), my deadlift is at 320. Chin-ups are markedly better, BW(170+45) is 1RM. None of which I am really proud of.
I wanted to know if these gains seemed subpar? I honestly thought I would be able to bench 225 in only 5-6 months from where I started, and squat 315 in no time, strength gains seem to come so slow for me! I have done no bodybuilding routines either.