T Nation

Advice, Almost One Year In

#1

Hi guys, I was hoping that someone could give me advice towards reaching my goals. Here is my situation:

I've been really training for about a year. Before that I was a lean swimmer who didn't know how to seriously lift. Since then I have basically quite swimming, and I lift weights 3 to four days a week. When I started training heavy last spring I made serious progress until around june or july. After this point I was hit with major tiredness and my strength went down. I was working out every second morning early, then working in construction, then training MMA at night. I also stupidly did the anabolic diet and did not eat enough.

The tiredness stuck around for an insanely long time (probably became somewhat psychological after awhile) I think what I had may have been CNS fatigue. Now I am starting to get back on track, and I would like any advice that would help me train without having another crash.

Right now my workouts look like this:

Monday - Chest
Wednesday - Back
Friday - Legs
Saturday - Shoulders and arms

I try do at least one major compound for each major body part, and I prefer free weights to machines. I squat, bench, hang clean, chin up, dip, curl, row, and dead lift.

I can squat around 330. Bench at 205 (haven't tested in awhile) And I deadlift about 320 (with ugly form..) and I hang clean 175

When I started lifting I weighed around 160 now I weigh around 178 I'm not used to having this high body fat, and I am a little scared that if I go much farther I'll have trouble getting down again.

My goal is (of course) to be decently large and low body fat. I also want to be very strong in relation to my weight. One pet peeve of mine is the development of my arms. My biceps seem to lack definition when they are not flexed. I see lots of guys walking around smaller then me but with much nicer arms, do I need to cut weight to achieve this?

Here are some pics, if more poses are needed please let me know.

IMG_0714.jpg1024x683 72.5 KB

IMG_0712.jpg1024x683 66.6 KB

IMG_0715.jpg1024x683 68.8 KB

IMG_0717.jpg1024x683 97.7 KB

IMG_0722.jpg1024x683 41.1 KB

So what's the verdict, do I need to cut or should I continue bulking for a while longer. Is there any advice or comments that anyone has? (especially about avoiding another crash) One more thing is that I don't have a set program. I go into the gym knowing which lifts I will do but not the reps or weight. I try to push myself, and I mix up the rep ranges (generally under 8). Is this a bad thing? Should I have set reps/weights?

If there is any more information I should post please let me know.

Thanks in advance for any advice, and for helping out a struggling beginner.

#2

Honestly from what you say and the pictures your age and goals do over thing this, you just need to get good but big and work damn hard. Hit he gym and get out and recover and grow and mature.

Concentrate on your performance getting stronger in the core BIG lifts and things will come in time.

If your training hard and eating BIG you WONT get obese you just wont unless you try REAL hard.

Your wall you hit the last time sounded a lot like over working combined with under eating. Eating will help but there is still a point you can train more youll out reach your recovery hit it hard and get out. Slowly increase your work over years as you grow and progress.

#3

I'd suggest keep gaining weight for a while. And if you're worried about arms, you could split up your arms from your shoulder day and hit them harder. Although at this point as long as you're working them I think it's more of a putt on mass everywhere and your arms will get bigger.

#4

you need to gain 50+ pounds.

#5

Whats your diet like? Are you trying to do a clean bulk? I think you should gain some more weight before you start to cut.

#6

x2

#7

Thanks for the advice guys. I guess I need to keep bulking. When you say another 50 pounds though, keep in mind I'm only 5 foot ten. What kind of quick to make foods do you guys recommend for a clean bulk?

#8

Milk
eggs
butter
water
potatoes
pasta
lots of animals

#9

So? 178 at 5'10" isn't really that big. I'm 5'9", and I was sitting at 245 two weeks ago. I've just started dieting down after bulking up 45lbs from 200lbs. It's really not as big a difference as you might think.

#10

Keep on bulking :slight_smile:
Clean diet - turkey,tuna,chicken,beef,potatoes,pasta,milk,
yogurt, eggs, good fats and so on...

#11

I'm 192 at 5'10" and feel/look like I could easily put on another 10-15 lbs and barely look "big". Hell, I'd probably just look normal at 207-210.

edit to add: when I say easily put on 10-15 lbs, I meant that it would look fine appearance wise. Choking down enough food to do the trick that isn't junk is actually pretty hard for me.

#12

exactly. I went from 120 at 5'8" to 200 at 5'9" in a year and a half. I look "normal" now. I still need at least 30-40 SOLID pounds before I look "big"