Whenever I train at the gym, I give it all my effort. By the end of my session (usually lasting an hour or slightly more) I am covered in sweat, can barely breathe and need to sit in my car for 10 minutes to be able to drive home.
This doesn’t matter if I had just done legs, back, shoulders or chest, each one leaves me wiped out.
The past 6 months I’ve made good progress, 40lb weight gain and 100% increase in strength on all lifts.
squat: 50kg x 10 - 140kg x 5
deadlift: 60kg x 5 - 150kg x 5 (shit)
bench: 50kg x 5 - 100kg x 6
seated bb press: 25kg x 4 - 70kg x 4
The past month or so though, I’ve completely stalled.
My strength just will not go up, my patience gets shorter and shorter each day, and I am extremeley fucking agitated.
But sometimes I just sit there in the gym between sets, and look at some really big guys come and go who barely break a sweat. What am I missing here?
Do I need to just take it easier for a while to make gains again?
heres my routine:
legs - squats/legpress/lying leg curl - ramp up to 1 all out set
shoulders/triceps - seated bb press/log press/lat raise/db shrug/bb shrug/skullcrusher/tricep pushdown - 1 all out set
off
back - deadlift/bb row/pull up/lat pulldown/seated row -same thing
Like everyone else has said, you’re chasing two goals at once. Either continue with fat loss and be content with just maintaining strength/mediocre strength increases or drop the diet and get stronger.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
Goodfellow wrote:
Professor X wrote:
Goodfellow wrote:
My strength just will not go up,…diet (tryin to lose love handles)
So, you expect strength gains to go up drastically on a caloric deficit?
WHY?
i’d hardly call it a deficit, i’ve dropped like 8oz potatoes and 2 slices bread, thats it.
Wait…do you understand what a deficit means?[/quote]
I am estimating that what I’m eating is around 3000kcal. Which I would think isn’t a deficit and could maintain my weight while my body composition changes up a bit. I’m caught up in a limbo here.
Didn’t want to turn this into a ‘bulk or cut’ thread, but I would like an opinion from guys who have been in this position.
Try put more whey in your shakes. You cut some carbs, but adding protein might be beneficial.
You don’t look too bad. Really, focus on what you want. Either lose the love handles, or eat more to gain the strength. Chasing both at the same time might have you making no progress…like now.
Looks to me like you’re at the end of newbie gains, that’s all. You won’t see dramatic strength increases like that ever again. Keep working and, if you are in fact at kcal maointenace or above, gains will come - just not as fast.
[quote]Goodfellow wrote:
Professor X wrote:
Goodfellow wrote:
Professor X wrote:
Goodfellow wrote:
My strength just will not go up,…diet (tryin to lose love handles)
So, you expect strength gains to go up drastically on a caloric deficit?
WHY?
i’d hardly call it a deficit, i’ve dropped like 8oz potatoes and 2 slices bread, thats it.
Wait…do you understand what a deficit means?
I am estimating that what I’m eating is around 3000kcal. Which I would think isn’t a deficit and could maintain my weight while my body composition changes up a bit. I’m caught up in a limbo here.
Didn’t want to turn this into a ‘bulk or cut’ thread, but I would like an opinion from guys who have been in this position.[/quote]
You do not have enough muscle or experience to be trying to “recomp”. You are running in circles and your body clearly doesn’t like it. My guess is, you will either pick a goal, or look exactly the same or worse this time next year.
As Prof. X said, pick a goal and go after it. It’s very frustrating if not impossible to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time unless you’re running a cycle. From the picture I would say to bulk for a couple more months, up your protein, and make sure that you are taking in clean carbs, slow digesting during the day, fast digesting before and after your workouts.
I always think to myself I dont have enough muscle to bother showing.
I just had an urge to drop fat for a couple reasons: 1) going for a holiday to florida in 3 months, 2) gettin shit from my parents that i’m getting a bit chubby.
Anyway my plan now is: Add in a FINiBAR with 2 more eggs for breakfast (350-400ish calories), along with a tbsp of macadamia nut oil to my whey shakes (120cals per tbsp), and a cup of cottage cheese before bed (160cals).
I will also do cardio for 20mins 3x a week after my workouts.
