Anyone Willing to Coach Me?

Yesterday i only ate potatoes and oats and this morning i was shitting liquid. I have been having a bit of milk here and there though, up to 300ml a day. Although i was drinking 4 pints per day on starting strength ages ago and i never felt that i had a problem with it really.

All of a sudden this morning i noticed i suddenly have a rear delt! It’s nothing exciting, but definitley wasn’t there before so training those is working. Where has the size come from considering i havent gained any weight, 186lbs yesterday back to 184 today although as i said a lot of water weight went down the toilet hah!

I am a little concerend that i have made very little strength gains especially on chest. I’m still struggling with 27.5 x 8 for my top pressing set, just as i was the first week on the routine. I would assume this is the movement used most to gauge strength. I know strength isn’t everything and my chest gets a good workout especially once i hit that incline machine, but if im still pressing 27.5’s in 2 months it means my chest is not growing, correct?

Anyway, off to eat some steak and jacket potatoes with butter, easiest and most delicious meal ever!

ok well get yourself some glutamine and a probiotic and cut out the oats. Oats can irritate some people’s guts.

make sure you are eating loads of fibre too.

STOP OBSESSING ABOUT SCALE WEIGHT! I’m warning you mate I will reach through your computer and smack you in the mouth. You can see new muscle in the mirror, so you’re bigger. Simple as that.

As for the strength, remember that pre-exhausting is going to make it harder to progress, so your strength gains may come a little slower. It’s nothing to worry about; if it were possible to hit PRs every session we’d all have 400k bench presses.

Think of it holistically. Your dumbell press might stay the same but you might be getting more reps on push ups or higher weight on the machine press. All the lifts are of equal importance.

But yeah, if in two months you were still doing the same weight on your presses that wouldn’t be ideal, but I doubt that’ll happen. Just keep on keeping on.

Have something green with that steak and potatoes!

[quote]rds63799 wrote:
your diet sucks too, from now on…

-200g of protein every day
-cut out the sugar and vegetable oil
-cook things in butter or coconut oil
-veg with every meal
-no carbs at breakfast (unless you train in the morning). Eggs are perfect here.
-all your carbs now come from rice or potatoes, I don’t care what kind of either. If you have to eat bread and pasta then ok, but it’d be better if you didn’t
-no soft drinks
-couple of bits of fruit a day, doesn’t matter what kind.

I’m not a huge believer in the benefits of workout nutrition, but if you want to have a protein shake before, during or after or whatever’s fashionable these days then fill your boots. I would pay a LOT more attention to the food you eat than the supps you use.

Speaking of supps, you now use:

-5g of fish oil a day
-1000iu of vitamin D a day (get the D3 softgels)
-ZMA

you can get some creatine if you like too.[/quote]
Why no carbs in the morning?

[quote]rds63799 wrote:
Stinger, something we need to address is your attitude. I’m not talking about your attitude towards training or the routine/diet I’ve given you. You’ve attacked them with exactly the gusto I was hoping for, and your defending them against jasmincar’s criticisms reassures me that you have faith in the program and my coaching. This makes me happy and I really do appreciate you putting so much stock in my advice.

But we need to address the self-deprecation that is coming across in your posts. You are not giving yourself anywhere near enough credit for what you have accomplished so far. You have added 35lbs since you started training! I don’t care what the dicks here in internet land who say things like “durr I added 60lbs my first year of training” say, adding 35lbs of good quality mass through diet and exercise is DEFINITELY something you should be proud of. Your lifts are nothing to sneeze at either, particularly your lower body lifts. You are on the right track and there is really no need to view yourself as negatively as you seem to be doing. Sure you made some mistakes starting out, but show me a lifter who says he didn’t and I’ll show you a liar. It’s easy to look around the internet, particularly sites like this where we have some ridiculously strong guys and guys who clearly lucked out on the genetic lottery (I don’t mean to downplay anyone’s hard work when I say that) and think that you suck, but these aren’t the guys you should be comparing yourself to. You should just compare yourself to your past self. Are you bigger and stronger than you were this time last year? If the answer to that is “yes,” then you’re doing it right.

I understand why you are frustrated, as I have been through it myself. I started training at 130lbs, so I had to add 50lbs just to look normal sized. It sucks that someone who has better genetics and a higher starting bodyweight can look better than guys like you and I after training for 6 months, but that’s just the way it is. There’s a reason why I don’t ever really respond to your questions about how long it’ll take for you to look awesome, and it’s because I really have no idea. All I can tell you is that if you diet and train consistently then you will be in a constant state of improvement, which will eventually take you to a place where you are happy with how you look.

You’ll notice though that I said “happy” and not “satisfied,” this is because you will NEVER be satisfied with your physique. Even if you reach your goal of 200lbs, you’ll look at yourself and think that you could do with bringing up your rear delts or upper chest or whatever.

This is why you need to enjoy the journey. You’ll never get your physique to exactly where you want it, so the sooner you can bring yourself to accept yourself, complete with lagging bodyparts and imbalances, the happier you’ll be. Just be secure in the knowledge that through giving your diet and training your best, that you are the best version of you that you can be RIGHT NOW. The future is about improvement, the present is about accepting, believing in and loving yourself.

If you are not happy within yourself at 170lbs, you won’t be happy within yourself at 200lbs, I guarantee that. You need to be more forgiving for stalls in your progress and give yourself some credit! You have done MUCH better than you seem to think you have and there are people out there in a much worse place training-wise than you are.

So no more talk of being frustrated, and definitely no more steroids talk. Stop fixating on what’s gone wrong and the things you are dissatisfied with, and concentrate on being happy with yourself right now and looking forward to the future.

Now go eat some protein and veg! That’s an order.
[/quote]

Tons of quality advice here. One of the best posts I’ve seen around here, or anywhere else.

[quote]kt12334 wrote:
Why no carbs in the morning?
[/quote]

helps you stay a bit leaner. Insulin sensitivity is high in the mornings so we’re trying to stretch that out a bit.

It’s not magic, but we’re going for lean gains here so every little helps.

Also, it gives us a bit of wiggle room to increase calories. If we hit a big ole stall then we have somewhere we can add carbs to.

[quote]Brett620 wrote:
Tons of quality advice here. One of the best posts I’ve seen around here, or anywhere else.
[/quote]

thanks man

http://www.T-Nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/the_scary_truth_about_probiotics

Worth the read for those of us with stomach issues.


Thought i would post a “pose” picture as i haven’t done so yet. Within an hour after arms workout so slight pump still. Haven’t gained any arm size, kind of wonder if im overtaining them. Today my biceps and forearms were slightly sore from back day so i didn’t know if i should still be destroying them today or not. I normally put half an inch on my arms pretty fast when i start a bulking diet again, not sure why they aren’t responding this time.

Also, found out today that a lot of the guys i assumed were natural are on shit loads of gear. Not really relevant to this thread…but one of them always walked around wearing a shirt that said something like " i dont take steroids but thanks for asking" and today heard him discussing his cycles and hgh use. He competes around 180 at 5’10. I always thought he had an awesome natural physique, kind of shattered the illusion today when i realised.

90% of the time, if they look like they’re on steroids, they are.

don’t let it distract you, the needle helps but you still need to work hard.

BTW Stinger how’s the hip pain when squatting? Better? Worse? The same?

A lot better, not really an issue right now.

The digestion however, is. Today has been terrible, i’ve felt bad all day, i don’t feel safe being away from a toilet! I had no choice but to not eat all day at work, have since had a couple of small meals but today is a write off. I will have to stop whey protein incase i have developed an allergy, although it still seems unlikely that is the cause as it never happened when my overall calories were much lower. Might also stop IF because cramming 3500+ calories in 8 hours may be contributing. The amount i have to eat to gain weight seems absurd considering my current lack of size and development.

yeah definitely ditch the whey, eggs too if you’re eating a lot of those.

Try that and see what happens. If that doesn’t fix it we’ll try something else.

Can we get a meal write-up of a typical day?
I’d love to see exactly how Stinger is implementing your nutrition guidelines RDS.

[quote]iVoodoo wrote:
Can we get a meal write-up of a typical day?
I’d love to see exactly how Stinger is implementing your nutrition guidelines RDS.[/quote]

that’s a good idea

also Stinger you might get some ideas to fix your digestion from here

[quote]stinger70 wrote:

Also, found out today that a lot of the guys i assumed were natural are on shit loads of gear. Not really relevant to this thread…but one of them always walked around wearing a shirt that said something like " i dont take steroids but thanks for asking" and today heard him discussing his cycles and hgh use. He competes around 180 at 5’10. I always thought he had an awesome natural physique, kind of shattered the illusion today when i realised. [/quote]

A quote from the great Louie Simmons i think applies well at this time for you stinger…

“I keep a bottle of testosterone sitting on a triple­ layer bench press shirt in the back of my gym, but I have yet to see it bench 5 pounds. To be great it takes planning, work, dedication, courage, and aggression. If you lack one of these ,you will fail and you have no one to blame but yourself. Losers hate winners, so It’s better to be hated in powerlifting than to hate.”

And also, if you’re going to have eggs everyday, do as John Meadows recommends, cook them differently each day and just rotate through. So, day one, scrambled, day two, over easy, day 3 hard boiled, day 4 sunny side up, etc you get the point.

[quote]rds63799 wrote:

[quote]RATTLEHEAD wrote:
haha awesome that you are getting him to do legs twice[/quote]

kids these days are scared of hard work![/quote]

Hey fella

Good job, looks like a sound plan, very JM - like, which is by no means a bad thing. That’s why I love this site - plenty of knowledgable chaps willing to help others.
I’ll be following for sure. That dudes gonna be limping like he’s shat a brick sideways the day after his second leg workout me thinks…

Again, nice one

Moog

[quote]RATTLEHEAD wrote:

[quote]rds63799 wrote:

[quote]RATTLEHEAD wrote:

[quote]rds63799 wrote:

I’m Scottish, me saying oats are no good would get me deported!

[/quote]

yup.[/quote]

you can’t be Scottish, you’re too lean[/quote]

If I get into the mens health cover model final I will be sure to advocate the scottish methods for gainz

Oats, tattie soup and peri workout nutrition from irn bru[/quote]

Fuck I’ve just pissed my pants - I was literally drinking a diet Iron Bru (ghay I here you scream) when I read that post.
I’m an Englishman living and working in Bangkok, and Iron Bru is like rocking horse shit over here.

Who knew

Diet varies every day really in terms of what i actually eat. I have been taking 4 scoops of whey with milk, fruit smoothie, oats and EVOO (depending on time of day) split over 2 shakes. The rest of my calories are made up from 2 big meals, 60-100g protein each and enough carbs and fats to hit a rough calorie goal. If i don’t have a calorie goal at all, i just WILL NOT eat enough. What i think is a lot, is not enough. If it’s written down there as a target, i just force myself to hit it one way or another. Even doing this, i’ve only gained 1-2lb since i started this program and that’s force feeding myself at times to an extent i would think would make me fat if i was doing it without tracking.

My main protein sources are steak, ground beef, eggs (but not that many), beef sausage, rarely chicken because i don’t really like anything i cook myself with chicken.

For carbs i’ve been eating a lot of potatoes but also found those microwave rice packs to be pretty handy. The vegetable pilau rice and stuff is pretty tasty and doesn’t have any nasty ingredients. I do eat wholewheat bread and pasta but not daily.

I aim for roughly 5 portions of fruit / veg per day sometimes i get a little less sometimes i get 7 or 8.

I’ve kind of been put off my food by the stomach problems. Today all i’ve had is a 4 egg and sausage omelette after training, and some fruit smoothie. Don’t feel like cramming in 3500 calories at all right now.

Oh yeah, i also supplement with 3-4g EPA/DHA fish oil per day and a multi. I just realised i forgot all about the vitamin D you mentioned originally.

[quote]stinger70 wrote:
Might also stop IF because cramming 3500+ calories in 8 hours may be contributing. The amount i have to eat to gain weight seems absurd considering my current lack of size and development.[/quote]

When I trialled IF, I had found that eating the super size meals were great fun, but made it impossible for me to move for the next 2 hours due to a full digesting stomach.

May I suggest reducing your fasting time, or IF on alternate days or even just keeping the carbs to a minimum until the meal before your workout.

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