Can't Gain!!!

hey guys as ive told you guys before im around 6"2 185 pounds. I can almost dunk although I should be able too. the reason being that i cant get over the hump and gain those extra inches for it. dont get me wrong i do workout, ive shown u guys the program before, i do squats deadlifts and single leg workout along with more posterior chain work like ghrs and reverse hypers but i dont know why im not gaining…my weaknesses are that i cant go too high just standing and jumping. running and jumping i can prolly go up about 29-30 inches. what can i do to get over this hump. oh and this might help determine what my weakness is also: when i do squats, i cant do it close stance. im better off doing it wide. i cant seem to drop my butt too well wehn im close. its noticably harder for me. so any suggestions on what i should do or add to this program to gain? maybe its my nutrition? i eat fast food like 5 times a week and my diet isnt the healthiest but its also not like out of this world unhealthy u know?? but at the same time i play alot of basketball so i wont gain fat by eating that much fast food. sorry for the long post guys, i know i post alot of questions and some might be stupid but i just love learning and just doing better and having a better program with your guys’ help. maybe im doin somethin wrong? thanks in advance i appreciate u guys taking the team to read this

List your diet in detail. What else do you eat other than the 5 or so fast food meals per week?

You are not gaining because you are not eating enough.

When you are naturally skinny and very active you have to force yourself to eat more than you ever dreamed if you want to gain weight.

there is no magic trick.

[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
You are not gaining because you are not eating enough.

When you are naturally skinny and very active you have to force yourself to eat more than you ever dreamed if you want to gain weight.

there is no magic trick.[/quote]

I think he’s talking about his vertical leap, not his weight.

ya i do run alott throughout the day and im pretty sure i dont eat enough.

so you guys are saying if i workout alot but dont eat enough my bench press or squat wont go up? i wont gain strength? basically, if you dont eat enough your just maintaining your strength, thats it? (can someone comfirm this please)

and the one thing im afraid of is getting fatter and not cut anymore. im cut but not like reallly cut. should i still eat fast food along with more food to gain muscle?

i really dont wanna gain weight, i want to increase my vertical leap

Contact EC, he’ll get you dunking in no time.

who is EC?

should i eat alot and do this program to gain inches on my leap and upperbody strength? but if i eat alot wont that make me heavier and i wont be able to leap as much, thats what i dont get?

Monday

-Bench press 6x6
-Row variation 6x5
-standing/seated military press/push press 3x8
-close grip bench 4x8
-Bicep/tricep work

-Ab Work

Rotation
-decline bench twists 4x20
-Russian Twists on Ball 4 x 15

Tuesday

-Squats 4x6
-RDLs 3x6
-Step Ups 4x8 each leg
-DB RDL 4x12
-Seated Calf Raise + Toe Raises 3x20

-Ab Work

Stabilization/Compression
-Pillar Bridges 4 x 45 seconds
-Quadruped Navel Draws 4 x 10 (with 5 second holds)

Wednesday

rest

balance board work

squats 3x10
5 min balancing

Thursday

-Pullup/Chin up variation 4xfailure
-Bench Press 3x10-8-6
-DB Bench/Stability ball press 4x6
-Rope Pulls to neck 4x10
-Poor Man?s Shoulder Horn 4x15 each

-Ab work

Lateral Flexion
-Lateral Flexion off roman chair 4x12 each
-Side Bends 4 x 8 each

Friday

  • Deadlift 4x5
    -Safety Bar good mornings 4x6
    -Single Leg Squats 3x8 each
    -DB RDL 3x10
    -One-legged calf raises + Toe Raises 4x15

-Ab work

Linear
-Decline Bench Reverse Crunches/hanging leg raises, 4 x 15
-Standing/seated Cable Crunches, 4 x 12

Saturday

balance board

Sunday

rest, stretch

Okay, I can’t give you too much info now, but I can say that you’re doing way too high a volume of strength work. To help you further, I need to know the following:

CMJ (standing vert):
Running Vert:
Squat max, and what type of squat
DL Max
Height
Weight
Approximate body fat

Once I have these numbers, I should be able to help you out a lot more.

RJ

CMJ (standing vert): 20-22
Running Vert: 30
Squat max, and what type of squat wide stance 265-270
DL Max 190-195
Height 6"2
Weight 185
Approximate body fat around 13%

try olympic lifts. since you do well running and not from a stand, you should work on your explosiveness. maybe not the full squat snatches or full cleans because they are quite difficult to learn, but at least power cleans.

[quote]kobe4life08 wrote:
i really dont wanna gain weight, i want to increase my vertical leap[/quote]

Sorry, I cannot help you there. At your height if you can’t dunk you should quit the game.

“but at the same time i play alot of basketball so i wont gain fat by eating that much fast food.”

I think that’s the first problem. Don’t underestimate basketball, it’s a lot of stress on the body. You can’t expect gaining lots of vert if you play tons of basketball.
The other thing I noticed is that you squat about 70 lbs more than you deadlift. Seems like quite an imbalance.

[quote]kobe4life08 wrote:
CMJ (standing vert): 20-22
Running Vert: 30
Squat max, and what type of squat wide stance 265-270
DL Max 190-195
Height 6"2
Weight 185
Approximate body fat around 13%[/quote]

Okay, judging from both your CMJ and DL numbers, I’m going to say that you don’t really squat 270. If you had that much on the bar, then you’re not going deep enough. There’s no way you can be an athlete with and squat 1.5x BW and only have a 20" CMJ, it’s just not possible.

So, going from there, the first thing we need to correct is strength. I see you were already working on that, but your program sucked. Too much volume. Instead, do something like this:

Monday:
Squat - 3-5 sets/5 reps
Any Hip dominant lift - 3 sets/6-10 reps
Unilateral Lift - 2-3 sets/6-10 reps

Friday:
Walking Lunges - 3-5 sets/8-12 reps
Hip Dominant Lift - 4 sets/6-10 reps

None of these sets are supposed to be maximal. Just try to raise the weight and reps gradually over time. If you’re playing basketball, no specific plyos are needed while on this template.

Besides strength, another issue I see is the 13% BF. By no means is this fat, but you’re a 6’2", 185lb beanpole, so you have no excuse carrying around that much extra weight. Clean up your diet a bit.

Once you get your squat to a genuine 1.5-2x bw, you should have no problems dunking. and remember, don’t sacrifice depth/form, for more barweight.

RJ

Dynamic Effort Squatting will have you dunking in no time.

[quote]jlesk68 wrote:
Dynamic Effort Squatting will have you dunking in no time.[/quote]

No…no, it won’t.

His running jump is 150% of his CMJ, that alone tells us his problem is strength. And while dynamic squats may increase explosiveness in trainees with an explosive strength deficit, they’ll do little to help this guy out.

Sure, he’s not explosive, but it’s not because of a lack of relative power, it’s because of a lack of relative strength.

RJ

thank you man, but what unilateral and hip development exercises you think are good to choose from?? that program i got was off of the designer athletes article on this forum.

should i eat alot while on this program? cuz you said clean up your diet, so if i eat alot wont i gain more fat ???

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=859906

In my opinion just keep it simple. No olympic lifts when you’re not proficient, no fancy exercises, no complex periodisation. Something like this:

Squat 4 sets of 5 increase weight each week (small increments!!)
Romanian deadlifts 4 sets of 5 increase weight each week

some extra ab work of hamstring/glute work,
DONE!!

Do this, squat 300 lbs, then get fancy. If you get stuck, change the reps SLIGHTLY (like 4 sets of 3), and maybe substitute similar exercises (front squat instead of squat, goodmorning instead of romanian deadlift).

Another option, simple though slightly more controversial: