Is It Time to Change My Routine?

I’ve read a few post regarding this subject before posting this, however most of the post were from guys that started on the complete opposite side of the spectrum than me, some of them training muscle groups once per week.

So I started out 5-months ago, and training mostly all compound movements, with a few isolation exercises for the delts, trapz, and smaller groups. However, most of my training is Weighted Dips, Weighted Diamonds, Weighted Pull Ups, Weighted Push Ups, and Weighted Planks for Sit-Ups.

I’ve trained every muscle group 3x per week using the above methods. I started at 145 lbs soaking wet, after 5-months I am now up to 172. The first 5 months, I noticed rapid gains in muscle and over-all weight. However, this month I’ve started to hit a plateau. My weight the past few weeks has became pretty steady hoovering around the 170 mark and the rapid gains have slowed.

Now the question comes in could this be due to my training, or possibly that my additional weight class, needs additional calories to keep going?

However, I’m mainly concerned about, is this a time that I should be switching from hitting every group 2x a week vs my current 3x per week? I’m still noticing rapid gains in certain groups for instance my deltoids and trapz, however my biceps and triceps have seemed to slow down from the original pace?

Any help would be appreciated!

If you’re still progressing you shouldn’t worry too much. Obviously with smaller muscles like arms you can’t see improvements on a month to month basis. Maybe more volume if you have long arms.

But I can only notice a lack of leg training.

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Just run through programs off this site and can make steady gains for years to come. Anything by proven coaches like Waterbury, Dan john, Wendler, Paul Carter etc

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Aldebaran, thanks for the help, that was actually a great answer that made me think about something!

I posted over on bb forum, and kind of got roasted for my minimalist routine, and people telling me I’m training way too much or in other words (over-training.) I kind of took the point that they just didn’t want me a round, so I deleted, and moved over here.

So I’m defiantly still progressing by the week and going up in weight by the week. But I was questioning myself, because I had read so much online talking about over-training and how you shouldn’t work a muscle more than 2x a week.

As far as my legs, I do train my legs, in fact, so much that I had to skip legs today because I’m STILL FREAKING SORE. The thing is, I have a business and have limited time to train, so I’m sticking to mostly compound movements to be as efficient as possible. For my legs, I do both Squats and Box Jumps and occasional weighted calve raises when I have time. I’ve actually noticed a great deal of growth in my legs, I probably just didn’t mention too much above.

Another thing I was roasted on bbforum for was I was told my calorie intake was way too high and that my bf% was going to be too much. However, I’ve been a skinny guy all my life. My goal is to bulk up, get a lot bigger, and if I have excess bf% it’s not hard for me to shred it off, but I’m tired of being small. I want to both, get a lot bigger, and get a lot stronger, so I do (2) days a week of body building for each muscle, and one day of 1,3,1,3,1,3 sets with my maximum weight to allow me to keep getting stronger.

Here’s my 4.5 month progress let me know what you think.

4.5 months ago: 145 lbs IMG-2525 — ImgBB
Now: 172 lbs Full-Size-R-1 — ImgBB

Also, I wanted to say thanks for taking the time to help! Much appreciated!

Ok it’s just that you didn’t post anything about legs ahah. But yeah they don’t necessarily need lots of volume.

The pics are horrible but it looks like you’ve really progressed. Frequency and volume are highly individual things so you should be wary of general advice. And it is super common to train with a higher frequency with beginners, like 3x a week. And I’ve gained muscle with more so

I know you didn’t post your entire routine, but that’s fine. I don’t need every detail. You’re at the point where progress slows down. You were a newb when you started. Allegedly, the first six months is where you can grow the most. It looks and sounds like you approached this in the right way by doing simple things over and over.

I think you should continue doing what you’re doing. Changing programs can be detrimental to reaching your goals. There is also no perfect program. You could select a garbage program and get results if you worked hard.

Two things to consider:

  1. You will need to eat more as you grow. That’s just simple math.
  2. Consider backing off to a twice a week program when you feel like you’re not recovering.

As your squat, deadlift, bench, OHP type lifts increase, you’ll experience more overall stress and fatigue and it will take longer to recover. When people start to get really strong, they tend to spread out their training more. It’s not unusual to see people shift from three times a week to twice a week; from twice a week to once a week; and then finally to once every 7-10 days.

That’s for advanced people, though. You don’t need to worry about it much now, but switching from three times a week to twice a week wouldn’t hurt you. I’d call it a personal preference at this point.

So I defiantly left the Squats out after reviewing my post above, that was my fault!! Both of you gave some very solid advice. I think you’re both right and I’m just going to stick to my current plan as of right now. I know I’m still getting gains, but looking in the mirror daily, it’s hard to see a millimeter of growth at a time. l’m not having any problem with recovery, except it seems it takes longer to recover on days where I do dead lifts of squats.

I also noticed other areas recover rather fast, for example my deltoids and lats both seem to recover super fast, so I defiantly want to stick to doing them 3x a week as of right now. I honestly figured it was time for my “newbie” gains to slow down, but I’m going to bump up my intake a tad bit and see if I can go ahead and get over the 180 mark at least, but it defiantly seems the easy gaining days are fading away, which is very sad!! But, I’m not going to let it discourage me and I’m not going to let it stop my training.

Also, Rampent, you’re right, I defiantly didn’t post the entire routine. I left out squats, and dead-lifts from looking at my first post. I also mentioned isolation movements. I like compounds, but I do isolation movements such as face pulls, shrugz, hammer curls, incline db presses, etc.

I will update back with my progress in another month or so. I think I’m going to stick to the 3x training and up my intake a bit and if see if that will allow me to keep growing! Thanks for hall the helpful advice, much appreciated!

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Sounds to me like you experienced your noob gains which come very quickly but now they slowed down. I suggest finding any proven program you think you will enjoy and just keep working hard. Up your calories and see how it makes you look in the mirror. Good luck with your training.

I think I’ve came to that conclusion too. I am starting to believe calories could play a roll too, though. Looking at the basics, my body compositions been changing, I’ve grown a lot over the months, and I’ve increased weight weekly. I started training with a calorie surplus. But I’m beginning to think as I go up on weight, I should have been increasing my intake.

What kind of diet intake would you suggest for someone who’s looking to take things to the next level, or eventually make it from intermediate, to a professional level? I’m sure their diet intake needs are way more? The reason that I ask, now that I have some helpers running my business, I’m trying to move away from sweating outside, and start training like a professional. I’m pretty much saying I want to take things to the next level and don’t want my diet to be the limiting factor.

Since day one, I know, I wouldn’t get the gains I got, if I wasn’t eating enough and properly. So before I even started training, I got my calorie / protein / macro intake level to an optimum level. I just haven’t done anything in months to increase that opium level as my weight increased.

First make sure you are tracking calories. Once you figure out a baseline start increasing week to week while keeping an eye on your body composition. Don’t eat so much that you turn to a fatty but having some fat while trying to gain muscle won’t hurt you.

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I defiantly don’t want to get fat, but I think your right. Since day one I haven’t worried about bf% for obvious reasons, I’m coming from 145 lbs. Instead, the past 5 months have been focused on eating everything in site. But yea, I’m defiantly prioritizing gains over worrying about bf% right now. Although I take in a daily surplus, most of my food is low calories and higher in protein, and I defiantly don’t eat junk food anymore. Most of my meals are Chicken, Tuna or Fish, Steak, Greens, Veggies, Potatoes / Beans, or Bison. Even my snacks are pretty healthy. My only day time snacks are (Almonds, Nuts, and Beef Jerky.)

With that said, I’m going to take your advice, and slowly increase and see what happens to my body!