Its Been 8 Weeks What Now?

I have just finished 8 weeks of the same routine at the gym. I had a week off with only a couple days of exercise to stop atrophy. My squats have gone from 40 to 85kg and deadlifts from 40 to 90kg. My chest seems to refuse to get stronger. I havent weighed myself since i dont have scales so no idea what my weight is but i have put on allot of muscle. My diet pretty much consists these things

oats and milk
eggs
beef stakes
chicken breasts
pasta
oats
rice
veggies
fruit
peanut butter
extra virgin olive oil

Supplements

protein shakes
multi vitamin
fish oil
creatin

split up into 6 or more meals a day

I am looking to take it up a notch when i start back at the gym again on monday. Any ideas for 2what i should do to take it to the next level? I have been doing a pretty basic 5 day split and im not sure what to do to take it up a notch and promote maximum growth and strength gains.

Any way i just figured i should switch it up a bit to trick my body into gains again but not entirely sure what to do so any one with knowledge on this please help out :slight_smile:

You’ve been working out for 8 weeks… Just get into the gym, bust your ass and eat and you’re going to grow. Do a beginner routine like starting strength and wait another year before you start mentioning about gains.

a beginner routine like starting strength? You mean concentrate on strength gains first rather then mass?

You’re acting like completing 8 weeks of the same routine is a huge feat. Why don’t you just keep doing it? If you see something you don’t like, change it up until it works.

[quote]Gymjunkie4life wrote:
You mean concentrate on strength gains first rather then mass?[/quote]

FYI: They are not mutually exclusive.

Arnold even said in The Education of a Bodybuilder that without enough basic foundational strength training you will never have that full look, and later on he believed very little could be done to correct that.

It may also be worth noting that although Arnold trained for hours a day, right from the start he continued with the basic compound lifts up until he went to America and realized he needed to have separation in his muscles.

So he was building his base for what? Like 5 years…

Just keep going!

Yeah you are already on the next level, keep it up

8 weeks? You win bodybuilding. Time to conquer the next endeavor.

time to cut.

compete

Good for you, you completed what amounts to a day in the life of [all of us].

Hopefully it’s part of your daily routine to do things that support your lifting.

Now do it for the rest of your life.

[quote]BruceLeeFan wrote:
Arnold even said in The Education of a Bodybuilder that without enough basic foundational strength training you will never have that full look, and later on he believed very little could be done to correct that.

It may also be worth noting that although Arnold trained for hours a day, right from the start he continued with the basic compound lifts up until he went to America and realized he needed to have separation in his muscles.

So he was building his base for what? Like 5 years…

Just keep going![/quote]

This post is misleading. Arnold has never gone on about the value of “compound movements”. What he HAS talked about are the basic bodybuilding exercises that he feels are bread-and-butter, and those always included things like barbell curls, leg curls, side raises, etc.

Half a century ago it was understood that barbell curls were just as important as bench presses or chinups. The modern trend of categorizing everything as “compound” or “isolation” did begin decades ago, but hasn’t been so stupidly adopted by so many morons until very recently.

I’ve just finished 20 weeks of almost the same routine (with a few tweaks here and there, following Pechnak’s ‘Adaptation in Action’ principles). Nothing fancy, here: a two-day split seriously hitting each muscle group at least twice a week.

The thing is: I don’t see any reason to change what’s working pretty well unless I know for sure that an alternative would work even better.

You’ve written that your pec strength refuses to go up. Well, maybe you’re just confused about progress metrics.
IMO, it’s pretty impossible to not progress in at least one of the following metrics unless you’re suffering from some serious ailment(s):

-resistance
-power (work/time)
-execution speed (explosive concentric portions with proper control)

Keep doing what’s working.
Ditch what’s not (and be SURE it’s not).
Be (a bit) creative.
Listen to your body.

[quote]mr popular wrote:

[quote]BruceLeeFan wrote:
Arnold even said in The Education of a Bodybuilder that without enough basic foundational strength training you will never have that full look, and later on he believed very little could be done to correct that.

It may also be worth noting that although Arnold trained for hours a day, right from the start he continued with the basic compound lifts up until he went to America and realized he needed to have separation in his muscles.

So he was building his base for what? Like 5 years…

Just keep going![/quote]

This post is misleading. Arnold has never gone on about the value of “compound movements”. What he HAS talked about are the basic bodybuilding exercises that he feels are bread-and-butter, and those always included things like barbell curls, leg curls, side raises, etc.

Half a century ago it was understood that barbell curls were just as important as bench presses or chinups. The modern trend of categorizing everything as “compound” or “isolation” did begin decades ago, but hasn’t been so stupidly adopted by so many morons until very recently.[/quote]

That’s bullshit… It can be found in both the modern encyclopedia of bodybuilding and the education of a bodybuilder…

He pretty much said flat out that without building a large base from which to sculpt down later that you will never achieve the ‘full’ look that is most desired in bodybuilding. What he also said specifically was lifts such as the deadlift, squat, bench press, press and barbell curls are the lifts you must use to do it. These are almost all what is known collectively as compound lifts today. With the obvious exceptions. Not that it is hard to see why he included barbell curls, due to the fact that like hammer curls they’re very good at giving more mass and thickness to the bicep.

I’m not here to argue that he didn’t use side raises or leg curls early on, but I know for a fact from his own written word that he spent a long time focusing on building mass.

He suffered for it, he admitted that. It’s probably why he came 2nd a few times but at the end of the day it’s also why he came first a lot at the start of his career and why he always had an edge in his later career…

[quote]mr popular wrote:

This post is misleading. Arnold has never gone on about the value of “compound movements”. What he HAS talked about are the basic bodybuilding exercises that he feels are bread-and-butter, and those always included things like barbell curls, leg curls, side raises, etc.

Half a century ago it was understood that barbell curls were just as important as bench presses or chinups. The modern trend of categorizing everything as “compound” or “isolation” did begin decades ago, but hasn’t been so stupidly adopted by so many morons until very recently.[/quote]

Also I believe it is the fact that he did things such as deadlifts, bench press, presses, squats, barbell curls from a very young age and fanatically, most of the time training twice a day for hours on end that saw him growing the way he did, and at the size he was by the time he turned 19.

I don’t know when Arnold first started taking steroids and I don’t really care, but at a guess - not for some time… So lets forget about that facet and focus on what most people believe… He had amazing genetics…
I think that is utter crap, we all have amazing genetics it’s why we live and breathe… Some of us have great leg size or arm size like Arnold did… And in fact his leg size wasn’t exactly great so in a sense he was genetically cursed.

I believe 100% it was down to the fact he trained the way he did… Persistently, fanatically and intensely.

We could all benefit in my opinion from training multiple times a day.
Overtraining isn’t going to happen in my opinion.

As much as I enjoy the kidding around… The answer is wash, rinse, and repeat for 10 years. Then wash, rinse, and repeat for another 10 years etc…

Welcome to body building, it isnt an 8 week endeavor. There is a reason why people dont with the Mr Olympia until they are 35+ these days.

[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:
As much as I enjoy the kidding around… The answer is wash, rinse, and repeat for 10 years. Then wash, rinse, and repeat for another 10 years etc…

Welcome to body building, it isnt an 8 week endeavor. There is a reason why people dont with the Mr Olympia until they are 35+ these days.[/quote]

true, WAR BRANCH WARREN!

[quote]BruceLeeFan wrote:

[quote]mr popular wrote:

This post is misleading. Arnold has never gone on about the value of “compound movements”. What he HAS talked about are the basic bodybuilding exercises that he feels are bread-and-butter, and those always included things like barbell curls, leg curls, side raises, etc.

Half a century ago it was understood that barbell curls were just as important as bench presses or chinups. The modern trend of categorizing everything as “compound” or “isolation” did begin decades ago, but hasn’t been so stupidly adopted by so many morons until very recently.[/quote]

Also I believe it is the fact that he did things such as deadlifts, bench press, presses, squats, barbell curls from a very young age and fanatically, most of the time training twice a day for hours on end that saw him growing the way he did, and at the size he was by the time he turned 19.

I don’t know when Arnold first started taking steroids and I don’t really care, but at a guess - not for some time… So lets forget about that facet and focus on what most people believe… He had amazing genetics…
I think that is utter crap, we all have amazing genetics it’s why we live and breathe… Some of us have great leg size or arm size like Arnold did… And in fact his leg size wasn’t exactly great so in a sense he was genetically cursed.

I believe 100% it was down to the fact he trained the way he did… Persistently, fanatically and intensely.

We could all benefit in my opinion from training multiple times a day.
Overtraining isn’t going to happen in my opinion.
[/quote]

First of all, who cares what YOUR opinion is? You practically set the bar for sucking at bodybuilding.

Secondly…

“From the beginning I was a big believer in the basic movements, because that was Reg Park’s preference. He would stay with the basic exercises–bench presses, chin-ups, squats, rowing, barbell curls, wrist curls, pullovers, leg extensions, calf raises. These were the movements that worked most directly on all body parts.” - Arnold Schwarzengger

See any scary “isolation” exercises in there? I don’t know… maybe like HALF of them?

@BLF
Really: don’t give out training wisdom, but get wiser in all things training / goal reaching.
You’re wrong on most accounts.

As an aside:
your excuses won’t get you anywhere.
I’m nursing a lot more injuries than you and still made a lot of progress in the past 6 months and I’m not even a beginner (no beginner gains/boni). And I didn’t use anything fancy training- or nutrition-wise to boot.
Damn, I can’t squat or dl, right now. Couldn’t for the past 9 months.
Ditto full ROM lateral raises or any overhead work.
Nevertheless, my shoulder girdle got fuller, my legs thicker and my back a lot stronger.
Using a lot of db isos.

Ah, shoot! How is that even possible?
Perhaps target muscles can’t differ between compounds and isos, after all?

Nevertheless, I still believe in the ‘spinal loading for overall strength and size increase’ idea.
Don’t be so black and white.

Just plow on.
Less talk, more action.
Chop chop!

[quote]Gymjunkie4life wrote:

Any way i just figured i should switch it up a bit to trick my body into gains again but not entirely sure what to do so any one with knowledge on this please help out :)[/quote]

You simply over-load the muscle, thereby making it grow.

You can manage fatigue better by changing load/rep schemes every now and then, and taking time off when needed, but apart from that; stimulate + rest + eat (there’s no trickery involved) :slight_smile: