[quote]ThyArtisMurder wrote:
My current bodyweight is 156-160, around there.[/quote]
End of Feb, you’re 146 pounds:
http://tnation.T-Nation.com/free_online_forum/sports_body_training_performance_bodybuilding_beginner/beginner_athlete_critique_my_routine
Mid-June, you’re “145 pounds with 5% bodyfat”:
http://tnation.T-Nation.com/free_online_forum/sports_body_training_performance_bodybuilding_beginner/stuck_in_a_beginner_rut_and_need_help
End of July, you’re “140-145 pounds”:
http://tnation.T-Nation.com/free_online_forum/sports_body_training_performance_bodybuilding_beginner/spinning_my_wheels_no_longer_2
You seem to find slow progress less stressful than writing down what you eat, so you have no incentive to change. That’s Human Behavior 101. Tracking what you eat is, for you, actually more important than tracking your workouts. Period. You have a history of little to no weight gain, which means your daily food intake is the number one priority.
Back in that June thread, you were lifting:
“Squat 195 for an average of 2-4 reps
bench press 155 for 1-3
Overhead press only 1-2 reps at 115
deadlift 245 for 1-3 reps”
Now:
“Squat-245,3x5
Bench Press-165 3x5 (Stalled 170)
Overhead Press-105,3x5 (Stalled 110)
Deadlift-300x5, 315x1”
In those six months, you’ve seen strength gains in some lifts but regressed or seen minimal progress in others. Obviously not a good sign. Your bodyweight has finally started to creep up, but I can totally see a backslide in your future if you get frustrated and relax your approach to consistent nutrition.
That’s largely habit. You need to teach your body to handle food at regular intervals. One approach is to gradually increase the size of each meal over the course of days. As simple as adding another egg and an extra slice of toast to breakfast one day, stick with that for a few days and then add two hard-boiled eggs to the afternoon snack, stick with that for a few days and then have an extra scoop of mashed potatoes at dinner or whatever.
The other approach is to use the old “eat by the clock” method, where every 3 hours, you eat something, hungry or not. Definitely takes more willpower, but guys have force fed themselves larger for decades. Dave Tate had his epic oil-drenched pizza battles, John Berardi talked about going through a jar of peanut butter and a sleeve of bagels a day, Dr. Ken Leistner had a kid eat 8 tuna salad sandwiches a day everyday in addition to his meals.
[quote]Breakfast-2-3 eggs, toast, coffee.
Snack-Apple, glass of milk.
After gym- supper (whatever is cooked, always home cooked meals, meat, veggies, carb etc) then protien shake later on,
Pb sandwich,
cereal before bed, maybe a yogurt.
That is a LOT of food to me, but clearly not enough.[/quote]
That’s not an eating plan for a skinny guy trying to gain weight. It’s a small breakfast, a few snacks, and one decent-sized meal.
I still say you need three good meals a day, seven days a week. Sort that out and you’ll magically start seeing gains.