I’ve been training off and on (mainly on) for the last 14 years. I’m freakin’ strong for my size (deadlift 315 for reps, bench 225 for reps etc. etc.), which is not much. Plus, I’m kinda skinny/fat. I figure I’ve got low testosterone, and my protein intake might not have been high enough. I up my protein (150-200g, I weigh 175), my rep range (8-15), I vary my training intensity and volume, I use other supplements (zma and others but not pro-hormones). What the hell am I doing wrong? (or more useful to me, since I’m not gonna quit, what else can I do?) Am I missing something?
[quote]mcbain wrote:
I’ve been training off and on (mainly on) for the last 14 years. I’m freakin’ strong for my size (deadlift 315 for reps, bench 225 for reps etc. etc.), which is not much. Plus, I’m kinda skinny/fat. I figure I’ve got low testosterone, and my protein intake might not have been high enough. I up my protein (150-200g, I weigh 175), my rep range (8-15), I vary my training intensity and volume, I use other supplements (zma and others but not pro-hormones). What the hell am I doing wrong? (or more useful to me, since I’m not gonna quit, what else can I do?) Am I missing something?
estro-boy[/quote]
I personally don’t consider 225lbs on the bench press after 14 years to be strong at all. I would consider that pretty damn average (possibly below average). You also listed no other stats like your weight, age or height.
I don’t mean to put you to a strength challenge (as I have none) but…
225 @ 175 is by no means “Freakin’ strong”. It is decent, but, I would even throw that out the window after learning you’ve been training for 14 years.
Are you short/tall as well?
I can’t give you any program advice as you didn’t list any program but I think either way my advice would be the same…
Get serious.
You start that by getting educated. Reading T-Nation is a great place to start. I would read everything by John Berardi. You might realize that you are doing everything wrong or you might realize that a very important fraction of what you are doing is wrong. Either way, training is about constant improvement, that is why we do it. Each day is one step in the direction of a new PR or goal.
And if that message doesn’t light the fire under your ass… I am a triathlete and I can rep 225.
You might be doing many things wrong. From diet to training it could be all wrong!
Why don’t you be more specific. Give us your exact training schedule and also your lifestyle and dietary habits, age and other particulars so that we can take a closer look.
MAN… ONE WORD INTENSITY! IF YOU HAVE BEEN LIFTING FOR 14 YEARS AND ARE ONLY REPPIN 225, I THINK YOU NEED TO BUMP IT UP A BIT, TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVAL MAN. SIZE FOLLOWS STRENGTH, AND IF THAT DOESN’T GET YOU GOING, I REPPED 295 6 TIMES LAST NIGHT (NEW PR HAD TO BRAG)
[Moderator Note: Please use upper & lower case. Using all caps is the equivalent of Internet “YELLING.”]
Yeah I hear ya McBain as I am in a similar boat. getting on towards 14 years solid (my longest break was 2 weeks after my lasik eye surgery) and my numbers are awful. I am at 5’8" @ 205 lbs (I would say around 20% BF). I will turn 30 in a few weeks. My 1RM are 445 Squat, 325 Bench, and 450 Deadlift. Sometimes it makes me wonder. A couple of things I have learned… I made huge gains after I turned 27 where my metabolism was slowing down. I also started eating better since I could no longer eat crap and not gain weight the way I did back in college. Clean up your diet and eat more protein. If the gains don’t come - - eat even more protein.
I think Trigwu nailed it.Some people think they are doing everything they can possibly do.The problem is that they don’t have a broad knowledge base to build from, which is a very limiting factor in “everything”.
As the body changes, the workouts must change too.
There are also a billion(roughly)ways to achieve the same goal.Find one that works and use it for enough time to be effective.A week or two is not long enough.
Have fun!
[quote]lothos wrote:
Yeah I hear ya McBain as I am in a similar boat. getting on towards 14 years solid (my longest break was 2 weeks after my lasik eye surgery) and my numbers are awful. I am at 5’8" @ 205 lbs (I would say around 20% BF). I will turn 30 in a few weeks. My 1RM are 445 Squat, 325 Bench, and 450 Deadlift. Sometimes it makes me wonder. A couple of things I have learned… I made huge gains after I turned 27 where my metabolism was slowing down. I also started eating better since I could no longer eat crap and not gain weight the way I did back in college. Clean up your diet and eat more protein. If the gains don’t come - - eat even more protein.[/quote]
If you lost 20 lbs, got down to 10% bodyfat, and kept your lifts, I think you’d be doing rather well. I think that benching 325 at 185, as long as you’re natural and not using a bench shirt, is quite good.
[quote]Axel wrote:
lothos wrote:
Yeah I hear ya McBain as I am in a similar boat. getting on towards 14 years solid (my longest break was 2 weeks after my lasik eye surgery) and my numbers are awful. I am at 5’8" @ 205 lbs (I would say around 20% BF). I will turn 30 in a few weeks. My 1RM are 445 Squat, 325 Bench, and 450 Deadlift. Sometimes it makes me wonder. A couple of things I have learned… I made huge gains after I turned 27 where my metabolism was slowing down. I also started eating better since I could no longer eat crap and not gain weight the way I did back in college. Clean up your diet and eat more protein. If the gains don’t come - - eat even more protein.
If you lost 20 lbs, got down to 10% bodyfat, and kept your lifts, I think you’d be doing rather well. I think that benching 325 at 185, as long as you’re natural and not using a bench shirt, is quite good.
[/quote]
Yeah I am all Natural and those numbers are just in a T-shirt and sweatpants (no bench shirts, wraps, etc). I do use a belt on my max squat and deadlift to push my belly against. I have had trouble loosing weight and keeping my Bench up, but I can keep my squat and dedalift up pretty close though. Although I got to admit about once a month I will just skip my chest workout and go to some more squats.
[quote]mcbain wrote:
I up my protein (150-200g, I weigh 175)
[/quote]
I’m only chiming in because I just started T-Dawg diet 2.0 and have the calculations in my head. If a fat-loss diet like the T-Dawg 2.0 calls for 260g+ of protein for your bodyweight, then I’d hazard a guess that your idea of “upping protein” is not the same as those suggested by the rest of the people on this site. I’d also assuming that the Get Really Big diets would call for even more.
For what it’s worth, I’m having a really hard time getting that amount of protein in me, but if that’s what it takes …
[quote]lothos wrote:
Yeah I am all Natural and those numbers are just in a T-shirt and sweatpants (no bench shirts, wraps, etc). I do use a belt on my max squat and deadlift to push my belly against. I have had trouble loosing weight and keeping my Bench up, but I can keep my squat and dedalift up pretty close though. Although I got to admit about once a month I will just skip my chest workout and go to some more squats.[/quote]
I would consider trying a sensible weight loss program for the next 12 weeks or so and lose the 20. During those 12 weeks lift, or course, but don’t worry about losing a little strength. It should come back and will be even more impressive at a lower weight.
I don’t think you’re gonna get much size with those numbers, they’re not horrible, but they are around average. After 14 years, you should be stronger than that, assuming progress was being made.
I’d wager you do not eat enough total calories as well. Give us some more dietary numbers: total protein, carbs, fat. Protein’s important, but if your total energy intake is still too low it won’t help much, especially once you’re out of your “newbie gain” realm, which, after 14 years, yeah you are.
You’re prolly not eating enough to facilitate strength and size gains, of which you still need both. Like I said, with numbers like that, you ain’t gonna be very big.
But I could be wrong. Give us some more numbers. We know the protein, now what else?
you need to do more reps with the same high weight. size does not always equate strength. that is not to say drop the weight to some ridicoulusly low wieght and go “high reps,” but keep the range beteen 15-20. Try rest-pause training. For example, go all out to failure at 225 lbs. (Get at least 10 reps). Rest for about 10 - 15 seconds, then bang out a few more, rest, then a few more. That is all it really takes. Next week, up the weight by 5 lbs. holler