Making no progress!!

thehotstepper

Hi all, I'm completely fed up with the training. I'm actually considering doing steroids Ive put so much into it for a year and a half and got little results from it.
Read through a beginners fitness log there and he's made way more progress than me and done it quickly too in just a few months.
My shoulder press is stuck on 50kg for 6 months bench is stuck around the 60kg mark. I weigh 11 and a half st, 5'8. Apart from the lifts being stuck or sometimes going backwards, Ive seen no change in size. No matter how much bicep work I do or how many different approaches I give it my biceps remain puny looking. Worst of all is my neck size. I do shrugs with 35kg db's and upright rows of 50kg and there is still no change. My neck tapers a V at the front instead of an upside down V you see on the big guys. Despite creatine, protein etc I see no change, just a load of fat around my waist and upper stomach.
Its not like I'm pussying the lifts, my joints ache bigtime from pushing and pulling.
Its not like I'm not eating, 4 meals a day and 2 shakes.
Its not like I'm overtraining, split routine and not going back at the bodypart until soreness gone.
Is it time to give up for a while?!!!

aye

Post your workout and diet so ppl can help

NFH

Your defo doin something wrong and I reckon it will be glaringly obvious once you post up your full routine and diet. Like if your training hard for the last year and a half properly you shouldnt really have a load of belly fat. Maybe you're one of these guys that just trains the "money" areas like chest and biceps and forget about the legs which has huge effect increasing overall stregth and size. Maybe you arent overtraing in one sence but you might be doin way too many reps and sets when you train which aint good for strength and growth. Maybe you aint doin any cardio, I think cardio helps obviously with fat but also with general fitness and then that has a direct effect on your weights sessions. There is nobody that can't change their body, your defo just doin things wrong. I'll say one thing, to go a year and a half and not see much changes but to stick with it at least shows dedication. But post your routine and diet.

Zamboni

Yeah my money is on diet.

Roper

thehotstepper wrote: »

Its not like I'm overtraining, split routine and not going back at the bodypart until soreness gone.
Is it time to give up for a while?!!!

My money's on the routine. Splits may not be for you. Post up your programme.

thehotstepper

Really pissed off with this but anyway...
5'8, 11.5st, thirties

Doing 3 days a week
day 1
squat 80kg+bar 3 sets 7-8 reps
shoulder press 50kg on smith machine 5 sets 5-7 reps
upright rows 30kg+bar 4 sets 6-9 reps
shrugs 35kg db's 2 sets 10 reps+
lat raises 14kg db's 2 sets 8 reps

day 2 rest

day 3
deadlift 50kg+bar 2 sets 6-8 reps
bench press 60kg 5 sets 5-7 reps
incline bench - 55kg 2-3 sets 5-7 reps
chin ups bodyweight 3 sets 14/8/8 reps
ez bar bicep curl 30kg 3 sets 6-8 reps

day 4 rest

day 5
shoulder workout again
except clean and press 40kg 3 sets 6-8 reps to start

day 6 rest
day 7 rest

day 8 chest workout again
and so on

using 5g creatine p/day, weight gainer shakes x2 per day.

I usually warm up with a few mins on the rowing machine.
Diet
breakfast
cereal, 2 toast, shake
lunch
sandwich egg/hamcheese/tuna/ sometimes have chips beans
dinner
pasta chicken/ steak chips/ snackbox chipper/ generally get the meat in.
snack
toastie and shake

A weakness I admit is saturday night drinking/barely anything to eat on a sunday..I'm only human:p

corkcomp

thehotstepper wrote: »

Really pissed off with this but anyway...
5'8, 11.5st, thirties

Doing 3 days a week
day 1
squat 80kg+bar 3 sets 7-8 reps
shoulder press 50kg on smith machine 5 sets 5-7 reps
upright rows 30kg+bar 4 sets 6-9 reps
shrugs 35kg db's 2 sets 10 reps+
lat raises 14kg db's 2 sets 8 reps

day 2 rest

day 3
deadlift 50kg+bar 2 sets 6-8 reps
bench press 60kg 5 sets 5-7 reps
incline bench - 55kg 2-3 sets 5-7 reps
chin ups bodyweight 3 sets 14/8/8 reps
ez bar bicep curl 30kg 3 sets 6-8 reps

day 4 rest

day 5
shoulder workout again
except clean and press 40kg 3 sets 6-8 reps to start

day 6 rest
day 7 rest

day 8 chest workout again
and so on

using 5g creatine p/day, weight gainer shakes x2 per day.

I usually warm up with a few mins on the rowing machine.
Diet
breakfast
cereal, 2 toast, shake
lunch
sandwich egg/hamcheese/tuna/ sometimes have chips beans
dinner
pasta chicken/ steak chips/ snackbox chipper/ generally get the meat in.
snack
toastie and shake

A weakness I admit is saturday night drinking/barely anything to eat on a sunday..I'm only human:p

have you gained any weight since starting the program (sorry if you mentioned already and i missed it!) - your diet isnt great IMO but as long as your not trying to cut its is ok(ish) - maybe you need to up the calories a little if you not gaining - lack of cals (even slight) can def slow progress ..

thehotstepper

Hey Corkcomp, my weights gone up a bit, from 10.8st about, but thats over a year n a half

corkcomp

thehotstepper wrote: »

Hey Corkcomp, my weights gone up a bit, from 10.8st about, but thats over a year n a half

hmmm, I would add some (clean) calories - nothing drastic but maybe 2 - 300 per day and make sure you are properly fuelled pre workout ..

mega man

maybe you need to change your program. your body might have become used to it

aye

how come your deadlift is so much lower than your squat?

i think you would benefit from 3 full body day tbh.

something like starting strength or stronglifts maybe.

"My shoulder press is stuck on 50kg for 6 months bench is stuck around the 60kg mark"
your doing 5*5 on each. why not up the weight by 2.5 kilo, and try do 5*5 next week. you might not get the full 5*5 but stick with that weight until you do, then up again.

small increases, not large ones.

when you take your creatine/protein? i dont think you need two weight gainer shakes a day, that leads to
"Despite creatine, protein etc I see no change, just a load of fat around my waist and upper stomach."

drop that snackbox and chips, ridiculous having that and questioning why no fat loss.

if you want results clean up the diet.

Nate--IRL--

Just a few comments on the routine above. Squats at 80kg and deadlift at 50kg? There is something wrong there. Deadlifts normally are 20 - 30kg more than squats for most lifters. Your squats should go to parallel or below. Drop the weight if you have to, but make sure your form is spot on. You will be wasting your time if it isn't.

Stop using the smith machine. It is the spawn of the devil. Standing Shoulder presses from now on, again drop the weight until your form is perfect, only then begin to increase the weight.

Throw out your current routine, go back to basics and read this a few times and plan a new one.

Nate

Look at the state of your diet.

Don't listen to people who tell you diet is not important. Diet is important. It's all well and good telling people you can eat what you want once you put the work in - the fact of the matter is, modern lives for most people aren't designed that way. Unless you're a full time sprinter with great genes or a professional footballer training 5 days a week - you can't eat what you want and get away with it.

I usually warm up with a few mins on the rowing machine.
Diet
breakfast
cereal, 2 toast, shake
lunch
sandwich egg/hamcheese/tuna/ sometimes have chips beans
dinner
pasta chicken/ steak chips/ snackbox chipper/ generally get the meat in.
snack
toastie and shake

A weakness I admit is saturday night drinking/barely anything to eat on a sunday..I'm only human

There is no point wasting your time, throwing gram after gram of creatine into you, mass gainers (why are you taking them ???) and eating that crap especially now that you're in your thirties. It won't do anything for you.

That diet is the reason you have layers of fat on the midsection. You need to go back to basics and choose one style of life or the other - balance is good but you can't get away with eating like that.

itsallaboutheL

Deleted User wrote: »

Look at the state of your diet.

Don't listen to people who tell you diet is not important. Diet is important. It's all well and good telling people you can eat what you want once you put the work in - the fact of the matter is, modern lives for most people aren't designed that way. Unless you're a full time sprinter with great genes or a professional footballer training 5 days a week - you can't eat what you want and get away with it.



There is no point wasting your time, throwing gram after gram of creatine into you, mass gainers (why are you taking them ???) and eating that crap especially now that you're in your thirties. It won't do anything for you.

That diet is the reason you have layers of fat on the midsection. You need to go back to basics and choose one style of life or the other - balance is good but you can't get away with eating like that.

OPs main problem is strength Plateau....

I say eat everything for a couple of months, while doing one of the basic linear progression programs outlined then re-asess.

googlehead

I'm no expert, but your diet looks poor for someone training for results.

Breakfast
Toast-If whitebread is rubbish
Cereal-If not porridge or muesli is rubbish

Lunch
Sandwich(possibly more white bread?)
chips!!!

Dinner
steak chips/ snackbox chipper!!!

Evening
snack. What kind of snack?
Toastie(cheese, white bread?)

A weakness I admit is saturday night drinking/barely anything to eat on a sunday I bet you crave sugar after or on sunday.

I can't believe you have been doing this for a year and not looking at
your diet as the reason you are not getting results

O.P.H

Ok his diet sucks but as for this plateau thing, what should he do? How do you help yourself to keep increasing your lifts?

I would have thought firstly you have to keep adding small amounts of weights to your lifts each week but are rep ranges also important, should you keep changing your rep ranges? Lets say doing 5 x 5 all the time, is this a bad idead? Someone told me you should keep your volume between 25 and 50 for best strength and size gains (volume = reps x sets, so if you do 5 sets of 5 reps for your exercise, your volume is 25)

Basicly is the secret to progression trying to add small weights every week or two and changing your rep ranges every week or two.

itsallaboutheL

itsallaboutheL wrote: »

OPs main problem is strength Plateau....

I say eat everything for a couple of months, while doing one of the basic linear progression programs outlined then re-asess.

Strength Plateau ? Look at the state of his training and diet. I'm not even a personal trainer - was once considering going down the route but I can spot holes in it and I'm rusty - haven't trained in a year (travelling etc)

The typical Irish bulk is "eat everything in sight" and that's what the cool kids call it - "I'm going on a bulk" = "I'm going to get fat and stay that way for the forseeable future"

You're the guy who gave out to a poster for using medical terms for body parts (that had no simple name) and you're using phrases like "linear progression program"? I know what it is - I think - how is this guy meant to ?

The lad needs to go back to basics in terms of diet and training - when you're in your thirties and working a desk job you can't afford to eat everything in sight otherwise you'll get fat which is what the guy currently has.

Hopefully a qualified PT can advise better than me. I'm no expert.

Roper

itsallaboutheL wrote: »

OPs main problem is strength Plateau....

I say eat everything for a couple of months, while doing one of the basic linear progression programs outlined then re-asess.

Agree. But he's probably intaking enough for at least some growth if he's gaining flab. He's just not utilising his time in the gym very well, the programme is a bit scatty.

Linear progression= progression that is linear. ie. you take a basic lifting template and add more weight every time the exercise comes around again. It's hardly a technical term, it's good English to be able to describe something in two words what it takes others a paragraph to do.

itsallaboutheL

Deleted User wrote: »

Hopefully a qualified PT can advise better than me.

itsallaboutheL

itsallaboutheL wrote: »

Well your advice was bloody dreadful "Eat everything in sight"- I don't know what you're being cheeky about.

Are you going to suggest he kills himself next week ?

PS: That bit you quoted, that's called modesty.

Magic Eight Ball

OP, If your lack of progress is that frustrating maybe seeking the help of a qualified personal trainer would be the best option.

I started training with http://www.thetransformationcatalyst.com/ a few months ago after what seemed like an eternity of getting nowhere with training, now making great gains and haven't looked back since.

Highly recommended.

O.P.H

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2J0h-QJOdw

What do ye think of this advice for getting through plateaus?

Also the guy in the vid is doing 4 sets of 20 reps, 20 reps!!! wtf, I've never gone that high, highest ever I do is like 10 reps and thats even been a while, mainly down at the 5 to 8 reps.

nice_guy80

where is fruit and veg?? fruit for snacks, veg with dinner. greens and others

combination of home protein cooked beef, chicken, lamb, pork? using eggs and tuna in sandwiches. omlettes? pasta/wholegrain rice

I don't train half as much as the OP, and only use shakes before and after workouts but I have seen results as I think i've the diet covered and good sleep patterns. still eat all around me though once a week or fortnight and go for pints

gained 1 stone in 8 months, lost 2 inches from the waist.

justsomebloke

ok a bus on my mobile and a bit drunK so take what i say as you will.

For me you are lacking a structured approach to both your diet and progranmme andd so as such aren't seeing the gains you want.

For a programme i will suggest what i said in another thread and that is bill starrs 5x5 or starting strength. This will help you set clear goals and objectives.

diet wise you seem to be missing any decent fats from your diet as well as it probably not being as goood as it could be. Fats are hugely impotant so get them into yoU

Other then that dont lose hoope or get stressed about it or you wont see any resuults. So hope that helps

Zamboni

I lost interest in this thread when I read snackbox.

thehotstepper

Thanks for all the replies, I went back there yesterday with a new purpose. After reviewing everything and reading more again Ive concluded my routine isnt bad, needs some tweaking, but my diet and lifestyles been a joke. So ta..

t-ha

thehotstepper wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies, I went back there yesterday with a new purpose. After reviewing everything and reading more again Ive concluded my routine isnt bad, needs some tweaking, but my diet and lifestyles been a joke. So ta..

Not a joke, but could be better. TBH I'd say there's something amiss with your workouts. I'd say get a buddy who's into his gyming, and progressing well, and go to the gym with him - see what he says. Could be that your lifting technique/ range of motion isn't good or something like that. It is possible, unfortunately, to give your joints a going over without getting the best for your muskles.

Diet-wise, I think the shakes are grand and so on, but there's so much more you can do with your diet to get the best nutrients AND the best hormone profile (they're important, especially if you're in your thirties where your levels can be a good bit lower than in your twenties). Stuff like;
1] Drop the simple carbs (white toast/ cereal / etc.) unless you're on your way to the gym or just coming back from it. Controlling your blood-sugar properly not only helps prevent weight-gain, but also improves your insulin sensitivity and cortisol profile (not 100% sure on the science here, but Charles Poliquin at least reckons insulin sensitivity problems and too much cortisol are responsible for most "spare tyre" issues).
2] Broccoli, cauliflower and other veg should be your friend. If you have trouble eating alot then these aren't gonna help that unfortunately, but they do help regulate blood-sugar and estrogen levels.
3] Healthy fats - your body needs these to produce hormones.
4] Cook your own food as much as possible. If you make a chicken sandwich by yourself, and compare the nutritional profile with a chicken sandwich you buy in a shop, the difference will be stunning (unless you make chicken sandwiches with sugar and gravy or something).

Last but not least, 11.5st is not a bad weight for a guy who's 5'8". Not massive, but not bean-pole territory either. And 10.8 -> 11.5 is still progress in the right direction. Alot of people like to talk about making 20 lb gains a year on the internet. For some reason, in real life people tend to be delighted with 5 - 10 lb gains...?

marley007

ok cop on with ur diet its ridiculous..... lean meat! no chipper or take aways high protein and carbs diet, your gonna have to up your cardio..... short fast bursts...ie 500m rowing as fast as possible....the weights are also all over the place your doing too many sets to build strength. reps 6-9 max and sets 2-3 max, if your doing 5 sets then why not make the weight heavier and do less! makes sense no?? i am qualified btw! best of luck!