What is wrong with me?

[caveman13]

ok this is an easy question, why can i not get any bigger/stronger?

I am 6"0, 185lbs. Max bench is 275

i have been lifting for 4 years non stop, eating like crazy, taking supplements, drinking protein shakes, 2 a day at 75grams each.

i recently got on a test cyp only cycle at 400mg/week for 12 weeks and am on week 10

my workout consists of:
monday - flat bench 4 sets of 8, 6, 4, 2
incline 3 sets of 8
decline 3 sets of 8
cable crossovers 3 sets of 8, flat butterflies at 3 sets of 8

Tuesday - leg press - 4 sets of 8, other leg machines for 3 sets of 8 and foreamrs after legs are done

wednesday - 5 exercises back and 3 exercises abs, all sets of 8

thursday - 5 exercises of shoulders for sets of 8
friday - 4 exercises of tris sets of 8, 4 exercises of bis for 3 sets of 8


is there something wrong with my workout? plese someone give me some suggestions. Yes i put on 15 lbs and got a little stronger while on my test cycle, but my one buddy has put on 30 lbs and got a lot stronger than me. Whats wrong????!?!?!!?!

[longhorn814]

diet. You say you eat like crazy, but how many calories a day do you consume? How many of those are from protein, fat, and carbs? When most people say they cant gain weight more often than not it comes down to diet.

www.fitday.com will allow you to break down and keep track of daily food consumption

[TheMudMan]

I bet you if you broke down what you eat in a typical day it's no where what you think it would be to grow.

Also, I see no squats, dead lifts....... these types of lifts are best to help promote growth and strength

Another thing some body parts looks as though they might be over trained like shoulders....... can't tell becaus eyou didn't put down total sets.

[caveman13]

i also sleep 8 hours a day. why should it matter if i eat fat or not? if i just eat a lot, shouldnt that cover it even if i gain a little fat?

[candyman md]

Eat then eat and eat again. When on, eat twice as much, work out twice as hard or you are just wasting your money. You have to get your body used to consuming alot of calories. Just my thoughts!

[TheMudMan]

i also sleep 8 hours a day. why should it matter if i eat fat or not? if i just eat a lot, shouldnt that cover it even if i gain a little fat?

You need to research more about nutrition....... certain fats are great and help promote muscle growth but you also need carbs, protein.........

[wolfyEVH]

i'm gonna guess diet and overtraining like these guys say......

16 sets of chest? 12 sets of bis?? not to mention you work out 5 days in a row which i am not a big fan of. if you're only gonna have 2 rest days, dont make them next to each other.....make your rest days wednesday and saturday. (ie days 3 and 6). I would personally rest day 3, 6, and 7, but thats me.

[TheMudMan]

i'm gonna guess diet and overtraining like these guys say......

16 sets of chest? 12 sets of bis?? not to mention you work out 5 days in a row which i am not a big fan of. if you're only gonna have 2 rest days, dont make them next to each other.....make your rest days wednesday and saturday. (ie days 3 and 6). I would personally rest day 3, 6, and 7, but thats me.

I have been training 5 days on 2 days off for years........... I don't think that's the problem at all

But you're right way too many sets

[caveman13]

if i put those rest days in there, im gonna be in the gym for like 2 hours a day? whats a good combination to lift on the same days, like back and bis? chest and tris? legs and abs?

[wolfyEVH]

if i put those rest days in there, im gonna be in the gym for like 2 hours a day? whats a good combination to lift on the same days, like back and bis? chest and tris? legs and abs?

how would you be there for 2 hours a day?? hour tops bro....

Day 1: Chest
Day 2: Legs
Day 3: OFF
Day 4: Shoulders/tris
Day 5: Back Bi's
Day 6: OFF
Day 7: OFF or Repeat

this is what i personally follow.

[wolfyEVH]

I have been training 5 days on 2 days off for years........... I don't think that's the problem at all

But you're right way too many sets

its just my personal preference to avoid 5 days straight....can be bery taxing on the CNS.

but yeah, everyone is different. just gotta find whats right for you

[longhorn814]

i also sleep 8 hours a day. why should it matter if i eat fat or not? if i just eat a lot, shouldnt that cover it even if i gain a little fat?

Read this

UNoffical "How to Bulk" thread and sample diet...

there is also a difference between good fat and bad fats

[needmorestrength]

I bet you if you broke down what you eat in a typical day it's no where what you think it would be to grow.

Also, I see no squats, dead lifts....... these types of lifts are best to help promote growth and strength
Another thing some body parts looks as though they might be over trained like shoulders....... can't tell becaus eyou didn't put down total sets.

exactly

[NYC BIG MIKE]

Everyone here is making sense. Listen to them. 5 days in a row is nuts. You may be a classic hard gainer. Maybe if you saw more sample splits it would help you out, here's mine:
M Chest/Triceps
T 30 min cardio/Abs
W Shoulders am/Legs pm
Th off (cardio if prepping for show)
F Back/Biceps
S 30 min cardio/Abs
S off
3 lifting days only. And I get all the big movements in, bench, squats, deadlifts, etc. Less is more. Good luck.

[powerliftmike]

ok this is an easy question, why can i not get any bigger/stronger?

I am 6"0, 185lbs. Max bench is 275

i have been lifting for 4 years non stop, eating like crazy, taking supplements, drinking protein shakes, 2 a day at 75grams each.

i recently got on a test cyp only cycle at 400mg/week for 12 weeks and am on week 10

my workout consists of:
monday - flat bench 4 sets of 8, 6, 4, 2
incline 3 sets of 8
decline 3 sets of 8
cable crossovers 3 sets of 8, flat butterflies at 3 sets of 8

Tuesday - leg press - 4 sets of 8, other leg machines for 3 sets of 8 and foreamrs after legs are done

wednesday - 5 exercises back and 3 exercises abs, all sets of 8

thursday - 5 exercises of shoulders for sets of 8
friday - 4 exercises of tris sets of 8, 4 exercises of bis for 3 sets of 8


is there something wrong with my workout? plese someone give me some suggestions. Yes i put on 15 lbs and got a little stronger while on my test cycle, but my one buddy has put on 30 lbs and got a lot stronger than me. Whats wrong????!?!?!!?!

15lbs is a great gain. 30lbs is very extreme.

[Pinnacle]

Everyone here is making sense. Listen to them. 5 days in a row is nuts. You may be a classic hard gainer. Maybe if you saw more sample splits it would help you out, here's mine:
M Chest/Triceps
T 30 min cardio/Abs
W Shoulders am/Legs pm
Th off (cardio if prepping for show)
F Back/Biceps
S 30 min cardio/Abs
S off
3 lifting days only. And I get all the big movements in, bench, squats, deadlifts, etc. Less is more. Good luck.

I agree!My split is very similar to yours.I train AM/PM though.Large muscle group(chest) AM
PM small Group(Tris)

~Pinnacle~

[caveman13]

thanks for all the help, i am definately a hard gainer, but i was also thinking about doing sets with higher reps? maybe 12-15? does that help cut or bulk or which?

[wolfyEVH]

thanks for all the help, i am definately a hard gainer, but i was also thinking about doing sets with higher reps? maybe 12-15? does that help cut or bulk or which?

no higher than 6-8 for mass IMO. I do 4-6 reps. I am however following swolecats leg routine which is high reps for leg mass (because of the muscle fiberes in the legs)

[caveman13]

what about when cutting, how many reps?

[chest6]

id say get in the diet forum..thats your best friend right now.

[NYC BIG MIKE]

Caveman,
A muscle has both slow twitch and fast twitch fibers. Slow twitch for endurance, fast twitch for speed. You need to hit all the fibers to truly hit the muscle group. Try something like a 12, 10, 8 and 6 rep set for each big movement and then finish off with something a wee bit lighter than the 12 rep weight to "flush it out".

[Igifuno]

if i put those rest days in there, im gonna be in the gym for like 2 hours a day? whats a good combination to lift on the same days, like back and bis? chest and tris? legs and abs?

how's your intensity? 2 hours is a bit too long, maybe you need to shorten the workouts and gain more intensity?

[caveman13]

workouts are as intense as possible, 2 hours is an over estimate, but i do like this workout
Day 1: Chest
Day 2: Legs
Day 3: OFF
Day 4: Shoulders/tris
Day 5: Back Bi's
Day 6: OFF
Day 7: OFF or Repeat

what do youguys that can bench a lot do for chest? i do flat, incline, decline, with the bar... i was just wondering what the stronger guys do?

[Ironmanjay]

All of what everybody is saying is good but there is another factor. GENETICS

[NYC BIG MIKE]

Caveman, it's not about what strong guys can do, it's about what is a good routine that will incorporate all the right angles. Methodology is important too. I'm in the 500+ bench club, but who cares? I'll give you and interesting angle though.......
Chest is relatively easy to work. If you do an incline movement, a flat movement and a rotation movement (fly or pec dec or cable crossovers) you are basically good to go. Declines are over rated. EMG's (electromyograms) are basically electrodes hooked up to muscle fibers and they show that you don't get any more than you do on flat. Having said that, I would say would basically rotate your incline and flat movement between open and closed kinetic movements. This basically means in a sample workout do (for example) flat bench with the bar (closed kinetec, 2 hands pushing one lever,the bar), then incline dumbells (open kinetic, 2 hands workiing indepenent of one another, dumbells) and then finish off with your rotation movement, like say cable crossovers. Next time reverse it and do flat dumbells(open kinetic) and do incline bench (closed kinetic) and maybe do some dumbells flys or pec dec to finish. You are now done with chest. Go home. Keep it simple. Good luck.

[dragon69]

I am also in the 500+ bench club.
I think that your form may be bad, but I also suspect that your pecs are VERY tight. Try long slow stretches for (2+ minutes each) ED for a few weeks and see what happens then.
Tightness in the pecs will prevent strength increases in bench, experienced it myself.

[caveman13]

thanks a lot guys, i will try what nyc big mike and dragon69 said and see what happens. i am going to start taking off wednesdays too.

[caveman13]

also though, my arms seem obviously smaller in proportion to the rest of my body. do you think that i was over working them?

[karln]

i gained 10 lbs iam in week 7 of test enanth so dont cry iam in the same boat....

[Jray1der]

caveman, check your pm

[Jray1der]

Training Cycle: One day training, one day rest (All workouts done with 100% effort. Goal is to rep 90% of your 1 rep max 6-8 times.
Abs: Days 2 and 6
Cardio: Days 2, 4, and 6, 30-60minutes

(One day on, one day off)
Day 1: Chest, biceps
Bench presses 3 sets 6- 8 reps
Incline bench presses 2 sets 6- 8 reps
Dips with added weights 2 sets 8-10 reps
Barbell curls 3 sets 6-10 reps
Dumbell curls 2 sets 6-10 reps

Day 3: Thighs
Squats 3 sets 6-10 reps
Leg presses 2 sets 8-10 reps
Leg curls 2 sets 8-10 reps
Leg Extensions 2 sets 8-10 reps

Day 5: Shoulder, triceps
Presses behind neck 3 sets 6- 8 reps
Upright row 2 sets 8-10 reps
Side laterals 2 sets 8-10 reps
Lying triceps presses 3 sets 6-10 reps
Triceps pulley pushdown 2 sets 8-10 reps

Day 7: Back. calves
Chins with added weight 3 sets 8-10 reps
Lat pull 2 sets 8-10 reps
Barbell bent-over row 2 sets 6-10 reps
Seated cable row 2 sets 6-10 reps
Standing calf raise 3 sets 8-12 reps
Seated calf raise 2 sets 8-12 reps

Any fine tuning you may want to do, go for it. Good Luck!

One,
Jray

[karln]

i need help to gain i gained some weight the first week i injected havent gained anything since that..... Last time i did cycle my gains started week 8 but thats with deca and test.... so i think test alone should kick in faster..... iam on week 7 gained 8.8 pounds onlyu