STUCK!! Need some advice from the vets

[musclestack]

As some of you know, I hit a plateau in my bulking phase nearly 3 months ago. From the beginning of February to early June, I managed to put on roughly 24 pounds, and all my major lifts (bench, squat, military) went up about 65 pounds. Then, the second week in June, all gains came to a hault. I have not managed to put on any weight/size/strength since then. I realize that this may be due to the fact that my body is tired of adding so much mass in such a short period of time, but I would really like to continue lean bulking until the end of the year, then start a 3-month cut from February 1 to May 1. The past 3.5 weeks, I have added 500 calories to my original diet in the form of complex carbs. I'm in a rush right now, so I'm not going to list all macros, but I can when I get back home. It comes to roughly 4,200 cals (up from 3,700). Here is my current diet:

meal 1
4 whole eggs
4 egg whites
150grams oats

meal 2
5 oz. chicken breast
150 g oats

meal 3
7 oz. lean beef
140 g rice (measured dry)

meal 4
same as meal 3

meal 5 (pwo)
2 scoops whey
150 g oats

meal 6
10 oz. lean beef

*Only supplements besides Whey used are creatine mono and a MV.


I have also made changes to my workouts. I've stopped flat benching and have gone to decline barbell; switched from incline barbell to dumbell incline; switched to dumbell military press rather than barbell; separated quads and hams as opposed to doing them both during the same day; started doing lat pull-downs for back (I couldn't do these before as we didn't have a machine). My workout is as follows. I do 4 sets of each exercise; 8-10 reps each.

Back
bent over barbell rows
lat pull downs
seated rows
end with pull-ups

chest
decline barbell
incline dumbell
flys (machine)
cable flys

quads
squat
leg press
leg ext.

shoulders
dumbell military press
front raises
side laterals
*don't know what it's called*--I use the curl bar, standing up, and pull the weight to my chin.

arms
preacher curls
dumbell curls
behind the head, dumbell tricep raises
tricep pulldowns (cables)

hams
SLDL
leg curls (machine)


Any suggestions on what I can do? I was actually considering doing something along the lines of Marcus' "Prime before a cycle" (without the cycle) to 'shock' my body back into growing. Any thoughts on this?

Well, there you have it. I'm open to all suggestions. Should I eat at maintenance for a few weeks to give my body a rest? Should I cycle carbs? Anything else I can do to 'trick' my body into growing again? Increase cals (I hope not lol! 4,200 is hard enough to keep down!)?

Please advise. This is getting very frustrating.

MS

[little_dude]

Hi, what are your current stats, 24 lbs is alot of weight to add in such a short time congrats, but I imagine some of it must of been fat, how clean where ur gains?

[musclestack]

27 yo
5'9"
188lbs (started at 164)
~14-15%bf (started at 13%)

Yea, of course it's not all lean, but overall, very clean. I would imagine if you took away the couple pounds of fat I gained and the water weight from carbs/creatine, I put on roughly 12-13 pounds of lbm. I'm very happy with the progress I've made (had to be doing something right if people were asking me if I was on steroids lol!!). I just really need to break through this plateau!

Anybody??

[Dukkit]

One word

Cardio.

No it wont burn muscle. No it wont prevent you from bulking.

Yes it will increase your hunger, burn fat, prime your body for more growth, cause your body to release more hormones, help with water weight, help with blood pressure, help with blood circulation.

Nothing crazy. Since you are bulking.

20-30 mins PWO a 3 days a week.

Or fasted cardio upon waking is great if you can schedule it.

You will still be over calories so you can keep bulking.

[gbrice75]

^^^ love it when Dukkit visits us over here!

[Dukkit]

Sup Gbrice!!

Yeah sometimes its the simple things that ppl need reminded of.

Such as adding a little bit of cardio along with the change in diet and body comp that occurs.

[Dukkit]

Also... I dont like the OP's lifting routine.

Could def tweak that.

How is your workout split up? How you have it written is that how its broke down per each day?
Or what.

Too many exercises for Chest. And 2 types of Flyes? Fix that.

4 sets of each exercise? Do you go to failure on all sets? The last set?
How do you do your warm up sets.

On top of your routine needing work..

You can always add in intensity techniques....
-drop sets
-negatives
-forced reps
-rest pause

Pick and choose and add to the last set of the last workout per muscle.

I dont like pull ups for your last back exercise. They are a body weight exercise but since youve already burned your back out with the rest of the workout... youll either have sucky form, cheat, or just not be able to put your all into them.

Do the pull DOWNS last.

Pull ups first.

[Dukkit]

stupid double post

[gbrice75]

x2 for drop sets and rest/pause.

Agreed about the back exercise too - pull ups first - it's a 'meat and potatoes' exercise, do it at your freshest IMO.