Honestly don't know what to do anymore thinking of calling it quits.

[AlphaMindz]

Up the dosage
Insulin
Eat more
Up the dosage more
Train for prolonged pain
Sleep

I dont get scientific. Meet this list and you can do nothing but grow.

I am the only guy in my gym that looks juiced other than an old cop that is just naturally a powerful big framed man and a couple young guys.

I am the only guy that has a purple face and grabs his arms in pain and swings them arond after a failed set of hold his stomach in nausea.

I do not give a damn what weight I use.
I like to hit a new bigger number on a workset every time but I have never maxed on any lift. I dont need to injure myself. I want to be a freak not a powerlifter.

Mark bell is a strong dude. Looks regular.
Guy could beat me on any lift I bet. Callier woolam deadlifted 970 @ 220 but I look much bigger.

I knew the first time I saw a highschooler squat 800lb and bench 500 that I wasnt genetically set up for power. My joints would not take it, no way.

Intensity is damn hard to muster if you are burnt out. We all go through spells. I dealt with one not long ago. You have to go in and put it all on the line though. No rep means anything except the failing one.

When it starts to hurt move slower and focus on making it hurt more.

The diet has been my biggest failing of late.
I dont grow unless I eat over 4k calories.
I have had days lately with 2000 calories and I cant even dream of maintaining on that.

Train
Eat
Drug

Eating enough is the hardest part.
It is my fail spot atm and I have no excuses other than I just haven't wanted it bad enough lately.

Good luck sir! You got this!

Right on!

[kelkel]

A split which only works one muscle a week is for "advanced" (enhanced) lifters, or old guys that want to maintain.

Not sure if I should be upset about the "old guys" comment...

Take a break. 3 weeks.

Absolutely correct.

[Obs]

Ectos dont need breaks.
They need more food and gear.

[AlphaMindz]

Keep in mind there are 2 components to recovery: one being the actual muscle and the other being the CNS.

PEDs help the muscles recover much more quickly and efficiently but one still needs the proper rest to allow their CNS to recover.

I've noticed that my body does a MUCH better job at recruiting muscle fibers and contracting the muscle when my CNS is fresh! I get far better workouts when my body doesn't feel "run down." Better workouts means creating more of an adaptive response and will achieve more hypertrophy, as long as caloric intake and macro nutrient profile is on point.

The type of work one does also plays a role here. Aside from needing more calories to grow, if one has a physically demanding job then they should be getting more rest so they can optimize their workouts and allow their bodies to grow properly. I've had friends who had laborious jobs like construction and they have a very hard time growing and packing on mass.

To OP - Where your body is right now is your set point. It's where your body has achieved it's new homeostatic state, so good job on getting yourself to this point. Surely your physique looks a lot different than it did before you started! ow you have to push harder to create MORE of a response so you can grow past this set point.

It can be very difficult to break through these plateaus. For me, I've been stuck at my current set point for a while now. I'm still making gains in terms of muscle maturity but it's very hard for me to put on more size because the added muscle I've put on my frame is metabolically active tissue and requires a shit ton of calories to maintain (and yes I'm not even big for a BB I'm quite small actually) so my point is it's not easy to keep growing as your bodies caloric demands go up. This is why it's so useful to log all this shit so you can track it and know how much to increase...shit I should take my own advice here lol. It's easy to figure out HOW MUCH you need to eat, the hard part is actually EATING all the food EVERYDAY day in and day out!

In the case of the OP, my guess is he's either not creating enough intensity in his lifts to force the muscle to adapt or he's simply not eating enough of the right foods.

[HoldMyBeer]

Keep in mind there are 2 components to recovery: one being the actual muscle and the other being the CNS.

PEDs help the muscles recover much more quickly and efficiently but one still needs the proper rest to allow their CNS to recover.

I've noticed that my body does a MUCH better job at recruiting muscle fibers and contracting the muscle when my CNS is fresh! I get far better workouts when my body doesn't feel "run down." Better workouts means creating more of an adaptive response and will achieve more hypertrophy, as long as caloric intake and macro nutrient profile is on point.

The type of work one does also plays a role here. Aside from needing more calories to grow, if one has a physically demanding job then they should be getting more rest so they can optimize their workouts and allow their bodies to grow properly. I've had friends who had laborious jobs like construction and they have a very hard time growing and packing on mass.

To OP - Where your body is right now is your set point. It's where your body has achieved it's new homeostatic state, so good job on getting yourself to this point. Surely your physique looks a lot different than it did before you started! ow you have to push harder to create MORE of a response so you can grow past this set point.

It can be very difficult to break through these plateaus. For me, I've been stuck at my current set point for a while now. I'm still making gains in terms of muscle maturity but it's very hard for me to put on more size because the added muscle I've put on my frame is metabolically active tissue and requires a shit ton of calories to maintain (and yes I'm not even big for a BB I'm quite small actually) so my point is it's not easy to keep growing as your bodies caloric demands go up. This is why it's so useful to log all this shit so you can track it and know how much to increase...shit I should take my own advice here lol. It's easy to figure out HOW MUCH you need to eat, the hard part is actually EATING all the food EVERYDAY day in and day out!

In the case of the OP, my guess is he's either not creating enough intensity in his lifts to force the muscle to adapt or he's simply not eating enough of the right foods.

you think PEDs put more of a stain on the CNS?

[AlphaMindz]

you think PEDs put more of a stain on the CNS?

That's an interesting question....I would say that it's not the PEDs directly that put extra strain on the CNS, but rather the increased ability to do more work in a shorter period of time that could strain the CNS over consecutive days without rest.

There are a few PEDs that directly stimulate the CNS like clen for example....I'd guess that trenbolone does too (in different way of course...But I'm just giving anecdotal evidence from my own exp as I havent actually looked at the science behind it..

[Ashop]

Been lifting consistently for 4-5 years started at 147 now 185. The issue is my progress over the last 2-3 years has been truly pathetic i barley look like i lift even tho i spend 1.5 hrs a day 6 days a week in the gym, and my lifts have barley increased over the last year. as far as my diet goes my metabolism is extremely high (3700 cal Maintenance) i try to keep it clean but end up eating s**t to get the cals in and just slowly put on fat. i have been working out with a good trainer for the last year and that has not helped i payed him for the next month today and told him it will be my last month with him. deep inside i dont want to quit but i have truly lost all motivation, and faith im not sure what to do at this point and need all the help i can get. any advise is greatly appreciated.

Lifts
S 225x13
B 225x4
DL 475x1

To begin with 6 days per week, 1.5 hours per day is too much. I would cut that down to 3-4 days per week @ 45-60min per session max.

[AR's King Silabolin]

Not sure if I should be upset about the "old guys" comment...





Absolutely correct.

Mr Olympia 2018 is kind of old. Kevin Levrone defenitly. So if u respect those guys, u shouldnt

Sent fra min SM-N9005 via Tapatalk

[Littlearnie]

I’d say your not only training too long but also too frequent. Training 6 days a week is training 6 days in a row! No time to rest and grow..


Also a quick look at your diet thread. It seems you eat out and eat packaged food from supermarket only?
You need to cook more!
Also with MFP app you need to treble check everything and then find the website of the food you eat and compare with their nutritional chart.
I use it a lot too and you can type say “Nando’s chicken breast” and there will be multiple entries with such random protein/carb/fat entries.
Make sure what’s in the app is what the food it actually contains.

Do you eat like that too? 96 grams of protein for breakfast??
3700 calls is a ridiculous maintence number for your size.

My 2 cents....

[99JT]

I’d say your not only training too long but also too frequent. Training 6 days a week is training 6 days in a row! No time to rest and grow..


Also a quick look at your diet thread. It seems you eat out and eat packaged food from supermarket only?
You need to cook more!
Also with MFP app you need to treble check everything and then find the website of the food you eat and compare with their nutritional chart.
I use it a lot too and you can type say “Nando’s chicken breast” and there will be multiple entries with such random protein/carb/fat entries.
Make sure what’s in the app is what the food it actually contains.

Do you eat like that too? 96 grams of protein for breakfast??
3700 calls is a ridiculous maintence number for your size.

My 2 cents....

i make sure everything is accurate in mfp and i make most of my meals myself or get them from a meal prep place that is focused on bodybuilding. as for my breakfast that is not all at once.

my plan is to do a deload week and change my routine to a 4-5 day split and see how i recover.

[pgc640]

Been lifting consistently for 4-5 years started at 147 now 185. The issue is my progress over the last 2-3 years has been truly pathetic i barley look like i lift even tho i spend 1.5 hrs a day 6 days a week in the gym, and my lifts have barley increased over the last year. as far as my diet goes my metabolism is extremely high (3700 cal Maintenance) i try to keep it clean but end up eating s**t to get the cals in and just slowly put on fat. i have been working out with a good trainer for the last year and that has not helped i payed him for the next month today and told him it will be my last month with him. deep inside i dont want to quit but i have truly lost all motivation, and faith im not sure what to do at this point and need all the help i can get. any advise is greatly appreciated.

Lifts
S 225x13
B 225x4
DL 475x1

Listen, maybe take a month off and regroup but don't just quit you came a far way already.
Your body is at a sticking point you need to change up a lot. One and a half hours in the gym I'd cut to 40 min 4-5 times a week. I'd need to get more details from you but you can get passed this. If you keep doing what you are you won't. Make the correct changes you will.

[pgc640]

Been lifting consistently for 4-5 years started at 147 now 185. The issue is my progress over the last 2-3 years has been truly pathetic i barley look like i lift even tho i spend 1.5 hrs a day 6 days a week in the gym, and my lifts have barley increased over the last year. as far as my diet goes my metabolism is extremely high (3700 cal Maintenance) i try to keep it clean but end up eating s**t to get the cals in and just slowly put on fat. i have been working out with a good trainer for the last year and that has not helped i payed him for the next month today and told him it will be my last month with him. deep inside i dont want to quit but i have truly lost all motivation, and faith im not sure what to do at this point and need all the help i can get. any advise is greatly appreciated.

Lifts
S 225x13
B 225x4
DL 475x1

See, this goes back to a post I made months ago. You need a really good bodybuilding personal trainer. Who will take care of your eating, training and drugs. You'll get way to many conflicting opinions to get anywhere here. Find one guy you know can help you with this, get with him, and listen to every damn thing he says.

[Windex]

See, this goes back to a post I made months ago. You need a really good bodybuilding personal trainer. Who will take care of your eating, training and drugs. You'll get way to many conflicting opinions to get anywhere here. Find one guy you know can help you with this, get with him, and listen to every damn thing he says.

What post months ago ? You joined this board this month.

And this is bad advice, drugs aren't a solution for someone wanting to quit the lifestyle all together. A lot better ways to invest money for OP at this point.

[Couchlockd]

What post months ago ? You joined this board this month.

And this is bad advice, drugs aren't a solution for someone wanting to quit the lifestyle all together. A lot better ways to invest money for OP at this point.

He's getting his multiple troll accounts confused. Lol

I know it's problem, he's using ugl gear that contains nothing

Maybe pgc can help him out with his pharma contacts...lol

[Obs]

He's getting his multiple troll accounts confused. Lol

I know it's problem, he's using ugl gear that contains nothing

Maybe pgc can help him out with his pharma contacts...lol

Indeed looks like ban hammer

[SocioMachiavelli]

personally i like lifting 6 days a week and spending my time its great stress relief otherwise i just get angry. prior to lifting i would go run for an hour after work to relax.

my overall goal is to be strong, and jacked but i am not concerned about that right now at this point i want to get as big and strong as possible while still looking decent aka not look like a fat ass. here are some pics a few weeks ago @188.

Attachment 175793Attachment 175794Attachment 175795Attachment 175796Attachment 175797Attachment 175797

So you enjoy working out because it helps you blow off some steam and release the anger... Yet you're thinking of quiting.. because you're unhappy with your progress... See the issue here?

If you was training properly you wouldn't be able to hit the weights for 90 minutes. You would also feel much better walking out after 45-60 minutes of high intensity training.

[99JT]

So you enjoy working out because it helps you blow off some steam and release the anger... Yet you're thinking of quiting.. because you're unhappy with your progress... See the issue here?

If you was training properly you wouldn't be able to hit the weights for 90 minutes. You would also feel much better walking out after 45-60 minutes of high intensity training.

I started lifting because I was tired of people making fun of me for being scrawny (6' 147lbs) I also found it to be great for stress. My goal for now is to get to 220 and look good but the lack of progress has become frustrating and is starting to create more stress.

[99JT]

ok had my trainer put together a new routine to give me an extra rest day i still think theirs a bit too much volume. volume

[Aerospace]

Honestly it's a fairly straight-forward formula:
Genetics (can't do anything there, but you can take your physique to a higher level, wherever your starting point is)
+
Take anabolics (you don't really think you can gain THAT much muscle without anabolics right? these physiques didn't exist 30 years ago before anabolics became mainsteam, they just didn't exist
+
Train hard (there's no secret workout despite the IFBB pros trying to sell their stupid ebooks want you to believe, just some workout that crushes your muscles, whatever program that is)
+
Eat protein and carbs above your maintenance.every.single.day

It's well-proven science. It's guaranteed to work, you aren't doing 1 or more of these factors.

[99JT]

ok had my trainer put together a new routine to give me an extra rest day i still think theirs a bit too much volume. volume

Anyone?

[AlphaMindz]

Anyone?

IMHO that's a workout for a 250lb monster sauced up to the tits lol.

You don't need 5 exercises for one muscle group that's crazy lol! The pros have been lifting so long they HAVE to do that much work to create a stimulus...you only need to do a fraction of that overall work, but do it INTENSELY.

That's the key here...not hitting the muscle from 50 diff angles with 50 diff exercises...Keep it simple bro.

Focus on your 5 main lifts - 1.bench press (prefer on slight incline to make sure upper pecs get activated)
2.standing shoulder press (use barbell and go heavy AFTER warming up)
3.Wide grip pull ups (most underrated exercise IMHO and an unbelievably productive exercise)
4. Squats (I like doing front squats cause my back is jacked up but you can go much heavier with back squats..bread and butter for leg development)
5. Dead lifts (I don't do these anymore as I'm an old beat up fuck but if I could I WOULD)

These are your focus... Then you have your isolation work which is important so you have even and symmetrical physique...If one ONLY does the main compound movements they will still get huge but they'll lack nice biceps peaks and also smaller detail muscles that bring it all together (had a training partner years ago, kid was a beast, but all he did was compound movements...he was huge, abbed up, and strong af BUT he did not have a complete physique..Side note- he knew this but didnt care as he just wanted to be an ox lol)

For isolation work I highly recommend using cables as they keep constant tension on the muscle and seem to make it easier to get that mind muscle connection that is crucial for muscular development. If you're not FEELING the muscle working that means it's not working...which means it's not going to grow. I'm not being facetious here, I'm just reiterating something that I needed to here a thousand times before it clicked for me! Every single rep should be focused on, getting a good stretch at the bottom and then squeeze hard to contract the muscle at the top of the movement....IF ONE DOES THIS FOR EVERY REP THEN AFTER 8-9 REPS IT WILL BURN SO BAD YOU CAN'T KEEP GOING....THAT'S how you grow bro. If you're not experiencing that in the gym then youre not putting enough INTENSITY into it.

Please don't confuse my passion for yelling or condescending you cause i promise I'm just trying to drive these points home so this clicks for you and you start getting the gains you're after. This is how you do it my friend.

So to recap we have 5 compound movements that we structure our workouts around and then isolation work that we do for smaller muscles. We warm up for a good 15 minutes and then lift as heavy as WE can without using shitty form. Going "heavy" for you is prob going to look different than going "heavy" for me. It's relative. So push yourself but if you can't get a clean 8 reps then you're using too much weight...

A few more tips - listen to your body. Don't follow a cookie cutter training program. Follow YOUR body and what it's telling you....It's chest day but your tri's are still sore....don't do chest, do some pulling movements instead....Like anything else in life this is a craft that has to be practiced with rep after rep and over time you'll develop intuition and you'll "feel" what you should be training that day...Give it time, don't give up, and keep your mind open so you can apply these nuggets of wisdom you're being handed! Good luck brotha. ~ Alpha

[morton30]

Maybe get some bloodwork done you might have low test/high e2

[fiddlesticks]

Obtain a jar of peanut butter and a spoon.

Use this spoon to obtain 2 scoops of said peanut butter every few hours.

Put the spoon in your mouth.

Congratulations you've increased your calories by like 50%! Results shall come far easier and you will feel much better overall.

[Ephemeral]

Anyone?

Besides too much volume, any decent program should include intensity for every set. Without that the client doesn't know when to go for failure and when to leave x number of reps in the tank which will affect hypertrophy, fatigue accumulation etc. For that I recommend the RPE system, it's explained in simple terms in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXQaEq4_2lY

Other than that, chest is only trained once a week in this program. It should be trained 2-3 times usually.

Also, I dislike these bro splits quite a bit. I'm sure it works to a degree (but it's not optimal), and might be beneficial for advanced guys, but for most us I think either full body or a smarter split is the way to go, and there are some studies corroborating that. Probably a lot of guys here will disagree with me on that though.

[Ephemeral]

Mate people that tell you its because of over training are WRONG. you workout you tear your fibres you then sleep and next day 24hrs later you hit the same muscle again your body has had 24hrs to repair as much muscle as it can but it would not of repaired all the muscle that you damaged the day before. it will not take away the 24hrs of muscle repair it done you workout again and it repeats. i know a few people that has worked the same muscle every day maybe a couple of days off here and there and they are huge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KO23tDSFNSs

Maybe get some bloodwork done you might have low test/high e2

wonder what kind of hate i get for this post then

I think the key is fatigue management. You can train every day if you manage fatigue well (through volume and intensity). However if one is going for PRs or high intensity work, longer rests work better probably.

[fiddlesticks]

Your body has EXTREMELY advanced neurological systems that detect how many calories you are consistently taking in and this will translate to how hard / long your body will allow you to work. I've talked to multiple pro BBs and along with my own experience it's very conclusive that there is absolutely no drug, training partner program etc that will allow you to make progress if calories are too low because of that system. On the other hand, if you eat a very very high calorie surplus for a while this system is skewed towards allowing you to grow very very easily. As far as fat gain goes, it is absolutely not proportional to overall calorie intake, in fact if you've been at a deficit too long eating a surplus will likely increase fat burning. There have been periods of 10ish days where I would consistently eat 8000-12000 cals a day (while taking insulin which is supposedly supposed to make you fat) and would lose a ton of stubborn fat.

Also pretty obvious but you tend to feel like death when dieting and feel much better /hornier in a large surplus.

This neurological system is very interesting and can fuck you up in life in general if you aren't eating sufficient calories. I am prescribed adderall and not even that is close to overpowering this system at all.

[AlphaMindz]

When i first began i would train my ass off.2-3 hours a session. Progress stopped after a few years. Then i discovered intensity. Now I train each set like its my only set for that muscle, try to get to that feeling of the muscle screaming at me that it cannot possibly do another rep... Then do another rep. And every few months i realize that there is MORE intensity to achieve. IMO it sounds like you're just moving weight, not weight TRAINING. Limit your sets to a certain number per group and hit em like you fucking mean it then be done. But thats just me... I could be an idiot...

Concise and right on the money!

[SocioMachiavelli]

ok had my trainer put together a new routine to give me an extra rest day i still think theirs a bit too much volume. volume

In a Nut shell, Get rid of him and I can point you in the direction of a book that will not only replace him but also get you working towards the actual size you want.

the post by rjr1983 was in the right direction